English – Eyewitnesses

Part XVII

Here comes part XLVII in the series “We are eyewitnesses to …” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists. The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I got back in 2018 from the helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read: “¹⁶ We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness. ¹⁷ For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: ‘This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.’¹⁸ We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.“

I was told by God via the Holy Spirit to tell about what I have been eyewitness to, as the previous eyewitnesses. God uses many eyewitnesses through the centuries.

The Reformation, which was influenced by the Holy Spirit, came to steer Christianity back on track. Together with the development of the art of printing, the Reformation contributed to many more people gaining direct insight into the teachings of Jesus as the Bible tells us. The members of the congregations could now read the Bible for themselves, the sermons of the priest and bishop could now be easily checked to see if they corresponded with the words of the Bible. The apostle Paul saw early that evil forces driven by Satan were constantly making their advances, especially the efforts of certain religious leaders to put “their mark” on and “improve” the texts of the Bible. Jesus exclaimed on the cross before he breathed out “it is finished”, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (John 19:30). It’s been said: “The cross is not only the symbol of suffering and deep pain, but to an even greater extent the symbol of victory.” Jesus not only conquered death, he fulfilled a mission from his Father, our God in heaven, to the fullest. Jesus became God’s perfect sacrifice for all people’s sin and guilt and the basis of God’s covenant with all people who believe in Jesus Christ. In retrospect, there is nothing that people can add to Jesus’ teaching, it is a perfect work given to us by God. Jesus stated several times that I don’t do anything other than what my Father tells me to do, by following Jesus’ teachings we honourour Father and God in heaven.

In the previous three parts of the series, we talked about the transition from Judaism to Christianity and about the replacement theology which is being established but which does not have its basis from the Bible. Replacement theology and its development is Satan’s method to confuse Christiansand in replacement theology the focus is turned away from Jesus’ simple teachings on how to live a life for God. Jesus’ teaching about how to live a life for God has some essential characteristics that we must relate to, if we want to see God’s kingdom here on earth:

1. Adult baptism

2. Born again by the Holy Spirit.

3. The Sermon on the Mount

4. The Great Commission

1) – Adult baptism – John the Baptist was prophesied about by his father, the priest Zechariah, (Luke 1:76-77, 80) “⁷⁶ And you, child, shall be called a prophet of the Most High, for you shall go before the Lord and clean his ways, ⁷⁷ and give his people to know salvation when their sins are forgiven, ⁸⁰ But the child grew up and became strong in the Spirit. He was in the wilderness until the day when he was to stand before Israel.” God influenced his prophet John to implement adult baptism, with the words “turn around and repent of your sins”.

2) – Born again by the Holy Spirit – The scribe and Pharisee Nicodemus once visited Jesus late at night (John 3:1-6) “¹There was a man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, one of the councillors of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus at night and said: ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do the signs you do unless God is with him.’ ³ Jesus answered: “Truly, truly, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” ⁴ “How can one who is old be born?” said Nicodemus, “can he not then enter his mother’s womb again and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered: “Truly, Truly I say to you, Whoever is not born of water and the Spirit cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’”

3) – The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-15)

In the Sermon on the Mount, the first major speech in the Gospel, Matthew portrays Jesus as a new and greater Moses: Jesus has not come to abolish the Old Covenant, but to fulfilthe Law and the commandments in a new and better way.

The Sermon on the Mount begins with nine beatitudes (chapter 5, verses 1-12):

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the humble, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are those who make peace, for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Yes, blessed are you when, for my sake, they mock and persecute you, lie and speak evil of you in every way. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. Thus, they also persecuted the prophets before you.

The word blessed in the New Testament is used often about people, and especially about Jesus’ disciples or Jesus-believers, when they are exposed to hardship and suffering.

The antitheses

After the beatitudes follow six antitheses (chapter 5, verses 17–48). The antitheses are Jesus’ and the Gospel of Matthew’s reinterpretation of the Law in the Old Testament. They are about:

To fulfil the Law (the Law of Moses), Murder and anger, Marriage and divorce, Oath and honesty, To repay evil with good, To love one’s enemies.

Each antithesis begins with “You have heard it said…” and then refers to various commandments, especially the Ten Commandments. Then follows the formulation “But I say to you…”, in which Jesus gives a new interpretation of each of the commandments he reviews. It is this combination of an assertion and an answer that causes these verses to be called the antitheses (Great Norwegian Encyclopaedia).

An example is the antithesis of repaying evil with good (verses 38–39): “You have heard it said: ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ against you. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other too”.

The words “But I say unto you” are not meant as a rejection of the Law of Moses (“the Law”) and the old commandments butdescribe a new way of understanding them.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus emphasizes that both people who suffer and people who work for peace and justice are among those who are blessed and will receive “reward” from God in his kingdom, the Kingdom of heaven. That is, all those who believe that Jesus is the son of God and that he died for you, that is to be born again by the Spirit.

4) – The mission command – The mission command is found in somewhat different versions in the New Testament: Matthew’s Gospel 28:16-20, Mark’s Gospel 16:14-20, Luke’s Gospel 24:44-53, John’s Gospel 20:19- 23 and Acts of the Apostles 1:4-12.

The Gospel of Matthew 28:16-20: The mission command (baptism command) that ends the Gospel is one of the clearest formulations in the New Testament of the idea of Jesus as part of a divine trinity, chapter 28, verses 19-20, “¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always until the end of the world!”

After the Reformation.

The four main points above; Adult baptism, being born again, the Sermon on the Mount and the Great Commission given to us by God and his son Jesus Christ – in my view form the basis of Jesus’ teachings.

In 2017 it was 500 years since Martin Luther and the other reformers started their reformation of the Catholic Church which for fifteen hundred years gradually changed the teachings of Jesus as the Bible shows us. The celebration in Norway and other Lutheran countries led to some discussion about how we should really understand the Reformation. The Lutheran church we have in Norway today is among the most liberal churches in Christianity, and it is easy to interpret the Reformation in light of this. The Reformation developed into a slightly chaotic situation at the beginning, as far as what we know as Christianity based on the teachings of Jesus is concerned. We understand that better when we look at the picture below, Christianity was differentiated in at least 11 different directions. These different directions brought with them something good, but also much that has no basis in the Bible, which is why there were so many varieties of Christianity. Some of these directions contributed to a better focus on the teachings of Jesus than what the Catholic Church taught in its congregations, examples are adult baptism and being born again of the Spirit. A negative result that came particularly within the national churches was the liberalization of the Bible’s message regarding abortion, homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Timeline showing the division into different Protestant directions. From the Reformation to the present day. Photo: Eivind Sehested and the National Digital Learning Arena, (hjelp@ndla.no).

The positive development after the Reformation was, among other things, that some of the reformers took up adult baptism instead of infant baptism and being born again by the Holy Spirit

The new trends in Christianity produced a number ofindividuals, pastors and priests who were filled with the Spirit. In addition to spreading the gospel, they promoted the importance of everyone in society having to participate in general working life and not be surprised by the obligation to work in society. Emphasis was placed on the fact that everyone had to contribute to producing goods, services and participate in education, so that all children and adults could read the Bible and understand the text, which is the basis of Christianity.

Stay tuned…

Part XLVI

Here comes part XLVI in the series “We are eyewitnesses to…” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honor God who created man and everything that exists. The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the Helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read: “16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness. 17 For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: “This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

I was told by God via the Holy Spirit to tell about what I have been eyewitnesses to and the previous eyewitnesses, God uses many eyewitnesses over the centuries.

The two previous parts of the series (part XLV and part XLIV) deal, among other things, with the transition from Judaism to Christianity and with the replacement theology that is being established but which does not have its basis from the Bible.

A user often testifies in court, when you, for example, file a case. God shows us in the Bible that it is important that events that concern several people are confirmed by at least two eyewitnesses, God himself uses that principle in His contact with the Jews through the prophets. No single person can alone claim that an event is valid or true if no one else can confirm the event. Previously, before Jesus came to earth, the Pharisees and the scribes over many centuries had added various ordinances and rules/laws to the Law of Moses. These rules or laws were not given by God to the Jews. Changes that are not given by God turn the focus away from God. What happens when the Jews reject Jesus as their Messiah, and the Roman authorities crucify Jesus is dramatic. We are in a situation that we can actually read in the Bible, in the New Testament. God’s special covenant with the Jews through Judaism ceases, and all people, both Jews and Greeks as it is called, are now offered a new covenant with God. The last thing Jesus said when He died on the cross was; “it is finished”. Jesus’ life and teachings, his death and resurrection on the third day, are the basis of the new covenant God offers to mankind. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his Son, the only begotten, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

God washes away all sins with the blood of Jesus for all those who believe in His son Jesus Christ. It is no coincidence that blood is shed, the Bible shows us through Judaism that to cover up sin that is committed, blood must be shed. The first time blood was shed to cover up sin committed was when God sacrificed animals to provide clothing for Adam and Eve. They had eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, which was forbidden by God, and by breaking God’s commandment they suddenly discovered that they were naked. Before that, they had not had any feeling of being naked since they lived in Paradise.

After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven and 50 days later (Pentecost), the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples and several hundred others who were gathered, and they began to speak in tongues. This became THE power from heaven that Jesus promised to the apostles and now they could begin the great task they received from Jesus of promoting the new covenant God now offers to all people, see Matthew 28:19-20, “¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. ” ”

The leading scribes in Judaism became more dominant after Jesus was crucified. They reject the way that the new covenant was first called and Jesus as their promised Messiah. It is interesting to see how the leaders of Judaism and now Christianity makes the same mistakes. They are influenced by Satan and his demons who play on human fleshly weaknesses such as pride, greed, lying, stealing and similar weaknesses.

The church fathers, cardinals and popes in Christianity make the same mistake that the rabbis and scribes did in Judaism. They began to add rules and regulations in addition to the teachings of Jesus and the writings of the apostles given by God.

Those who follow Jesus must take up their cross every day and deny their own ideas about how life should be lived. Jesus’ teaching is easy to learn and easy to understand, but it requires you to give up your own ideas and rather ask God through the Holy Spirit what activities to focus on that serve our work for God’s kingdom here on earth.

God wants direct contact with the individual person within the congregations and in society at large who seeks Him, not with organizations or churches, or anyone who stands between God and the individual.

The leaders of the Catholic Church, often in collaboration withkings and princes, negatively influenced church members and even persecuted and killed dissenting church members, due to lust for power and greed. What particularly strikes me is that the services are held in a language that not everyone knows,and access to Bibles was difficult for the members of the church. The opportunity to follow the priests’ interpretations of the texts of the Bible in their sermons, which the apostle Paul encouraged, was almost impossible as almost nodiscussions took place at congregational level. All assessment of the content of sermons now seems, as the organization of the church is, reserved for the highest levels of the church’s hierarchy, since they control access to Bibles. When the highest hierarchy of the church, in the youth of Christianity, changes the understanding of the texts of the Old Testament, including God’s sworn eternal promises to the Jews and the land of Israel. In addition, the church’s leaders introduce ordinances and rules that have no basis in Jesus’ teachings. Now the foundations are laid for the powerful reformation that comes around fourteen hundred years later, but history also tells us that throughout the centuries there are individuals who point out that Jesus’ teachings are not followed, but they are not heard, and sometimes become what we today would call whistleblowers and killed.

Satan and his demons managed to infiltrate the church at all levels, they make leading religious leaders act as a kind of fifth column. Fifth column is a term for citizens of a country who during war sympathize with the enemy and carry out political and military subversive work behind their own lines. In our situation it is Satan and his demons who are disguised as ordinary Christians, priests, bishops and popes and act as a fifth column. The leadership in the centralized church, represented by the Pope, cardinals and bishops, probably do the greatest damage when they deviate from the teachings of Jesus in the Bible.

John the Baptist was prophesied about by his father, the priest Zechariah, (Luke 1:76-77) “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, ⁷⁷To give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins.”. As a result of the baptism, they were to share with others of what they owned, be honest in their work and not abuse their power (Luke 3:7-14). John was also sharp in his criticism of political leaders when he chastised King Herod, among other things, for incest through his marriage to his sister-in-law Herodias (Mark 6:14-29), which led to John’s later imprisonment and beheading. But John had then completed his task for God to clear the way for the Lord (Jesus) and establish adult baptism (Matthew 3). John’s message was that people should turn around, change their lives for the better, and repent of their sins and the wrong they had done. John was nicknamed “the Baptist” because he baptized people who came to him and wanted to start living a better life. Baptism is a sign that they have had their sins forgiven, and it took place in the Jordan River. Before John the Baptist, God had not had contact with his Jewish people for about 400 years. The prophet Malachi in the Old Testament was the last prophet God sent to the Jewish people to warn against the way the Jews were following away from God. The prophet Malachi writes that the priests, the leaders of the synagogue, show contempt and turn away from the Lord’s law, Malachi 1:6-10, “A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’ ⁷“You offer defiled food on My altar, But say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the Lord is contemptible.’ ⁸And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick,Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the Lord of hosts. ⁹“But now entreat God’s favor, That He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, Will He accept you favorably?” Says the Lord of hosts. ¹⁰“Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, So that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you,” Says the Lord of hosts, “Nor will I accept an offering from your hands.”

Malachi prophesies in Malachi 3:1, “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight.Behold, He is coming,’ Says the Lord of hosts.” God tells the Jews unequivocally in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 that the covenant with Him has been broken. The Jews are still God’s people and God reminds them of the law of Moses, the one Hegave him at Horeb for all Israel, both laws and commandments. The Jews, who are God’s people, must now be personally responsible for their actions towards God like all other people. In Judaism, it is the high priest who once a year enters the holiest of the holies in the temple to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. In the Old Covenant, in addition to the high priest’s annual joint sacrifice, the Jews themselves had to go to the temple to make sacrifices for their own transgressions of God’s law. However, an attitude had developed among the Jews that they were happy to sacrifice but did not follow through by repenting of their sins.

God’s Spirit was present when John the Baptist was born, andhe was called a prophet of the Most High and was commissioned to prepare the way for Jesus. In addition to clearing the way for Jesus, the adult baptism of Jesus became a turning point when the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of a dove at the baptism. This was the start of the events that led to the new covenant that God now offers to all people. God rejected the covenant He made with the Jewish people because they did not follow the covenant they made with Him.

We are now in the transition to God’s new covenant which is offered to all people. The New Testament with Jesus’ teachings must apply to both Jews and Gentiles. The new covenant is based on Jesus’ life and work and His vicarious death on Calvary’s cross, his burial and resurrection three days later. Jesus’ former disciples who are now called apostles, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, started the work of spreading Jesus’ teachings among both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). After Jesus’ resurrection, he had a meeting with the disciples where he gave them the mission command, Matthew 28:16-20, “¹⁶Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. ¹⁷When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

I found on the net a song suitable for the transition to the new covenant, “Oh praise His name” by Jarle Waldemar, Norway. It says among other things:

“Oh beautiful morning third day;

My heart looks to Calvary,

Where the blood of Jesus was east of me,

I see His wounds His body that suffered,

My Saviour on a wooden cross,

One last cry It’s done,

They laid him in Joseph’s tomb

Guarded by soldier and stone

God’s own son died for me,

To praise His name For He is our God,

To praise His name forever the song will rise

Our God you are our God,

O beautiful morning third day

Our Lord alive again,

So tell me death, Where is your sting?

Our saviour JESUS is risen,”

One does not often hear in sermons or stories about God’s blessings in Deuteronomy 28:1-14, when the Jewish people followed the covenant with God, and God’s curses in Deuteronomy 28:15-68, when the Jewish people did not follow the covenant with God. But the Bible gives us an understanding when it comes to the fate of the Jewish people. They are chosen by God through a covenant, to be His people and to show other peoples who God is, the Creator of heaven and earth, who knows everything and can do anything. God has made, by oath, an eternal covenant with the Jews which no man can take from them. God sends the Jewish people the judges, kings and prophets to lead the Jewish people back to fellowship with God, but the evil spiritual forces in the world led by Satan and his demons as well as man’s inherent fleshly weakness, often lead the people astray by failing to worship the God they had made a pact with. The Bible shows us that God-fearing men such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob stand up and lay the foundation for the Jewish people and their special relationship with God through the covenant that was made between God and the Jewish people, of which the patriarch Moses was the facilitator. The covenant contained blessings if the Jews followed the covenant with God and curses if the Jews began to worship other gods.

It seems that everything that happens to the Jews and the land of Israel from the year 70 onwards, that is, after the Bar Kokhba revolt, led to an extensive depopulation of the Jewish communities, far more than during the first Jewish-Roman war in 70 AD. According to the Roman historian Dio Cassius, up to 580.000 Jews perished and even more died of starvation and disease. In addition, there were many Jewish prisoners of war who were sold into slavery. The Jewish community was destroyed to such an extent that some researchers have described it as ethnic cleansing and genocide. In retrospect, one can well say that God’s curses as shown in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 really take off and last for centuries. In an attempt toobliterate even any memory of the Jews or ancient Israel, the Roman Emperor Hadrian removed the name from the map and replaced it with Syria Palestine (Wikipedia). The Bar Kokhba revolt has clearly had a major impact on the development of Jewish history and the philosophy of Judaism. Jewish messianic thinking became abstract and spiritualized. The rebellion was probably also among the events that led Christianity from being a Jewish sect or congregation, to becoming a separate religion separate from Judaism. The Jews and those religious leaders rejected Christ Jesus whom God sent to them as their Messiah, and foremost in this opposition to Jesus were the leading rabbis and scribes of Judaism of the time. Christianity, which has Christ Jesus’ life and teachings as its starting point, is now separated from Judaism. So-called church fathers and theologians influence Christianity and so-called replacement theology is emphasized.

That there had to be a reaction within the Catholic Church we can easily see now in retrospect, when we know the outcome. The reaction within the Catholic Church was, as I see it, initiated by the Holy Spirit who set fire to many godly priests and laymen. The background is, as shown above, that the teachings of Jesus and the text of the Bible shortly after the apostles passed away are interpreted differently. This happens under the influence of theologians and so-called church fathers who install the thoughts on which replacement theology is based. Defenders of replacement theology argued for the ideas that God had rejected the Jews, that they are no longer God’s chosen people and that God’s promises to the Jews and the land of Israel have been spiritualized and taken over by the Christian church. However, God’s eternal promises to the Jews and the land of Israel as it appears in the Bible no man can change. The replacement theology that the Catholic Church now stands for creates fertile ground for Jew-hatred and anti-Semitic currents within Christianity and society in general. The church now appears as if they are acting on behalf of God, as His foremost representatives on earth. God says in the Bible that there is only one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus, He who gave himself as a ransom for all (Paul’s first letter to Timothy 2). God wants direct contact with the individual person within the congregations and in society at large who seek Him, not with organizations or churches, or anyone who stands between God and the individual.

Stay tuned…

Part XLV

Here comes part XLV in the series “We are eyewitnesses to ….” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists. The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his father. In 2 Peter 1:16-18 , we read: “16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain” .’“

I was told by God the Father through the Holy Spirit to talkabout what I have been an eyewitness to and about the many previous eyewitnesses, God used through the centuries.

In our journey through the Bible, with special emphasis on the prophecies, we have now reached the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The reformers of Christianity, influenced by the Holy Spirit, where, among other the priest Martin Luther in the Catholic Church who takes a strong stand against the sort of Christianity that is taught in the congregations or churches, that is, the teachings of Jesus from the time of the apostles. The teaching of Jesus was changed over the centuries, from the two hundred century until the fifteenth century. The organization of the church/congregations and the understanding of important content in the Old Testament were radically changed, including the replacement theology. The leaders of the Catholic Church, often in collaboration with kings and princes, negatively influenced the members of the congregations and even persecuted and killed dissenting church members, due to lust for power and greed. What particularly strikes me is that the masses are held in a language that not everyone knows and access to Bibles was difficult for the members of the church. The opportunity to follow the priests’ interpretations of the Bible’s texts in their sermons, which the apostle Paul encouraged, was almost impossible as almost no talks or discussions took place at congregational level. All assessment of the content of sermons now seems, as the organization of the church is, reserved for the highest levels of the church’s hierarchy, since they control access to Bibles. When the highest hierarchy of the church, in the youth of Christianity, changes the understanding of the texts of the Old Testament, with God’s sworn promises to the Jews and the land of Israel, and in addition introduces ordinances and rules that have no basis in the teachings of Jesus, this laid the foundations for the powerful reformation that comes around fourteen hundred years later. History tells us that over the centuries there are individuals who point out that Jesus’ teachings are not being followed, but they are not heard and sometimes what we would call today whistle-blowers are killed.

Satan and his demons managed to infiltrate the church at all levels, by making religious leaders act as a kind of fifth column. Fifth column is a term for citizens of a country who during the war sympathize with the enemy and carry out political and military subversive work behind their own lines. In our situation, it is Satan and his demons who are disguised as ordinary Christians, priests, bishops and popes, but act as a fifth column. The leadership in the centralized church, represented by the Pope, cardinals and bishops, who probably do the greatest damage when they deviate from the teachings of Jesus in the Bible.

John the Baptist was prophesied about by his father, the priest Zechariah, (Luke 1:76-77) “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, 77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sin.“ . Afterthe baptism, they were to share with others what they owned, be honest in their work and not abuse their power (Luke 3:7-14). John was also sharp in his criticism of political leaders when he chastised King Herod, among other things, for incest through his marriage to his sister-in-law Herodias (Mark 6:14–29), which led to his later imprisonment and beheading. However, John had then completed his task for God to clear the way for the Lord (Jesus) and establish adult baptism (Mat 3). John’s message was that people should turn around, change their lives for the better, and repent of their sins and the wrong they had done. John was nicknamed “the Baptist” because he baptized people who came to him and wanted them to start living a better life. Baptism is a sign that they have had their sins forgiven, and it took place in the Jordan River. Before John the Baptist, God had not had contact with his Jewish people for about 400 years. The prophet Malachi in the Old Testament was the last prophet God sent to the Jewish people to warn the Jewish people from turning away from God. The prophet Malachi writes that the priests, the leaders of the synagogue, showed contempt and turned away from the Lord’s law. Mal 1:6-10 says:

“A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’ 7 “You offer defiled food on My altar, But say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the Lord is [a]contemptible.’ 8 And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept[b] you favorably?” Says the Lord of hosts. 9 ‘But now entreat God’s favor, That He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, Will He accept you favorably?’Says the Lord of hosts. 10 ‘Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, So that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘Nor will I accept an offering from your hands.’”

Malachi prophesies in Mal 3:1: “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple,Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,”Says the Lord of hosts.” God tells the Jews unequivocally in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 that the covenant with Him has been broken. The Jews are still God’s property people and God reminds them of the law of Moses, the one He gave him at Horeb for all Israel, both laws and commandments. The Jews, who are God’s possession people, must now be personally responsible for their actions before God like all other people. In Judaism, it is the high priest who once a year enters the holiest of holies chamber in the temple to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. In the old covenant, in addition to the high priest’s annual joint sacrifice, the Jews themselves had to go to the temple to make sacrifices for their own transgressions of God’s law. However, an attitude had developed among the Jews that they were happy to sacrifice but did not follow through by repenting of their sins.

God’s Spirit was present when John the Baptist was born, he was called a prophet of the Most High and was commissioned to clear the way for Jesus. In addition to clearing the way for Jesus, the adult baptism of Jesus became a turning point when the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of a dove at the baptism. This was the start of the events that led to the new covenant that God now offers to all people. God rejected the covenant He made with the Jewish people because they did not follow the covenant they made with Him.

We are now in the transition to God’s new covenant which is offered to all people. The New Testament with Jesus’ teachings must apply to both Jews and Gentiles. The new covenant is based on Jesus’ life and work and his vicarious death on Calvary’s cross, his burial and resurrection three days later. Jesus’ former disciples who are now called apostles, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, start the work of spreading Jesus’ teachings among both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). After Jesus’ resurrection, he had a meeting with the disciples where he gave them the mission command, Matt 28:16-20: 16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go [a]therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. [b]Amen.”

I found on the net a song suitable for our transition to the new covenant, “Oh praise His name” by Jarle Waldemar, Norway, reads, among other things, “Oh beautiful morning third day”;“My heart looks to Calvary where the blood of Jesus was east of me, I see His wounds His body that suffered, My Savior on a wooden cross, One last cry It’s done, They laid him in Joseph’s tomb Guarded by soldier and stone God’s own son died for me, To praise His name For He is our God To praise His name forever Forever the song will rise Our God you are our God, O beautiful morning third day Our Lord alive again, So tell me death, Where is your sting Our savior JESUS is risen,”

One does not often hear in sermons or stories about God’s blessings in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 when the Jewish people followed the covenant with God, order God’s curses in Deuteronomy 28:15-68, when the Jewish people did not follow the covenant with God. But the Bible gives us an understanding when it comes to the fate of the Jewish people. They are chosen by God through a covenant, to be His property people and to show other peoples who God is, the creator of heaven and earth, who knows everything and can do everything. God has by oath an eternal covenant with the Jews which no man can take away from them. God sent the Jewish people judges, kings and prophets to lead the Jewish people back to community with God, but the evil spirits, the forces of the world led by Satan and his demons as well as man’s inherent fleshly weakness often lead the people astray by failing to worship the God with whom they have made a covenant. The Bible shows us that God-fearing men such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob stand up and lay the foundation for the Jewish people and their special relationship with God through the covenant that was made between God and the Jewish people, of which the patriarch Moses was the facilitator. The covenant contained blessings if the Jews followed the covenant with God and curses if the Jews began to worship other gods.

It seems that everything that happens to the Jews and the land of Israel from the year 70 onwards, that is, after the Bar Kokhba revolt, led to an extensive depopulation of the Jewish communities, far more than during the first Jewish-Roman war in 70 AD. According to the Roman historian, Dio Cassius, up to 580,000 Jews perished and even more died of starvation and disease. In addition, there were many Jewish prisoners of war who were sold into slavery. The Jewish community was destroyed to such an extent that some researchers have described it as ethnic cleansing and genocide. In retrospect, one can well say that God’s curses as referred to in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 really took off and lasted for centuries. In an attempt to obliterate even any memory of the Jews or ancient Israel, the Roman Emperor Hadrian removed the name from the map and replaced it with Syria Palestine (Wikipedia). The Bar Kokhba revolt has clearly had a major impact on the development of Jewish history and the philosophy of Judaism. Jewish messianic thinking became abstract and spiritualized. The rebellion was probably also among the events that led Christianity from being a Jewish sect or congregation, to becoming a separate religion separate from Judaism. The Jews and their religious leaders rejected Christ Jesus whom God sent them as their Messiah, and foremost in this opposition to Jesus were the leading rabbis and scribes of Judaism of the time. Christianity, which has Christ Jesus’ life and teachings as its base, is now existing separately from Judaism. So-called church fathers and theologians influenced Christianity and the so-called replacement theology is emphasized.

That there had to be a reaction within the Catholic Church we can easily see now in retrospect, when we know the outcome. The reaction within the Catholic Church was, as I see it, initiated by the Holy Spirit who set fire to many godly priests and laymen. The background is, as shown above, that the teachings of Jesus and the text of the Bible shortly after the apostles passed away are interpreted differently. This happens under the influence of theologians and so-called church fathers who sow the thoughts on which replacement theology is based. Defenders of replacement theology argued for the ideas that God had rejected the Jews, that they are no longer God’s chosen people and that God’s promises to the Jews and the land of Israel have been spiritualized and taken over by the Christian church. However, God’s eternal promises to the Jews and the land of Israel as it appears in the Bible no man can change. The replacement theology that the Catholic Church now stands for creates fertile ground for Jew-hatred and anti-Semitic currents within Christianity and society in general. The church now appears as if they are acting on behalf of God, as His foremost representatives on earth. God says in the Bible that there is only one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus, he who gave himself as a ransom for all (Paul’s first letter to Timothy 2), God wants direct contact with the individual person within the congregations and in the society that seeks Him, not with organizations or churches, or anyone who stands between God and the individual.

Stay tuned ….………..

Part XLIV

Here comes part XLIV in the series “We are eyewitnesses to ….” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists. The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read: “16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness. 17 For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: ‘This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.’“

I was told by God via the Holy Spirit to tell about what I have been an eyewitness to as the previous eyewitnesses that God used. God used many eyewitnesses over the centuries.

What we have read from the text of the Bible thus far shows us that Christianity is not a religion, but a revelation from God to men so that we can seek God and his son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit for salvation, the triune God. The situation today is difficult for many who seek God, being that there are so many religions that claim to represent God. Christianity is based on the Bible that came from God over the centuries, given to His prophets, His son Jesus Christ, and the apostles.

Unfortunately, individuals over the centuries, be they theologians or other well-educated people, have found a way to add words or subtract words from the text of the Bible that they think fit better and thus change the teaching that Jesus Christ gave us. Just before Jesus died on the cross, he cried out “it is finished”, a statement by which Jesus told us that he had fully fulfilled the task he was given by God, namely by his personal example and teaching to the disciples and apostles shows us what God offers to all people, such as faith in Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death and resurrection on the third day. It is therefore not necessary to change the text of the Bible, as many have tried over the years. Because the text is given to us directly by God and his son Jesus Christ and will last forever. The Bible text contains what is necessary to be saved and thus ensure a life together with God when we die.

God’s opponents on earth are Satan and his demons whoconstantly influence people in various ways to follow ideas and thoughts that do not come from God. These evil thoughts or ideas and influences to change the message of salvation and how to relate to God and his Son Jesus Christ as the Bible shows us, began to come not long after the prophets died. What is today called replacement theology was brought into Christianity by theologians and Bible teachers in the Catholic Church. They argued for the ideas that the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people and that God’s promises to the Jews have been taken over by the Christian Church, represented by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches with the Pope, Patriarch, Cardinals, and Bishops as supreme leaders. They appear and act as if they are God’s foremost representatives on earth. However, God’s eternal promises to the Jews as it appears in the Bible no man can change. The replacement theology that the church now stands for creates fertile ground for Jew-hatred and anti-Semitic currents within Christianity and society in general.

The situation where the Catholic and Orthodox churches dominate Christianity lasts right up to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in the West, and it is in the West that the fundamental changes take place within Christianity with the help of the reformers who are led by the Holy Spirit. The rest of the world are spectators to the upheavals taking place within Christianity.

The Reformation was a religious upheaval from Catholicism to Protestantism in parts of Europe in the 16th century, triggered by Martin Luther. The development was also stimulated by the new inventions of printing, a growing trade,and the emergence of a middle class. There had also been previous attempts to reform the Catholic Church by, among others, Jan Hus, John Wyclif, but it is Martin Luther who is recognized as having started the reformation with his Ninety-Five Theses. Luther began to criticize the sale of indulgences, in short indulgences were a guarantee of a shorter stay in purgatory where the soul stayed before entering heaven. Luther claimed that the Pope had no authority over purgatory. Purgatory and the Catholic teaching about it and the intercession of the saints have no basis in the Bible.

The Protestant Reformation, driven by the Holy Spirit, brought changes that involved trust in Bible reading as the way to faith and the conviction that Jesus is the way, the truth,and the life for all who want to be saved. The influences of the Holy Spirit are seldom or never mentioned in textbooks, radio and television that deal with the Reformation. The Reformation cast doubt on the church’s authority. During the Reformation, the Evangelical Lutheran, the Reformed, the Anglican Church, the Baptist movement (Anabaptists) arose. Besides Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) and Jean Calvin (1509-1564) were well-known reformers who pointed out errors in the Catholic Church’s teachings as well as its structure and organization. The church has a strict hierarchical structure and management which, together with several ordinances and rules, directs the church members’ attention away from the direct contact with God that the Bible shows us.

What the Bible tells us about the way to a relationship with God and his kingdom here on earth, is what Jesus tells the scribe Nicodemus, about being born again to be able to see the kingdom of God, see John. 3:1-18: “1 There was a man named Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee and one of the councillors of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said: ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one can do the signs you do without God being with him.’ 3 Jesus answered: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ 4 “How can one who is old be born?’ said Nicodemus. ‘Can anyone enter the mother’s womb again and be born a second time?’ 5 Jesus answered: ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, whoever is not born of water and the Spirit cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be surprised that I said to you: ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wants, you hear it rushing, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes. So, it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 ‘How can this happen?’ asked Nicodemus. 10 Jesus answered: ‘You are a teacher of Israel and do not know it? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you: We speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. 12 If you do not believe when I speak to you of earthly things, how can you believe when I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one else has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven: the Son of Man ⸆. 14 And as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his Son, the only begotten, so that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world would be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him will not be judged. He who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of God’s only begotten Son.’“

What Jesus tells Nicodemus about being born again in order tosee the kingdom of God has not been emphasized in the Catholic Church as I understand church history, it is only after the Reformation that the expression “to be born again” is emphasized. Especially in English-speaking countries that have the expression “born again”, it denotes Christians who independently make a choice to be born again and have the Holy Spirit in their heart as a pledge until we get to heaven.

The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi was named after its author (Malachi 1:1). In Hebrew, the name comes from a word meaning “messenger”, pointing to Malachi’s role as the Lord’s prophet, delivering God’s message to God’s people. “1 Look, I am sending my messenger, he will clear the way for me. Soon he will come to his temple, the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant, he who you long for, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” It would take around 400 years from the prophet Malachi’s prophecies, until God raises up John the Baptist to clear the way for Jesus through John’s baptism, which was determined by God through the Holy Spirit. “I baptize you with water unto repentance. But he who comes after me is stronger than I—I am not even worthy to carry his shoes! He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11).

John the Baptist plays an important role in all the gospels of the New Testament. He is also mentioned by the historian Josephus. For the evangelists it is important to bring out the relationship between Jesus and John; according to the Gospel of Luke, they were related (Luke 1:36). John is understood in the Gospels as a forerunner of Jesus, as the prophet who clears the way for the Messiah who comes after. Already in the time of Jesus, the Christians saw that John the Baptist and Jesus were the two Malachi had predicted would come. Malachi also predicted the order of them: First he who cleared the way for the King (John the Baptist), and then the Lord himself (Jesus). The priest Zechariah the Baptist John’s father was filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke prophetically about his son John, see Luk 1:76, “and you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High. For you shall go before the Lord to clear his ways.” Luke 1:80 “but the child grew up and became strong in spirit. He was in the wilderness until the day when he was to stand before Israel.”

A Christian revival movement that was particularly strong onand the beginning of the 18th century was Pietism. The main ideas in Pietism are that Christianity is a personal matter, and that one must therefore experience a personal conversion and do penance for one’s sinful life. This conversion should lead to living a holy life. By living a holy life, the relationship with Jesus goes before all other relationships, also one’s own family, then it is important that the spouse in a family also experiences repentance and faith in Jesus. Pietism became a significant factor in Norwegian church life, its religious ideals reappeared in the 19th century with the Haugians and in the internal emission movement. When the preacher and entrepreneur Hans Nielsen Hauge started his preaching and social activities, he criticized priests for abusing their power as officials, and the bourgeoisie for abusing their privileges to make themselves rich at the expense of others. It had to create conflict, already in 1797. Hauge was arrested for the first time for violating the conventicle poster, and until 1804. he was arrested a number of times. The conventicle poster was an ordinance that was introduced on 13. January 1741. by King Christian VI of Denmark and Norway and prohibited lay preachers from holding religious assemblies – “conventicles” – without the approval of the parish priest. The conventicle poster also placed an absolute ban on women’s speech. The last imprisonment lasted a full 10 years. He lost everything he owned, and his health deteriorated. Hauge and his friends responded to violence and attacks by preaching charity and non-violence. Hans Nielsen Hauge, who had received a call from God, believed that this call applied before the provisions of the conventicle poster because it was only an ordinance and not an adopted law, we must obey God more than men, said Hauge.

There are many young people today who do not have Sunday school background, as I had from the 1940s and 1950s, and thus the young people today lack the basic knowledge of Christianity that the children learned at Sunday school in earlier times.

I pray to God that he gives me the wisdom to present God’s revelation found in the Bible, to young and old who do not know about Jesus Christ, who was sent to earth to save as many souls as possible from hell that is one of two possible outcomes of life here on earth.

Stay tuned…

Part XLIII

Here comes part XLIII in the series “We are eyewitnesses to …” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists. The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the Helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read: “16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness. 17 For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: “This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

I was told by God via the Holy Spirit to talk about what I have been eyewitnesses to and the previous eyewitnesses, God uses many eyewitnesses over the centuries.

We have visited the most important prophecies in the Bible and their fulfilment up to our time. The prophecies and events that have had the greatest impact on the lives of Jews and the development of Christianity, have in my view been the following:

1. God’s choice of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Jacob’s twelve sons who became the Jewish people and God’s demonstration people, to show all Gentiles who God is, the creator of heaven and earth and all that is. Genesis 12, 15 and 17. (www.bible.com)

2. The curse God placed on the Jews, Deuteronomy 28:61-67, after they repeatedly departed from the covenant they had entered with God. In addition, the Jews killed the prophets God sent them, and they began to worship other gods.

3. The Jews did not accept that Jesus Christ, who was sent by God, is their promised Messiah.

4. Jesus’ death on the cross and rising from the dead three days later. Jesus’ death and resurrection form the basis for God’s offer of salvation to all who believe in his son Jesus Christ, both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews).

5. Jesus Christ’s ascension and God sends the Holy Spirit (Helper) 50 days later (Pentecost), to help all people who seek salvation through Jesus Christ, John 14:16-17, 24-27. Pentecost is Christianity’s “birthday” when the Holy Spirit came to earth as promised by Jesus before He was taken up to His Father in heaven.

6. The destruction of the Temple in the year 70 and the Jews’ exile and dispersion to all corners of the world. Deuteronomy 28:64-67.

7. The re-establishment of the country of Israel in May 1948. I was 8 years old and an eyewitness from Norway when it happened.

8. The return of many millions of Jews to Israel after 1948 and the wonderful development of the country in agriculture and science despite the attempts of the neighbouring countries, that is the Muslims, to take from the Jews their ancient land given to them by God. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s God.

What the Bible shows us is that God chose a people, the Jews, and a country, Israel, described in the Old Testament. The Jews and the land of Israel were used by God to show all nations who the Almighty God is, who created heaven and earth. The world has, since Adam and Eve had to leave Paradise due to disobedience, been influenced by Satan and his demons, who are invisible but operate here on earth and in the heavenly space around us.

Humans were created with a free will to choose between God and the evil spirits. The Jewish people were used by God to, among other things, show what happens to people who choose wrongly between God and the evil spirits. The Bible shows us through millennia how the Jewish people who had made a covenant with God were punished for their disobedience. God established a covenant with the Jewish people and the prophet Moses had laws and commandments written about how God’s property people (Deuteronomy 14:2) should relate to God and each other (Deuteronomy, chapters 12-26). Despite all the prophets God sent out among the Jewish people to warn them when they deviated from God’s commandments and laws, the Old Testament shows us that not many of the people and their leaders followed God’s commands and laws, this had fateful consequences when God’s predicted curses struck the Jewish people (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). All references to the Bible can be downloaded to your mobile phone: www.bible.com

The Bible also shows us that God has a plan to save as many people as possible to heaven. The Jews did not want to follow the path God had laid out for them, but God does not give up. He sends His only begotten son to earth, as the Old Testament gives signals about, to save as many Gentiles (non-Jews) as possible at the same time when the Jews get a new opportunity to seek God through faith in His son, Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that the Jews will get their land back, which happened in May 1948, that is, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight years after the Roman Empire destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (year 70) and scattered the Jews to all corners of the world. Although the Jews were unable to keep their part of the covenant with God, God have a solution that the Bible shows us. The Bible is a masterpiece, because of its entirety. It is without error in the message of salvation for all who believe in God’s son Christ Jesus and are born again of water and the Spirit.

The lives of the Jews, the land of Israel and the development of Christianity are connected like the sides of a coin, they cannot be separated as they are God’s instrument for the salvation of mankind. Theology professor Ole Hallesby taught theology students at the Church Faculty in Oslo. He belonged to the conservative part of Christian Norway, but with his background from the state church, he had replacement theology as the basis for his Christian view. It was said that one day he was asked by the students, the year was 1928, if the Jews would ever get their land back? He has replied; no,my dear students, that time is over, it will not happen because the church has taken over Israel’s place. But God and history wanted it differently, 20 years later in May 1948 the Jews got their land back.

Replacement theology is a theology which assumes that the Christian church today has taken Israel’s place and taken over Israel’s promises, Israel has been replaced by the Christian congregation. Replacement theology is therefore also critical of the state of Israel. However, the proponents of replacement theology completely ignore what God says through His prophets in the Old Testament. When heaven and earth pass away, there is something that remains. It is God’s Word – the Bible. It is written in Psalm 119:89: “For ever, O Lord, your word is established in heaven.” Isaiah 40:8 “The grass dries up, the flower withers. But the word of our God stands firm forever.”

Among other things, due to replacement theology, the Christian church has become a multitude of different churches or directions. It is common today to divide Christians into three main groupings: Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants. In addition, within Protestants there is a further division, for example Evangelists, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, and other charismatic Christian churches. Christianity has its origins in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus and His first disciples were all Jews and brought up within Judaism. Christianity was first seen as a direction within Judaism, but eventually broke away from Judaism because the orthodox Jews did not recognize Jesus Christ as their promised Messiah. The first place where the followers of Jesus were called Christians was in the city of Antioch, located in present-day Turkey. Throughout history, Christianity has been characterized by different cultures, but the view of the Bible as the Holy Scripture, the triune God and Jesus Christ as the Saviour by the Holy Spirit, is what represents Christianity.

Why did Christianity split in several directions? The Great Schism (from Greek schisma, ‘division/tear’) is a term for the division in the Christian Church in 1054, due to theological disagreements, particularly about the doctrine of the Trinity, i.e. how to describe the relationship between God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. They agree that there is one God (monotheism), who consists of three persons. Christianity was established on the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Gospels His disciples wrote and the apostle Paul’s letters to the first churches. The Bible (the Old Testament and the New Testament) is a masterpiece that God gave us through His chosen prophets, His Son Jesus, His disciples, and the apostle Paul.

Christianity is simply the teachings of Jesus Christ about how to get fellowship with God while we live on earth. By being born again by baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit with an open heart, you are saved and assured of a life with Jesus in heaven when you die. The New Testament shows us the organization the congregations had in the early years, namely house groups which were later called congregations. From around the fourth century, the congregations (house groups) became institutionalized, Christianity takes shape as a permanent institution. Four simultaneous processes become decisive for this: the development of the office of bishop, agreement on a common creed (year 325), the determination of the content of the New Testament (year 367), and Christianity becoming the state religion of the Roman Empire (year 391).

From around the fifteenth century, that is, approx. thousand years after the first division of Christianity, the Reformation took place in the Catholic Church which was the leading church. Martin Luther and several other reformers protested against developments in the church, where the pope, cardinals, bishops and priests had abandoned the teachings of Jesus as the Bible shows us. The church and its leaders have assumed a role as God’s representatives on earth. The language used during the services was Latin, which was not spoken by thepeople in the surrounding countries.

It would eventually turn out that the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church developed rules, commandments and ordinances that are not according to the Bible when it comes to the relationship between God and the individual human being. The organizations themselves, with their bishops, cardinals, and pope, assume a kind of role between God and the individual human being. Martin Luther and his followers were believing, among other things, that each individualshould understand and make up their own mind about the Bible’s content and teachings. This is one of the reasons why it was important to have the Bible translated into the various national languages, so that one could more easily read about Jesus’ deeds. Among other things, Protestant congregations and national churches that were formed as a result of the Reformation in the 16th century underwent a reorganization. But instead of a decentralized management of the congregations, the state churches retained a top-managed organization like the Catholic Church. From 2017, a distinction was made in Norway between the state and the church, but where the church was still financially dependent on the state and thus governed by the politicians.

Against all odds and human reason, but according to Bible prophecy, we are eyewitnesses to God’s greatness in the present. I thank God that I was born in a time where we can read about what the Bible prophesies about the Jews and Israel and at the same time be eyewitnesses to the prophecies coming true on the road. The Bible has the story or road map of how God created all people and everything that exists, God chose the Jews to be His own special people to show all nations His greatness on the Jewish people and to bring forth God’s only begotten son Jesus Christ, as Saviour for all people who believe in Jesus.

Stay tuned…

Part XLII

Here comes part XLII in the series “We are eyewitnesses to…” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists. The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the Helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read: “16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness. 17 For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: “This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

I was told by God via the Holy Spirit to tell about what I have been eyewitnesses to and theaccount of previous eyewitnesses. God used many eyewitnesses over the centuries.

The thoughts that emerged in church history in the period from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, driven by the Holy Spirit, were to become decisive in the work to change the church’s attitude to the words of the Bible. It is important to remember what the Bible says about the Scriptures themselves in the Bible, see 2 Peter 1:20-21 (“20 For you know this first of all, that no prophetic word in the Scriptures is given for its own interpretation. 21 For prophetic word never came forth by the will of men, but by the holy men of God spoke moved by the Holy Spirit.”)

In the latter half of the 18th century, the conventicle poster still had a lot to say about Christian life in Norway. People were only allowed to gather for edifying meetings if the priest approved. But more and more people became dissatisfied with the provision. The Christians should be allowed to gather when and where they wanted, without the priest having to be asked first. A young farm boy in Østfold, Norway was one of those who protested the scheme. His name was Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824) and he came from the farm Hauge in Tune near Sarpsborg, this man was soon to be known over large parts of Norway. A strong voice sounded within him: “You must confess my name to the people and exhort them to repent.” Hauge himself saw this event in 1796 as his conversion, a strong calling took shape in his heart, he wanted to show other people the way to Jesus. We usually say that we have been called when we know that God wants us to do a certain task. Hauge used to invite the priest so as not to break the law, i.e. the conventicle poster. At the same time, he knew that he had to preach God’s word in the way he was called to, “One shall obey God more than men”, it says in Acts 5,29, this weighed heavily on Hauge.

Every Christian should be able to read his Bible and ask the Lord for guidance, regardless of what the priest says, yes, the lay people of legal age could even allow themselves to critically test what the clergy say, and to reject everything that is not found to be true with the word of God. An expression emerged that was written in gold in recent Norwegian church history: “the mature lay people”. Originally, it was about the laymen’s movement’s right to be itself, faced with the official authority of the clergy, and to try the teachings of the state-authorized leaders. But exactly the same principle must of course apply to all kinds of spiritual leaders. Then it is difficult to imagine how the pastor can have absolute power in the congregation. In line with this, we find an important admonition, addressed to the whole congregation: “Test the spirits, whether they are of God.” 1 John 4:1 (My dear friends! Do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see if they are from God! Because many false prophets have gone out into the world.)

From the beginning, Christianity, that is, the teachings of Jesus, was developed and led by Paul and the apostles, they built on the teachings of Jesus and the Old Testament brought forth over thousands of years, by prophets appointed by God. What develops in the same periodunder the influence of Satan and his demons is a common red thread that shows a constant flow of false prophets and theologians in various churches. They lay out snares in the form of claims and suggestions with the intention probably of improving the Old Testament text and the teachings of Jesus. They add their own beliefs and views to what God’s chosen prophets received from God and what Jesus and the apostles taught. Jesus’ last words on the cross were “it is finished”, that covers the mission Jesus received from his Father. The mission was to tell us that the path to salvation and communion with God has been completed, given to us by the Holy Spirit. When one confesses that Jesus, who died on the cross and rose again from the dead on the third day, is our saviour, the confession contributes to us being born again and changing our lifestyle with the help of the Holy Spirit in prayer.

If we accept preaching or let ourselves be led by the guidance of leaders, without testing whether the spirits are of God, we are actually unfaithful to the Lord and irresponsibleChristians. The most incredible things happened to Christianity under the leadership of the Catholic and Orthodox churches in the years after the apostles passed away and Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire, and until the Reformation around the fifteenth century. One of the first major changes began not long after the apostles passed away, when, among others, the so-called church fathers such as Justin Martyr, philosopher, and Augustine of Hippo, bishop, saint, philosopher and theologian became advocates of replacement theology or fulfilment theology. It is a “Christian” theological doctrine that describes the theological belief that the “Christian Church” has replaced the nation of Israel by assuming their role as God’s covenant people. The apostle Paul, who was specially called by Jesus, was completely clear in His teaching to the congregations on this point, see Rom 11:1. (“1 So I say: Has God rejected his people? Far from it! I am also an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”). God has eternally chosen Jerusalem and the Jewish people and therefore cannot possibly reject what He chose. This new theological doctrine can possibly be seen in connection with the revolt of the Jews against Rome under Emperor Titus in the year 70 when Jerusalem was conquered, and the 2nd temple completely destroyed as Jesus predicted before He left the disciples. Under Emperor Hadrian (117-138) after the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-136 AD), the Jews who remained in Jerusalem were exiled and scattered throughout the world. In this particularly difficult situation for the Jews, the Catholic and Orthodox churches took the opportunity to decide that the Jews are no longer a people chosen by God, and that “Christianity” has taken over the Jews’ place as God’s people. All the promises of the old covenant were transferred to the church which became God’s chosen people and replaces Israel spiritually. The land is also no longer the bearer of the blessing, which presupposes the right relationship with God, which the Jews no longer have according to the church. The same applies to the importance of Israel and the Jews in the history of revelation, replacement theology gives a completely different view of God’s revelation in the Bible. The Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT) are set against each other. OT is reinterpreted and pushed out. The election of the Jewish people and God’s promises in the OT to the Jews have ceased. What was Jesus’ Bible, what we call the Old Testament, now does not have the same value and meaning for us as it did for Jesus Christ, the apostles and the first church. Everything that replacement theology stands for is not supported in the Bible, which is God’s infallible word delivered to people through the prophets and the teachings of Jesus through the apostles.

1. Worship of Mary 2. Worship of saints 3. Relics 4. Icons 5. The monastic order

6. Baptism of young children who do not understand baptism themselves. Parents cannot act on behalf of young children in the all-important act of “being born again”, but parents can pray for their children. (Jesus blessed the little children, when the children become adults, they can choose to have communion with God through adult baptism. A choice must be made by the individual to obtain communion with God, one must be born again by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus told Nicodemus.)

7. Indulgence 8. Purgatory 9. Infallibility of the Pope

This new theological understanding led people away from the Bible’s clear and simple message of salvation. For the Jews who now lost their land after 3000 years and are scattered all over the world, the replacement theology became a disaster, it in a way confirms the Roman Empire’s treatment of the Jews and the land of Israel. The worship of Mary and saints initiated by the Catholic Church is the worship of dead people, pure idol worship, something the Bible strongly warns against. Worshiping dead people takes worship away from the living God and His Son Jesus Christ who deserves all the glory, our God is the creator of heaven and earth and all that is.

The Bible is very clear that the glory belongs to God alone, Jesus addresses this relationship to His disciples when He teaches them to pray, see Matthew 6:10-13 “Our Father, who art in heaven! Let your name be kept holy. 10 Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debt, as we also forgive our debtors. 13 Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom is yours, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Jesus’ message to the disciples is radical, He insists on fully focus on himself, God in heaven, and the messages from God. Relationships that have to do with the pursuits of this world must come second, in Luke 14:27 Jesus says “Whoever does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” The cross Jesus refers to are all the challenges and opposition from the world that follow being a Christian as the Bible shows us.

As Christianity, represented by the Catholic and Orthodox churches, became the leading religion in the Mediterranean, the situation worsened further for the Jews. In the centuries leading up to the Reformation, the Jews were subjected to abuse and persecution all over Europe. It is the Christian Church, represented by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, which up to the fifteenth century, together with worldly emperors, kings, and princes, that is behind the persecution of the Jews. Pogroms were particularly carried out in Eastern Europe and Russia, pogrom is a Russian word, which is derived from the verb ‘gromit’, “to ravage, destroy and tear down with violence”. It is mostly used for violent attacks on Jews and Jewish property, but the term is also used for violent attacks on other ethnic minorities.

The Church, that is, those who have been in leadership at all times will have a lot to answer for on the day of judgment. Quite the opposite of what Jesus’ teaching shows us, a top-led theological regime is implemented which is carried out in such a way that millions of both church members and people outside the church lose their lives. The Pope, the cardinals, and the bishops, often in collaboration with the secular part of society, use methods that are in sharp contrast to the teachings of Jesus and what he taught the people. Instead of imitating the teachings of Jesus, the Catholic and Orthodox churches went their own ways away from the teachings of Jesus. My kingdom is not of this world, said Jesus, but the Pope and the cardinals seem to build on this world.

On the other hand, God conveys his grace to leaders who are installed by the laying on of hands, which means that you need to listen to them extra carefully (Acts 6:6, 1 Thessalonians 5:12f, 1 Timothy 4:14, 2 Timothy 1:6).

I find an important key in Jesus’ own words in Mt. 23:8-10, in the middle of His sharp warning against the religious leaders of the time, the Pharisees and the scribes: “But you shall not be called rabbi, for there is one who is your teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. And do not call anyone here on earth father; for you have but one Father, who is in heaven. Neither let anyone call you tutors; for you have only one guide: Christ.” Apparently, Jesus is saying here the exact opposite of Paul. Paul claims that God has appointed teachers, shepherds, and other leaders “to equip the saints so that they can carry out their ministry, and the body of Christ can be built up” Ephesians 4:12. But the point lies in the justification: “for there is one who is your teacher, namely Christ and the Holy Spirit who was sent to us by God.” So: The decisive thing is that each individual Christian is fundamentally connected to the Holy Spirit as guide, and that the conscience is rooted in him. We should listen to leaders who are installed in the congregation, but always with a testing mind, and never accept something just because the leader says it is so. Each individual must primarily listen to the Lord himself through the Holy Spirit. It follows from this that the congregation must be organized so that the testing of leaders and preachers can actually take place – and be taken seriously. So strictly, says Jesus, the authority of the spiritual leaders must be limited, if they are ever so richly equipped. The radical thing in the new covenant, the New Testament, is that God’s Spirit is poured out on both Jews and Gentiles (not Jews). Anyone who receives the gospel in faith (Joel 3:1f, Acts 2:17f) has access right up to God’s throne (Hebrew 4:14ff and 10:19ff). It is specified that in the new covenant there is only one mediator between God and men, and that is Christ, Hebrews 8:6 and 9:15, 1. Timothy 2:5. Everyone who is attached to Him in faith belongs to the new, holy priesthood (1 Pet. 2:4-10). Therefore no one else, neither prophets, apostles nor others, should stand between God and the individual Christian. In other words: No other leader than Christ shall rule over the flock, Matthew 20:25ff, 2. Corinthians 1:24, 1 Peter 5:2f. The leaders must be servants and these servants must not be authoritarian, because then they have taken the Lord’s place. It does not hold that the leader, for his own part, humbly submits to the Lord on behalf of the congregation he leads. The leader shall, to the best of his ability, contribute to each of the members linking their loyalty to the Lord himself through the Holy Spirit.

Stay tuned…

Part XLI

Here comes part XLI in the series “We are eyewitnesses to…” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists. The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the Helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read: “16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness. 17 For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: “This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

I was told by God via the Holy Spirit to tell about what I have been eyewitnesses to as the previous eyewitnesses. God uses many eyewitnesses over the centuries.

The most incredible things happened within the Catholic and Orthodox Church in the years after the apostles passed away and Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire, and until the Reformation around the year fifteen hundred. One of the first major changes began not long after the apostles, when, among others, the so-called church fathers such as Justin Martyr, philosopher and Augustine of Hippo, bishop, saint, philosopher, and theologian became advocates of replacement theology or fulfilment theology. It is a “Christian” theological doctrine that describes the theological belief that the “Christian Church” has replaced the nation of Israel by assuming their role as God’s covenant people. This new theological doctrine can probably be seen in the context of the Jewish revolt against Rome under Emperor Titus in the year 70 when Jerusalem was conquered, and the 2nd temple completely destroyed as Jesus predicted before He left the disciples. Under Emperor Hadrian (117-138), after the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-136 AD), the Jews who remained were exiled and scattered throughout the world. In this particularly difficult situation for the Jews, the Catholic and Orthodox churches took the opportunity to decide that the Jews are no longer a people chosen by God, and that “Christianity” has taken over the Jews’ place as God’s people. All the promises of the old covenant were transferred to the church which became God’s chosen people and replaces Israel spiritually. The land is also no longer the bearer of the blessing, which presupposes the right relationship with God, which the Jews no longer have. The significance of Israel and the Jews in the history of revelation is over and past. Replacement theology offers a completely different view of God’s revelation in the Bible. The Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT) are set against each other. OT is reinterpreted and pushed out. The election of the Jewish people and God’s promises in the OT to the Jews have ceased. What was Jesus’ Bible, what we call the Old Testament, now does not have the same value and meaning for us as it did for Jesus Christ, the apostles and the first church. Everything that replacement theology stands for is not supported in the Bible, which is God’s infallible word delivered to people through the prophets and the teachings of Jesus through the apostles.

The changes that came with the new theological doctrine within the Catholic and Orthodox churches have dramatic consequences for how Jesus’ teachings are now preached. The Catholic and Orthodox churches, with their new theological understanding, destroyed the church from within. The churches overruled Biblical Christianity by adding a host of unnecessary rituals, rules and theological beliefs that mostly served only to strengthen the Pope’s worldly power and finances. This new theological understanding now led people away from the Bible’s clear and simple message of salvation. For the Jews who now lost their land after 3000 years and are scattered all over the world, the replacement theology became a disaster, it in a way confirms the Roman Empire’s treatment of the Jews and the land of Israel. The worship of Mary and saints, which is the worship of dead people, is idol worship, something the Bible strongly warns against. Worshiping dead people takes worship away from the living God and his son Jesus Christ who deserves all the glory, our God is the creator of heaven and earth and all that is.

The Bible is very clear that the glory belongs to God alone, Jesus addresses this relationship to his disciples when He teaches them to pray, see Matthew 6, 10-13 “Our Father, who art in heaven! Let your name be kept holy. 10 Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debt, as we also forgive our debtors. 13 Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom is yours, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Jesus’ message to the disciples is radical, He demands full focus on himself, God in heaven and His message, things that have to do with the pursuits of this world must come second. In Luke 14:27 Jesus says “He who does not honours his cross and follows me, cannot be my disciple.” The cross Jesus refers to are all the challenges and opposition from the world that follow being a Christian as the Bible shows us.

In addition to the hierarchical organization within the church itself, which turns the focus away from God and His son Jesus Christ, the nine points below that are part of the Catholic Church’s teachings clearly deviate from what Jesus and the apostles show us in the Bible.

1. Worship of Mary 2. Worship of saints 3. Relics 4. Icons 5. The monastic order

6. Baptism of young children who do not understand baptism themselves. Jesus blessed the little children, when the children become adults, they can choose to have communion with God through baptism. A choice must be made by it individual, to gain communion with God one must be born again by the Holy Spirit, like Jesus told Nicodemus.

7. Indulgence 8. Purgatory 9. Infallibility of the Pope

In Catholicism, purgatory, point 8, is the place people go to when they die. Purgatory is an “intermediate place” between heaven and hell where the dead must make up for their sins while they await judgment day, to ease the stay in purgatory, the Catholic Church offered indulgences, point 7, one could buy freedom from parts of purgatory.

The infallibility of the Pope is a dogma, i.e. a doctrine, in the Catholic Church which affirms the Pope’s authority as the supreme teacher of the Church. This infallibility which the Pope claims is not from the Bible, but it says that Jesus is the head of the church and the individual who is born again can seek wisdom and guidance in prayer from the Holy Spirit.

As Christianity, represented by the Catholic and Orthodox churches, became the leading religion in the Mediterranean, the situation worsened further for the Jews. The reasons for the suspicion of Jews and Jewish customs are now due to the biblical texts’ description of the events surrounding Jesus’ death and the Jews’ rejection of Jesus as the Jews’ awaited Messiah. In the centuries leading up to the Reformation, the Jews were subjected to abuse and persecution all over Europe. It is the Christian Church, represented by the Catholic and Orthodox Church until the fifteenth century, which, together with worldly emperors, kingsand princes, is behind the persecution. Pogroms were particularly carried out in Eastern Europe and Russia. Pogrom is a Russian word, which is derived from the verb gromit‘, “to ravage, destroy and tear down with violence”. It is mostly used for violent attacks on Jews and Jewish property, but the term is also used for violent attacks on other ethnic minorities.

The Catholic Church, i.e. those who have been in leadership at all times, will have a lot to answer for on judgment day. Quite the opposite of what Jesus’ teaching shows us, a top-led theological regime is implemented which is carried out in such a way that millions of both church members and people outside the church lose their lives. The Pope, the cardinals, and the bishops, often in collaboration with the secular part of society, use methods that are in sharp contrast to the teaching of Jesus and what he taught the people. Instead of imitating the teachings of Jesus, the Catholic and Orthodox churches went their own ways away from the teachings of Jesus. My kingdom is not of this world, said Jesus, but the Pope and the cardinals build on this world.

On the other hand, God conveys His grace to leaders who are installed by the laying on of hands, which means that you need to listen to them extra carefully (Acts 6:6, 1 Thessalonians 5:12f, 1 Timothy 4:14, 2 Timothy 1:6). Moreover, we can find hope in the fact that all leadership, good or bad, ultimately the leaders must be accountable to God.

I find an important key in Jesus’ own words in Mt. 23:8-10, in the middle of His sharp warning against the religious leaders of the time, the Pharisees and the scribes: “But you shall not be called rabbi, for there is one who is your teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. And do not call anyone here on earth father; for you have but one Father, who is in heaven. Neither let anyone call you tutors; for you have only one guide: Christ.” Apparently, Jesus is saying here the exact opposite of Paul. Paul claims that God has appointed teachers, shepherds and other leaders “to equip the saints so that they can carry out their ministry, and the body of Christ can be built up” Ephesians 4:12. But the point lies in the justification: “for there is one who is your teacher, namely Christ and the Holy Spirit who was sent to us by God.” So: The decisive thing is that each individual Christian is fundamentally connected to the Holy Spirit as guide, that the conscience is rooted in him. We should probably listen to leaders who are installed in the congregation, but always with a testing mind, and never accept something just because the leader says it is so. Each individual must primarily listen to the Lord himself through the Holy Spirit. It follows from this that the congregation must be organized so that the testing of leaders and preachers can actually take place – and be taken seriously. So strictly, says Jesus, the authority of the spiritual leaders must be limited, if they are ever so richly equipped. In the old covenant, which we find in the Old Testament, it was the case that the people were dependent on obeying wise persons who were called to stand in a special relationship with God, especially the prophets. It was to them that the Spirit of the Lord and the revelation of the Lord came upon them. Ordinary people could probably have knowledge of their religion, but they did not have the same direct access to God. One of the radically new things in the new covenant, the New Testament, is that God’s Spirit is poured out on everyone who accepts the gospel in faith, Joel 3:1f, Acts. 2:17f, and that everyone has equal access to God’s throne, Hebrews 4:14ff and 10:19ff. It is specified that in the new covenant there is only one mediator between God and men, and that is Jesus Christ, Hebrews8:6 and 9:15, 1. Timothy 2:5. Everyone who is attached to Him in faith belongs to the new, holy priesthood, 1 Peter 2:4-10. Therefore no one else, neither prophets, apostles nor others, should stand between God and the individual Christian. In other words: No other leader than Jesus Christ shall rule over the flock, Matthew 20:25ff; 2. Corinthians 1:24, 1 Peter 5:2f. The leaders must be servants and these servants must not be authoritarian, because then they have taken the Lord’s place. It is not appropriate for the leader to humbly submit himself to the Lord, so to speak, on behalf of the congregation he leads. The leader shall, to the best of his ability, contribute to each of the members linking their loyalty to the Lord himself.

In accordance with such Bible verses, the expression that is written in gold in recent Norwegian church history has emerged: “the mature lay people”. Every Christian should be able to read his Bible and ask the Lord for guidance, regardless of what the priest says, yes, the lay people of legal age could even allow themselves to critically test what the clergy say, and to reject everything that is not found to be true with the word of God. Originally, it was therefore about the right of the layman movement to be itself, faced with the official authority of the clergy, and to test the teachings of the state-authorised leaders. But exactly the sameprinciple must of course apply to all kinds of spiritual leaders. Then it is difficult to imagine how the pastor can have absolute power in the congregation. In line with this, we find an important admonition, addressed to the whole congregation: “Test the spirits, whether they are of God.” 1 John 4:1. If we accept preaching, or allow ourselves to be led by the guidance of leaders, without testing whether the spirits are of God, we are actually unfaithful to the Lord and irresponsible.

Stay tuned…

Part XL

Here comes part XL in the series “We are eyewitnesses to …” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists. The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the Helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to Earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read: “¹⁶We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness. ¹⁷ For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: “This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.” ¹⁸ We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

I was told by God via the Holy Spirit to tell what I have witnessed, as many previous eyewitnesses were told also. God uses many eyewitnesses through the centuries.

The last parts of the series have been concentrated around the great break within the Catholic and Orthodox churches in the fifteenth century, when the Holy Spirit or the Helper, as he is also called in the Bible, influenced Martin Luther and the other reformers. John Wyclif, an English reformer, Ulrich Zwingli, a Swiss priest and theological writer and Jean Calvin,a French theologian, served Christianity by their opposition to all ordinances, rules, Mary worship and saint figures worship, in the Catholic and Orthodox Church that are not found in Jesus’ teaching. The reformers pointed to what the Bible and Jesus teach about being born again and receiving the Holy Spirit as pledge in life here on earth and then in community with God in Heaven. The churches had over many hundreds of years failed to teach the teachings of Jesus as the Bible shows us. The promise of the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples and followers of Jesus, in John 14:15-16 Jesus said before He ascended to Heaven, “¹⁵ If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, who will remain with you forever,” see also John 14:26, “But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of everything I have told you.”.

The Reformation started a process that over the next two or three hundred years led to Jesus’ teachings becoming better known to all who seek God through prayer and Bible study. The development of the art of printing made it easy to print the Bible, which was the most popular book of the time. Most people in the congregations could now follow what the priest or pastor preached was according to the Bible. The Bible is a masterpiece arranged by God through his chosen prophets in the Old Testament and later Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament, they were all Jews. The Old Testament consists of 39 books, starting with Genesis. The New Testament consists of 27 books and begins with the Gospel of Matthew. The connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament is clearly shown in the first chapters of Matthew’s Gospel where he refers, among other things, to the prophecies in the Old Testament, see Matthew 1:22-23 “²² All this happened because what the Lord has spoken through the prophet (Isaiah 7:14) was to be fulfilled: ²³ Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel – which means: God with us.” and Matthew 2:6 “You Bethlehem in the land of Judah are by no means the least of the princes of Judah. From you will come a leader, who will be a shepherd for Israel, my people.”

The Jews are a people who were chosen by God through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, approx. 2000 years before Jesus was born. They became the forefathers of the Jewish people who started with Jacob’s twelve sons after the exit from Egypt in the year approx. 1445 BCE. The Jews were used by God to show all peoples on Earth who God is, the creator of heaven and earth and what God’s wish is with men and their immortal souls. Our God, that is, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is a selective God, it is a consistent feature throughout the Bible that God chooses the people He gives the opportunity to lift up His son, Jesus Christ, as the Saviour. All who believe in Jesus Christ and follow the Bible’s message, God will have with Him in God’s kingdom (the spiritual kingdom) here on earth and then in heaven when we leave earth. The Bible’s message can be summed up in the double commandment of love, the first and greatest of which is: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5), the second is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31 and Luke 10:27).

My relationship with the Holy Spirit has been active ever since I followed God’s call to me in the spring of 1982 to serve His church on earth. The service for God has entailed both personal hardship and prosperity, the picture below shows the times I had a particularly decisive meeting with the Helper (the Holy Spirit):

The above special events marked in red have been decisive for me in my relationship with God, his son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, the triune God that the Bible tells us about.

Ever since the time of the apostle Paul, there have been false teachers within the church and congregation, see 2 Peter 2:1-3,“¹ But false prophets also arose among the people. In this way, false teachers will also appear among you, such as will introduce false teachings that lead to perdition. They deny the Lord who bought them and bring upon themselves a sudden ruin. ² Many will come to follow them in their shameless journey, and because of them the way of truth will be mocked, ³ and in their avarice, they will exploit you for their own gain with made-up words. But from of old the judgment upon them is not inactive, and their destruction does not sleep.”

How can we detect these false teachers in the church or congregation, well, simply by always having the Bible at hand when the words of the Bible are preached over, the Apostle Paul advised everyone to study the Bible so that they could easily detect the wrong use of the word of God. Feel free to ask the pastor or priest where in the Bible they find the basis for their sermon or text when there are things that seem unclear. Back in time, after the time of the apostles, especially when the Roman rulers decided that Christianity should be the religion of the Roman state, it became decisive for the direction Christianity took for the next thousand years until the Reformation. This decision made by the Roman Empire’s political and economic leaders was influenced by evil spirit forces, that is, Satan and his demonic helpers. They put pressure on the priests and bishops so that they accepted changes in the preaching of God’s word that have no root in the teachings of the Bible. The Catholic and Orthodox Church represented by the leaders of the churches, i.e., the Pope, cardinals, bishops, and priests led the people away from the Bible’s teachings on how to be saved to live a life more like Jesus, see Acts chapter 2. This could happen because of a top-managed hierarchical church organization with little openness and transparency as well as influence from secular state leaders.

All ordinances and rules drawn up by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches and later also most of the national churches, which do not have their basis in the Bible, became religious traps which over the centuries caused much confusion and suffering to many church members and people outside the church who sought Jesus and His salvation. The church members who followed God’s word felt a confusion when the church deviated from the text of the Bible. Divisions arose within churches and congregations, something that Satan and his demons constantly exploited in various ways. The Bible says that the religious leaders who lead people away from Jesus’ teachings will have to be especially accountable to Jesus on the day of judgment. Luke 17:1-2 “¹ He said to the disciples: “It cannot be avoided that temptations come, but woe to him from whom they come! ² It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck than to seduce one of these little ones.””

What happened at the Reformation under Martin Luther and the other reformers was driven by the Holy Spirit, but that did not mean that the countless churches and congregations that appeared afterwards, often based on what the reformers preached, had any special contact with God. Some of what the reformers wanted to change was necessary for Jesus’ teachings to be preached according to the Bible. As has been repeated many times in this series, God relates to the individual person through the Holy Spirit and no individual person has any special position with God. Jesus is the only one who has a special relationship with God, because he is God’s only begotten son. Jesus became part of God’s plan to save as many Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) as possible here on Earth. The path to salvation is simple – if you want to follow Jesus or when God calls you in a particular situation, you can apply to congregations or churches that have Jesus’ teachings, adult baptism, and the Bible as a basis. You can also pray to God for help from the Holy Spirit, Jesus told the councillor Nicodemus that if he wanted to see God’s kingdom here on earth he had to be born again by water and Spirit. It also applies today, you can look for congregations or churches that follow Jesus’ teachings about being born again, often it is useful to be with like-minded people. Throughout the ages, Christianity has been plagued by leaders who would rather be bosses than servants of the congregation or church they are set to serve. The most incredible things happened within the Catholic Church in the years after the apostles passed away and Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire, and until the Reformation around the year fifteen hundred. The first major change began not long after the apostles, when among others the so-called church fathers such as Justin Martyr, philosopher and Augustine of Hippo bishop, saint, philosopher, and theologian became advocates of replacement theology. It is a Christian theological doctrine that describes the theological belief that the Christian church has replaced the nation of Israel by taking over their role as God’s covenant people. This new theological doctrine can probably be seen in the context of the Jewish revolt against Rome under Emperor Titus in the year 70 when Jerusalem was conquered, and the 2nd temple completely destroyed as Jesus predicted before He left the disciples. Under Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD) after the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136 AD), the Jews were exiled and scattered throughout the world. In this particularly difficult situation for the Jews, the Catholic and Orthodox churches took the opportunity to decide that the Jews are no longer a people chosen by God and that Christianity, those who believe in the teachings of Jesus, have taken over the Jews’ place as God’s people. All promises in the old covenant were transferred to the church. The believers in Christ, the church, became God’s chosen people who replace Israel spiritually. The land is also no longer the bearer of the blessing, which presupposes the right relationship with God, which the Jews no longer have. The significance of Israel and the Jews in the history of revelation is over and past. Replacement theology offers a completely different view of God’s revelation in the Bible. Old Testament and New Testament are pitted against each other. Old Testament is reinterpreted and pushed out. The election of the Jewish people and God’s promises in the Old Testament to the Jews have ceased. Jesus’ Bible, what we call the Old Testament, now does not have the same value and meaning for us as it did for Jesus Christ, the apostles and the first church! The change in the new theological understanding within the Catholic and Orthodox churches has dramatic consequences for the Jews in particular, and how the teachings of Jesus are preached.

Stay tuned…

Part XXXIX

Here comes part XXXIX in the series “We are eyewitnesses to ….” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists. The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read: “16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness. 17 For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: “This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

The missionary revivals in the middle and end of the 19th century had several reasons, one of which was the reaction against the liberal theology that flowed from the universities to the congregations. Many ordinary Christians could hear that there was something wrong when the priest preached. They read in their Bibles and could see that the liberal theology did not agree with what was written in God’s Word. Therefore, they looked around for someone who would preach both sin and grace, both heaven and hell. They rejoiced in Jesus’ atoning death for their sins and longed for a message that took this seriously. That is why they gather in private homes and soon also in mission houses when a preacher came with the church’s old message. Or they travelled to other parishes to hear one of the priests who did not adapt his message to what itches people’s ears (2 Tim 4,3).

Prayer becomes a theme in this part of the series, the Catholic and Orthodox Church, along with most national churches, have included prayer as part of the church liturgy, usually led by the priest or bishop. The church liturgy creates distance between God and the individual human being and is not taken from the Bible and is a foreign element in the individual person’s direct relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the triune God. Every single person has their own genuine relationship with God, this relationship cannot go through a pastor, priest, or bishop. According to the Bible 1 Tim 2, 5 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” or the Holy Spirit that God sent to earth when Jesus was taken up into heaven after completing the mission he was given by his Father.

No one must be forced or directed to pray or follow rituals that churches and or congregations establish for their members that do not come from the Bible. The individual congregation member must follow God’s word in the Bible and the Holy Spirit’s guidance for himself and his family’s Christian life. What the overall Christian community can do is to offer the individual congregation members advice, guidance, and practical help in their daily Christian life. God’s desire for everyone to be saved is conditioned by his desire to get a genuine response from every single person. He will not fulfil his desire to save all humans at the cost of turning humans into robots that worship him from simply being programmed to do so. God’s grace is conditional on a genuine response from every single person based on what the Bible and Jesus’ teachings say, in addition we have communion with the Holy Spirit through prayer.

See Matthew 6, 5-13, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. They would like to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray, to show themselves to people. Truly I say to you: They have all received their reward! 6 But you, when you pray, go into your private chamber, and close your door, and pray to your Father who is there. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you in the open. 7 When you pray, you should not recite many words like the pagans, because they think that their prayers will be heard when they use many words. 8 Don’t be like them! For your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 This is how you should then pray: Our Father, who art in heaven! Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as it is in heaven, so also on earth. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our guilt, as we also forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. «.

When you are born again by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit shows us how to pray (Rom 8,26-27) “26 And here the Spirit also helps us in our imperfection. Because we don’t know what to ask for as we should. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs that cannot be contained in words. 27 But he who searches the hearts knows what the Spirit is after. For it is according to God’s will that he intercedes for the saints.”

When God’s word lives abundantly in us, it becomes even easier for God to communicate and guide us from day to day. Through Bible reading that helps to expand our detailed knowledge and understanding of God’s word. Scripture is its own interpreter, see 2 Peter 19-21 “19 And all the more firmly we have the prophetic word, which you do well to heed. It is like a lamp that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in their hearts. 20 For you know this first of all, that no prophetic word in Scripture is given for its own interpretation. 21 For no word of prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of men, but by the holy men of God who spoke moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Next to the gospel itself, that is, Jesus’ teaching, prayer is the most important element in people’s relationship with God. The Bible shows us that prayer was the most important activity of Jesus next to teaching the disciples first and then the people of Israel. Prayer is in many ways our “weapon” in the daily spiritual battle that we must fight in the same way that Jesus did. In the Bible, we see that Jesus took countless times away from others in order tofind peace to pray to God, as a true man, Jesus was also exposed to spirit attacks from Satan. Perhaps the most famous situation was in the Garden of Gethsemane just before Jesus was betrayed by Judas. Jesus knew what was going to happen and evil spirits influenced him to seek to avoid the death on the cross that God his Father had commissioned him to do. By his death on the cross and his resurrection after three days, Jesus laid the foundation for God’s offer to men of eternal salvation. Romans 10:9-10 “For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. With the heart we believe, and we are justified, with the mouth we confess, and we are saved.” The Bible has this simple and clear message for everyone about how to be saved and born again by the Holy Spirit. It is a new creation from above, God intervenes in your life and transforms you completely so that you turn from your old way of being and seek God. When you confess Jesus as Lord, you will be born again, and the Holy Spirit will take up residence in you and will make you a new creature. You share in Jesus’ resurrection power; the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead!

To be born again is a creation from above by the Holy Spirit, it does not come in special confirmation, or from a certain church membership, or following religious duties, or going to church, or living a morally correct life. Jesus declared in his conversation with Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:3-7, NKJV). When you are born again, prayer is used to seek God and the Holy Spirit will guide us in our daily relationship with God our father in heaven. Here is my testimony of what I personally experienced from the spring of 1982 when I met the Spirit in the form of a voice that told me what I should do next in my life. I sat on the veranda on a Sunday morning in April, drinking coffee and smoking a cigar. The church bells in Råholt Church started ringing, I suddenly heard a clear voice to my right, where I was sitting on the veranda, saying “you will work for my church”. The following Sunday I was in a way drawn to the service in Råholt Church and from then on, my work for God’s church on earth began. My personal relationship with the Holy Spirit has been present since I followed God’s call to me to serve His church on earth. The service for God has entailed both personal hardship and success, the picture below shows in a simple way the times I had a particularly decisive meeting with the Helper (the Holy Spirit):

All ordinances and rules drawn up by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches and later also the national churches, which have no basis in the Bible, are religious traps which over the centuries have caused much confusion and suffering among the church members who followed God’s word in the Bible. This confusion led to unrest and division within churches and congregations, something that Satan and his demons constantly seek to exploit in various ways. What happened at the Reformation under Martin Luther and the other reformers such as Jan Hus a Czech theologian and writer, John Wyclif an English reformer, Ulrich Zwingli a Swiss priest and theological writer and Jean Calvin a French theologian and reformer have in many ways benefited Christianity when we see what the Bible actually says about Jesus’ teaching. All these reformers had access to the Bible and knew well what the Bible said about Jesus’ teachings and how to be saved in order to live a life more like Jesus to the glory of God. As the various reformers fought for their views, all the religious traps were uncovered, in parallel there was also a development in the art of printing which meant that most people got access to the Bible and could read what God’s word says in their own language. For more than a thousand years, the Catholic and Orthodox churches, and later the national churches, have operated with a form of religious dictatorship. Much of the old teaching from the Catholic Church was continued by the national churches that broke with Rome and the Pope. The continued hierarchical organization of the church community after the Reformation breaks with the words of the Bible, each congregation with the support of the council of elders and the pastor/priest chosen by the congregation conducts its service according to the words of the Gospel, the teachings of Jesus and community with the Holy Spirit.

Ever since the time of the apostle Paul, there have been false teachers within the church and congregation, see 2 Peter 2,1-3: “But false prophets also arose among the people. In this way, false teachers will also appear among you, such as will introduce false teachings that lead to perdition. They deny the Lord who bought them and bring upon themselves a sudden ruin. 2 Many will come to follow them in their shameless journey, and because of them the way of truth will be mocked, 3 and in their greed, they will exploit you for their own gain with made-up words. But from of old the judgment upon them is not inactive, and their destruction does not sleep.”

Stay tuned……

Part XXXVIII

Here comes part XXXVIII in the series “We are eyewitnesses to ….” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists.

The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven, to his Father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read:

“16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness. 17 For he received honor and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: “This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

In terms of time, we have now reached a period around the eighteenth century in Europe, where the results of the Reformation, where, among others, were Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin were, is now impacting and changing ordinary people’s understanding of what the Bible tells us about why God sent his son Jesus Christ to earth to be born as a human. In Christianity, the term incarnation is used to denote the notion of Jesus as a revelation of the Christian God. The starting point is John chapter 1, verse 14 where it says: “The Word became flesh”, it presupposes the pre-existence of Jesus with God the Father before he came to Earth, as is most clearly formulated in Paul’s letter to the Philippians in The New Testament (Philippians 2:6–11). The point is to say that God is in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19), or with the later dogmatic formula, that Jesus is “true God and true man”.

In the aforementioned time period after the Reformation where Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin had pointed out how the Catholic and Orthodox Church had over the centuries gone beyond the Bible’s teaching on how to turn to Jesus in order to be saved and to change one’s way of life to love one’s neighbour as himself and to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in his life. Satan and his demons do not want people to believe in Jesus as our saviour and to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives. By influencing priests, bishops and popes over the centuries, the development in the Catholic and Orthodox Church went in the wrong direction away from God, various rules and ordinances were introduced that led away from the words of the Bible.

The so-called liberal theology, which in a way follows from replacement theology, is perhaps the most dangerous attack on the Bible, the word of God and the teachings of Jesus to date. In my opinion, liberal theology is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” where the Bible, the word of God and the name of Jesus are lifted up. In addition to Satan and his demons come well-intentioned theologians and philosophers, who do not necessarily have a personal faith in Jesus but have religion as a profession or are elected leaders with various religious studies and or philosophical studies that deviate from the text of the Bible. Here renewal or modernization is used as a basis for changing the biblical texts. The Bible has clear warnings about adding or subtracting when it comes to the word of God given to the prophets and apostles. It is fixed in heaven: “For ever, Lord, your word is fixed in heaven.” Psalm 119:89. Jesus says that his word will never ever pass away. (Mat 24,35.) Here the usefulness of the Word for us humans is as follows: “useful for learning, for conviction, for guidance, for instruction in righteousness.” 2 Tim 3:16.

To live as a Christian means to be born again by the Holy Spirit and to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance in daily life. Jesus points out this invariable principle in his teaching, to the councillor Nicodemus about being born again of the Holy Spirit and water (John 3;1-21).

These below mentioned persons and groups of persons were driven by the Holy Spirit, it is often stated how boring and mood less it is to be a Christian born again by the Holy Spirit, but these Christians were neither boring nor moody.

Hans Nielsen Hauge (born 3 April 1771 on Rolvsøy in Norway, died 29 March 1824 in Christiania) was a Norwegian lay preacher and industrial entrepreneur. He founded the Christian movement “Haugians”, also called Hauge’s friends or readers, because they read a lot both in the Bible and other scriptures. In addition to being a leading figure for Christians, he was also an enterprising businessman, which among other things gave him the means to run extensive humanitarian activities.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (19 June 1834 – 31 January 1892) was an English Baptist preacher. Spurgeon is still very influential among Christians in various denominations, among them he is known as the “Prince of Preachers”. He was a strong figure in the Reformed Baptist Christian movements such as the Pentecostals and “charismatic religious movements” that gave rise to several evangelical or Protestant churches in the United States in the 20th century are unique in their belief that all Christians should seek a religious experience after conversion called “baptism with the Holy Spirit.” Reminiscent of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the first Christians in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, or Shabuoth (Acts 2–4), this experience appears to have been common in the Christian movement during its first generations. Baptism with the Holy Spirit may be accompanied by a sign or spiritual gifts such as the gift of tongues, prayer service in general, healing of the sick through prayer.

In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 Paul mentions: speech of wisdom, speech of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, power to do miracles, gift of prophesying, gift of testing spirits, different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, graces to help and graces to rule.

I am alpha and omega says Jesus (John’s Revelation 1, 8 and 22, 13) which means that He is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. God can have personal contact/community with all, living individuals / souls, who seek Him and are born again and baptized by the Holy Spirit and participate in God’s kingdom on earth. This is how God prepares us for life in heaven after our time on earth.

According to Jesus, the spiritual and diaconal leadership should be the congregation’s servants, not its superiors in human rank.

People must make a choice if they want to follow Jesus, Jesus once said (John 12:44-50) – “I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”

In part XXIX of the series, I show how the Reformation influenced people to think independently, primarily about God’s word and the individual’s direct relationship with God in everyday life. A new era came with greater freedom also for others than the clergy to convey thoughts about God’s word in the Bible. Already in the time of the apostle Paul, the Bible shows us the necessity to follow when preachers or priests refer to the words of the Bible in their speeches, that they follow the Bible and do not deviate from the words of the Bible. In the Catholic and Orthodox Church, it was not possible to follow the Bible because the clergy took control of how the individual should relate to God. Then began a Christian dictatorship of more than a thousand years away from Jesus’ teachings about how to be saved through a new birth by Spirit and water.

The Renaissance and the Reformation came and gave greater freedom and opportunity for others to convey thoughts. These new ideas influenced the church, culture, economy, and science in the centuries to come. The people who became promoters of this development are not distinguished by their belief in the Gospel, they instead lay the foundations for the humanistic idea. In a way, they tell God, who created heaven and earth and everything that exists, how things are really connected and how life should be lived.

In Europe and the West, the people mentioned below gradually gain a great influence:

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Italian physicist and astronomer, best known for his contributions to the theory of motion.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650), France, philosophy, and mathematics,

John Locke (1632-1704), England, philosopher, and the founder of philosophy of experience,

Isaac Newton (1642-1726) English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, chemist, inventor, and natural philosopher formulated the law of gravity,

Voltaire (1694-1778), France, philosopher, and writer,

David Hume (1711-1804) Scottish philosopher,

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) German philosopher (philosophy of cognition),

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) German philosopher,

Karl Marx (1818-1883) German philosopher, economist, and political thinker. He gained great importance within disciplines such as philosophy and social science due to his analyses of capitalist society,

Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) British natural scientist and considered the founder of modern evolutionary biology. In his book The Origin of Species, Darwin presented his world-famous hypothesis that all life on earth is related and has developed over many millions of years.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) an Austrian neurologist and psychologist, known as the founder of psychoanalysis.

All these above-mentioned skilled people do not focus on God’s kingdom here on earth, when they develop their theories which are intended to add knowledge to the worldly world that will make people better able to, among other things, be humane towards each other. They actually write off the Bible and the teachings of Jesus along with God’s plan for all people and introduce the humanistic understanding and ignore that life on earth is normally only 70 to 90 years, and intended by God to be a qualifying period for possible promotion to heaven when time on earth is over for the individual. Jesus says several times turn around and God through the Holy Spirit will provide for all who believe, see the quote “The Lord is my shepherd I need nothing”, Psalm 23, 1.

Humans are constantly influenced by evil forces, that is, Satan and his demons, because Satan knows that as soon as enough souls surrender to the teachings of Jesus are reached, Jesus will return for the second time to settle accounts with all peoples for all time.

The Catholic and Orthodox Church as well as most national churches continue their erroneous teaching as before, despite all the signals of change that the Reformation and later reformers brought forth. It is God through the Holy Spirit who now constantly influences people in every generation, and many give their lives to Jesus. The religious leaders in all generations and times, at different levels, in all Christian congregations or churches, have a special responsibility and will be held accountable on the day of judgment if they mislead people in their search for God and Jesus Christ.

The missionary revivals in the middle and end of the 19th century had several reasons, but one of them was the reaction against the liberal theology that flowed from the universities to the congregations. Many ordinary Christians could hear that there was something wrong when the priest preached. They read in their Bibles and could see that the liberal theology did not agree with what was written in God’s Word. Therefore, they looked around for someone who would preach both sin and grace, both heaven and hell. They rejoiced in Jesus’ atoning death for their sins and longed for a message that took this seriously. That is why they gather in private homes and soon also in mission houses when a preacher came with the church’s old message. Or they travelled to other parishes to hear one of the priests who did not adapt his message to what itches people’s ears (2 Tim 4,3).

Stay tuned ………..

Part XXXVII

Here comes part XXXVII in the series “We are eyewitnesses to…” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists.

The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the Helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to His Father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read:

“16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness.

17 For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: ‘This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.’

18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.’“

This part of the series will certainly be experienced as heavy to digest, but which we cannot ignore. The Bible is clear that humans have been given a free will to choose and that our spiritual soul is immortal, that is to say that when our body ceases to function, our spiritual soul will continue to function outside the dead body that is buried. The Bible is also clear that our life here on earth has two outcomes when we die: the spiritual soul will go either to heaven or to hell. In heaven it is Jesus, His and our Father who rules, in hell it is Satan and his demons who sort of rule. Hell was originally created by God as the final destination for Satan and his demons—there will all the spiritual souls who do not go to heaven also end up.

Who it is that goes where when they die, the Bible tells a lot about that. Earlier in the series, I have several times referred to what Jesus said to the Pharisee Nicodemus when he came to Jesus at night and asked what he had to do to see God’s kingdom on earth while we are alive, John 3:1-6,

“¹ There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ²This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” ³Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born ^[^a^]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Baptism or Anabaptister, see my comments on this in part XXXVI, originated in Zurich in 1523. It was eradicated in Switzerland and Germany but continued in the Netherlands, there it was also persecuted and criticized by the Church. From there it spread to England in the early 17th century. There was a group of people who wanted a radical reform of the church in England, they were particularly dissatisfied with the church’s view of baptism. We now come to the basics of Jesus’ teaching, namely that we must be born again by water and the Spirit in order to see the kingdom of God. We must distance ourselves from the world we live in and seek God who will then guide us through the Holy Spirit further in life. It is only adults who can seek God and be born again and receive the Holy Spirit and see God’s kingdom, new-borns or young children are not given to do this and parents cannot be proxies for their child in relation to God. The Bible clearly states that God will have direct contact with each individual, not through priests, bishops, popes or church organizations. However, church organizations or congregations can be meeting places for Christians with a common view of Christianity, that is, the teachings of Jesus. There it can e.g., be joint prayer meetings and discussions, about how to behave in daily work under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Here, priests, bishops and congregation elders can be resource persons. There will also be room for family gatherings and children’s and youth work.

This is such radical Christianity that the Catholic Church had kings and princes kill these Baptists/Anabaptists and others who were considered heretics or apostates. Because the idea that infant baptism should have any function within Christianity became intolerable for the Pope, church leaders and theologians.

The Baptists shared the desire of Martin Luther (1483–1546) and Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531) to renew Christianity based on the Bible because the church’s view of salvation did not follow the teachings of Jesus. There were more than the famous reformers who felt that the Christianity promoted by the Catholic Church was far from Jesus’ teachings. The Baptists or Anabaptists back in the 16th century were persecuted and killed because of Rebaptism or adult baptism. The Catholic and Orthodox churches have for centuries held infant baptism as the entrance to God’s kingdom here on earth, which is directly against the teachings of Jesus. Jesus clearly tells Nicodemus that an adult must choose to be born again by a spiritual act in his search for God and the Holy Spirit.

The texts of the Bible show that gaining communion with God through the Holy Spirit can only happen through an adult person’s search for God. Satan and his demons influenced the church fathers to establish an infant baptism ritual that misleads people into believing that infants have received the Holy Spirit and are thus saved and will go to heaven. In every generation since the century after Jesus and His apostles, there is a long line of popes, church leaders and priests who must be accountable to God for having misled and perhaps led astray the members of their churches. The Bible clearly states that no man can be a mediator for anyone before God except Jesus Christ who died on the cross and took the guilt for our transgressions. Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and is born again will be saved, says the Bible. Since the 16th century and up to today, there are many congregations and denominations that have adult baptism and follow the Bible’s path to salvation and community with God. The Bible clearly shows us that there is a heaven to attain and a hell to escape.

Because of the article about the San Remo and Svalbard Treaties that I included in the previous part, I was not able to present the so-called liberal theology, which is perhaps the most dangerous attack on the Bible, the word of God and the teachings of Jesus. In my opinion, liberal theology is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” where the Bible, the word of God and the name of Jesus are lifted up. In addition to Satan and his demons, there are well-intentioned theologians and philosophers, who do not necessarily have a personal faith, and church leaders with various studies and derivations that deviate from the text of the Bible, with renewal or modernization as a basis for changing biblical texts. The Bible has clear warnings about adding or subtracting when it comes to the word of God given to the prophets and apostles. It is fixed in heaven: “For ever, Lord, your word is fixed in heaven.” Psalm 119:89. Jesus says that His word will never ever pass away (Mat 24:35). Here the usefulness of the Word for us humans is as follows: “useful for learning, for conviction, for guidance, for instruction in righteousness.” 2.Tim 3:16.

Stick to what you’ve learned. Hold on to God’s word! Revelation 1:3, 3:11 & 22:7. These three scriptures essentially speak of the same thing. They have a strong admonition to take care of God’s word, as we have it handed down in the Holy Scriptures. Because taking care of God’s word is about our salvation: “Blessed is he who hears the prophetic word and takes care of what is written,” Revelation 1:3, and “Hold fast to what you have (i.e. the prophetic word), so that no one will take your crown” Rev. 3:11, i.e. the great wealth that the Word from God carries within it. And the reason is clear: “The time is near!” – for: “Look, I’m coming soon!”.

From the end of the 18th century, a fierce optimism spread in Europe. The economy, science and cultural life seemed to develop more and more positively. It all seemed to be heading for better times for Christianity, however, philosophers, historians and theologians began to subject the Bible to a veritable onslaught. Large parts of this book were not historically reliable, they claimed. Long passages were written by other people and much later than the Bible itself claimed. It was not an expression of divine revelation, but of people’s religious experiences and feelings. The god that the writers of the Bible wrote about had actually been created in their own heads. So said leading European thinkers and cultural figures 200 years ago who were clearly influenced by evil forces. In the main, it is Satan and his demons who lead the attack against God’s word and faith in Jesus Christ as our saviour. Liberal theology supposedly came about as an ecclesiastical response to this attack. The liberal theologians of the 19th century understood themselves as Christian apologists. They wanted to save Christianity from destruction. We rightly associate liberal theology with the undermining of the Gospel and of Christian faith in general. The classical liberal theologians wanted to save the Christian faith from the onslaught to which more radical theologians had exposed it. The liberal theology is an internal church heresy, their followers understand themselves as classical and conservative Christians, therefore we must look for the liberal theology within the church, not outside it, because it operates as a fifth column.

In 1953, in a radio devotional on NRK radio, Norway, held by Professor Ole Kristian Hallesby on Sunday 25th January, Hallesby, who was professor of theology at the Church Faculty and preacher in the Norwegian Lutheran Local Mission Society, took up what Jesus says about heaven and hell. In the speech, Hallesby posed the question of “how can you who are unconverted, how can you calmly go to sleep at night, you who do not know whether you will wake up in your bed or in hell?”. He also warned Norway’s unconverted that “you know that if you fell dead on the floor now, you would fall straight into hell!” Jesus tells us in the Bible that there is a hell for those who do not believe in Jesus as our saviour. The bishop of Hamar, Norway, Kristian Schjelderup not long after distanced himself from Hallesby’s position on eternal punishment and perdition, and from his preaching style. The question soon became a debate between liberal and conservative forces in the Norwegian church and little about what Jesus teaches us in the Bible. At the beginning of the 2000s, I really got to see and hear for the first time how destructive liberal theology is to the text of the Bible. On NRK radio it was read from Isaiah 7:14 “Look, the young woman will bear child”. Liberal professors had gotten in through a change to the biblical text which is actually “Behold, the virgin shall bear child”. In Isaiah, the prophet says that God would give them a sign, through 2700 years “virgin” in Isaiah 7 has been the main word for “incarnation”, that the Son of God should come and came in the flesh, that a young woman who had not had cohabitation with any man, a real virgin, should have a child. God must here be said to have given a divine sign.

Stay tuned …

Part XXXVI

Here comes part XXXVI in the series “We are eyewitnesses to…” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists.

The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the Helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to His father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read:

“16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness.

17 For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: “This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.”

18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.“

I am glad that I am alive today because in our time we can clearly see, we are eyewitnesses and can read about all the prophecies that have been fulfilled and the prophecies that remain. The two most powerful prophecies of our time that have been fulfilled are the re-establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948 and the beginning of the return of Jews to Israel from all over the world.

In 2020, the Jews could celebrate the 100th anniversary of their land, “Eretz Israel” which means “Land of Israel”. The very moment of birth of the rights of the Jewish people was 24-25 April 1920. during the peace conference in the small holiday town of San Remo, Italy. Here the Jews were given the legal right to property in the mandated area “Palestine” for which the British were given stewardship responsibility on behalf of the League of Nations and later the United Nations (UN). Many people are not aware of the Jews’ right to the land, which is clearly shown in debates and arguments about boycotts and “occupation”. It is therefore important to bring the historical facts to light.

The San Remo Treaty was ratified by the UN’s forerunner, the League of Nations, which adopted the “Palestine Mandate” on 24 July 1922. There, the League of Nations referred to the agreement between the Allied Powers in San Remo. When the UN Charter was adopted in 1945, Article 80 affirmed that previously concluded international agreements were still valid after the establishment of the UN. “Despite a number of critical UN resolutions with consultative authority, no international law agreement has been concluded that has put the San Remo Agreement out of force,” says Gauthier.

An interesting parallel is the San Remo Treaty regarding the Svalbard Treaty, which concerns Norway’s right to the Svalbard Islands in the Arctic Ocean.

The San Remo Agreement concerning the Jewish homeland from 1920 and Norway’s Svalbard Treaty from 1924 are examples of the international community’s different treatment of peoples and states. It shows the international discrimination of the San Remo agreement in which the Jewish people and their state are involved. An irrational hatred of Jews and discrimination against Jews has been present in most peoples since the time of the patriarch Abraham, his children, and grandchildren almost 4000 years ago, when they received a promise from God about the land of Canaan. No other people have been subjected to discrimination and neglect of its rights for so long and continuously as the Jewish people.

(Here comes an article published: 28/04/2021 at 11:46 by Roald Øye, Kristiansand, Norway.)

In the documentary “Jew Hatred” from 2005: “The History of Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to Today“, three researchers, Berg Eriksen, Håkon Harket and Einhart Lorenz, talk about why so few throughout the ages have stood up for the Jews in their struggle to gain acceptance for their rights. The neglect of the San Remo Agreement, the Jews’ “Magna Carta”, is a blatant example of such abuse. For 100 years, the agreement has been “silent to death” by the international community, represented by the League of Nations in the interwar period and by the UN after 1945.

The victorious powers of the First World War met in San Remo, Italy in April 1920 to settle the questions left open after the Paris Conference in 1919. Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the United States were represented there, the former four with decision-making authority and the United States as an observer. After the 6-day war in 1967, we have constantly heard in the news and in political debates that “Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian land in the West Bank”, i.e. Judea and Samaria! The “successful” propaganda goes against almost everything that is written in the International Agreement.

The Mandate Treaty of San Remo laid the historical foundation for what eventually became the creation of the 21 States that make up the Arab League – plus the only Jewish state in the world. The four Allied Powers divided the territories from the Ottoman Empire into mandate areas, and the British were given custodial responsibility for the “Palestine” mandate. The entire Balfour Declaration was implemented in the mandate text. The Treaty States that the mandate authority should have the duty to facilitate Jewish immigration and Jewish settlement in the entire mandate area. This was not the case due to the betrayal of the British in 1921 when the Emirate of Transjordan was established on most of mandate area.

“The Svalbard Treaty is one of the very few international agreements from the settlement after the First World War that is still adhered to,” says Store Norwegian lexicon. The San Remo Agreement is an agreement that is only partially complied with. The majority of UN member states and their representatives in the Security Council, of which Norway is a member, regard the San Remo Agreement as having expired as far as Israel is concerned, because the treaty’s decisions have never been enforced. Customary law has spoken in favourof the Arab states, and the San Remo agreement is therefore alive and well for 21 Arab states, just as the Svalbard Treaty is for Norway.

“It was the Treaty of San Remo that established the Jewish people’s territorial right to the mandated area of ‘Palestine’ according to international law,” says international law expert Jaque Gauthier, who has written a doctoral thesis in which he sheds light on the topic. Treaty law applies to today’s Israel, including the disputed areas of Judea and Samaria, which are claimed by the Palestinian Authority. When the mandate was established, it also applied to the area that is today on the east side of the Jordan River, which Israel no longer claims after 1994.

Professors Alan Dershowitz and Eugene Kontorovich have the same opinion as JaqueGauthier when it comes to Israel’s rights. Eugene Kontorovich recently pointed out in an article in the Jerusalem Post that, “among all the countries affected by the agreement, Israel is the only state that the international community questions regarding the international law validity of the provisions laid down in the San Remo Agreement”. None of the 21 states in the Arab League have received similar questions about the validity of their borders under international law! Since the days of Arthur Balfour, few statesmen have heeded what the Bible says on the matter. President Harry Truman (USA) was an exception in 1948.

When the Trump administration (US) declared in 2017 that the Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are not contrary to international law, “they reverted to a position where they respect the San Remo treaty law”, noted Kontorovich. Until January 2021, ex-president Donald Trump was a lone swallow in the international community who practiced this understanding. Now the swallow is gone.

The San Remo Treaty was ratified by the UN’s forerunner, the League of Nations, which adopted the Palestine Mandate on 24 July 1922. There, the League of Nations referred to the agreement between the Allied Powers in San Remo. When the UN Charter was adopted in 1945, Article 80 affirmed that previously concluded international agreements were still valid after the establishment of the UN. “Despite a number of critical UN resolutions with consultative authority, no international law agreement has been concluded that has put the San Remo Agreement out of force,” says Gauthier. The exception is that Israel no longer has a right to the area that makes up today’s Jordan east of the Jordan River. Israel relinquished that right to Jordan in 1994. The British protectorate, Transjordan, was already established in 1921, so ¾ of the land that had been promised to the Jews in San Remo, the British had, contrary to international law, given away to Arab sheikhs many decades before the agreement with Jordan was concluded. The agreement ended with a two-state solution for the “Palestinian” mandate area, a Palestinian and a Jewish state side by side. It may, in the opinion of some, open the way for a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.

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Back to Christianity’s “development” since the Reformation. After the fifteenth century and the reformation by Martin Luther, a variety of Christian organisations, churches and congregations have developed in the following centuries until today. In the previous part of the Series, we wrote; “in this Christian church chaos” of the fifteenth century and later centuries the following denominations arose:

The Catholic Church (Italy), The Orthodox Church (in various Eastern countries), Reformation Churches (Europe), Protestant movements, Lutheranism (Germany), Calvinism (Switzerland), The Reformed Church, Anabaptism, Huguenots (France), Mennonites (Netherlands), The Church of England , The Anglican Church, Puritanism, Presbyterianism (Scotland), Adventism (USA), Baptism (USA), Methodism (England), Evangelicalism (USA) including, for example, Pentecostals and non-denominational, which are independent of traditional Lutheran, Methodist or Episcopal denominations. They place more emphasis on personal faith, conversion, revival, sanctification, and missionary work.

Anabaptists, also called Anabaptists or Baptists, were groups and individuals who advocated a more radical reformation than the large reformation churches of the 16th century. Modern Christian communities such as Baptists and Mennonites link their own history with the Anabaptist movement in the 16th century. The Anabaptists’ radical ideals had some important features in common. The Baptists shared Martin Luther’s (1483–1546) and Ulrich Zwingli’s (1484–1531) desire to renew Christianity based on the Bible, but initially differed on the issue of infant baptism. The name Rebaptism (Anabaptist) was given because they were in favourof adult baptism and believed that infant baptism was not sufficient as an act of initiation for true Christians.

Many Anabaptist groups were concerned with the Bible’s texts about the end times and expected Christ’s imminent return to earth. Christ’s return for a thousand-year reign with the true believers was preached.

What strikes me in my journey through the texts of the Bible and the prophecies, against the diversity of denominations, is that the reformers also propose that true Christianity goes through man-made rituals and ordinances and rules which were the weakness of the teachings of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Instead of following the words of the Bible about how to achieve daily communion with God and following what Jesus tells us about living a holy life. The Bible says that those who have been born again and received the Holy Spirit and follow the words of the Bible are saints and part of Jesus’ church on earth.

Acts 1-10 tells about repentance and being born again by the Holy Spirit and water. It can be achieved by asking God for forgiveness for not putting Him and Jesus first in our lives, God will provide what is necessary in the daily life of those who are born again and follow the Holy Spirit’s leadership in their lives.

Saul, who later became the apostle Paul, was baptized and born again by the Holy Spirit in Damascus by miraculous works and who then led Paul to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, i.e., all those who are not Jews.

Acts. 2:38

“38 Peter said to them: Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 2:21

“21 And it will happen: Everyone who calls on the Lord’s name will be saved.”

Because of the above article on San Remo and the Svalbard Treaties that I included this time, there was no room to present the so-called liberal theology, which is perhaps the most dangerous attack on the word of God and the teachings of Jesus. But in the next part of the series, we will go into more detail about liberal theology, which in my opinion is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.

Stay tuned…

Part XXXV

Here comes part XXXV in the series “We are eyewitnesses to ….” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists.

The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read:

“16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness.

17 For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: “This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.”

18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

We must remember that ever since Adam and Eve in Paradise chose to follow Satan’s word instead of God’s word not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, this event called the Fall has separated us from fellowship with God. Since the exclusion from God and Paradise, two spiritual forces have worked in different ways in people, namely the spiritual influence from God and the Holy Spirit and the other spiritual influence that comes from Satan and his demons. These two counteracting spiritual forces we cannot see with the naked eye, but which we notice are present in our lives in both a positive and negative way. At the Fall, the human body was made corruptible and will eventually die. Negative emotions such as lust, envy and hatred entered our lives at the Fall and became the root of evil in the world.

God has a solution that can bring people back to daily fellowship with Him here on earth and then in heaven. The solution was God’s only begotten son Jesus Christ. “Many times and in many ways, God has previously spoken to the fathers through the prophets, but now in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son. God has installed the Son as the heir of all things, by him the world was also created, He is the reflection of God’s glory and the image of God’s being, and he carries all things by the word of his power. After he had completed the cleansing of our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:1-3.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. When the fall came through a man, Adam, salvation from perdition also came through a man, namely Jesus Christ. God wants all people to be saved by believing in Jesus Christ and being born again by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus told the councillor Nicodemus “There was a man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, one of the councillors of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do the signs you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered: “Truly, truly, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4 “How can one who is old be born?” said Nicodemus, “can he not then enter his mother’s womb again and be born?” 5 Jesus answered: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Whoever is not born of water and the Spirit cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:1-6.

At the end of the previous part of the series we wrote: “in this Christian church chaos” in the fifteenth century and later centuries: The Catholic Church (Italy), The Orthodox Church (in various Eastern countries), Reformation Churches (Europe), Protestant movements, Lutheranism (Germany), Calvinism (Switzerland), The Reformed Church , Anabaptism , Huguenots (France) , Mennonites (Netherlands), The Church of England , The Anglican Church, Puritanism, Presbyterianism (Scotland), Adventism (USA), Baptism (USA), Methodism (England), Evangelicalism (USA) including as for example, Pentecostals and non-denominational, which are independent of traditional Lutheran, Methodist or Episcopal denominations. They place more emphasis on personal faith, conversion, revival, sanctification, and missionary work.

The Holy Spirit has a powerful effect on individuals, which we will see the result of now in this part of the series. God does not deal with churches and worldly rulers, all these aforementioned churches and rulers have no fellowship with God as such because they are empty shells, on the other hand the members of the churches, if they personally are born again and believe in God and his Son Jesus Christ, are the saints that have fellowship with God. At best the churches, the empty shells that are used to organizing places for like-minded people and in addition often cooperate with worldly rulers. These organizations or churches are often influenced by Satan and his demons who work in high gear where the Bible and the name of Jesus are lifted up, which may be a contributing factor to the emergence of a large number of seemingly similar churches and congregations, but often with a different focus on what the Bible says is the teaching of Jesus. The only authority that should shape the way the church functions is the Word and His Spirit. If any of the churches or worldly rulers add or take away from it (even if they are from a good church) they are wrong.

A recurring characteristic is that churches and congregations prepare their own texts such as is added to what the Bible tells us. When Jesus died on the cross, his last words were “it is finished”, what the prophets in the Old Testament gave us from God, and what Jesus and the apostles added to us in the New Testament is the necessary knowledge we need to achieve, for salvation and society with God, while we live on earth. In Peter’s second letter 1:19-21 we read that Scripture is its own interpreter: “19 And the more firmly we have the prophetic word, which you do well to heed. It is like a lamp that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in their hearts. 20 For you know this first of all, that no prophetic word in Scripture is given for one’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophetic word has ever been brought forth by the will of men, but the holy men of God spoke moved by the Holy Spirit.” It should be the same when we read and try to understand scripture, we need to be born again and driven by the Holy Spirit.

Holding on to texts that churches, princes, popes, cardinals and bishops decide or write contrary to God’s word in the Bible, will have no meaning or effect of the individual’s salvation and to see God’s kingdom here on earth, where those who follow the Holy Spirit can be managed by Him. The church chaos we have had since the fifteenth century and up to today is not God’s will, where the churches or congregations that are based on the words of the Bible often oppose each other is proof of the work of Satan and his demons in the lives of individuals. Subjects as homophile, aborting, marriage, born again with the Holy Spirit, does hell exists and ecumenical issues, are on the verge to tearing many churches apart.

Within the various churches and congregations, so-called prophets or theologians also appear from time to time, who believe they have received a special revelation or seen the light, and thus consider themselves competent to add to or subtract from what the Bible tells us is right. This is similar to the teachings of the Nicolaitans, Jesus says to John in Revelation 2: 4-6 it says: “4 But I have it against you that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore what you have fallen from. Repent, and do the first works! But if not, then I will suddenly come upon you and I will move your candlestick away from its place – if you do not repent.6 But you have this: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians 1:6-9 it says: “6 I wonder that you are so soon turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ, to another gospel, 7 although there is no other – it is only someone who confuses you and wants to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you another gospel than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed! 39 As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone preaches to you a different gospel than that which you have received, let him be accursed!”

False teachers: Peter’s Second Letter 2:1-3 “1 But false prophets also arose among the people. In this way, false teachers will also appear among you, such as will introduce false teachings that lead to perdition. They deny the Lord who bought them and bring upon themselves a sudden destruction. 2 Many will come to follow them in their shameless journey, and because of them the way of truth will be mocked, 3 and in their avarice, they will take advantage of you to his own gain with made-up words. But from of old the judgment upon them is not idle, and their destruction sleeps not.”

God’s judgment on the false teachers Peter’s Second Letter 2:4-11 “4 For God did not spare the angels who had sinned but cast them down and kept them chained in the darkness of the abyss until the judgment. 5 Nor did he spare the old world, but preserved Noah, the preacher of justice – even the eighth – when he brought the water flood over the world of the wicked. 6 And he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to destruction, and set them as an example of the wicked in the future. 7 He freed the righteous Lot, who was tormented by the shameless conduct of the lawless, 8 – for the righteous man who lived among them suffered day by day torment in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. 9 Therefore also know The Lord to deliver the godly from trials, but to keep the unjust in custody with punishment until the day of judgment, 10 especially those who follow the unclean lust of the flesh and despise dominion. These confident daredevils! They do not tremble to mock high spirits, 11 while angels, if greater in power and strength, pass no mocking judgment against them before the Lord.”

The most important element in the Gospel besides believing in God and his Son is found in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, where Jesus says that the kingdom of God on earth can only be seen by those who are born again by the Holy Spirit and water (John 3:1-6). The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom where those who are in the kingdom follow Jesus’ example.

In addition to all the conflicts within Christianity that affect people, there are other so-called religions, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, but these religions are created by man. Judaism and Christianity are not religions but are a coherent revelation from God to his chosen people the Jews and selected Jewish prophets (Judaism), who in their texts refer to Jesus Christ as the coming saviour or messiah of the Jews. However, the Jewish religious leaders rejected Jesus Christ, as the Jews’ expected messiah. The Jews’ rejection of Jesus’ teachings, all the great miracles and good works Jesus did over more than three years, resulted in the Roman leader in Israel, Pontius Pilate, giving in to the Jews’ demand to crucify Jesus Christ because, according to the Pharisees, he was trying to mislead the people.

In recent times, the so-called liberal theology represents perhaps the most dangerous attack on the word of God and the teachings of Jesus, in the next part of the series we will go into more detail about the liberal theology which, in my opinion, is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.

Stay tuned …

Part XXXIV

Here comes part XXXIV in the series “We are eyewitnesses to …” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists.

The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the Helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven, to His Father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read:

“16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and His coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness. 17 For he received honor and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: “This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

In this series about the Bible and the prophecies, we have seen how God is faithful to His word given to us in the Bible, via the prophets in the Old Testament and through His Son Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament. When Jesus was crucified on the site of Calvary, He said before He breathed his last, “it is finished”, the way to salvation for people was completed at Calvary. Through the four gospels and the rest of the letters written by the apostles, we are given by God the necessary knowledge we need to turn to the way of salvation, which Jesus provided by his death on the cross and resurrection three days later. We must believe that Jesus died in our place, so that we will be free from the coming judgment when Jesus returns to take the believers to heaven.

The period around the fifteenth century in Europe was revolutionary primarily for the two dominant Christian churches in Europe: the Catholic and Orthodox. For over a thousand years, they deviated from the teachings of the Bible and Jesus about God’s plan for every human being here on earth, as the Gospel in the New Testament shows us. The growth of Christian people who react to the way the existing Christian churches are led and run provides fertile ground for new Christian movements outside the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The Holy Spirit’s battle for God’s kingdom on earth has started a decisive activity, which means that Satan and his demons significantly increase their activity when Jesus’ name and baptism by the Holy Spirit are brought into play. The evil forces in the world also influence the worldly part of society to distance themselves from God as creator of heaven and earth and all that is, the Renaissance takes place in the same time period and people begin to cultivate “the works of their own hands” more than believe in God and his plan for people through his Son Jesus Christ. The Renaissance humanists are often brought forward as the origin of humanism both as a philosophy and a view of life and these are not built on the words of the Bible. The Renaissance was a period in Europe, also here in the Nordics, in the 14th-17th centuries, which was characterized by a scientific flourishing and new interest in culture, philosophy, art and other subjects. This period is defined by a secularization that challenges the Bible’s message to humanity about how to gain communion with God and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit while we are on earth. We are actually on a journey through which God, through the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, shows us the way to communion with him, so that when we die, we go to heaven. The other exit when we die is the road to hell where Satan and his demons reside.

More people than ever sought personal fellowship with God in the following centuries up to the present day. The Bible was made available to most people in their own language, for the study of God’s word as the apostle Paul advised the first churches to carry out. God says the following in the Bible “heaven and earth shall pass away, my words will not pass away”. That says something about the importance of reading and following the words of the Bible. The leadership of the Catholic Church back in the second or third century and later clearly did not emphasize personal Bible studies, to the same extent as the apostle Paul. What seems to be a consistent feature from the twentieth century to the fifteenth century is how few people come forward with the true gospel about God and his son Jesus Christ, which the gospels tell about. Where faith in Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death and resurrection after three days is the foundation. Faith, without seeing, and new birth by the Holy Spirit and water as Jesus told the councillor Nicodemus, is the basis for seeing God’s kingdom here on earth, ref. Joh. 3:3-6: “Truly, truly, I say to you: Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus said to him: How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born? 5 Jesus answered: Truly, I say to you: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

The art of printing became one of the important inventions. In Europe it was Johann Gutenberg who discovered how books could be printed. It happened in Germany in the 15th century. The Bible became the first printed book in Europe. One of the fundamental principles in Luther’s teaching was that each individual should read his Bible himself, and that the relationship between each individual and God did not have to go through a priest and a church. This was clearly pointed out early on by the apostle Paul when he visited the congregations on his tours around the Mediterranean. Paul pointed out the responsibility of the individual to check that the priests and bishops adhered to the words of the Bible in their sermons and statements. The rapid technical development of the art of printing meant that everyone in the congregations could follow their Bibles when the priest spoke. This way of following what the priest communicated to his listeners, the apostle Paul claimed, was absolutely necessary to prevent wrong preaching from entering the congregations, in practice this arrangement became a leadership by the Holy Spirit or the Helper that God sent to earth when Jesus was taken up into heaven.

Not long after the apostle Paul passed away, theologians began to promote ideas that did not follow the words of the Bible. One of the more famous was Justin Martyr (c. 100-165) who early on gave a rationale for what is today called replacement theology. In his struggle to defend the truth of Christianity as he believed it should be, he advocated a synthesis between Greek philosophy and the Christian faith. At the same time, he distanced himself from the Jewish faith and wrote an Apology against Judaism (Dialogue with the Jew Tryphon). This became the basis for the thoughts of a theology which assumes that the Christian church “has taken Israel’s place and taken over Israel’s promises, Israel has been replaced by the Christian church. All promises in the old covenant were transferred to the church. The church became God’s chosen people to replace Israel”. The land is also no longer the bearer of the blessing, which presupposes the right relationship with God, “which the Jews no longer have. The church replaces the Jews and the importance they had in the history of revelation is over and past.” Replacement theology offers a completely different view of God’s revelation in the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament being set against each other. The Old Testament is being reinterpreted and pushed out. The election of the Jewish people and God’s promises in the Old Testament to the Jews “have ceased”. What was Jesus’ Bible, what we call the Old Testament, “does not have” the same value and meaning for us as it did for Jesus Christ, the apostles and the first church, the defenders of replacement theology claim.

Replacement theology is therefore also critical of the state of Israel. This theology claims that it does not make sense to speak of a specially chosen people who have been given a special piece of land. The New Testament largely replaces the provisions of the Old Testament. Instead of being a unique revelation from God, who created heaven and earth, Christianity is now becoming a religion on an equal footing with other religions that have their basis in the Bible, but do not provide salvation.

After Constantine I, who was also called “The First Christian Emperor”, together with his co-ruler Licinius through the Edict of Milan, allowed the free exercise of individual faith. He initiated the famous Council of Nicaea (325). Here the local administrative structure of the church was brought together in a hierarchical organization in Rome. At the church meeting in Nicaea in 325, the Christian doctrine of confession was institutionalized to a significant extent.

Fractionation of the Christian churches was a problem from the beginning of the church. The Roman Empire adopted Christianity as the state religion, Emperor Constantine believed in the year 312 that he had received a divine call to be emperor and converted to Christianity. Tradition has it that Constantine saw a shining cross in the sky and heard a voice saying, “By this sign you shall conquer,” before the decisive battle that made him sole emperor. He agreed with his former co-emperor, Lincinius, to introduce religious freedom. Thus, the church received official recognition and freedom of assembly. Constantine gave Christian priests tax exemption, recognized bishops became civil judges and made Sunday an official Roman day off. His co-emperor in the east resented this and gradually became more hostile to Christianity. In the year 324 there was a great battle between the armies of the two emperors. Constantine won a crushing victory and became sole ruler of the entire Roman Empire.

Christianity became the state religion under Emperor Theodosius in the year 380. He made Christianity the only permitted religion. Christians were persecuted until 313, but after 380 the church itself was in danger of oppressing people of a different faith. In this way, the Roman Empire maintained the ability to combat heresy. Those who deviated sufficiently from Roman orthodoxy, care was taken to bring them into the fold by whatever means were necessary. It is a big question whether the individual, and the different origins of the Christian churches, in practice experienced more religious freedom and less oppression after the formation of the Roman Catholic central administration. However, what takes place after the formation of the central administration within the Catholic Church, and which is later continued in national churches in Europe, is a clear violation of Jesus’ words that “my kingdom is not of this world” see John 18:36-37. The church is secularized by the fact that it enters into cooperation with the state, at the same time it assumes the right to decide over the members of the church and to introduce rituals and ordinances that have no basis in the teachings of the Bible. Persecution of dissenters became an early part of the behaviour of the Catholic and Orthodox churches and increased in intensity in the 12th century, the churches used secular rulers to persecute what they called heretics. Out of this chaos within the churches in Europe came the so-called Wars of Religion, a somewhat vague collective term for several wars in Europe in the period from the time after the Reformation to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The term is particularly used for the conflicts between Protestant and Catholic princes in the German Empire. In an agreement from 1555 (the Augsburg Peace of Religions), Catholic and Lutheran, but not Calvinist, princes were made equal, and the princes were given the right to decide the religion of their subjects. This was followed by a longer period without wars, but with strong tensions. These tensions culminated in the Thirty Years’ War, which lasted from 1618–1648. The Thirty Years’ War was triggered by religious reasons, but eventually it became a purely power-political war.

As mentioned above, “in this church chaos of Christianity” in the fifteenth century, the Holy Spirit works on individuals, which we will see the result of in the next part of this series.

Reformation churches (Europe), Protestant movements, Lutheranism (Germany), Calvinism (Switzerland)

The Reformed Church, Anabaptism, Huguenots (France), Mennonites (Netherlands)

Church of England, Puritanism, Presbyterianism (Scotland)

Adventism (USA), Baptism (USA), Evangelicalism (USA), Methodism (England)

God does not deal with churches and worldly rulers.

Stay tuned …

Part XXXIII

Here comes part XXXIII in the series “We are eyewitnesses to ….” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and everything that exists.

The background to this series is a quote from the Bible that I received back in 2018 from the helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to His Father. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, we read:

“16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw his divine greatness.

17 For he received honour and glory from God, his Father, when the voice sounded over him from the highest glory: “This is my Son, the beloved, in him I am well pleased.”

18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

In this series about the Bible and the prophecies, we have seen how God is faithful to His Word given to us in the Bible, via the prophets in the Old Testament and through His Son Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament. When Jesus was crucified on the site of Calvary, he said before he breathed his last, “it is finished!” and thus the way to salvation for people was completed at Calvary. Through the four gospels and the rest of the letters written by the apostles, we are given the necessary knowledge from God that we need to turn from our wicked ways to the Way of Salvation, which Jesus provided by his death on the cross and resurrection three days later. We must believe that Jesus died in our place, so that we will be free from the coming judgment when Jesus returns to take the believers to heaven.

The famous American evangelist Billy Graham often brought up in his sermons that there are 3 things you can’t live (eternally) without. Three things you cannot do without if you want to belong to Jesus and achieve the salvation that Jesus offers are:

1.– Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrew 9:22)

From Genesis to Revelation, blood is shed. And the life of the flesh is in the blood, and the blood makes atonement for the soul. We are all related “God has made all the nations of the earth of one blood.” Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins, without the blood of Jesus no sin can be forgiven.

2. Without faith it is impossible to please God. (Hebrew 11:6)

Faith is believing and receiving what God has revealed – in the Bible, in nature, in the conscience.

Faith in God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. Faith is the only approach to God. Jesus said:

“The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:29)

Therefore, we are justified by faith in Christ Jesus.

3. Without Jesus you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

Without Jesus we cannot bear any spiritual fruit. After we surrender to God the Father, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us, we are born again. The moment you give your full attention to Christ Jesus, the Spirit of God comes and dwells in you and works through you.

The Catholic and Orthodox Churches have since the third or fourth century misled those who seek God and His son Jesus Christ into believing that Jesus’ death i.e., the shedding of blood for our sins is not sufficient. They believe, for unknown reasons, that belief in God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and His son Jesus Christ is not sufficient to get to heaven. The leadership of the churches and the church fathers therefore initiate decrees and orders in addition to the teachings of Jesus and the words of the Bible that the members of the congregations must satisfy, in order to please God.

Back in Jesus’ time and before his time, the Pharisees and the scribes in Judaism introduced a series of additions to the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament, to “satisfy God” as much as possible. A long series of commandment/interpretations were added to God’s commandments. One such example is the Sabbath. Sabbath (Saturday) was meant to cease from your normal everyday work and spend time focusing on God, go to the House of God and worship and be refreshed physically (Exodus 20). In many ways the Pharisees had lost this understanding and therefore became zealous with their many additional “interpretations” and regulations, which they believed would make people “holier and acceptable to God.” They created a lengthy list of what is considered work on the Sabbath and what is not considered work. Healing a person on the Sabbath they interpreted as work, plucking heads of grain in the field by a hungry person, they interpreted also as work. (Matthew 12)

But Jesus exposed the hypocrisy and the blindness of the religious leaders, by saying to them, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” Their answer was silence (Luke 14). He gave an example from their own Scripture to make a point that the Sabbath was made to benefit people, not to sacrifice people for the sake of Sabbath. When David and his men were running from the madness of King Saul, he had bread which only Jewish priests are supposed to eat and didn’t break the law. (Mark 2:25-26)

With this background and experience, one would believe that the leaders and church fathers in the Catholic and Orthodox churches would not impose on the members of the churches more orders and rules meant to satisfy God but have no basis in the Bible.

The Catholic and Orthodox Church established over time together with the so-called church fathers many ordinances and additions to the teachings of Jesus than the Bible tells us is necessary to be righteous before God – see the previous part of the series XXXII page 2. These new additions have nothing to do with Jesus’ teaching, they take the focus away from God, the focus and attention is on others than God.

Jesus said, “Isaiah rightly prophesied about you hypocrites – as it is written: ‘This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, for what they teach are the commandments of men. You forsake the commandments of God and hold fast to the precepts of men.” Mark 7:6-8

The greatest Apostle and servant of Christ, Paul who ever lived said: “For though they knew God, they did not honour or thank Him as God. Instead, they became empty in their minds, and their foolish hearts were darkened. While pretending to be wise, they became fools. And they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image, an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” Romans 1:21-23

For approximately a thousand years (until around the XV century) heresy in the two dominant Christian churches, the Catholic and Orthodox, caused the people in the churches great physical and mental suffering as well as delusions about what the Bible says about God, His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. It seems as if Satan and his demons had established a “fifth column” in the leadership of the churches. “Fifth column” refers to citizens of a country who during war sympathize with the enemy and conduct political and military subversive work behind their own lines.

Here, in our case, good and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly space stand against each other. Satan and his demons have managed to mislead the leadership of the churches for over one thousand years, but now the Holy Spirit is being activated on individuals in the churches so that the churches’ spiritual stranglehold on priests and ordinary members of the churches is beginning to be broken.

The new situation that arises in the Renaissance at the beginning of the 15th century with greater openness and access to the Bible and its pure message for all people, gives those, who seek freedom and salvation, communion with God and way from the inherent evil of the world driven and maintained by Satan and his demons.

This time around the fifteenth century and forward in time is perhaps the most important time after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the Holy Spirit or the helper that God sent to earth goes into action and directly affects countless seeking people. It often seems to be the searching (this I don’t know what you mean by searching people) people God first engages in the work of correcting the churches’ representation of God’s word and Jesus’ teaching.

Here are mentioned a number of these honest and searching (this I don’t know what you mean by searching people also, I think I know what you want to say by this but I think there is better word for it???) people whom the Holy Spirit activates after 1000 years of Catholic and Orthodox heresy:

John Wycliffe; (c. 1331 – 31. December 1384.) was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, Bible translator, reformer, Catholic priest and seminary professor at the University of Oxford. He became an influential dissident within the Roman Catholic priesthood during the 14th century and is considered an important precursor to Protestantism, which began with Martin Luther. Wycliffe questioned the privileged status of the clergy which had strengthened their powerful role in England and the luxury and splendour of local parishes and their ceremonies.

A number of other priests and preachers emerge who address the church’s financial abuse and deviation from the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, in addition to Wycliffe (1328-1384) in England, Jan Hus (1372-1415) in the Czech Republic and Martin Luther (1483-1546) followed in Germany, who initiated the great break within the Catholic Church and established Protestantism. Ulrich Zwingli (1499-1571) in Switzerland and Jean Calvin (1509-1564) in France are of great importance both regarding warning about teaching errors and abuse of various kinds within the Catholic Church. Alongside Martin Luther and Jean Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli is considered one of Europe’s three great reformers. The activity initiated by these former priests and preachers in the Catholic Church and others will have a massive and extensive impact in the coming centuries on countless people who seek Jesus for salvation. These then serve Jesus by spreading the gospel among their fellow citizens, which is the main task for all those who have been born again by the Holy Spirit and have met Jesus Christ.

I also include these below standing persons and groups of persons who were driven by the Holy Spirit, since it is often misrepresented how “boring and mood less” it is to be a Christian born again by the Holy Spirit.

Hans Nielsen Hauge (born 3. April 1771. on Rolvsøy in Norway, died 29. March 1824. in Christiania) was a Norwegian lay preacher and industrial entrepreneur. He founded the Christian movement “Haugians”, also called Hauge’s friends or readers, because they read a lot both in the Bible and other scriptures. In addition to being a leading figure for Christians, he was also an enterprising businessman, which, among other things, gave him the means to run extensive humanitarian activities. Charles Haddon Spurgeon (19. June 1834 – 31. January 1892.) was an English Baptist preacher. Spurgeon is still very influential among Christians in various denominations, among them he is known as the “Prince of Preachers”. He was a strong figure in the Reformed Baptist Church.

Christian movements such as the Pentecostals, charismatic religious movement that gave rise to several Protestant churches in the United States in the 20th century and that is unique in its belief that all Christians should seek a religious experience after conversion called “baptism with the Holy Spirit.” Reminiscent of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the first Christians in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, or Shabuoth (Acts 2–4), this experience seems to have been common in the Christian movement during its first generations. Baptism with the Holy Spirit may be accompanied by a sign or spiritual gifts such as the gift of tongues, prayer service in general, healing of the sick through prayer.

Stay tuned …

Part XXXII

Here comes part XXXII in the series “We are eyewitnesses to …..” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to his chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists.

The background to this series is a quote from the Bible I received back in 2018 from the helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his Father. In Peter’s second letter chapter 1 verses 16 to 18 we read:

“16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw His divine greatness.17 For he was glorified by God his Father, when the voice of the highest glory came to him: ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’18 We heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

In the previous part (XXXI) we reached the Middle Ages in our search for the traces of the prophecies in the Bible. We saw how the gospel was spread by the apostles of Jesus and the new Christians who came to faith, especially in the north-eastern part of the Middle East and around the Mediterranean. Constantly, new peoples gained access to the gospel, but in the third and fourth centuries a theological elite was established which was later called the “Church Fathers”. The Church Fathers will prove to be the beginning of a rather dark chapter in church history they opened for a gospel that did not come from Jesus and his apostles. Perhaps most devastating is the multi-level organizational solution that was chosen, similar to the pagan religious organization that probably dominated ancient Babylon. Jesus calls it the “works of the Nicolaitans” in Revelation 2:6, that is, the establishment of a priesthood over the congregations.

The figure below provides us with a picture of what was probably the Nicolaitans’ organization of the priesthood.

The name “Nicolaitans” is derived from the Greek word nikolaos, a compound of the words nikos and laos. The word nikos is the Greek word meaning to conquer or to oppress. The word Laos is the Greek word for the people. This is also where we get the word laymen. When these two words are put together into one, they form the name Nicolas, which literally means one who conquers and oppresses the people. It seems to suggest that the Nicolaitans somehow conquered and oppressed the people.

Below you see the visualization of the organization of the congregations taken from the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, an organizational form which is not from the Bible, but rather from secular philosophical thinking that belongs to this world.

The organization of the congregations or the church as shown below drains the congregations of skilled persons, financial means, and is at the expense of the direct daily spiritual contact with the Deity. The hierarchical organization, excludes a personal relationship with God with the help of the Holy Spirit and through Jesus Christ as the Scripture shows, cf. Acts of the Apostles. Such a stratified organization easily leads to corruption, misuse of personnel, financial resources, pulverization of responsibility and has the wrong focus. Instead of the individual human being focusing on God, the focus is on the man-made layered form of organization in the worship of the deity.

Funds from the congregations will be used to finance an often-luxurious superior church structure like the Catholic Church with a pope at the top who apparently is closer to God than other Christians, which is foreign in the New Testament

In addition to the very hierarchical organization of the congregation or church, which turns the focus away from God and his son Jesus Christ, the following seven points, which are part of the doctrine of the Catholic Church, clearly differ from the teachings of Jesus and the apostles:

1. Sacred worship

2. Mary worship

3. The monastic order

4. Relic

5. Icons

6. Baptism of babies who do not understand baptism themselves. Jesus blessed the little ones when the children were born and as adults they can choose to have fellowship with God. A choice must be made by the individual and in order for one to get fellowship with God, that person must be born again by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus told Nicodemus.

7. Indulgences

Below is a visualization of a leadership structure that shows what organization I think the Bible shows is the right organization for the churches, especially when one is to stand in a daily communion with the deity (the triune God) in prayer and Bible study. In addition, adult baptism and breaking of bread (communion) are actions that are directly given by Jesus Christ.

The flame that helped ignite the Reformation after a thousand years under the destructive leadership of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches included John Hus (1372-1415), who rebelled against the Catholic Church by saying that Jesus Christ is the head of the church instead of the pope. He was one of the first Reformers of the Church to appear before Luther and Calvin. He challenged and revealed much of the brutality to the Catholic Church during his lifetime, for that he was burned alive in 1415. The Church has apparently abandoned everything Jesus and the Apostles taught about being servants of one another and not rulers.

Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and Omega” (John’s Revelation 1:8 and 22:13) it means that He is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. God can have personal fellowship with all living individuals/souls, who seek Him and are born again and baptized by the Holy Spirit and participate in the kingdom of God on earth. People must make a choice if they want to follow Jesus. He said, “I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world”. (John 12: 44-50)

According to Jesus, the spiritual and diaconal leadership should be the servants of the church, not its superior.
Another very significant matter concerning the Bible, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches along with the Church Fathers changed on, is the proclamation that “God has rejected the Jewish people and all the Bible’s promises to God’s own people the Jews”. This opened the way for the so-called, “replacement theology”, which assumes that the Christian church, i.e. the Catholic and Orthodox Church at that time, has taken Israel’s place and taken over Israel’s promises in the Old Testament. However, there is no Scripture in the entire Bible that justifies such an understanding of the gospel.
The Christian congregation “replaces Israel” according to the Church Fathers. This theology claims that it does not make sense to speak of a specially chosen people who have been given a special piece of land. The New Testament largely replaces the provisions of the Old Testament according to the Catholic Church.
The replacement theology and the deep contempt for the Jews came to characterize the church for centuries. The Church abandons the understanding of the Bible and its authority as the word of the living God.
The Church’s position on the issue of replacement theology is tragic, but it has long roots. We can trace it all the way back to Justin Martyr in the second century, the Reformation did not change this, so it is a tradition that has lived a long time among us.
In the Bible we can read that there were disagreements also in Jesus’ time, even after he ascended to heaven, regarding the understanding of the prophecies about God’s Messiah to come and what task Jesus would fulfil for his Father in heaven.
Cf. John 19: 28-30 – “Jesus now knew that all things were accomplished, and in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, ‘I thirst’ There stood a vessel there with vinegar. They filled a sponge with it, put the sponge on a hyssop stalk and held it up to his mouth. When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, ‘It is finished’. Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
The scribes and Pharisees interpreted the scripture to mean that the coming Messiah would be their king and physically free the Jews from the oppression to which they were subjected. However, the scribes and Pharisees did not accept Jesus as the coming Messiah because he had no other power to refer to than the teaching he received from his Father in heaven and all the great miracles he performed for the people. The learned religious leaders believed that Jesus was not the Son of God and thus could not do any harm to the Romans who had the means. The scribes and Pharisees feared that the Romans might take away from the Jews the religious freedom they had earned.
What is clear from the Bible is Jesus’ explanation to the counsellor Nicodemus about being born again of water and the Spirit, for those who want to see the kingdom of God while we live and then in heaven. In addition, it is the adult baptism and the Lord’s Supper together with God’s word in the Bible that is the basis for a Christian life, to become as similar as possible to Jesus.
Disappointment was great in Judea and Samaria (Israel) as Jesus would not be the king the Jews were waiting for. But Jesus told them that “my kingdom is not of this world, repent and be born again by water and Spirit and you will have fellowship with the Godhead and see the kingdom of God here on earth.”
The time around the fourteenth to the fifteenth century seems to be important in God’s plan – then the Holy Spirit or Helper acts in a very powerful way, He starts his influence on many and different people, questions are raised about inequality, established arrangements within the Catholic and Orthodox Church which we do not find in the Bible. No human can improve the Bible.

Part XXXI

Here comes part XXXI in the series “We are eyewitnesses to …..” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to his chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists.

The background to this series is a quote from the Bible I received back in 2018 from the Helper (the Holy Spirit), whom God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his Father. In Peter’s second letter chapter 1 verses 16 to 18 we read:”16 We did not follow wisely devised myths when we announced to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming. No, we were eyewitnesses and saw His divine greatness.17 For he was glorified by God his Father, when the voice of the highest glory came to him: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18 We heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

Thoughts came to me that I should write about the Bible and the prophecies with a special focus on the Holy Spirit. That is, the helper God sent to earth, when Jesus rose from the dead after the third day and was taken up to heaven, see the promise of the Holy Spirit in John chapter 14:15-18 ¹⁵“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. ¹⁶I will ask the Father, and He will give you another ^[^a^]Helper, so that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you. ¹⁸“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.”

How, then, can we have fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Well, by being born again as Jesus told the Lord Nicodemus, see John 3: 1-6: Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; ²this man came to ^[^a^]Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these ^[^b^]signs that You do unless God is with him.” ³Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born ^[^c^]again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the person God uses, in addition to the Gospel in the Bible, to help those who seek Jesus Christ for salvation and daily fellowship with God here on earth. The Holy Spirit is the key to fully understanding God’s message to people through the Bible. This understanding was clearly not taught well enough to the congregations of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches until the fifteenth century, that is, as Jesus and the apostles taught. The leadership of the Catholic and Orthodox Church, together with the Church Fathers, that is, the theologians of the day, began to adapt the understanding of the gospel to the prevailing spirit of the times, something we are not unfamiliar with today. Parts XXIII and XXV of the series shed light on this issue and how the application leads people away from God.

The one behind these new thoughts is the adversary of God namely Satan and his demons who oppose the correct understanding of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. The last thing Jesus said before he exhaled on the cross was “it is finished.” Jesus had perfectly carried out his Father’s mission so that as many as possible could be saved here on earth before they died.

The gospel based on the Old Testament as well as the teachings of Jesus and the apostles do not need to be “improved” or changed, the Holy Spirit who dwells in those who are baptized again in Spirit and water, will guide the individual in biblical understanding and through the daily life we live for God in prayer.

Back to the fifteenth and subsequent centuries when the Holy Spirit was poured out in such a way that even atheists get an understanding that something special is going on in Europe and the Western world. The well-known historian and author Niall Ferguson in his analysis of the time around the fifteenth century has not found any good arguments for why Europe, which at that time was in a backwater in terms of development, became an epicentre of a rapid social development and not the Orient which at that time already was in a thriving development, according to Ferguson. Of course, the self-proclaimed atheist Niall Ferguson did not know about the Holy Spirit in Christianity, which is a revelation from God confirmed by his son Jesus Christ and the apostles of the New Testament. In the Orient, Islam is a religion, established 600 hundred years after Jesus and the apostles showed us the way to the kingdom of God here on earth and to salvation in heaven. Islam is a man-made product and does not come from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Around Europe from the fifteenth century up to the present day, national churches and congregations were established that emerged from the Reformation and Enlightenment. time, with greater openness and freedom of speech for most people. Since the fifteenth century, all those who claim to have a message of universal validity have sought to gain dissemination through systematic enlightenment, by, among other things, improving the art of printing. This made a book like the Bible and secular teaching materials more or less available to all. Christianity is spread by the Holy Spirit in that people on their own driven by the Holy Spirit bring the Bible and the Gospel, that is, the teachings of Jesus, around Europe and further in the West. However, Satan and his demons took advantage of the same opportunities through better and cheaper access to books and scriptures. Atheists and others who denied the Bible and the teachings of Jesus scattered books and teachings inspired by evil spirits. The tragedy is that the leading Christian churches, the Catholic and Orthodox, were infected by Satan and his demons to such an extent that the message the pope, patriarch, priests, and so-called church fathers teach their congregations, lead them away from a direct personal community with God. The Catholic and Orthodox Church, for a thousand years until the fifteenth century and still does today, has established itself as the “mediator” between God and man. They have put themselves in the place of the Holy Spirit which is contrary to the teachings of Jesus. Here, over the years, the national churches have unfortunately followed many of the same attitudes.

The Bible tells us in 1 Tim 2:5-6 the following:

For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

The Bible warns against false teachers, see 2 Peter 2:1-3 1. ¹But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. ²Many will follow their indecent behavior, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; ³and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. Scripture is its own interpreter and together with the Holy Spirit we will understand the scripture, says the Bible—see 2 Peter 1:19-21: ¹⁹And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. ²⁰But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture ^[^a^]becomes a matter of ^[^b^]someone’s own interpretation, ²¹for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

2 John 9-11: ⁹Anyone who goes too far and does not remain in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; ¹¹for the one who ^[^d^]gives him a greeting ^[^e^]participates in his evil deeds. The gospel encourages us to talk about the Bible and God who wants all people to be saved.

The first major deviation from the teachings of Jesus Christ, which is God’s revelation to mankind, came when Christianity became a state-bearing religion in the Roman Empire under Emperor Constantine. The imperial power, which had previously regulated religious life under paganism, continued in Christian times with the emperor as head of the church, which is contrary to the gospel. What was originally a revelation from God has been modified into a religion that is far from God’s revelation.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire around 400 CE, the church and the congregations lacked the direction and guidance that Jesus and the apostles taught. The various kings and emperors continued to see themselves as the head of the church also in matters of discipline and doctrine, in their own territories. However, the papacy in Rome gradually managed to throw itself into the centre of the church with the right to decide doctrinal issues.

The Catholic Church continues its work with discipline and doctrinal issues through, among other things, the Inquisition, a term for several bodies within the Catholic Church that were responsible for combating heresy. It was established by decision of the Third Lateran Council in 1179, followed by a papal decree of 1252 (Ad Extirpanda). The name “inquisition” is older, and refers to a Roman court procedure, inquisitio. The fight against division and heresy as well as the struggle for the universality of the Church and its dogmas is old.

Fractionation of the Christian congregations began early, the Greek term for heresy is haeresis and means sect, denomination, and school. Acts chapter 15 tells us about the meeting of the Apostles in Jerusalem where they discussed the relationship between the Judeo-Christians and the Gentile Christians. Furthermore, in his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul addresses the issue of divisions within the congregations. The Holy Spirit was given to us by following the gospel, where faith in Jesus is the way to salvation. Scripture foretold that it is by faith God justifies, Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. Therefore, we know that those who have faith are the children of Abraham. In you, all nations will be blessed, God said to Abraham, then those who have faith will be blessed with the believing as Abraham.

The so-called baptismal commandment in Matthew 28, verses 19-20 is an example of a three-part, Trinitarian confession that stands for the doctrine Jesus and the apostles preached: “¹⁹Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to ^[^b^]follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you ^[^c^]always, to the end of the age.”

The job for the Christians is:

– Preach the gospel so that people will know Jesus and come to faith in Him.

– To be born again by the Holy Spirit and water, to be able to see the kingdom of God,

John3, 3.

– Then God, the Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit leads to salvation and fellowship with

God.

At the Nicaea Synod in 325, the Christian doctrine of confession was substantially institutionalized and modified compared to the starting point of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles.

When one institutionalizes, in my opinion, one moves mentally away from the personal relationship with God his son Jesus and the Holy Spirit towards man-made rules and regulations. Here the institution enters the Catholic Church with popes, cardinals, and priests as the intermediary between God and men, and this institutionalized understanding of the gospel stands for over a thousand years and leads people away from communion with the Deity.

Stay tuned …..

Part XXX

Here comes part XXX in the series “We are eyewitnesses to…” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to his chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists.

The background to this series is a quote from the Bible I received back in 2018 from the helper (the Holy Spirit) God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven, to his Father. In Peter’s second letter 1:16-18 we read:

¹⁶For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. ¹⁷For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” ¹⁸And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

Thoughts came to me that I should write about the Bible and its prophecies, but the way this should be done practically was facilitated without much effort on my part, thanks to friends and the Helper and as a result became the website:

www.eyewitnesses.grafoskop.com

The text is published in four languages: Norwegian, English, Albanian and Serbian.

The first time I came into close contact with an event that has been crucial to the Jews of the world and prophesied in the Bible was in the afternoon of May 14, 1948, when David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of a “Jewish state in Eretz (the land) Israel with the name of the State of Israel.” A number of countries immediately recognized Israel, including the Soviet Union and the United States. The following day, May 15, 1948, several Arab states declared war on their new neighbour. The Arab League, consisting of 22 states with approx. 200 million inhabitants (Arabs and Muslims), could not stand that the Jews approx. 650,000 inhabitants got their old land back. The remarkable thing since May 14, 1948, is that Israel as a state has gone from being a non-existent state from the year 70 A.D., that is, for one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight years, and to being the only democratic country in the Middle East where Jews, Christians and Muslims can live side by side with equal rights. Since 1948, Israel has developed into an economic and military power factor in the region. How could this happen when we have experienced how the neighbouring countries of Israel through the Arab League (the Arab League with 22 member countries from the Middle East and Africa), from May 1948, tried to exterminate the land of Israel and its inhabitants the Jews!

Well, the Bible has clear prophecies that this situation would come, and now it took shape during the last seventy-four years. In the Old Testament, God calls the lands around Israel, “my evil neighbours.” Prophet Jeremiah 12:14: Thus, says the LORD, “Behold, all my evil neighbours that stir up the inheritance which I have given my people Israel for an inheritance, behold, I will pluck them out of their land. Also, the house of Judah, that is, Judea and Samaria I will move away from them” (called the West Bank from 1950 by Jordan whom from 1948 to 1967 occupied Judea and Samaria).

In this connection, I would like to refer to a very informative newspaper article by journalist Andreas Fagerbakke in dagsavisen.no / Norway – 02.04.2013 «The name of the area was Judea and Samaria from biblical times until 1950. What happened in 1950? Jordan, which at this time occupied Judea and Samaria, decided to give the area a new name: the “West Bank”. Jordan occupied Judea and Samaria from 1948 to 1967. One wonders why the world community still uses this term, even after Judea and Samaria were liberated from Jordanian occupation in 1967.

And one never hears of the fact that all Jews were killed or driven away from Judea and Samaria when Jordan occupied the area in 1948. Such facts you will probably be reluctant to see the light of day, because of course you want to maintain a picture of the Jews who today live in the area as “illegal settlers”.

In the time after 1967, the Jews were finally able to return to Judea and Samaria. The area was then liberated by Israel. This area which is a very important part of the core of Jewish history, culture, and religion. It becomes completely absurd to me to talk about “illegal settlers” when you have these facts in mind. No matter what the UN or others have to say about the case, one can at least not calm down from these facts. Facts that should put this eternal mantra about the so-called occupation in a somewhat more balanced light. And something that is also a bit absurd is that Jews can live in London, Paris, Oslo, or New York, while Jews living in Judea are seen as illegal settlers. Judea is actually the origin of the term “Jew”!”

I was eight years old in 1948 and my father, who for many years had told us children that Jesus would soon return, exclaimed excited; “The Jews have now got the land back and now Jesus is coming.” I have never forgotten the statement; it left lasting traces in me. In the series “We are eyewitnesses to….” we have now come to the fifteenth century, the catholic and orthodox church have been dominant Christian institutions for about a thousand years, they believe to be the heirs of the apostles who gave us the good news, the Gospel, in the New Testament. The gospel is based in the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus. Not since the days of the apostles has the Holy Spirit been poured out or created revivals to the extent that in the fifteenth century and subsequent centuries up to the present day. God is pouring out His Spirit on all people in the coming centuries around the world so that as many as possible can seek Jesus for their salvation here on earth, which gives access to communion with the Deity in heaven. The Holy Spirit easily affects people, not institutions or churches. Local small congregations are established by like-minded people who have fellowship with God by the Holy Spirit, these congregations are called everything from free churches, sects or someone puts their own names on their congregation.

Around Europe from the fifteenth century up to the present day, a myriad of congregations and free churches influenced by the Holy Spirit were established, having first been scattered throughout Europe and the Western world. The art of printing was improved, making a book like the Bible and other teaching materials more accessible to all. Christianity became widespread through the Holy Spirit, with individuals driven by the Holy Spirit bringing the Bible and the Gospel, that is, the teachings of Jesus, around the world.

However, Satan and his demons seized the same opportunities by better and cheaper books and scriptures, produced by atheists and others who denied the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, they scattered books and teachings inspired by evil spirits. All the prominent intellectuals listed in the previous part of the series (part XXIX) who did not believe in God, the Bible and Jesus Christ, had a decisive negative effect on the development of the church communities in Europe and the Western world. The Renaissance and the Reformation gave greater freedom and opportunity for others than the Catholic Church to convey thoughts. These new ideas will affect the church, culture, economy, and science in the centuries to come. The people who are the driving force in this development do not excel in believing in the gospel, but lay the foundation for the humanistic idea which they equate with the teachings of Jesus and undermine the biblical message to mankind. Humanism is a continuation of the deviations from the teachings of Jesus that the Catholic and Orthodox Church and the Church Fathers started back in the year around 300-400.

The tragedy is that the leading Christian churches, the Catholic and Orthodox, are influenced by Satan and his demons to such an extent that the pope, patriarch, priests, and so-called church fathers teach their congregations, lead them away from a direct personal community with God. The Catholic and Orthodox Church has, for a thousand years until the fifteenth century and still does today, sat themselves as an “intermediary” between God and man and they have put themselves in the place of Jesus Christ, something that violates the teachings of Jesus. Here the national churches today have much of the same attitudes, the crucial thing that Jesus teaches Councillor Nicodemus is “to be born again by water and the Spirit” in order to see the kingdom of God and to have fellowship with the Deity here on earth, as that the soul goes to heaven and not to hell when one dies. The Bible clearly states that there are two exits to life on earth, namely heaven and hell.

The Bible tells us in 1 Tim 2:5-6 the following:

⁵For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

The Bible warns against false teachers, see 2 Peter 2:1-3

2 John 9-11: ⁹Whoever 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. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; ¹¹for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.

Scripture is its own interpreter see 2 Peter 1:19-21: ¹⁹And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; ²⁰knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, ²¹for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

When Christianity became the state-bearing religion in the Roman Empire under Emperor Constantine the Great, Constantine was Roman emperor in the period 306-337, known as the emperor who converted the Roman Empire to Christianity and created a Christian kingdom with Constantinople as the new capital! When Christianity became part of the government, the teachings of Jesus disappeared as the apostles taught the churches about the Gospel, then came the interpretations of the Church Fathers and others that inflicted the Catholic and Orthodox teachings around the Gospel. Now that Christianity had become a state affair, deviations in doctrinal issues felt like a threat to the unity of the kingdom and thus a matter concerning secular power. The imperial power had regulated the religious life under paganism and continued even in Christian times with the emperor or king as the head of the church. Prominent theologians defended the state measures against heretics and schismatics, such as property confiscation and deportation, but condemned the use of the death penalty. But Roman law linked religious deviation to insult to majesty, for which there was the death penalty.

The mixture of state and church was a big mistake. Jesus clearly warned against interaction between the state and the churches when he stated that the kingdom of God is not of this physical world. Stephen was perhaps the first example of where it might lead to follow Jesus’ teaching. Stephen is first mentioned among the seven “deacons” of the early church in Jerusalem, and he was a prominent representative of the Greek-speaking part of the church. His activities led opponents to sue him before the Jewish Council with false accusations of blasphemy. The trial ended in him being stoned to death. Saul, that is, Paul, who later became a Christian, participated in the murder, and is mentioned here for the first time. In his defence speech to the council, which is the longest speech in the Acts of the Apostles, see Acts 7, Stephen justifies his attitude toward the law and the temple based on Scripture accounts of Israel’s history. His death initiated a persecution of those who were called Christians and followed the teachings of Jesus, they were expelled from Jerusalem. Jesus’ teachings were not popular among the members of the Jewish Council, who a few years earlier had Jesus sentenced to crucifixion for blasphemy because Jesus pointed to the councillors’ confusion of religion and secular rule.

The confusion, whether it took the form of a church state among Catholics or as a state church or people’s church among Protestants, was a major mistake. The whole system is against the biblical pattern, which only opens access to membership for believers and imposes church discipline on unfaithful and fallen members.

Stay tuned ……

Part XXIX

Here comes part XXIX in the series “We are eyewitnesses to…” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to his chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists.

In the previous part of the series (XXVIII) we see how God, from the fifteenth century, implements the Holy Spirit to a degree that people had not experienced so far, or it had not been written about since the days of the apostles, when Paul and his disciples travelled around the world and preached the gospel to all people not just the Jews which sparked revival. The effects of the gospel, the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, in the Roman Empire and the surrounding areas are almost explosive from approximately the year 100 AD. Unfortunately, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches teachings since approximately the year 400 to this day, is far from the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles found in the pages of the Bible. The clergy in the church systems seem to have a hard time adhering to the fact that God wants a direct simple relationship with people through Jesus, not through popes, cardinals, priests, and church fathers who have established a church system with a myriad of unnecessary and unbiblical rules and ordinances in the service of the congregations they supervise.

Christianity and the New Testament has at its base Judaism and the Old Testament, where the Jews are God’s chosen people. God says in the Bible that the Jews have been and are a stubborn people, who have not always followed God’s commandments, but because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Jews will always be God’s people and Israel their land. Furthermore, God says that since they (the Jews) rejected His son Jesus Christ, they will have to answer for the denial of Jesus as all other nations and people must do on the day Jesus returns to earth. To make the final settlement with the living and the dead, Jesus Christ returns when the right number of Gentile Christian souls God wants has surrendered to Jesus Christ.

Those who are chosen follow God’s commandments—the call to repentance and rebirth is given every time we read from the Bible, and one hears a devotion or speech based on God’s word.

The Bible, God’s own word, is the means God the Holy Spirit uses to reach people with his calling. God wants all people to be saved here on earth and then to go to heaven. So, God is good and wants fellowship with all people, not just Jews. Salvation in Jesus Christ is the foundation, the starting point, and the entrance ticket into the kingdom of God, which begins with God, continues with God and ends with God. People must seek Jesus our Saviour of their own free will and God used the Jews to raise his son Jesus Christ who would bring salvation to both Jews and Gentiles. God then used the Old Testament, Jesus, and the apostles, to build the gospel for the salvation of those who believe.

It seems to me that studying the Bible today and seeing things in retrospect, that God in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries sends signals by the Holy Spirit to Europe in particular and the Western world in general, by the reformers and other servants of God. Europe and the Western world were and are negatively affected by the “Christianity” taught in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches for more than a thousand years. God now breaks in with the Holy Spirit and starts a revival, which brings forth priests and others in the Catholic and Orthodox Church who radically break with the way the churches and the so-called church fathers have exploited their position. The fundamentals of Christianity are to be born again by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus told Nicodemus, one of the counsellors of the Jews (John 3:1-7), and that God acts directly with the individual through the Holy Spirit, not through the church leaders and structures. Church leaders have apparently not learned from the Old Testament about Judaism and the way the religious leaders at the time built up rules and ordinances they commanded the Jews to follow. Jesus’ strong call to repent, to be baptized again by the Holy Spirit, because only then can one see the kingdom of God here on earth. This was neglected by the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day, and strangely enough, they do not associate the very conspicuous activity of John the Baptist and Jesus with the prophecies of the Old Testament despite the miracles performed by Jesus.

The same thing is repeated later, around the year 200-300 possibly in the Catholic and Orthodox church, which together with the church fathers began to establish rules and ordinances that are not in line with the Bible and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. The revival God begins to effect by the Holy Spirit in the fourteenth century, that is, approximately a thousand years later, are directed at the Catholic doctrine and behaviour of the religious leaders and structures towards the people they set to help. The corruption of the interpretation of the gospel also entails a fundamental abuse of power by both resources and people within the churches. Leaders appear as “holy” representatives of the kingdom of God here on earth, fraud in the economic sphere and abuse of individuals are not reprimanded and nepotism spread. God here gives a proper warning to the Catholic and Orthodox Church to repent, because the churches and kings, the worldly rulers, have established an unholy symbiosis. The religious leaders and monarchs of Europe were committing violence in the name of Christianity, often called the “religious wars” in the history books. The struggle for freedom of religion and for its tolerance was a reaction to the devastating religious wars that began after the Reformation and ended with peace in Westphalia in 1648. At that time, both Catholic and Protestant princes had to acknowledge that the question of proper doctrine could not be resolved militarily. Catholic and Protestant countries were nicely forced to live in peaceful coexistence; they also agreed that from then on no one should go to war for religious reasons. What was apparently not agreed upon between Catholics and Protestants seems to be what the Bible says about the true faith. Is it up to each elected religious leader at any times to decide how to organize his church and what doctrine should be the basis and interpretation of the Bible?

The Enlightenment has its roots in the middle of the 17th century with the scientific revolution and peace in Westphalia that ended the religious wars in Europe. The leaders of the churches, both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches together with the new state churches in many countries, were responsible for all the suffering and injustice inflicted on civil society in the name of God. Every generation in every country is responsible for injustice committed under the guise of defending its religion. Let it be clear, God does not need any help to defend himself, however, God wants more people who will be like Jesus in word and deed. The time both before and during the Reformation in Europe is perhaps the clearest influence of God by the Holy Spirit since the days of the apostles.

The special work of the Holy Spirit in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries was crucial in breaking the compulsive religion that the Catholic and Orthodox Church had inflicted on their members and people in general for over a thousand years. The Holy Spirit is clearly in great activity without comparison with the previous thousand years. There are a number of priests and preachers who address the church’s financial abuse and deviations from the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. In addition to Wycliffe (1328-1384) in England and Jan Hus (1372-1415) in the Czech Republic, further successors such as Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Germany, Ulrich Zwingli (1499-1571) in Switzerland and Jean Calvin (1509-1564) in France are of great importance both in terms of reporting learning errors and abuse of various kinds within the Catholic Church. Alongside Martin Luther and Jean Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli is considered one of Europe’s three great reformers. The activity of these former priests and preachers in the Catholic Church and other holy people, would have a massive and far-reaching impact in the coming centuries on countless people seeking Jesus for salvation. These then serve Jesus by spreading the gospel among their fellow citizens, which is the main task for all those who are born again by the Holy Spirit and have met Jesus Christ. A new age is on the way with greater freedom also for others than the clergy to convey thoughts about God’s word in the Bible. The Renaissance and the Reformation provide greater freedom and opportunity for others to convey thoughts. These new ideas would affect the church, culture, economy, and science in the centuries to come. The people who are the driving force in this development do not excel in believing in the gospel, they lay the foundation for the humanistic idea which is the world’s idea how to direct society away from God.

In Europe, the following persons are gradually gaining a great deal of influence:

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Italian physicist and astronomer, best known for his contributions to the theory of motion.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650), France, philosophy, and mathematics.

John Locke (1632-1704), England, philosopher, and founder of experiential philosophy.

Isaac Newton (1642-1726) English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, chemist, inventor, and natural philosopher formulated the law of gravity.

Voltaire (1694-1778), France, philosopher, and author.

David Hume (1711-1804), Scottish philosopher.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), German philosopher (philosophy of cognition).

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), German philosopher.

Karl Marx (1818-1883), German philosopher, economist, and political thinker. He gained great importance in disciplines such as philosophy and social sciences due to analysis of capitalist society.

Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882), British natural scientist and is considered the founder of modern evolutionary biology. In his book The Origin of Species, Darwin presented his world-famous hypothesis that all life on earth is related and has evolved over many millions of years.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) an Austrian neurologist and psychologist, known as the founder of psychoanalysis.

All these above-mentioned skilled persons do not focus on the kingdom of God here on earth when they develop their theories, they focus on adding to the worldly world knowledge that they think will make people better able to, among other things, be humane towards each other. In fact, they try to copy Jesus’ teaching and introduce it as the humanistic understanding without involving God and the Holy Spirit.

Life on earth is meant to be a preparation time for heaven when the time on earth is over for the individual. Jesus says several times repent and God by the Holy Spirit will provide for all who believe, see the quote “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing,” Psalm 23:1.

Man is also affected by evil forces, that is, Satan and his demons, because Satan knows that as soon as enough souls surrender until Jesus’ teaching is reached, Jesus will return for the second time to deal with all nations at all times.

The Catholic and Orthodox Church continues its teachings as before, despite all the signals of change that the Reformation and later Reformers brought forth. It is God by the Holy Spirit who constantly influences people in every generation, and many give their lives to Jesus. Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, live and participate in the kingdom of God on earth. The religious leaders of all generations and times, at different levels, in all Christian congregations or churches, have a special responsibility and will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment if they mislead people in their search for God and Jesus Christ.

On August 18, 1518, the King of Spain, Charles I, issued a decree allowing the direct transport of slaves from Africa to America. Before this, slaves were transported to Spain or Portugal and on to the Caribbean, in the slave trade that the Muslims introduced when they ruled in Western Europe. The Christian church is totally absent when the slave trade becomes a European enterprise. The secular society in many European states is taking on a completely dominant role in the slave trade, where greed and the struggle for resources become dominant. The exploitation of all newly discovered lands, a growing slave trade between Africa and America are typical examples of secular kings, heads of state and church leaders collaborating for the greatest possible power and influence without thinking that all people are equal and have the same value to God. Jesus calls on all people to repent and be born again as Jesus said to Nicodemus.

In the book “Civilization: The West and the Rest”, as mentioned in previous parts (XXVII, XXVIII), Niall Ferguson describes an almost explosive development in all areas of society as a result of the Renaissance and the Christian Reformation. For the atheist and historian Ferguson, the powerful positive development in Europe seems incomprehensible, as Europe in 1412 was in a miserable backwater, while the Orient was home to dazzled civilizations. “So how did the West come to dominate the Rest?”, Ferguson asks? He seems to have a clue that it has something to do with Christianity but does not elaborate on the issue of why Europe and not the Orient. Other than that, the atheist Ferguson strangely enough believes that Protestantism is closer to the “true religion” than the Catholic doctrine? Ferguson is on the trail of the mysterious unknown factor that initiated the sudden rise in Europe, namely the Holy Spirit or helper that God sent to earth when Jesus was taken up to his Father in heaven. Jesus told his disciples about the Holy Spirit that God would send to people as a helper for those who believe. The Holy Spirit brought forth people who fought for the cause of God, namely, spreading the gospel.

Stay tuned…

Part XXVIII

Here comes part XXVIII in the series “We are eyewitnesses to….” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to his chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists.

The last three parts of the series (parts XXVI, XXVII and XXVIII) come at a very crucial period in history, regarding how God send the Holy Spirit to many believers in Christ in Europe and the West from the fifteenth century and onwards. The millennial (400 -1400) was a destructive period when the Catholic and Orthodox Church were the leading religious organizations, they led the people they had taken responsibility for providing spiritual guidance, on the wrong track. Many different ordinances and rules were set up by the Catholic and Orthodox Church that people were to follow. These ordinances and rules did not have their basis in the teachings of Jesus and the apostles that we find in the Bible and thus directed people in the churches away from God. During this millennial period, Satan and his demons are working in high gear, influencing popes, patriarchs, their clerical regimes, and church fathers. So, the intention God had for a fellowship with people on earth didn’t become as God wants it, when he offered the Holy Spirit as help for people who sought fellowship with the Godhead. Jesus told the Pharisee and Lord Nicodemus that one must be born again by the Holy Spirit in order to see the spiritual kingdom of God, and the kingdom is revealed to those who are born again by the Spirit. My kingdom is not of this world, Jesus said: see John 18: 36-37:

“Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world; was my kingdom of this world, then my servants had fought that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not of this world. Then Pilate said unto him, Are you a king then? Jesus answered, you say so; I’m king. I was born there and came into the world to witness for the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”

The tragedy and catastrophe for humans during this millennial period and later is that the guidance they then received and now receive from state-regulated churches is infected by Satan and his demons. Satan is, according to the Bible, “the god of this world”; and this follows Jesus’ explanation that his kingdom of God is not of this world. The mixture of church and state provided fertile ground for the evil spiritual influence that Satan and his demons exercise daily, while humanity’s inherent lust of various kinds also contribute to resistance to the influence of the Holy Spirit, or helper. Our life on earth is given to us by God, He wants us, out of our own free will, to follow the path the Bible tells us to go the time we are on earth.

Here is how my personal path to fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit came into being:

Back in the spring of 1982, I sat alone and on a Sunday morning on the porch of our newly built house, with a cup of coffee and a cigar. The sun was shining, there were no leaves on the trees yet, so I could see the church tower not far away. Suddenly the church bells started ringing and a voice to my right said very clearly “you will/shall work for my church”. I was a little confused right away, but instinctively showed that it was Jesus by the Holy Spirit who sent me a warning to repent. From the time I was born in 1940 and up to the age of twelve in 1952, at home and in Sunday School, I heard all the common Bible stories, so I knew well how God chose to contact with people. From the age of twelve until I was 42, I followed my own desires more than the admonitions and counsel of my father and mother, but God probably gave me one last offer to seek the kingdom of God here on earth. So, by the grace of God I could be saved and have an eternal life in heaven with the Deity. God is aware that the end of this life means heaven or hell in the next one. I chose to follow Jesus. God wants in heaven only people who accept His unwavering demands for loyalty, God does not want more people in heaven like Satan, the archangel who rebelled against God and wanted to be God himself. See Revelation 12:7-9:

“Then a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels went to war against the dragon (Satan). The dragon fought with his angels, but they were overcome, and there was no more room for them in heaven. The great dragon (Satan) was cast down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, and who deceives the whole world. He was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.”

In the time around the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries events occurred that affected the centuries that followed. By the Holy Spirit, God initiated a revival that was unparalleled in the history after Jesus and his apostles. The Western world has been dominated in a negative way by the non-biblical teachings of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in their congregations. The revival, which the Holy Spirit initiated, brought forth priests and others in the Catholic and Orthodox church that radically broke with the way the churches had exploited their position in the last thousand years, by among other things introducing a doctrine that is not according to the gospel. The essence of Christianity is to be born again by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus told Nicodemus, one of the Jewish councillors (John 3:1-7), and that God acts directly with the individuals through the Holy Spirit, not through the church leaders and structures. What church leaders seem to neglect is Jesus’ strong exhortation to repent, to be baptized again by the Holy Ghost, because only then one can see the kingdom of God here on earth. The revival is also directed at the fundamental abuse of power, resources and people within the churches, with leaders appearing as representatives of the kingdom of God here on earth. Fraud in the economic field and abuse of individuals were not prosecuted and nepotism was spreading.

The basic double commandment of love is totally overlooked: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37) and then “you shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:28-31 and Luke 10:27) “on these two commandments rests the whole law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40).

In fellowship with God, the Holy Ghost will guide us in our daily activities and tell us what we should do to serve the Lord. We must give up our will and serve the kingdom of God on earth as Jesus did for us. It is so simple yet so difficult because we must give up our own carnal desires and rather seek the Holy Spirit for advice for our lives.

Jesus describes our cross as follows: “He that will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34).

The cross is to deny oneself! Say no to what pleases oneself, to what is one’s interest and desire, because Jesus tells us that that renunciation will benefit others. The cross is to direct one’s life for others and not for oneself, that is, first and foremost our family and local church, then what the Spirit puts on our hearts. And not just once and for all; but again, in the everyday little things and the daily small choices. We must “take up our cross every day,” Jesus says. It is never too late to turn to Jesus, but it must happen while you are alive. Pray to God for help, using “Our Father in heaven,”, the prayer that Jesus taught the disciples, which will help you on the path to God’s kingdom on earth.

That what happened in the sixteenth century and beyond, regarding the revival by the Holy Spirit, had an effect both on the established churches and the newly established churches and congregations. The new congregations and their religious leaders are immediately persecuted, by the Catholic and Orthodox Church and many are killed, a behaviour that goes against the gospel. At the same time, secular society is liberated from the power of the Catholic and Orthodox Church, and scientists are making great strides in astronomy, mathematics, science, and physics. All these elements contributed to a lasting change in Western Europe which later spread to the rest of the world.

The Catholic and Orthodox Church, until the sixteenth century ran a kind of “double-entry bookkeeping”, that is, they lead and influence the Christian congregations and at the same time the church is negatively affected by following the secular political world with which the clergy work together.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:24-34:

“²⁴No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. ²⁵“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ²⁸“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

The leaders of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in Europe and the West were given an adventurous opportunity to influence the secular leaders in Europe to truly follow the words of the Bible, but they did not seize that opportunity. Greed and lust for power prevailed also within the church, however, the revival that swept across Europe had a major impact on the spread of the gospel of Jesus in both the inner and outer mission. The Holy Spirit in contact with individuals does great things at home and abroad. It is not the big organizations that do things, but the Holy Spirit and the individual. The Holy Spirit is quite clearly in great activity when we compare with the previous thousand years. The same can be said of Satan and his demons, for where Jesus’ name is exalted, as the Son of God, the evil forces will always oppose the message of the gospel of eternal salvation to those who believe.

On August 18, 1518, the King of Spain, Charles I, issued a decree allowing for the direct transport of slaves from Africa to America. Before this, slaves were transported to Spain or Portugal and on to the Caribbean, in the slave trade that the Muslims introduced when they ruled in Western Europe. The Christian Catholic church is totally absent when the slave trade becomes a European enterprise. The secular society in all European states is taking on a completely dominant role in the slave trade, where greed and the struggle for resources become dominant. The exploitation of all newly discovered lands, a growing slave trade between Africa and America are typical examples of secular kings, heads of state and church leaders collaborating for the greatest possible power and influence without thinking that all people are equal before God.

In the book “Civilization: The West and the Rest”, as mentioned in the previous part (XXVII), Niall Ferguson describes an almost explosive development in all areas of society as a result of the Renaissance and the Christian Reformation. For the atheist and historian Ferguson, the powerful development in Europe seems incomprehensible, as Europe in 1412 was in a miserable backwater, while the Orient was home to dazzled civilizations. So how did the West come to dominate the Rest, Ferguson asks? He seems to have a clue that it has something to do with Christianity but does not elaborate on the issue of why Europe and not the Orient. Other than that Ferguson believes that Protestantism is closer to the “true religion” than the Catholic doctrine. Ferguson is on the trail of the mysterious unknown factor that initiated the sudden rise, namely the Holy Spirit or helper that God sent to earth when Jesus was taken up to his Father in heaven. Jesus told his disciples about the Holy Spirit that God would send to people who seeks Him, as a helper.

The task of the Holy Spirit is to help Christians who can spread the gospel to as many people as possible and as a by-product comes an adventurous rise in all areas of Europe and the West. The Holy Spirit or helper is the reason why Europe became the site of the unique development of society, because, for example, Islam does not have Jesus as the Saviour of man and the Holy Spirit in its doctrine. The atheist Ferguson does not mention in a word this relationship, because he has no knowledge of the Holy Spirit who drove the Reformation in Europe through several individuals in addition to the leading Christian Reformers.

Ferguson’s practical explanation for why Europe and the West will be leading for the next 500 years is what he calls the six killer applications:

1. Competition 2. Science 3. Property law 4. Medicine 5. Consumption 6. Work ethic

Stay tuned …..

Part XXVII

Hello dear friends and family.

Here is part XXVII in the series “We are eyewitnesses to …” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists.

This and the previous part of the series are perhaps the two most ground-breaking in terms of the battle between the spirit powers in our world and in space. In the time around the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, events took place that had an effect in the centuries to come. By the Holy Spirit, God is initiating a revival that is unparalleled in the history after Jesus and His apostles.

The Western world seems to have been dominated in a negative way by the unbiblical teachings that the Catholic and Orthodox Church have taught their congregations. The revival brings forth priests and others from the Catholic and Orthodox Church who radically break with the way the churches have exploited their position as leading Christian organizations, over the last thousand years. The essence of Christianity is to be born again by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus told Nicodemus, one of the counsellors of the Jews (John 3:1-7), and that God acts directly with the individual through the Holy Spirit, and not necessarily through church leaders and structures. What church leaders seemed to neglect is Jesus’ strong exhortation to repent, to be baptized again by the Holy Ghost, because only then can one see the kingdom of God here on earth. The revival also seems to be directed towards the fundamental abuse of power of both resources and people when the church appears as a representative of the kingdom of God here on earth. Rules and ordinances established in the churches do not follow the teachings of Jesus and the apostles in the Bible. Fraud in the economic field and abuse of individuals are not prosecuted and nepotism is spreading. The basic double commandment of love was totally overlooked:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37) and you shall love your neighbour as yourself (Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:28-31 and Luke 10:27) on these two commandments rests the whole law and the prophets (Matthew 22:40).”

It is in our fellowship with God, as we spend time reading the Bible, praying, fellowshipping with other believers, the Holy Spirit will guide us in our daily activities and tell us what we should do to serve the Lord. We must give up our self-will and serve the kingdom of God on earth as Jesus did for us. It is so simple yet so difficult because we must give up our own carnal desires and wishes and rather seek the Holy Spirit for advice for our lives.

Jesus describes our cross as follows: “He that will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34).

The cross is to deny oneself! Say no to what pleases oneself, to what is one’s interest and desire, because Jesus tells us that the offer will benefit others. The cross is to direct one’s life for others and not for ourself, that is, first and foremost our family and local church, then what the Spirit puts on our hearts. And not just once and for all; but again, in the everyday little things and the daily small choices. We must “take up our cross every day,” Jesus says.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Holy Spirit was clearly greatly moving in comparison with the preceding thousand years. During this time there are a number of priests and preachers who address the church’s financial abuse and deviations from the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, in addition to Wycliffe (1328-1384) in England and Jan Hus (1372-1415) in the Czech Republic. Successors such as Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Germany, Ulrich Zwingli (1499-1571) in Switzerland and John Calvin (1509-1564) in France are of great importance both in terms of confronting doctrinal errors and abuses of various kinds within the Catholic Church. Alongside Martin Luther and John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli is considered among Europe’s three great reformers. The activity of these former pastors and preachers of the Catholic Church would have a massive and far-reaching impact in the coming centuries on countless people seeking Jesus for salvation, who then do service for Jesus by spreading the gospel among his fellow citizens, which is the main task for all those who are born again by the Holy Spirit and have met Jesus Christ. A new age was on the way with greater freedom also for others than the clergy to convey thoughts about God’s word in the Bible. The Renaissance and the Reformation give greater freedom and opportunity for others to convey thoughts; these new thoughts affect the church, culture, economy, and science in the centuries to come. Those who influence this development in Europe are among others:

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Italian physicist and astronomer, best known for his contributions to the theory of motion.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650), France, philosophy, and mathematics,

John Locke (1632-1704), England, philosopher, and founder of experiential philosophy,

Isaac Newton (1642-1726) English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, chemist, inventor, and natural philosopher formulated the law of gravity,

Voltaire (1694-1778), France, philosopher, and author,

David Hume (1711-1804) Scottish philosopher,

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) German philosopher (philosophy of cognition),

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) German philosopher,

Karl Marx (1818-1883) German philosopher, economist, and political thinker. He gained great importance in disciplines such as philosophy and social sciences due to his analysis of capitalist society,

Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) British natural scientist and is considered the founder of modern evolutionary biology. In his book The Origin of Species, Darwin presented his world-famous hypothesis that all life on earth is related and has evolved over many millions of years.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) an Austrian neurologist and psychologist, known as the founder of psychoanalysis.

All the above were strong personalities and highly educated, they even knew the Bible and probably also the teachings of Jesus and the apostles but chose to follow their own thoughts and the secular State with all its economic offerings and benefits to capable people.

The above persons were driving forces in the development of the secular society; they did not have much positive to say about Jesus Christ our Saviour, although many knew about the Bible through, among other things, theological studies. Furthermore, they were not preoccupied with the Holy Ghost that God sent to earth when the risen Jesus Christ was taken up to heaven. God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost have been very absent in the thinking and the writings of these highly educated and intelligent people. They must have been under the constant influence of evil spirits; from the Bible and the teachings of Jesus we know that there are both good and evil spirits in our world. All these highly educated and intelligent people chose to emphasize their own thoughts and omit God’s guidance to the people by the Holy Spirit and through Bible studies of the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. With the guidance of the Holy Ghost, all these new thoughts and knowledge that followed could have been presented in a way that built on God’s will for mankind, and here church leaders have failed in their task, because history shows that the leading clergy often cooperated with the state and secular leaders instead of focusing on God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.

The teachings of Jesus found in the Gospels do not seem to have been properly presented by the clergy in a highly hierarchical structure such as the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, which made it difficult for others to stand out to emphasize the clear message of the Bible to men. The opposite of hierarchy is equality; hierarchy is used about organizational forms that are characterized by formalized superior and subordinate relations. It is especially hierarchical where the distance between top and bottom is large, and when there are many subordinates in relation to the superiors. When the latter is the case, one speaks of pyramidal structures since the relationship between different groups can be symbolized by means of a pyramid. In pagan Babylon, pyramid organization was common in religious contexts. The creator of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, turned the notion of pyramid organization upside down when he sent his son Jesus Christ to earth to lead people on the right path in the search for direct fellowship with God by the Holy Spirit here on earth, without priests and bishops as intermediaries. This new freedom is also proving to have an effect in science, culture, and economics. Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist and astronomer, best known for his contributions to the theory of motion and as one of the first to use telescopes in astronomy. He was an ardent supporter of Nicolaus Copernicus’ worldview, in which the Sun is at the Center of the Earth’s movement, which caused him problems with the pope in Rome.

In his book, “Civilization: The West and the Rest”, the well-known Scottish historian, Niall Ferguson credits six “killer apps,” or social developments: competition, science, property, medicine, consumption and work. As an explanation why Europe and the West became dominant over the Rest of the world.

The book provides a good insight into the very special developments taking place in Europe in the field of church, science, economics, culture, from the fifteenth century and the following centuries at the end of the second millennium, compared to the rest of the world.

There, Ferguson describes an almost explosive development in all areas of society as a result of the Renaissance and the Christian Reformation, where among other things, the art of printing with new and simpler printing methods meant that the Bible and the Gospel as well as secular textbooks became easily accessible in many languages

Niall Ferguson is obviously a brilliant historian and writer. He is the first historian I know of that posed questions on the special development in Europe and the West that started in the fifteenth century and lasted for almost five hundred years compared with the rest of the world by saying:

“Any history of world civilization that lacks or underestimates the importance of the rest of the world’s gradual dependence on the West after 1500 – is essentially – the one most in need of clarification.”

He considers Europe’s situation in the beginning of the fifteenth century like this:

“The powerful positive development in Europe seems incomprehensible as Europe in 1412 was in a miserable backwater, while the Orient was home to dazzled civilizations. So how did the West come to dominate the rest?”, Ferguson asks

Ferguson asks “how?” instead of “why?” because he is an atheist, and does not believe in God, or His Son, Jesus Christ.

He asks “how?” because he thinks that everything began with man and not with God.

He should have asked “why?” Europe and not the Orient, and the answer would be the Holy Spirit if you are a born-again Christian. Because God probably said to Himself that thousand years with the Catholic Church without the Holy Spirit is enough, I must do something. God could not go to Islam or the Orient, because they don’t have Jesus Christ as the Saviour and the Holy Spirit in their doctrine.

Beyond all human thinking, God created everything when nothing existed.

Ferguson established therefore what he calls the six “killer applications” as an answer to “how?”. The killer applications are the practical procedure on how to develop things needed for prosperity at the time.

It was on August 18, 1518, that the King of Spain, Charles I, issued a decree allowing the direct transport of slaves from Africa to America. Before this, slaves were transported to Spain or Portugal and on to the Caribbean, in the slave trade that the Muslims introduced when they ruled in Western Europe. The Christian church is totally absent when the slave trade becomes a European enterprise. The secular society in all European states is taking on a completely dominant role in the slave trade, where greed and the struggle for resources become dominant. An exploitation of all newly discovered lands, a growing slave trade between Africa and America is a typical example of secular kings, heads of state and church leaders collaborating for the greatest possible power and influence without thinking that everyone is equal before God. Europe and the West were given an adventurous opportunity that they did not take care of, greed prevailed. However, the revival that swept across Europe will have an impact on the spread of the Gospel of Jesus in both the inner and outer mission. The Holy Spirit in contact with individuals do great things at home and abroad. It is not the big organizations that do things but the Holy Spirit through the individuals.

Stay tuned ……

Part XXVI

Hello dear friends and family!

Here is part XXVI in the series “We are eyewitnesses to …” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to His chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists. Jesus Christ warned his apostles about events that will come after He is taken up to his Father in heaven; He knew well Satan and his demons who had possessed countless people also among the Pharisees, scribes and later through the centuries, religious leaders with thoughts that went against what Jesus taught the disciples and the people.

“Beware of false prophets”, Jesus warns. “Many false prophets will stand and lead many astray” Matthew 24:11. “Beloved, believe not every spirit. Test the spirits if they are of God! For many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1.

Whether the spirits are of God, we gain insight through Bible study and by consulting the holy spirit that we have been pledged until Jesus Christ returns.

In the series, we have now come to the time period around the fifteenth century. The Catholic and Orthodox Church have now for over a thousand years, been the dominant Christian movements, with religious leaders who in cunning ways take over properties and assets in huge quantities, often together with political leaders. All under the guise of Christianity, instead of working to spread the gospel so that people can be guided to seek fellowship with God by the Holy Ghost and be born again and attain salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

This gigantic deception was staged by several of the Church Fathers, the Catholic Pope and the Orthodox Patriarch. Personal greed and strife for positions were accepted as normal behaviour in church leadership. Together with the cardinals and priests under the influence of Satan and his demons, the Pope and the Patriarch undermine the message God has to the people through the Bible. During this millennium period, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches had an enormous hold on virtually all authority on various societal issues. Including spreading of information that they often alone approved, and they exercised this authority with an iron fist, often arrested and punished those who challenged the teachings of the Church, especially in the time after the Jesuit order was established in 1179. The Inquisition ruled by the Jesuits were a canonical system for exposing heretics and heresy: the punishment was often burning on a stake. This kind of behaviour by “church” leaders is beyond all reason and against what Jesus teaches us. It’s anything but the bride of Christ, which the church is.

The message of the Bible that was transmitted was gradually wrapped up in the increasingly intricate and comprehensive rules of the churches for what best served the individual member in daily spiritual and secular life. The vital parts of the gospel we were demonstrated and handed down through the life and teachings of Jesus Christ are set aside for more, humanly speaking, eye-catching activities. These activities are often combined with the sale of services to help people in their spiritual quest. The most disturbing thing about these one thousand years within the Catholic and Orthodox Church, is what the Pope, the Patriarch, the cardinals and the priests seem to stand for in all contexts. They appear to have special and extra spiritual qualities, through characteristics such as collar, cloak, and position within the clergy and in secular society. This is in stark contrast to what Jesus told his disciples what they should do if they wanted to follow him, that is, be good examples in everyday life, serve their Christian brothers and sisters, be humble in all their conduct, not first seek their own gain. The one who serves his Christian brothers and sisters is greatest in the kingdom of God, the hierarchical structure of the Catholic and Orthodox Church and later the national churches seem to invite the development of ritual, cultural and organizational arrangements that are not based on Biblical words, but which primarily serve the self-interests of those who are leaders.

Do not rule, but serve (Mark 10: 35-45)

“Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” ³⁶And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” ³⁷They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” ³⁸But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” ³⁹They said to Him, “We are able.” So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; ⁴⁰but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.” ⁴¹And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. ⁴²But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. ⁴⁴And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. ⁴⁵For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.””

In the time around the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, events took place that will have an effect in the centuries to come. By the Holy Spirit, God initiates a revival that is unparalleled in history after Jesus ascended to heaven. The Western world seems to have been dominated in a negative way by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The teachings of Jesus found in the Gospels do not seem to have been properly represented by the clergy in a highly hierarchical structure such as the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The opposite of hierarchy is equality–hierarchy is used about organizational forms that are characterized by formalized superior and subordinate relations. It is especially hierarchical where the distance between top and bottom is large, and when there are many subordinates in relation to the controlling and superiors. When the latter is the case, one speaks of pyramidal structures since the relationship between different groups can be symbolized by means of a pyramid. In pagan Babylon it is said that pyramid organization is common in religious contexts.

At this time, the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in a relatively short time, priests and ordinary members of the church were protesting against things like financial default, nepotism, and the most serious matter deviating from biblical teachings by introducing baseless schemes and rules and thus mislead the members of the church. For over a thousand years, God is seeking the people who have been led astray by the teachings of the two dominant churches on how to seek salvation and fellowship with God as we live here on earth. The task of the church is to guide not to mislead the members of the church. In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2, we read how the Holy Spirit, sent by God as Jesus foretold, was poured out on all who were gathered for prayer so that they could have fellowship with the deity. They became spiritually born again by the Holy Spirit. This is the standard God has set when we pray for fellowship with Him and salvation through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit works only among individuals, including both priests and ordinary people in the congregations around when they seek a direct communion with God through the Holy Spirit. But church leaders do not seem to place the same emphasis on the Bible, on daily prayer and fellowship with the Holy Ghost. God has set the standard for how to fellowship with Him while we live and work on the earth and how to serve our neighbour. All who want fellowship with God must focus on being born again by the Holy Spirit and water and then serve their brothers and sisters in the churches, the double commandment of love must be leading for all Christians:

First you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37) and then you shall love your neighbour as yourself (Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:31 and Luke 10:27). On these two commandments rests the whole law and the prophets (Matthew 22:40).

In fellowship with God, the Holy Ghost will guide us in our daily activities and tell us how we should serve the Lord. We must give up our will and serve the kingdom of God on earth as Jesus did for us.

A story from Norway in the late seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century is very descriptive when it comes to “not rule but serve”. The man the story is about is Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824), who on April 5., 1796., at the age of 25 received his religious awakening. He later said that he was out in the field ploughing one day, and suddenly felt that “the love of God visited him” and called him to “confess the name of the Lord to men and exhort them to repent.”

Hauge was a farm boy, grew up in a Christian home as one of 10 siblings, most of whom worked in agriculture like most young people outside the cities at the time. He did his best to follow Luther’s teachings. His writings were ever present in his house. Hauge began after the encounter with Jesus as a preacher and in his preaching emphasized the personal relationship with God and a sober and industrious way of life. In the years from 1797 to 1804, he walked on his feet from place to place over large parts of Norway, from Kristiansand in the south to Malangen in the north. On the farms where he was given housing, he helped with the daily work. In the evenings he gathered those who lived on the farm and the neighbouring farms for devotion. This was not allowed since the Conventical poster of 1741 forbade lay people to hold edifying meetings without the parish priest’s approval. It was also not allowed to walk around the country, from city to city without a permanent job, or for a very good reason. Hauge was repeatedly arrested, at most ten times in seven years. In 1804 a large and extensive case was brought against him, and he was imprisoned until 1811 and had to pay a fine of 1000 silver coins (one year’s worth of wages). After this he stopped the travel business, but in 1813 he was sentenced to two years of slavery. The persecution led to further consolidation among his supporters, several of them, however, learned that it was not worthwhile to belong to Hauge’s friends. The Constitution of Norway of 1814 enshrined principles that Hauge until then had not benefited from, including the principle that no one must be imprisoned without authority in law and judgment (§ 96).

During the 18 years he was a preacher and out of prison, he published 33 books. In addition to being a leading figure for Christians, he was also an enterprising businessman, which, among over things, gave him funds to run an extensive humanitarian business. During his imprisonment, Hauge’s good health was broken down, and he had major ailments for the rest of his life. He died in 1824, aged 53, after great suffering.

Below I am repeating very essential text from part XXV of the series “We are eyewitnesses to…” because the text reflects the importance of the people mentioned and how the Holy Spirit works in the second half of the second millennium in Europe and how it impacted Europe and the Rest of the world.

Back to the early 14th century and John Wycliffe – well over a hundred years before the Reformation, began to study the Bible early, words and content were important in his church criticism. In 1370 he became professor of theology at the University of Oxford, and it was during this period that he emerged as a reformer. He gradually promoted his reform ideas both through words and deeds. Wycliffe argued that God has all power and that only he who meets God’s standard according to the Bible has the right to lead God’s churches. His teaching was that the Bible is the highest authority of the church; he rejected the papacy and rejected the worship of saints, pilgrimages, indulgences and masses. The criticism also went beyond the sacrament – neither confirmation nor “the last oil” is, according to the Bible, sacrament.

Wycliffe translated the Bible into English long before the King James Version (1611), so that most people could read it and thus control what the priests presented as the word of God. Another measure was that he sent out preachers who had “the word of God” as a task – as in Matthew 10, where Jesus sent out the apostles. Because of his “deviant” views, Wycliffe was convicted of heresy by the church and had to resign from the Oxford professorship a few years before his death, but he received protection from both Parliament and the people to continue his work for life. Many of his preachers were persecuted, and many of them were executed by burning at the stake. After Wycliffe’s death, the persecution intensified, his tomb was opened, and his legs burned and thrown into the river in 1427.

Others whom the Holy Spirit influenced during this time period in addition to Wycliffe (1328-1384) in England and Jan Hus (1372-1415) in the Czech Republic were Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Germany, Ulrich Zwingli (1499-1571) in Switzerland and John Calvin (1509-1564) in France. Alongside Martin Luther and John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli is considered one of Europe’s three great reformers.

Jan Hus was a theologian and author in the 14th century Czech Republic. His work made him another forerunner of the Protestant Reformation, a hundred years before Martin Luther published his theses. Jan Hus dared to question the Roman Catholic Church and condemned the church’s wealth. Jan Hus’ goal was to inform the people about what he perceived as the right Christian life practice, better morals and to counteract the abuse of power by the priests. He also urged priests to be of the same nationality as their parishioners and to preach and read from the Bible in the vernacular. He had the previous Czech Bible translations revised, which were compiled into a unified Bible text as well as a small ABC for children. Hus introduced Czech songs into the church, even wrote some hymns and several writings.

Ulrich Zwingli was a Swiss humanist, priest and theological writer who spearheaded the Reformation in Zurich in the 1520s. He was one of the founders of Reformed Protestantism, one of the three major directions of Christianity that emerged as a result of the Reformation in the 16th century. Zwingli began to question the unbiblical traditions of the Roman Catholic Church: papal authority, intercession of saints and indulgences. The seeds of the Reformation grew in his heart, watered, and nourished by his reading and preaching of the scriptures. All of these mentioned above including Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin were inspired to stand up to the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century because they were appalled by the hard authority of papal leaders to limit religious doctrine to what they alone decided. A new era of greater freedom for non-clergymen to convey thoughts about God’s word in the Bible is clearly on the way. This new freedom will affect everything from culture to economics and science in the centuries to come.

Stay tuned….

Part XXV

Hello dear friends and family.

Here is part XXV in the series “We are eyewitnesses to …..” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to his chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists. Jesus Christ warned his apostles about events that will come after he is taken up to his Father in heaven. He knew well Satan and his demons who had possessed countless people also among the Pharisees, scribes and later religious leaders with thoughts that went against what Jesus taught his disciples and the people.

“Beware of false prophets”, Jesus warns. “Many false prophets will stand and lead many astray” Matthew 24:11. “Beloved, believe not every spirit. Test the spirits if they are of God! For many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1

Whether the spirits are of God or not, we gain insight through Bible study and by consulting the Holy Spirit that we have been pledged to us until Jesus Christ returns.

In the previous two parts of the series (parts XXIII and XXIV) after the apostles’ death, we see that Satan and his demons renew the attacks on the congregations with the overall organizational structure that has been established to govern the congregations and their members. This spiritual battle between the church (congregations and leaders) and the evil forces we know will continue until Jesus returns and many church fathers and leaders will be deceived into establishing religious arrangements that have no basis in the Bible and that take away focus from the individual’s direct communion with God by the Holy Spirit. In many ways, a religious system is established that is confusingly similar to what the Pharisees and the scribes built up in Judaism (the Old Covenant). This was done by setting up rules and commandments that the Jews should abide by in addition to the Law of Moses, in order to become extra holy before God and become part of the Kingdom of God. We know from the Bible that the man-made regulations in Judaism to ensure better fellowship with God did not work. In fact, Jesus often and openly sharply rebuked the Pharisees and the scribes for this, while he was on earth teaching the Jewish people.

The same is now happening with the New Covenant that God is offering to all people, both Jews and non-Jews, where faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, his resurrection from the dead on the third day, and ascension are fundamental to be saved and have fellowship with God while we live on earth and then eternally in heaven. The Church Fathers, that is, the religious leaders, were seduced by Satan and his demons when the semi-religious supreme organizational structure with the pope/patriarch at the top and below them cardinals and then below them priests and deacons was established. The churches and their members, in addition to what the gospel shows us about how to have fellowship with God and salvation, had to relate to sacraments, rules and arrangements. This is to please God, as the pope / patriarch and the scribes believe is right. It seems that the leading scribes in the church had not learned from what happened to Judaism, partly because the focus was not on God. The focus was on the extra injunctions and rules, outside of the Mosaic Law, that the Pharisees and the scribes imposed on the Jewish people.

The new covenant that God offers to all people, not just Jews, replaced God’s Old Covenant with the Jewish people. The new covenant is based on God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who became God’s one-time sacrifice for all sin so that all who believe in God’s sacrificial plan can have fellowship with the Godhead by the Holy Spirit as they live on earth and then in heaven. God loves all people and wants as many as possible to be saved by believing in Jesus Christ who is the Door to the kingdom of God here on earth and in heaven.

Around ten centuries are passing by with the Catholic and Orthodox Church as leading church systems, where the foundation is Jesus’ and the apostles’ teaching about a life in communion with God here on earth and then in heaven. But the church leadership in the Catholic and Orthodox Church, which at the time seems to have the leading religious competence, is implementing new Bible interpretations over the next centuries that will totally change the understanding of what the Bible tells us about Jesus, the Jews and the land of Israel. These new interpretations of God’s word in the Bible on how to understand the role of Jesus, the Jews and the land of Israel in God’s plan will be known as replacement theology and will cause great suffering for the Jews as a people, as well as lead people astray.

The Catholic and Orthodox Churches led by the Pope and the Patriarch have, with the help of their cardinals, priests and deacons, whom for over one thousand years turned much of the focus away from God and the Holy Spirit towards activities such as:

1. Worship of saints (removes attention from the direct worship of God. God

says: I do not give away my honour to anyone)

2. Mary worship (has no connection to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, God alone we

must worship)

3. The monastic order (has no connection to the New Testament)

4. Relics (have no connection to the New Testament)

5. Icons (have no connection to the New Testament)

6. Infant baptism (has no connection to the New Testament)

7. Indulgences (has no connection to the Bible and the church is in a way God’s

role)

In addition, the services are often conducted in Latin, a language that the ordinary members of the church do not usually master, and thus does not have the opportunity to follow what is preached from the pulpits. The apostle Paul tells the congregation members, in his day, that they must study what the Bible says about the various topics that the clergy address in their sermons so that wrong doctrines do not take root in the congregations. At some point in history, around the 14th century, it may seem that God believes that the clergy’s delusion of church members has lasted long enough. God sends the Holy Spirit with ideas and thoughts to godly people in the Western world, who are in opposition to the teachings of the established church. The clergy misled instead of guiding the congregations- see the 7 points mentioned above. These godly people point to obvious discrepancies between what the Bible says about Jesus and the apostles’ teaching on how to attain salvation and fellowship with God. The Holy Spirit leads these godly people who are often theologians and priests, but just as often ordinary people who seek God. One of the many godly people, from the 14th century, influenced by the Holy Ghost are among others, John Wycliffe (1328-1384) in Yorkshire, England, perhaps the most important forerunner of the Reformation in England and on the continent. In October 1517, the priest Martin Luther was at the forefront of what is called the Reformation. In his early 30s Luther developed theological views on the church’s authority, the sacraments, and its relationship to God and the way indulgences were practiced – gave impetus to the Reformation and led to the founding of the Evangelical Lutheran churches. Luther’s translations of the Bible were of great importance for the development of the German language. His hymn poetry inspired the flourishing of Christian congregational singing in other denominations as well. His marriage to the nun Katharina von Bora gave the clergy marriage legitimacy in several Christian traditions. Luther’s Reformation blew up the ecclesiastical unity in continental Western and Northern Europe and had also major and lasting political and cultural changes.

Back in the early 14th century John Wycliffe, a hundred years before the Reformation, began early to study the Bible, whose words and content were important in his critique of the church. In 1370 he became professor of theology at the University of Oxford, and it was during this period that he emerged as a reformer. He gradually promoted his reform ideas both through words and deeds. Wycliffe argued that God has all power and that he who meets God’s standard according to the Bible has the right to lead God’s churches. His teaching was that the Bible is the highest authority of the church; he rejected the papacy and rejected the worship of saints, pilgrimages, indulgences, and masses. No matter how the Catholic and Orthodox church during hundreds of years had misled people God will ensure that the true doctrine prevails.

Wycliffe translated the Bible into English long before the King James Version (1611) so that most people could read it and thus check what the priests presented as the word of God. Another measure was that he sent out preachers who had “the word of God” as a task – as in Matthew 10, where Jesus sent out the apostles. Because of his dissenting views, Wycliffe was convicted of heresy by the church and had to resign from the Oxford professorship a few years before his death, but he received protection from both Parliament and the people to continue his work for life. Many of his preachers were persecuted, and many of them were executed by burning at the stake. After Wycliffe’s death, the persecution intensified, his grave was opened, and his legs burned and thrown into the river in 1427.

Jan Hus was a theologian and author in the 14th century Czech Republic, his work was to become another forerunner of the Protestant Reformation, a hundred years before Martin Luther published his theses. Jan Hus dared to question the Roman Catholic Church and condemned the church’s wealth. Hus’ goal was to inform the people about what he perceived as right Christian life practice, better morals and to counteract the abuse of power by the priests. He also urged the priests to be of the same nationality as their parishioners and to preach and read from the Bible in the vernacular. He revised the earlier Czech Bible translations, which were compiled into a single Bible text as well as a small ABC for children. Hus introduced Czech song into the church, even wrote some hymns and several Czech writings and polemics.

Others whom the Holy Spirit influenced during this time period in addition to John Wycliffe (13 28-1384) in England were Jan Hus (1372-1415) in the Czech Republic and Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Germany, Ulrich Zwingli (1499-1571) in Switzerland and John Calvin (1509-1564) in France. Alongside Martin Luther, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli are considered one of Europe’s three great reformers.

Ulrich Zwingli was a Swiss humanist, priest and theological writer who spearheaded the Reformation in Zurich in the 1520s. He was one of the founders of Reformed Protestantism, one of the three major directions of Christianity that emerged as a result of the Reformation in the 16th century. Zwingli began to question the unbiblical traditions of the Roman Catholic Church: papal authority, intercession for saints and indulgences, the seeds of the Reformation grew in his heart, watered, and nourished by his reading and preaching of the Scriptures. All of those mentioned above including Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin were inspired to stand up to the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century because they were appalled by the hard authority of papal leaders to limit religious doctrine to what they alone decided. A new era of greater freedom for non-clergymen to convey thoughts about God’s word in the Bible is clearly on the way. This new freedom will affect everything from politics to economics to science in the centuries to come.

Luther was persecuted and banned because of his criticism of the pope and the church. However, he also received the support of several groups, and the Reformation eventually became a movement that gained ground in large areas of Europe. From the middle of the 1520s, the movement was divided into several groups. In addition to the Lutheran Reformation, the Reformed or Calvinist Reformation was especially important, and its main leader was John Calvin (1509–1564). A radical socially critical branch of the Reformation which is referred to as the Baptist movement or born-again movement is taking shape. The Baptists did not accept infant baptism but believed that adult baptism was the right thing to do according to the Bible, but were persecuted by Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists alike. Modern Christian societies such as Baptists and Mennonites, however, link their own history with the re-baptismal movement of the 16th century. The Baptists were particularly active in the period 1525-1550, as mentioned above they did not accept infant baptism as a full-fledged Christian baptism because a young child is not able to make such a decision. Jesus addressed the subject of being born again with Nicodemus, see John. 3.1-21 where it is told about Nicodemus who came to Jesus at night. Many have interpreted it as cowardice that the Pharisee came to talk to Jesus at night, but in Jesus’ day it was often common to get together after dark to discuss religious and theological issues. Then it was calmer, the temperature was cooler, and you could talk peacefully. The important question that John refers to from the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, – how to be part of the kingdom of God on earth, Jesus is talking about being born again of water and the Spirit, not a physical birth.

God, through the Holy Ghost, ensures that the true doctrine which Jesus and the apostles taught the people returns and is emphasized.

Stay tuned ….

Part XXIV

Hello dear friends and family!

Here is part XXIV in the series “We are eyewitnesses to …..” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to his chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists. In this series on the Bible and the prophecies, we have now come to the end of the seventh century. Jesus Christ warned his apostles about events that will come after he is taken up to his Father in heaven, he knew well Satan and his demons who had possessed countless people also among the Pharisees and scribes with thoughts that went against what Jesus taught the disciples and the people. Beware of False Prophets Jesus warns: Many false prophets will stand and lead many astray, Matthew 24:11. “Beloved, believe not every spirit. Test the spirits if they are of God! For many false prophets have gone out into the world”, 1 John 4:1.

At the end of the previous part of this series (XXIII) we came to Islam and Muhammad, the founder of the religion Islam, and the subsequent caliphs who ruled Islam as if it were a dynasty (Dynasty, is a princely house or a family where a position goes in inheritance from generation to generation) where territorial control and the sword as a weapon were imperative as a basis for the spread of this new religion Islam. The danger of Islam is that Muhammad takes text from the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament especially about Jesus and gives his interpretation of the text which is then published in the book Quran used in Islam instead of the Bible. Muhammad claimed that God failed in his plan when it came to the Jews as God’s own people and Jesus the Son of God as a tool to save the people who believe in God’s plan for the people. What was mentioned in the chapter above about false prophets above fits well with the situation that arises with Muhammad and Islam around six hundred years after Jesus ascended to his Father in heaven. Just the fact that Muhammad and later the caliphs claim that God failed in his plan with the Jews and then claim that Muhammad has the solution should ring the alarm bells. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, therefore to claim that God is wrong is to put himself above God, all with such a view has no credibility.

Christianity, that is, the doctrine of Jesus, imparted to us through the Old Testament and the message of the apostles, is God’s final instrument in the selection of the saints. Those who believe in Jesus’ atonement on the cross for our sins, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension) with whom God desires fellowship through the Holy Spirit as they live here on earth and then in heaven. Jesus repeated that we should not seek the physical in the world but the spiritual communion with God here on earth as Jesus did, we must become more like Jesus.

The development of the Catholic and Orthodox Church through the introduction of various man-made religious arrangements or sacraments, instead of focusing on the individual’s direct communion with God, paves the way for other so-called religious systems and people who claim to have seen the light or received angelic visits like Muhammad. In Islam, a new method is used as a background for a new religion, namely that one claims that things went wrong with Judaism/Christianity, and so Muhammad, “would settle” for God with the use of the sword and massive territorial control. In addition to the use of the sword, the worship of the moon god (Allah) and stars is introduced, something our God, the creator of heaven and earth, says we must not do because He has created everything and does not give His glory to anyone.

A particularly dangerous feature of Islam is the inseparable connection between politics and religion. Muhammad and the caliphs after him founded a society where they were both religious, political, and military leaders, and at the same time they claimed that they corrected and perpetuated the Judeo-Christian faith that as they claimed, “had failed”, and so they called this continuation Islam. This way of establishing a new religion must be considered plagiarism and theft. Muhammad and the Islamists’ claim that the Judeo-Christian faith had failed is a falsehood and it is fully confirmed by all the fulfilled prophecies. The latest clear evidence that Jesus and the apostles’ teachings in the New Testament are God’s will, we see in Israel today. The Jews gather in their old homeland after one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight years without their own state, the country is flourishing both practically and economically despite the repeated attempts of the Arabs and Muslims to boycott, sabotage and destroy everything Israel does. The innumerable acts of war perpetrated by the Arabs (the Arab League) and the Muslims against the Jews between 1948 and the present day have struck back at themselves.

Compared to the state of Israel, the Arabs and Muslims have completely lost face when it comes to Jerusalem and Israel, nevertheless there are still more prophecies to be fulfilled concerning Israel and the Jews as the Bible tells us.

The Christian Catholic and Orthodox Churches are both based on Jesus, the Son of God, as the Redeemer and all who believe and confess Jesus as their Saviour and are born again by the Holy Spirit, will have fellowship with God the time they live on earth and since in heaven. Everyone can come into fellowship with God as long as they are alive and seeking God, but when people die it is too late to seek God. In our journey through the Bible and its prophecies, we see a development of Christianity by the Catholic and Orthodox church which are not in accordance with the Bible—this situation makes it difficult to have a real personal fellowship with God. The two major dominant religious organizations the Catholic and Orthodox Church have both deviated from God’s word in the Bible by adding schemes, rules and sacraments that do not originate in the Bible which takes the focus away from the individual’s direct communion with God by the Holy Spirit. The organized priesthood with the pope and patriarch at the top of the pyramid cannot give us any exclusive or special access to God. The individuals can get access only with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Judaism is also with us on this biblical journey, that is, the revised Judaism that lacks Jesus Christ, of whom the earlier prophets prophesied. Jesus, the Son of God, and the Holy Ghost that God sent to support us when Jesus was taken up to heaven, are absent in the revised Judaism. God knows that many Jews, that is, the Messianic Jews, regardless of Orthodox Judaism, will turn to Jesus Christ and be saved, and when the time comes, as the Bible prophesies, Jesus will return and open the eyes to both the Orthodox and secular Jews in Israel, who will then recognize Jesus as their messiah, see Zechariah 12

The Coming Deliverance of Judah

12:1 The ^[^a^]burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: ²“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of ^[^b^]drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. ³And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. ⁴In that day,” says the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ ⁶In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.

⁷“The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. ⁸In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. ⁹It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

¹⁰“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. ¹¹In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of ^[^c^]Megiddo.

A lot has happened from the 7th century to the 15th century with the Jews scattered around Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, the Mediterranean, Western Europe and Eastern Europe, they get to fully feel the curses associated with the betrayal of the people of Israel when they did not follow God’s word and laws in the mutual Sinai covenant. By the one-sided perpetual covenant that God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Jews are still God’s people, it still stands by the law, and so do the land promises.

God’s election of the Jewish people is not enshrined in the covenant at Sinai but is enshrined in the covenant with Abraham. In God’s call to Abraham in Genesis 12, 1-3, God promises to make him a great people, to give him a land, and through him all the families of earth would be blessed. In this promise lay the message of Jesus the Messiah and salvation to the whole world.

God allows the development in Jerusalem and the further fate of the Jewish people to go according to His plan. There is a remarkable connection in the fact that the Jews were scattered around the world in countless places, but still managed to maintain a Jewish culture in exile during the tribulation of the times for more than 1878 years – one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight years. The basis is found in the Old Testament and the prophecies which say that the Jews are God’s property people and will always be so, and that the people will have a land to return to when the time comes. A story like this has not and will not have its equal in world history.

During the same millennial period (700s – 15th century), the Christian church suffered greatly from the apostasy of the teachings of Jesus and the apostles that we find in the New Testament. The Catholic and Orthodox Churches are totally dominant and abuse the power they have exercised over the members of the congregations around them. There is a spiritual battle going on where Satan and his demons are trying to destroy the doctrine of Christianity and the individual’s quest for a fellowship with God as Jesus and the apostles taught the early churches. Church leaders such as the pope and the patriarchs fail to call on God when, in addition to changing the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, they also often, over the centuries, collaborate with various kings and emperors who wage war over power, influence and resources. God tells us in the Bible that we should seek the spiritual Kingdom of God, not the physical world.

Large parts of the Christian world were conquered by the Muslim Arabs: Syria in 633-640, Egypt in 642 and the rest of North Africa within about 700 or so. The most known battle is the one in Poitiers in 732 where Karl Martell (called the hammer) stopped a Moorish invasion led by the Islamic governor of al-Andalus. With this victory he put an end to further Muslim conquest in France. In Asia Minor, the Byzantine Empire was severely oppressed by the Muslim Turks from the 14th century and perished with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Jews had lived in Spain since the first century BC. They apparently came from Judea, possibly via Rome, and first lived along the east coast of Spain, but eventually the Jewish community arose throughout the country. The Visigoths conquered Spain around 412, but only when King Rekkared converted to Christianity in 586 did it become really difficult to be a Jew in Spain. In 613 they were given the choice between converting or leaving the country. Many went to Morocco or the South of France. Others converted, at least apparently, to Catholicism.

In the midst of this dark period of time for both Christianity and the Jews, we know from history that brighter times lie ahead of Christianity, which is the way to the Kingdom of God here on earth and then in heaven. We also know from history that for many hundreds of years the Jews will still be exposed to the curses we can read in Deuteronomy 28, 15-68, but also for the Jews, God’s property people, there will be brighter times ahead.

Stay tuned …

Part XXIII

Hello dear friends and family.

Here is part XXIII in the series “We are eyewitnesses to …..” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to his chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists. In this series on the Bible and the prophecies we have now come to the end of the fourth century (possibly around 350 – 400 AD). Jesus Christ warned his apostles about events that will come after he is taken up to his Father in heaven, he knew well Satan and his demons who had possessed countless people, among the Pharisees and scribes also, with thoughts that went against what Jesus taught the disciples and the people.

Beware of false prophets Jesus warns. Many false prophets will stand and lead many astray (Matthew 24:11). Beloved, believe not every spirit. Test the spirits if they are of God! For many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1). The Spirit says in clear words that in the last times some will fall away from the faith. They will cling to spirits leading astray, and to the teachings of demons from false teachers, who are branded in their own conscience (1 Tim 4:1-2).

The Christian Church was early organized under five patriarchs, with seats in Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Rome. The patriarch of Rome, the pope, was given early a special position, as his episcopate was considered inherited from the apostle Peter. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, Constantinople (Istanbul) became increasingly important politically and economically, while doctrinal differences developed between the Eastern and Western Churches.

Over time, these arrangements were incorporated into the Catholic and Orthodox Church, which were the leading Christian religious movements from late antiquity to the Middle Ages (476–1453).

It would not be long after Jesus’ ascension and the Apostles’ death until the congregations that followed Christianity were influenced by false prophets who promoted so-called “sacraments” and arrangements and rules within Christianity that were supposed to help Christians worship God and improve the individual’s personal community with God. This false doctrine from evil spirits came from religious teachers and so-called Church Fathers who apparently now dominate the central religious organizational structure and negatively affect the individual and his local congregation. In the revelations of John, Jesus calls these evil spirits “the teachings of the Nicolaitans” that God hates, see Rev. 2:6. Both the Catholic and Orthodox Church introduce these religious rites or sacraments which are a clear violation of Jesus’ teaching and what was preached by the apostles. It introduces into the personal worship of God elements that are not directly related to God. The church is taught to worship people whom the Catholic and Orthodox Church declare to be saints and that the worship of saints strengthens fellowship with God. It is clear from the Bible that God does not give his glory to anyone. I have created mankind and everything that is, says God, and I want the glory, see Isaiah 42:8 – “I am the Lord, that is my name. I do not give my glory to others, nor my praise to idols.” This warning comes through the prophet Isaiah in chapters 42:1-8 where God for the first time in clear words tells that the Messiah of the Jews, Jesus, will come:

¹“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. ²He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. ³A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. ⁴He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law.” ⁵Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it: ⁶“I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, ⁷To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. ⁸I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.

The man-made religious arrangements or sacraments that were pointed out in the previous part of the series (part XXII) do not have their origin in the Bible, but have come about from evil spirits through false prophets and church fathers:

1. Saint worship (removes attention from the direct worship of God. God says I do not give away my honour to anyone)

2. Mary worship (has no connection to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, God alone we must worship)

3. The monastic order (has no connection to the New Testament)

4. Relics (has no connection to the New Testament)

5. Icons (have no connection to the New Testament)

6. Baptism of young children (has no connection to New Testament)

7. Indulgences (has no connection to the Bible and the church assumes the role of God)

The above seven points have had a devastating effect in that they are a diversion from our main goal as Christians to honour God, and among other things, the double commandment of love.

The first and greatest is: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:5). The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18) (Matthew 22:37, Mark 12: 28-31 and Luke 10:27). If we keep the above commandments, we have kept all the commandments of God, like the Ten Commandments below:

1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before me.

2. You should not make yourself an idol…

3. You shalt not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy! For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh he rested.

5. Honour your father and your mother, that you may live long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

6. You shall not kill.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

It may seem that the leading religious leaders and church fathers have not learned from the Old Testament and are now being tricked into repeating the same mistakes as the Pharisees and the scribes in Judaism. They were led by false leaders influenced by Satan and his demons and developed arrangements and additions to the Mosaic Law that made it more difficult for congregations to practice fellowship with God on a personal level, by imposing additional injunctions on individual congregations and members that could also have financial consequences for them. None of the prophets of God or Jesus Christ has ever prophesied of such arrangements and additions, neither to his people the Jews nor to the churches after Jesus Christ and the apostles. All these changes, imposed burdens on the people that did not lead to a better communion with God, but rather drove the people into a religious system of rules run by the clergy. Jesus pointed several times to these regulations developed by the clergy, such as the third commandment “Keep the Sabbath day holy” over time several restrictions have been added on the congregations with regard to movement and what one could do on the Sabbath. Jesus told the priests that the commandment was given by God to help people seek Him and rest on the Sabbath, not to control them in detail. Jesus further gave the example that the priests themselves did not comply with the regulations they required everyone else to comply with.

From the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century until around the 17th century, that is, more than 1,000 years (one thousand years), the famous Western Christian church suffered greatly during the apostasy from the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. An apostasy that began to develop between 150 and 400, the Catholic and Orthodox Church being totally dominant and abusing the power they have exercised over the members of the congregations around. With the introduction of new sacraments and especially new interpretations of the texts of the Bible, the Christian church, both Catholic and Orthodox, took the position that God had rejected the Jews as his people and that the Jews no longer had any special rights to the land of Israel. The church decided that they had taken over the role of God’s people with the blessings that came with it and that the Jews would never get their land back since they had already been expelled and without land for approx. 400 years. The problem here is that God has never determined such a solution, something the Bible clearly shows us. God’s prophets clearly prophesied that his people would be scattered to all corners of the world and when the time comes, God will gather his people the Jews again in Israel. Due to the arbitrariness of the Christian Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the Jews were persecuted, killed and hunted and despised by all peoples of the world for the next 1500 years – one thousand five hundred years, the word Jew becoming an insult. The remarkable thing in this situation is that it is the Christian church (Catholic and Orthodox) influenced by evil forces that seems to hasten many of the curses listed in the Sinai Covenant (Deuteronomy 28, 15-68).

The Jews and Judaism had rejected the teachings of Jesus and the apostles at the time of Jesus and thus definitively broke the mutual Sinai covenant they had with God with the result that the curses against the people listed in the covenant took effect (Deuteronomy 28, 15-68). The clearest evidence is the Roman destruction of the Holy Temple and Jerusalem itself in the year 70 and the subsequent expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem to the lands around and to all the lands of the world. There will be a marked separation between the Christian church and Judaism, which is still active in the synagogues around after the expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem. The Christian Jews are no longer as welcome in the synagogues outside Jerusalem and in the surrounding lands, the Orthodox Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah and developed a Judaism over the next 1000 – 1500 years in exile without Jesus as their Messiah.

The shortcoming in this revised Judaism is the Holy Spirit since the revised Judaism not recognizing Jesus as their Messiah there is no Holy Spirit present that Jesus said God would send for spiritual help instead of Jesus as he ascended to heaven. Revised Judaism has now become a man-made religion that has no communion with God as it was in the ancient temple service before Jesus came to earth. Now by Jesus Christ there is a new covenant between all men and God, the individual Jew and Gentile can have fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit as they seek God and acknowledge with their mouths that Jesus Christ is Saviour and Lord and is born again by the Spirit of God.

The one-sided perpetual covenant that God made with the Jews as His people still stands by and so do the land promises. God allows the development in Jerusalem and the further fate of the Jewish people to go according to His plan. There is a remarkable connection in the fact that the Jews are scattered around the world in countless places, but still manage to maintain a Jewish culture in exile during the tribulation of the times for more than 1878 years – one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight years. The foundation is found in the Old Testament and the prophecies that say that the Jews are God’s chosen people and always will be, and that the people will have a land to return to when the time comes. A story like this has not and will not have its equal in world history.

About six hundred years after Jesus ascended to his Father in heaven, Satan and his wicked demons launch another massive attack on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles. A new man-made religion is being created in the Arabian Peninsula; the founder is called Muhammad. The doctrine is called Islam, which means submission, and is based on scriptures in the book of the Qur’an. Muhammad establishes a doctrine based on texts, spiritual beings and prophets from the Judeo-Christian Bible, which must be characterized as a plagiarism of the Judeo-Christian faith. Muhammad and his caliphs use military force to spread Islam, which is known as the religion of the sword. Every country that has once been under Islamic rule is to be considered an Islamic territory forever. Islam is both a political ideology and a law religion, the law has the name Sharia and includes, among other things, civil legal elements. Muhammad and the caliphs after him lead both the military, religious and political leadership within Islam.

Jesus Christ repeatedly stated that my kingdom is not of this world, John 18:36: “My kingdom is not of this world. Had my kingdom been of this world, my men would have fought for me. But my kingdom is not from here. ” Islam seeks to control this world with all its evil. Jesus also said that if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you if you keep my teaching.

An important feature of Islam throughout history is the inseparable connection between politics and religion. Muhammad and the caliphs claimed that they corrected and continued the Judeo-Christian faith that had failed, this continuation they called Islam. This way of establishing a new religion must be considered plagiarism and theft. The claim of Muhammad and the Islamists that the Judeo-Christian faith had failed is a falsehood and it is confirmed by all the fulfilled prophecies. The latest clear evidence that Jesus and the apostles’ teaching is God’s will we see in Israel today. The Jews gather in their old homeland after almost two thousand years and the country is flourishing practically and economically despite the Arabs and Muslims’ repeated attempts through the Arab League, which represents a population of 200-300 million, to throw the Jews into the Mediterranean. Still there are more prophecies to be fulfilled before Jesus will return the second time.

The Christian Catholic and Orthodox Churches are both based on Jesus the Son of God as the Redeemer and all who believe and confess Jesus as their Savior and are born again by the Holy Spirit will have fellowship with God as they live on earth and then in heaven. Everyone can come into fellowship with God as long as they are alive and seeking God, but when people die it is too late to seek God.

Stay tuned ….

Part XXII

Hello dear friends and family.

Here is part XXII of the series “We are eyewitnesses to ……” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to his chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists. The world religions can for many often be a source of frustration and misunderstanding. The scriptures and the teachings of Jesus are revelations from God and therefore not a religion. Religions are man-made and have nothing to do with the God of Saint Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Religions usually prepare their own scriptures and often take parts of their texts from the Bible and interpret them. Jesus exclaimed as his last words on the cross “it is finished!” that is, the words of the Bible and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross gives salvation to all people who believe in Jesus Christ. To be saved and get to heaven, we do not need any additional religions or man-made scriptures. In respect of our great and holy God, no one should try to improve the texts of the Bible. If there are texts, we do not understand we can seek counsel from the Holy Spirit in prayer. A major danger of religions is that secular leaders and/or self-proclaimed religious leaders determine or rather adapt the texts of the Bible to their religion. There is no country that can become a “Christian”; it is the individual human being who can become a Christian, that is, born again, and follows the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross so that everyone who believes in him can be saved and live a holy life here on earth and then in heaven live eternally. Jesus said in John 18:36 – “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

For those of us who live by the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, history has shown that we who believe in Jesus and are born again will, like Jesus, be looked down upon by those people, because the views of the majority of the world or “the politically correct” deviate from the teachings of Jesus. Jesus told his disciples that when those who rule the world persecute me, you too will be persecuted and looked down upon by those who are not born again by the Spirit. Jesus said in John 15:18-21, “18 If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose 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 would also persecute you. If they kept My word, they would 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.” Further in 15:23-25, “He that hated me hates my Father also…But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’” (see Psalm 69:5).

There are Christian denominations that believe they are on biblical grounds. Even those who believe that God’s chosen people the Jews are rejected by God, and that replacement theology is biblical teaching! They believe that the Christian church has taken over the role of God’s chosen people. They further claim that all the prophecies that the Jews have received will be fulfilled in the Church and that the Jews have been replaced by the Church – Only the curses that the Old Testament prophesies apply to the Jews, see Deuteronomy 28:15-68. This is called replacement theology created by humans and has no basis in the bible. To administer the replacement theology, an organizational structure was developed, it is hierarchically structured, and the religious leaders take on the “de facto” role of intermediary between God and the members of the church, see drawing 1 below. The position of the Holy Ghost is considerably weakened, the costs of this organizational structure are both spiritual and financial in nature and are borne by the members of the Church. Control over Church funds is difficult, and abuse can easily occur. The direction in which Christianity develops after the time of Jesus and the apostles under the leadership of self-appointed religious leaders and probably some of the so-called church fathers seems to be the same development that took place within Judaism or the Mosaic Law. The clergy, Pharisees, and Sadducees led a religious system that was not of God or of the Spirit. All these changes impose burdens on the people that did not lead to a better communion with God, but rather drove the people into a religious system of rules invented by the clergy. The same thing is happening now with Christianity after the time of Jesus and the apostles.

Church Fathers is a common name for important theologians, writers and teachers in the Old Church, whose writings became of fundamental importance to the Christian church. The different church traditions will have a slightly different perception of who is counted among the church fathers. There are many church teachers, and they are appointed by the church, but the list of church fathers is based on tradition. Depending on the criteria used and direction of Christianity, there are about thirty authors who are considered church fathers. Those who are considered church fathers usually meet four criteria set by other religious leaders: orthodoxy, holiness, recognition, and that they lived in the ancient past or late ancient past. The first church fathers worked from the end of the first century and the last in the 600s and 700s. All these Church Fathers are appointed by the organized Church and do not necessarily follow the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, which we will eventually understand.

The first and greatest mistake of the Church Fathers seems to be that they deviate from God’s most important commandments: Exodus 20:3-5: “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me”.; Fürther Deuteronomy 10:12-13 says “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?”

The Church Fathers established arrangements and rules, which do not seem to be led by the Holy Spirit, but which cause distractions from the main task, which is to honour and worship God, the creator of all that is and thus deserve all honour and worship.

The Catholic Church (Western Church) and the Orthodox (Eastern Church) developed both schemes and rules that have no basis in biblical texts, especially the New Testament, which forms the basis of Jesus’ teaching called Christianity. The Christian Church was early organized under five patriarchs, with seats in Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome. The patriarch of Rome, the pope, was given an early special position, as his episcopal seat is inherited from the apostle Peter they say. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, Constantinople became increasingly important politically and economically, and at the same time doctrinal differences developed between the Eastern and the Western Church. Over time, the following man-made arrangements were incorporated into the Catholic and Orthodox Church, which were the leading Christian religious movements in antiquity or late antiquity up to modern times:

Saint worship:

A saint is a person, often deceased, who is the object of religious worship and is considered to have particularly close contact with God.

Mary worship:

The Virgin Mary has a special position in the Catholic Church. Catholic faith includes her immaculate conception and the bodily ascension to heaven at the end of her life.

Jesus’ recognition of Mary and care for her is expressed as he dies on the cross, John 19:26-27: “When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”

Monastic order:

A monastery is an enclosed area where monks or nuns have withdrawn to realize religious ideals in a closed society according to a certain rule. Monasteries exist in different forms in the different religions, but the external characteristics are often the same; a regular life lived in community with an emphasis on prayer, silence, frugality, celibacy and often also subordination under a spiritual leader.

Relic:

Relics are the remains of a holy person, or objects that have belonged to or been in physical contact with a saint, and that are the subject of religious cult.

Icons:

Normally they are saint pictures.

Baptism of young children instead of adult baptism:

Baptism (from Low German dope, ‘to dip’, after Greek baptizein with the same meaning) is a religious ceremony in Christian denominations that marks the Christian’s entry into the church. The theological significance of baptism varies somewhat from one society to another. In most denominations, baptism is considered a sacrament.

Indulgences :

Indulgence is forgiveness or remission of punishment for a sinful act. In Latin it is called indulgentia. In the Catholic Church, indulgences are intricately linked to the idea that the church, represented by the pope, is God’s representative on earth. The Church can therefore impose punishment for sins committed by believers, but also forgive the punishment.

Note:

All these ordinances plus several others, depending on which Church, destroy the simple form of worship, prayer, and fellowship with God that the teachings of Jesus and the apostles show us in the Bible.

In contrast to the man-made religious organization shown above, the organization of the congregations that spring out from the New Testament is a divine creation, see Drawing 2 below, directly between God and the individual members of the church and the Holy Spirit sent us by God for guidance:

The local connection regarding geography and knowledge of the members of the congregation as well as the local conditions is the core of the community with God. The spiritual and practical guidance comes from the same members who are appointed after prayer and guidance by the Holy Ghost. There is no need for any organizational link between God and the church, that task is taken care of by the Holy Spirit. All activity should be directed as much as possible towards Bible studies and prayer then God will guide and facilitate our daily needs. We must show God that we can follow His standard here on earth, in doing so God will take us into the Kingdom of God both here on earth and in heaven, when our time on earth is over.

Stay tuned …

Part XXI

Hello dear friends and family!

Here is part XXI in the series “We are eyewitnesses to….” about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to his chosen people and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honour God who created man and all that exists. The Bible contains the knowledge people need about how to come into fellowship with God. Adam’s sin caused a separation between man and God, and the other Adam (Jesus) was sacrificed to restore our relationship with God the Father and secure eternal life with Him. You know, there are evil spirits (Satan and his demons) that affect humans and the evolution of the world, they seek to distract people from seeking God. The Bible and the prophecies, as well as the teachings of Jesus, the gospels, show us that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No other document or scripture in the world gives us similar insight into what has happened in the past and what will happen in the future as the Bible does. In addition, we have access to the Holy Spirit who gives us the right understanding through prayer.

The word religions can for many, often be a source of misunderstanding. The scriptures and the teachings of Jesus are revelations from God and therefore not a religion. Religions are man-made and have nothing to do with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Religions usually prepare their own scriptures and often take parts of their written documents from Bible texts and interpret them. Jesus exclaimed as his last words on the cross “it is finished!” that is, the work of salvation for all people, made possible through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross to those who believe in him. To be saved and get to heaven, we do not need any additional religions or man-made scriptures. In respect of the Holy Triune God, no one should try to improve the texts of the Bible. If there are texts, we do not understand seek counsel from the Holy Spirit in prayer.

From about the beginning of the third century, when Jesus’ followers, the Christians, after long persecution were accepted because the authorities found that the Christians did not represent a threat to the mighty Roman Empire rather the opposite.

Christians increased in number, perhaps as much as 2 percent of the population of the Roman Empire. Religious teachers during this period included, among others, Origen in Alexandria and Tertullian in North Africa, and they expressed in their writings doctrines that were formulated as the Holy Trinity. Antonius the Great, an Egyptian Christian leader, and others established as Gregor Lysbringeren were responsible for making Armenia the first official Christian country. In the wake of Emperor Constantine the Great’s choice to become a Christian (just before the Battle of Pons Mulvius [Ponte Milvio] in 312), the Roman Empire tolerated Christianity with the Milan Poem in 313, which later led to Christianity becoming the state religion in 380 by Emperor Theodosius the Great (see the Edict of Thessaloniki) and to the further growth of Christianity in the Eastern Empire (Byzantium 330-1453).

A major danger of this development is that secular leaders and / or self-proclaimed religious leaders decide that the country should follow Christianity without the council and participation of the Holy Spirit. This way of becoming a Christian does not agree with the Bible’s teaching on the necessary personal relationship with God and the need to be born again by the Holy Spirit and water and then follow Jesus’ teaching, the Gospels, see Jn. 3:1-6,

3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ²This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” ³Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born ^[^a^]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

We know from the Bible that no human being is justified before God by his own works or deeds required by law or by various humanistic ideas of good works. Only by faith in Jesus Christ will we be made righteous, not by works of law. For no man is justified by works. Galatians 2:16 says, “¹⁶knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified”. The revelation from God that began with the prophecies and continued with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles became a movement within Judaism that the scribes and Pharisees did not accept. Jesus was accused of blasphemy by the clergy and demanded that the Roman rulers crucify him instead of a known criminal Barabbas who was allowed to go free. The Roman rulers used to release a prisoner as part of the Passover holiday; the people asked for the release of Barabbas and Jesus be crucified in his place. The Sinai Covenant was definitely broken here by the Jewish people who were deceived by the Pharisees and the scribes. We know from the past that the Sinai Covenant was a conditional covenant between God and the Jewish people, if the people followed the conditions of the covenant the people would be blessed, (Deuteronomy 28:1-14), if they did not follow the conditions of the covenant the people would be cursed (Deut. 28: 15-68). History shows us who live today that the curses of the Jewish people as they appear in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 seem to have begun when the temple and Jerusalem were destroyed, and the people scattered to the nations around them. Jesus had previously told the apostles shortly before he ascended to heaven that the temple, the greatest sanctuary of the Jews, would be completely demolished, there would be no stone left upon another. In the year 70 AD, the Roman army commander Titus attacked and stormed Jerusalem, plundered and burned the temple of the Jews. Sixty years later the remains of the temple were demolished by Emperor Hadrian after the Jewish revolt led by Bar-Kochba. In an attempt to remove Jewish names in the Jerusalem area, Emperor Hadrin rebuilt Jerusalem and named it Aelia Capitolina, and the land of Israel was named Palestine after the Jews’ former worst enemy the Philistines, the Jews were expelled, and Judaism was banned.

Jesus’ life and teachings on earth as described in the four gospels and the writings of the apostles form the basis and model for the local congregations in their work to be established as independent entities with their own spiritual guidance for help and support as well as guidance in the study of the scriptures and necessary common social activities.

The spiritual leaderships that are gradually established around them will prove to be more in line with instructions from the political leadership and scientific body in the countries than with what the Bible provides as a guideline in the relationship between God and the local congregations. This contributed to the development of a so-called Catholic direction for Christianity in the Western Church based in Rome and an Orthodox direction for Christianity in the Eastern Church based in Constantinople, now Istanbul. The denominations that were established at this time and further on the centuries, seem to be characterized by the spiritual and or secular leaders having little fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit as God desires and the Bible tells us to exercise in our daily lives with the Godhead. Arrangements were developed for the operation of the religious communities that do not appear to have been taken from the Scriptures. The arrangements God prescribed in the Old Testament for the operation of the temple, synagogues, and the role of the high priest as the man between people and God, the Old Covenant, the Sinai Covenant, were put out of function at the crucifixion of Jesus. But the Bible tells us that God’s one-sided covenants with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the people of Israel, are still in place. In the coming centuries, false spiritual leaders will stand up and deceive the Christians, the born again, that follow the teachings of Jesus.

The new covenant is based on the teachings of Jesus, his death on the cross, burial and resurrection after three days, his ascension to his Father in heaven, and the coming of the Holy Spirit (the helper) to earth to help those who believe. God’s revelation through Jesus Christ and the apostles, that is, the new covenant, eventually came to pass despite persecution. However, in addition to the physical persecution, there are also constant attacks on believers in Jesus from Satan and his demonic friends (former angels who chose to follow Satan when God cast him out of heaven), they want as few as possible people to follow Jesus’ teachings here on earth because then God will not get as many souls / people in heaven as He wants.

In his letters to the congregations, the apostle Paul reminds them to check statements from spiritual teachers and leaders about what the Bible says about the same subjects. If the spiritual teachers do not agree with what the Bible says, reject these false teachers or spiritual leaders. There are very many Christian denominations that believe they are on biblical grounds. Even those who believe that God’s chosen people, the Israelites, are rejected by God, and that replacement theology is biblical teaching! They believe that the Christian church has taken over the role of God’s chosen people. They further claim that all the prophecies that the Israelites have received will be fulfilled in the Church and that the Jews have been replaced by the “Church” – Only the curses that the Old Testament prophesies apply to the Jews – This is called replacement theology. Justin Martyr (ca. 100-165) who already early in the history of the church provided a systematic justification for replacement theology. He was one of the prominent proponents of early ecclesiastical apologetics (defence of the Christian faith). In his struggle to defend the truth of Christianity, he proposed a synthesis between Greek philosophy and the Christian faith. At the same time, he distanced himself from the Jewish faith. These two aspects of his thinking became the start of the attacks on Israel, the Jews, and Christianity as Paul conveys us through the teachings of Jesus in his letters to the churches of former Turkey and Greece along with the scriptures of the prophets. According to Greek philosophy (Gnosticism), the physical is worse than the spiritual, his synthesis between Gnosticism and the Christian faith became a spiritualization of the Holy Scriptures. This led to a new interpretation, in contrast to the concrete historical and down-to-earth basic attitude, characteristic of the Old Testament – and of Christianity, because they also do not stand for a distinction between the physical and the spiritual. The philosophical or scientific method of explaining the existence of God is a dilution of the necessary participation and guidance of the Holy Spirit. God’s intentions with creation can only be understood by those who are born again by the Holy Ghost. God is the main person who wants fellowship with us. He should have all the glory. Humans and everything else that is created should glorify God who created them.

Models for organizing the congregations developed quite early on, although the Bible does not prescribe any such overarching organization. Should it turn out that some congregations become large, they can be divided into smaller units, depending on where they live, with their own spiritual leadership and their own practical help or community organizations.

Destructive activity from within the congregations is what probably triggered the man-made gathering / organization of the congregations, often called Babylon the Great. Because the organizational solution was not much different from the organization of religious denominations that existed in pagan Babylon. Both Jesus and Paul warned the churches about false spiritual leaders see, Matthew 7:15 and Acts. 20:29-31. In Revelation chapter 2 verse 15 we read that God hates the works of the Nicolaitans.

The figure below gives a picture of the church organization which is an imitation of pagan religions’ priesthood hierarchy. This organization of the congregations is not taken from the Bible, but rather from Greek philosophical thought.

This form of organizing the congregations is at the expense of the daily spiritual communion with the deity. The scheme easily leads to misuse of the congregations’ funds, which should be used locally where the funds are created. The organization provides fertile ground for discontent as God and the Holy Ghost are no longer at the centre of congregational attention. Around the 300s, two religious denominations developed that received much attention, the Western Church located in Rome, the Catholic Church and the Eastern Church located in Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), the Orthodox Church. The only thing these two major religious organizations were able to agree on is what in the Bible is called the triune God.

The Holy Trinity, (also the Trinity, the Trinity or the Triune God) is in Christian understanding or doctrine a designation of God. It defines God as one being, but three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Most Christian churches profess this belief, but there are some denominations that reject it. The doctrine was developed primarily as an answer to what testimony the Bible has about the question of who God is and how the existence of God can be described. This agreement on the Holy Trinity resulted in two creeds that are collected and easy to understand and according to the Bible, but beyond this there has not been much useful for our spiritual communion with God.

The Nicene Creed (from 325 AD)

We believe in one God, the Almighty Father, who created heaven and earth, all visible and invisible. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father from eternity. God of God, light of light, true God of true God, born, not created, of the same being as the Father. By him everything has been created. For us humans and for our salvation, he descended from heaven. He has become flesh by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and has become man. He was crucified for us, tortured under Pontius Pilate and buried. He arose on the third day, according to the scriptures, ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. He will return with glory and judge the living and the dead, and there will be no end to his kingdom. We believe in the Holy Ghost, Lord and Life-Giver, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who is worshiped and glorified with the Father and the Son, and who has spoken by the prophets. We believe in one, holy, universal / Catholic and Apostolic Church. We confess one baptism for the remission of sins and await the resurrection of the dead and eternal life. Amen.

The Apostles’ Creed (from the ninth century)

I believe in God the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, tortured under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead and buried, descended to the realm of the dead, rose from the dead on the third day, ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God, the Almighty Father, will return from there to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, a holy, universal Church, the fellowship of the saints, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the body, and eternal life. Amen.

Stay tuned ….

Part XX

Greetings, dear friends! Here is part XX in the series “We are eyewitnesses to… .”, about the Bible and its prophecies that God gave to his chosen prophets and for our knowledge. The Bible gives us a unique insight into why we live here on earth and how we should live our lives to honor the God who created man and all that exists. The Bible contains the knowledge people need on how to be restored in fellowship with God. Adam’s sin caused a separation between man and God and Jesus (the second Adam) became the sacrifice to restore our relationship with God the Father. You know, there are evil spirits (Satan and his demons) who influence people and developments in the world that seek to distract people from seeking God. The Bible and the prophecies as well as Jesus’ teachings, the gospels, show us that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (check for example the gospel of John). No other documentation or scripture in the world gives us similar insight into what has happened in the past and what will happen in the future as the Bible does. In addition, through prayer we have access to the Holy Spirit who gives us the right understanding.

The background to this series is a quote from the Bible I received back in 2018 from the helper (the Holy Spirit) whom God sent to earth after Jesus ascended to Heaven to his Father. In 2 Peter’s 1:16-18 we read:
“16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”
Thoughts came to me that I should write about the Bible and the prophecies and how this should be done in a practical way was facilitated without much effort in my part thanks to friends and the Helper, which resulted in the website: www.eyewitnesses.grafoskop.com.The text is published in four languages: Norwegian, English, Albanian and Serbian.
The first time I came into close contact with an event that has been crucial to the Jews of the world and prophecies in the Bible was in the afternoon of May 14th, 1948, when David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of a “Jewish state in Eretz (the land) of Israel named the State of Israel.” Several countries immediately recognized Israel, including the Soviet Union and the United States. The following day, May 15th, 1948, several Arab states declared war on their new neighbor. The Arab League, consisting of 22 states with approx. 200 million inhabitants (Arabs and Muslims), could not stand that the Jews, approx. 650,000 inhabitants, got their old land back. I was eight years old in 1948 and my father, who for many years had told us children that Jesus would soon return, exclaimed in ecstasy; “The Jews have now got the land back and now Jesus is coming.” I have never forgotten the statement, which left lasting traces in me.
An important event that eventually leads to the persecution of believers in Jesus is the story of the deacon Stephen. The period after the event with Stephen marks the beginning of the Roman Empire’s persecution of the Jews, at the same time as there is a spiritual and physical battle between the Orthodox Jews who maintain the Old Covenant based on the Old Testament, and Jews who professed Jesus and the New Covenant as stated in the New Testament. Those who profess the new covenant are eventually called Christians and the Gentiles who live around the Roman Empire join the Christians in increasing numbers in their search for God and the meaning of life.
Stephen was appointed by the apostles as one of the seven deacons to distribute aid to the needy in the congregation in Jerusalem. Because of his faithfulness to the teachings of Jesus, he was stoned to death in the year 35 AD by the religious leaders, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. Then began the spiritual and physical battle between believers in Jesus and the orthodox Jews who did not believe that Jesus was their promised Messiah. In addition to the fact that Jesus was the promised Messiah, there were three things in particular that upset the Pharisees and Sadducees. Perhaps most important was the transition from Judaism and the Old Covenant to the New Covenant by the risen Jesus Christ. This meant an end to circumcision of boys as prescribed by the Mosaic Law. Furthermore, that one could associate and eat with non-Jews and the fact that none of what God has created is unclean. Repentance to the kingdom of God by being “born again” by the Holy Ghost and baptism which was also offered to the Gentiles. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, his death and resurrection from the dead, laid the foundation for the new covenant where God now offered salvation to all people by believing that his son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.
The story of Stephen that comes here, is a moving and descriptive of how the religious leaders took a condemning attitude towards believers in Jesus. The same leaders also could not bear to hear from Jesus about the scriptures (Old Testament) and the prophecies and the promised Messiah. Stephen gave the Pharisees and Sadducees a thorough lesson in the scriptures as Jesus had opened the scriptures (the Old Testament and the prophecies) to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, see Luke 24:13-35.
Stephen was the first to suffer martyrdom. Jesus told his disciples, “as they persecute me, they will also persecute you who follow my words.”
Acts 6:3-15:
Stephen
Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; 4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. 5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, 6 whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. 7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. 8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. 10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. 11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council. 13 They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” 15 And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.

Acts 7:1-50.
Stephen’s Address: The Call of Abraham
1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. 5 And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him. 6 But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years. 7 ‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’ 8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.
The Patriarchs in Egypt
9 “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. 16 And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
God Delivers Israel by Moses
17 “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt 18 till another king arose who did not know Joseph. 19 This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live. 20 At this time Moses was born and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months. 21 But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds.
23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.
30 “And when forty years had passed, an Angel [c]of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. 31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, 32 saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. 33 ‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” ’
35 “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
Israel Rebels Against God
37 “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ 38 “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, 39 whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts, they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42 Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
God’s True Tabernacle
44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, 46 who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house. 48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: 49 ‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, Or what is the place of My rest? 50 Has My hand not made all these things?’

Acts 7:51-60
Israel Resists the Holy Spirit
51 “You stiff-necked[a] and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
Stephen the Martyr
54 When they heard these things they were [b]cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Stay tuned ……

Part XIX

Hi my friends! Here comes part XIX of the series on the Bible and its prophecies given to God’s chosen prophets and to our knowledge. Furthermore, we consider the eyewitnesses to the prophecies where we start with the apostles Peter, John and James and their eyewitness account of the event on the mountain when Jesus was revealed to them as the Son of God, see 2 Peter 1:16-18. Likewise, we who have lived for the last 70-80 years have in the same way witnessed that the Jews have gotten their land, Israel, back after being without a fatherland for one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight years as the Bible tells us. God gave the Jews by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob an unconditional promise of land, see Genesis chapter 12 and in Isaiah 60:12 it says, “Forever they shall possess the land”, and God stands by his promises. The fact that the state of Israel is now re-established and that the Jews returned to the land of the fathers is also a prerequisite for Jesus to return to his people, the Jews. Jesus returns to Israel, see Matthew 23:37-39, “37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
When Jesus will return to Israel only God knows, however the Bible gives us certain hints about the situation on the earth when Jesus returns and whether the right number of people have been reached that God wants with him in heaven.
Let us look at what Jesus says to his disciples about what will be the situation around of His return to his own people. In Matthew 24:3-14 we read:
“3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for [a]all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Already in the Old Testament, the prophet Daniel, who lived 530 BC, receives visions from God that tell of the Anointed One (Jesus) and the temple in Jerusalem being destroyed and of the time frame given to the Jewish people before Jesus returns. After the “sixty-two weeks” in the time-frame Daniel speaks of, see Daniel 9:26 – the Holy Spirit will influence all people to seek God’s offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and those who believe will become part of Jesus’ church on earth and then in heaven.
In a later part of the series, we will return to the prophecies of Daniel about the end times as the apostle John gets it revealed, on the island of Patmos, in the sign of an angel sent by Jesus described in Revelation.
For those of us readers who are not well acquainted with the Bible and the prophecies, I repeat an important relationship the Bible tells us:
The evil spirit powers represented by Satan the fallen archangel Lucifer and his conspiratorial angels operating in this world have as their primary goal the prevention of all humans seeking communion with God while living on earth. The good spiritual powers represented by the Holy Spirit have as their main goal to get as many people as possible of their own free will to seek fellowship with God while they live on earth. This spiritual battle between the evil and the good spiritual forces seems to have intensified after God offered Jesus as Saviour for all who believe in Jesus and repent.
God created humans with an immortal soul that is released from the body when we die. God wants all souls to come to Him in heaven; the people who do not seek fellowship with God here on earth before they die will end up in hell. The Bible tells us that God originally created a place called hell for Satan and his evil angels to be placed there at the end of time. They broke with God’s laws and rules in heaven and made sure that humans who do not follow God’s laws and rules not enter heaven, these human souls according to the Bible will be placed in hell when they die or at the end of time.
All of us who live have not requested to be born, we are, nevertheless, born into an evil world. To help us make the right choices the time we live on earth God sent his prophets to give us the right guidance through Bible texts from Genesis to Revelation and the teachings of Jesus. In addition, we have the Holy Spirit from whom we can ask for guidance and help through prayer.
Let us go to the time after the apostles, that is, around the beginning of the second century. All the apostles except the apostle John who was banished in the island of Patmos suffered martyrdom because they followed the teachings of Jesus. Jesus told his disciples that they would not escape persecution and martyrdom. Satan and his dark angels lost their fight against Jesus and Jesus knew that his disciples and followers would face exceedingly difficult times when following Jesus’ teaching, and it didn’t take long before the devil attacked and won over one of the first and most important theologians and churchmen, Justin Martyr (about 100-165), who already early in the history of the church gave a systematic justification for the replacement theology. He was one of the prominent advocates of early ecclesiastical apologetics (defence of the Christian faith). In his struggle to defend the truth of Christianity, he advocated a synthesis between Greek philosophy and the Christian faith. At the same time, he distanced himself from the Jewish faith and wrote an apology against Judaism. These two aspects of his thinking became the starting point for one of the worst attacks on Israel, Jews, and Christianity according to the New Testament. According to Greek philosophy (Gnosticism), the physical is inferior to the spiritual. His synthesis between Gnosticism and Christian faith became a spiritualization of the Holy Scriptures. This led to a reinterpretation, contrary to the concrete historical, and down-to-earth basic attitude, characteristic of the Old Testament – and of Christianity. For neither does stand for a distinction between the physical and the spiritual.
According to replacement theology, with the New Testament, we have reached a higher spiritual level in the history of revelation. The OT with its prophecies about the promise of land to Israel, which is eternal and unconditional (Gen. 17:7-10), has been pushed out, reinterpreted and spiritualized, replaced by a spiritual kingdom of God. Justin Martyr also had a fundamentally negative attitude towards the Jewish people that characterized his view of scripture. It became a misinterpretation, rejection, and hostile attitude toward the Jews as God’s chosen people. All the promises of the Old Covenant were transferred to the church (the believers in Christ). The Church became God’s chosen people to replace Israel. The country is also no longer the bearer of the blessing, which presupposes the right relationship with God that the Jews no longer have. The church replaces the Jews. The significance they had in revelation history is repeated over and over again. Replacement theology provides a completely different view of God’s revelation in the Bible, OT and NT are set against each other. OT is reinterpreted and pushed out. The selection of the Jewish people and God’s promises in the Old Testament to the Jews have ceased. Replacement theology is a tenacious delusion with a wrong view of scripture and a false understanding of the role of the Jewish people in history. As late as 1964, the Lutheran World Federation adhered to this traditional heresy.
For the Jews, replacement theology has been a persistent curse. Therefore, it is necessary and high time to deal with this heresy, as it substantiates the suffering of God’s chosen people the Jews, and still today are unjustly inflicted on the born-again Christians as well. It seems that our church does not have the will or thinks it is not tactically correct to settle with the replacement theology. Many people promote this theology and thus support the left-wing radicals who ally themselves with Israel’s enemies.
Christianity, during the first centuries after the apostles, developed clear signs that were not part of the original teachings of Jesus. For example, the Mother of Jesus, Mary and the Child Jesus are highlighted as persons to be worshiped especially in addition to the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). A cult was built around several people who were to be worshiped in addition to God. The Bible constantly encourages us to give glory to God. We are to give Him “the glory that belongs to His name. The Bible tells us why: “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all.” (1 Chronicles 29:11).
The church twisted the words of Jesus for financial benefits through the sculptures and paintings that were eventually incorporated into the worship of the holy God. In my opinion, that happened because it was the state that took control of the congregation/church. Jesus warned against this development when he stated that my kingdom is not of this world. Catholicism arose when the Eastern and Western Roman Empire parted ways. The split was a long process that began with Emperor Constantine moving his administration from Rome to Constantinople in the year 330, but the official separation took place in 1054 in what is known as the Great Schism. After the schism the west-church began to use the term Roman Catholic or Catholic, which means “universal” in Latin, while the Eastern Church used the self-term orthodox, which means “right doctrine” in Latin. An organizational culture or hierarchy developed with the popes and patriarchs in addition to the bishops and priests all perceived themselves to be closer to God than ordinary people. They take over the task of the Holy Spirit namely to be man’s mediator towards God.
Since we are now leaving Jesus’ apostles and entering a new era in which Christianity becomes state-bearing or state-ruled, it may be appropriate to look into how Jesus’ disciples died. Jesus warned his disciples with the statement “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:20). This is how the apostles died:
Peter was crucified in Rome, and at his own request with his head down (claim of the Catholic Church). James -the elder -was beheaded in Jerusalem. He was the first apostle to suffer martyrdom. John died a natural death. He was approximately 100 years old. He was banished to the island of Patmos for a time. Andreas was tied with a ribbon to a cross and hung there 2 days before he died. Philip was bound and hanged on a pillar. James -the younger -was knocked down from a mountain top and then stoned and killed with a club. Bartholomew was torn to pieces at the command of the cruel king. Mattias was killed with a halberd (combination of long spear and ax). During the prayer, Thomas was killed by a downpour – and pierced by a lance. Simeon was crucified. Thaddeus (Judas) was cruelly tortured until he died. Mattias’ death is doubtful: Some believe he was crucified, others stoned or beheaded (Mattias was elected a disciple after Judas Iskariot had hanged himself). The above information is mainly taken from “Kristelig Familieblad” no. 2 in 1968.
Furthermore, it can be included that Paul was beheaded in Rome by order of Emperor Nero and that John the Baptist was beheaded at the request of Herodias’ daughter.
More complete information about the apostles’ final from the Bible and various Bible encyclopaedias/reference books we can read the following about the apostles: Peter (means rock, stone) is the one of the apostles who is mentioned most times in the New Testament. He was the active and impulsive leader of the disciples. His original name was Simeon and he was the brother of Andreas, who was also a disciple. They were born in Bethsaida on the north-eastern part of the Sea of Galilee, but later moved to Capernaum where they worked as fishermen. Peter is considered the author of two letters, namely 1&2 Peter, although there may be some suspect that 2nd Peter’s is written by someone else. On his missionary journeys he eventually came to Rome where he suffered martyrdom during Emperor Nero’s persecution of the Christians in the year 64, or one of the following years. According to the church historian Eusebius, Peter was crucified with his head down – at his own request. James, son of the fisherman Zebedee and his wife Salome, h was an older brother of the apostle John. Both brothers are first mentioned together with Peter. James and John were called by Jesus “the sons of thunder.” It was probably due to their fierce temper, but possibly also due to their zeal as preachers of the Word. James was the first of the apostles to suffer martyrdom. At the command of Herod Agrippa, he was executed with the sword. It probably happened by beheading in Jerusalem in the year 44.
The period in time that is now coming is a difficult period for Christianity, leading scholars or other intellectual people within the statehood and religious bodies to be engaged in disruptive activity in redefining Jesus’ teaching and the meaning of God’s word in the Bible. The disruptive activity that comes from within the church are questioning the words of the Bible and the implementing of figures and ordinances that are not found in the Bible. Man’s efforts in improving the word of God will not lead to man’s salvation.

Stay tuned…!

Part XVIII

Hi, my friends and family! Here comes part XVIII of the series on the Bible and its prophecies given to God’s chosen prophets and for our knowledge. Furthermore, we consider the eyewitnesses to the prophecies where we start with the apostles Peter, John and James and their eyewitness account of the event on the mountain when Jesus was revealed to them as the Son of God, see 2 Peter 1:16-18. Likewise, we who have lived for the last 70-80 years have in the same way witnessed that the Jews have got their land, Israel, back after being without a fatherland for one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight years as the Bible tells us. God gave the Jews by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob an unconditional promise of land, see Genesis chapter 12; Isaiah 60:21 says, “They shall inherit the land forever”. God keeps His promises. The fact that the state of Israel is now re-established and that the Jews return to the land of their fathers is also a prerequisite for Jesus to return to his people in Jerusalem. I think of what Jesus once said after a verbal confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees before the crucifixion. Jesus expressed his sorrow over the coming destruction of Jerusalem, because they rejected their Messiah–see Matthew 23:37-39:“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁸See! Your house is left to you desolate; ³⁹for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”

How to understand the Jews’ disobedience to God? God has not obligated anyone but himself, which means that no matter what Abraham and his family do or do not do, it does not shake the land promises. We are thus dealing with God’s unconditional grace. In the Bible, the statement about the Jewish people is repeated that there will always be a remnant who are faithful to God. The task of the Jews as God’s own people was to show other peoples and nations who the holy and almighty God is, the creator of heaven and earth.

But what about the Jews’ repeated disobedience to God and the conditional covenant they made with God at Sinai? We see that God stands by his word whether it is an unconditional promise or in the case of conditional promises as in the Sinai Covenant. We know that the Jews lost parts of their land to the Assyrians in the 700s BC and later to the Babylonians in the 500s BC. In New Testament times, the temple and Jerusalem were destroyed, the Jews were forced to flee and denied entry to the land by the Romans. Since the year 70 or so, the Jews were without a homeland until 1948. How is this to be understood? One answer to this can be found in Psalm 89:31-35. Here we read:

If they ^[^a^]break My statutes
And do not keep My commandments,
³²Then I will punish their transgression with the rod,
And their iniquity with stripes.
³³Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him,
Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.
³⁴My covenant I will not break,
Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
³⁵Once I have sworn by My holiness;
I will not lie to David:

History tells us that Constantine, a Roman emperor in the period 306-337 CE, is known as the emperor who converted the Roman Empire to Christianity and created a so-called Christian empire with Constantinople as the new capital. Here is the first break with Jesus’ teaching because in the Bible we read Jesus saying, “my kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus’ teachings cannot be changed or determined by humans; it is God’s word in the Bible that applies. The book of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible provide a practical insight into how Jesus’ teachings were implemented by the twelve apostles who followed Jesus and give us the necessary guidance in establishing congregations or denominations. Repentance to God takes place by changing the individual’s behaviour and communion with the Holy God. With the knowledge we have today about various matters concerning the world we live in and the evolution of it, most people have difficulty following the words of the Bible and believing in what God has communicated to us through the Bible and about Jesus’ life on earth. Humans do not want to be told anything that can’t be understood, seen, felt or touched, an attitude which is the second violation of Jesus’ teaching, see Exodus 20:3-6 ³“You shall have no other gods before Me. ⁴“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁵you shall not bow down to them nor ^[a]serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting^[b] the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Even if we do not understand or grasp mentally everything between heaven and earth, we must follow God’s instructions for our lives. He shows us by the Holy Spirit where to go and what to do; the situation was the same for Abraham when God tested Abraham’s faith in God. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac, see the story in Genesis 22:1-19. The Bible tells us that Abraham was considered righteous by God and received God’s grace because he believed God. To illustrate the passage above, I will give my testimony that God the Father continues to use the Holy Spirit in our days to remind people to repent and walk in Jesus’ footsteps. I grew up in a family of twelve siblings where father and mother believed in Jesus and in the Bible as God’s infallible Word–they chose to follow Jesus’ teachings. When I was twelve years old (1952), I broke with the church where my father and mother went and where I had learned about Jesus as our helper and saviour. The reason for the breakup was that I did not feel at home in the congregation without being able to give a specific reason. I often enjoyed doing what was not allowed to be done, that is, feeling stronger for things and activities in the world outside the church. Thirty years later, in the spring of 1982, when I was sitting on the porch of our newly built house at 10:00 am in a Sunday morning, drinking coffee and smoking a cigar, the church bells suddenly started ringing, a voice on my right said clearly “you shall work for my church”. This experience led me to contact the local church where I then actively participated for several years which led to my conversion and change of behaviour and faith in Jesus Christ as my Saviour and role model. Since 1982, I have tried to follow God’s desire to work for His church /congregation here on earth. My experience of following God’s ways for my life has been particularly good; I have lacked nothing as David says in Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” This verse fits well with my situation as well. The times after I met the Holy Spirit for the first time has been changeable and turbulent, but I have always had peace of mind and God has helped me in contact with Him by the Holy Spirit in a surprising way for over forty years.

Back to the first days when the apostles worked to spread the gospel in Jerusalem and the known world around the Mediterranean. The battle between the good and the evil spiritual forces is now entering a new phase. Satan did not manage to prevent Jesus, the Son of God, from completing his task of facilitating that also Gentiles, i.e. non-Jews, should be able to have fellowship with God and thus become part of Jesus’ congregation here on earth and be part of the number of souls God desires as his holy people.

By faith in Jesus Christ, his death on the cross and resurrection on the third day, the foundation for fellowship with God is laid by the Holy Spirit. Prayer is man’s tool to have fellowship with God. The prayer Jesus taught his disciples is the safest prayer we can pray to achieve fellowship with God, the prayer begins as “our Father who are in heaven…”, see Matthew 6:3-13, and thus begin the cooperation with the church of God namely to spread the teachings of Jesus to all people at the time we live on earth so that as many as possible are saved in Jesus’ name. No other name than Jesus can give us salvation. In the Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 verses 1 to 47 we find guidance to be born again of Spirit and water.

In the text above, I mentioned that a new phase is taking place in the battle between the good and evil spirit powers. It is frightening how the evil spirit powers in the centuries after Jesus and the apostles take different roles within the secular church structures, i.e., the so-called national state churches and other types of religious superstructures, that are governed by political appointed leaders and not by people appointed by fellowships or congregations guided by the Holy Spirit. As I read Jesus warning: “my kingdom is not of this world” it indicates that people from secular or semi-secular bodies should not front Jesus church in this world, but still secular political leaders take positions within the church based on results from the secular educational system with consent of the prevailing political system. The secular government influence within the church by priests, bishops, popes, and other people cannot represents both God and Mammon. They say they represent God’s will and in addition the new human religious organisation has also taken over the role of the Jews and Israel as God’s chosen people and country! These changes are today known as replacement theology; this new theology has inflicted endless suffering on the Jews over the centuries. Vengeance is mine says God and warns the people who take on the role of the Supreme Judge (God) to punish the Jews and give away their homeland. God deals with single individuals or single souls not with humanly constructed theological theses and superstructures.

The various shifting national governing bodies and clergy assume the role of the Holy Spirit and Jesus as intermediaries between God and man. When Jesus died on the cross, he said, “It is finished,” and at the same time the thick veil was torn from top to bottom which separated the holy place from the most holy place in the temple in Jerusalem. No man should be given such a role as the former high priest in the temple had been given by God. God had now given his living and resurrected Son the role of mediator and saviour and by the infinite grace of God, people are now saved by faith in Jesus Christ and thus born again by the Spirit. Each local congregation believing in Jesus the members in prayer will receive from God the wisdom to appoint their leaders as the Bible prescribes. God wants direct communion with every single human being through prayer, fasting and daily chores. Paul explains in the book of Hebrews that the veil in the temple was the body of Jesus. By his death and resurrection, he opened a new and living path for us right into where God is. The boldness we then receive is built on the blood of Jesus alone, and we can appear before God without being hindered.

One of the first and most significant theologians and churchmen who already early in the history of the church gave a systematic justification for the replacement theology, was Justin Martyr (about 100-165). He was one of the prominent advocates of early ecclesiastical apologetics (defence of the Christian faith). In his struggle to defend the truth of Christianity, he advocated a synthesis between Greek philosophy and the Christian faith. At the same time, he distanced himself from the Jewish faith and wrote an apology against Judaism. These two aspects of his thinking became the starting point for his defence of Christianity in the world of that time with many influential philosophies and views on life.

According to Greek philosophy (Gnosticism), the physical is inferior to the spiritual. His synthesis between Gnosticism and Christian faith became the spiritualization of the Holy Scriptures. This led to a reinterpretation, contrary to the concrete historical, and down-to-earth basic attitude, characteristic of the Old Testament – and of Christianity, for neither of the two stands for a distinction between the physical and the spiritual.

According to replacement theology, we have with the New Testament reached a higher spiritual level in the history of revelation. The Old Testament with its prophecies about the eternal and unconditional promise of land to Israel (Gen. 17: 7-10), has been pushed out, reinterpreted and spiritualized.

Justin Martyr also had a fundamentally negative attitude towards the Jewish people that characterized his view of scripture and thus presented a misinterpretation, rejection, and hostile attitude toward the Jews as God’s chosen people. All the promises of the Old Covenant were transferred to the church, the Church became God’s chosen people to replace Israel, according to Replacement Theology. The country is also no longer the bearer of the blessing, which presupposes the right relationship with God that the Jews no longer have. The church replaces the Jews. The significance they had in revelation history is over and over, replacement theology provides a completely different view of God’s revelation in the Bible. The Old Testament and the New Testament are set against each other. OT is reinterpreted and pushed out. The selection of the Jewish people and God’s promises in the Old Testament to the Jews have ceased. The Bible of Jesus, that we call the Old Testament, does not have the same value and significance for us as for Jesus Christ, the apostles and the first church. The importance of the Old Testament are established in terms of who God is, his desires for a holy people and understanding of what problems a holy people will encounter.

God cannot possibly have given anyone permission to change the content of the Bible therefore the Replacement Theology is false and from Satan.

….Stay tuned ….

Part XVII

Hi everyone! Here is part XVII of the series that deals with the bible and the prophecies in the bible and compares the prophecies with actual events. Perhaps the most compelling event of our time in the last 70-80 years about the fulfilment of prophecies given in the Bible is the restoration of the state of Israel in May 1948. The Jews had been without a fatherland for one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight years and millions of Jews from the countriesaround the world have since 1948 moved home to the land of the fathers, Israel. Seen in perspective over several thousand years, the above events say something about our God and his care for his own people the Jews and his plan for the Gentiles.

In the previous part of the series, part XVI we had come to the time after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and ascension prophesied by the ancient prophets and recorded in the Old Testament. The apostles had now received the Holy Ghost sent by God as support and help to spread the teachings of Jesus among the Jews and Gentiles in the known world. The apostle Peter had been commissioned by Jesus, before the ascension, to spread his word to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles, apart from the Lord himself, the apostle Paul is the most important person in early Christianity. His thirteen letters cover all the important teachings of the New Testament. If the chapters of the Acts of the Apostles concerned with Paul’s life are added to his letter, about a third of the New Testament was either written by or about the great missionary theologian.

It is the apostles Peter, John, and Paul, all Jews, who with the Holy Ghost lift up the name and doctrine of Jesus so that all may know who the Creator of heaven and earth is, that is, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and His offer of salvation through faith in his Son Jesus Christ. The confirmation of your faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour is that you are born again by water and the Spirit as Jesus explained to the Pharisee and Lord Nicodemus when he came to Jesus at night, see John 3: 2-6: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do the miracles you do, unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said unto him, “Truly, Truly I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Life in the kingdom of God here on earth is radically different from everything else. Whoever is to find and win the new life must “lose” the old. Jesus points to the main point of the radical which is the rupture that occurs between the old life and the new. God knows from experience that unless the people / souls He takes into heaven after life on earth are not tried and tested with regard to God’s standard of fitness, God will not obtain fellowship with a holy people as He desires. Life on earth is for humans a preparation to meet God. Humans have been given by God a free will to choose one of the two exits of life that exist, heaven or hell. God who created us is a just God, He gives us the opportunity to choose between Satan and his demons who will lead us away from God to hell or to follow God’s standard for how to live our lives leading to heaven.

Back to the apostles Peter, John, and Paul, they all received their commission directly from Jesus or through the Holy Spirit. They mark the first century with their ground-breakingexperiences and text that builds up under the new covenant that God offers all people. Paul experienced his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus where he was to arrest and lead to Jerusalem those who believed in Jesus’ teachings see Part XV.

The Apostle Paul´ travels to preach Jesus’ teachings after his encounter with Jesus on his way to Damascus.

Map: theologicum.de

Jesus gave the apostle Peter the main task of bringing the new covenant out to his fellow Jews. It would be a difficult job to tell the Jews that the man they rejected and crucified was their promised Messiah they had been waiting for so long. A couple of other difficult issues for the Jews were that Jesus, their Messiah, had opened up to the Gentiles, i.e. non-Jews, to be able to receive the Holy Spirit by believing in Jesus’ vicarious death on the cross. The male Gentiles, the new Christians, did not have to be circumcised and follow the dietary rules of the Jews. The new covenant God offers people is no longer based on deeds or rules that must be followed but on the faith in Jesus Christ and his word, Jesus’ vicarious death became our salvation.

The religious leaders of the Orthodox Jews, the high priest, and the Sanhedrin, who led the people astray in the question of Jesus and his teachings, launched fierce attacks on followers of Jesus’ teachings. To this day, the Orthodox Jews have not recognized Jesus as their Messiah, however, many Jews, as individuals have accepted Jesus as their Saviour. But the Bible says that again, in a coming particularly difficult time for the Jews, they will be confronted with Jesus whom they rejected and then they will look up to the one they had pierced, see Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn» .”

The controversy over the understanding of God’s word in the Bible has proved to be a persistent problem to this day, because Satan and his demons are constantly opposing God’s desire for Jesus’ name and teachings to be lifted up to all people. In his letters to the congregations, Paul describes the turmoil that is present in some congregations. The same controversy is described in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 to the congregations in Asia Minor (now Turkey). The apostle John, who is interned on the Aegean island of Patmos, writes to the seven congregations in Asia Minor on behalf of Jesus, referring to matters in the congregations that apply; both factional activity and deviations from Paul’s counsel and guidance to the congregations on how to live righteously and holy to God in all situations of life as well as ask for forgiveness when we make mistakes or go in the wrong direction away from God.

The Jews had a mutual agreement with God, back from the time when Moses led the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt towards the forgotten land that God had given Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to their possession forever–see, Genesis 17:7-8 “⁷And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. ⁸Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in^[^a^] which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” This covenant was passed on by God to Abraham’s son Isaac and Isaac’s son Jacob whose 12 sons formed the basis of the Jewish people whom Moses later led out of Egypt toward the forgotten land God had given them.

The mutual agreement or covenant between God and the Jews contained what God would do for them of various blessings if they kept His commandments, furthermore the covenant contained the curses God would inflict on them if they broke God’s commandments. It was not long after the Jews had denied Jesus as their Messiah and saviour before history shows us that a massive and eventually prolonged adversity for the Jews began when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day. Less than forty years after Jesus left the earth and ascended to his Father in heaven, Jerusalem was attacked by Roman legions and destroyed, thousands of Jews lost their lives. The temple itself was emptied of all valuables, the interior and equipment of the temple were burned.

Around the year 132 CE, the temple itself was levelled to the ground, “here shall not be left stone upon stone,” Jesus prophesied to his disciples. See Mark 13:1-2 » 1 Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” 2 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” . What is today called the “wailing wall” was not part of the old temple but belonged to an outer retaining wall before the temple itself. Emperor Hadrian was the one who carried out the most pervasive punitive measures he took to remove Jewish names from cities and regions. Hadrian waged few wars against external enemies, but had to defeat the last great Jewish uprising under Bar-Kokhba in the period 132-135. After this he changed the name of the province from Judea to Philistine (Palestine) after the Jews’ hereditary enemies the Philistines and gave Jerusalem the name Aelia Capitolina. Hadrian had Jerusalem built as a Roman colony inhabited by Roman legionaries. The Jews are chased away from Jerusalem with the threat of the death penalty for practicing circumcision and they are denied access to Jerusalem see, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Det_andre_tempelet_i_Jerusalem

https://snl.no/Jerusalems_historie#:~:text=Som%20en%20f%C3%B8lge%20av%20den,by%20under%20navnet%20Aelia%20Capitolina.

Early Christianity (up to the first council of Nicea in 325) spread from the eastern Mediterranean throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely linked to already established Jewish centres in the Holy Land and the Jewish diaspora. The first followers of Christianity were Jews or proselytes, often referred to as Jewish Christians and godly people. Early Christians gathered in small private homes, known as house churches, but the entire city’s Christian community will also be called a church – the Greek noun ἐκκλησία literally means congregation, gathering or congregation, but is translated as church in most English translations of New Testament. Many of these early Christians were merchants and others who had practical reasons to travel to North Africa, Asia Minor, Arabia, Greece, and elsewhere. Over 40 such communities were established by the year 100, many in Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor, as the seven churches in Asia. By the end of the first century, Christianity had already spread to Rome and major cities in Armenia, Greece, and Syria, and served as the basis for the expansive spread of Christianity all over the world.

The Roman emperor Constantine in the period 306–337 may be known as the emperor who converted the Roman Empire to Christianity and created a Christian empire with Constantinople as the new capital. In the fourth century, Jerusalem became part of the Christian Byzantine Empire. The name was again changed to Jerusalem (324-637 possibly). As a holy land for Christianity, Palestine took on a completely different meaning than before, especially after the Eastern Church’s form of Christianity was made a state religion under Emperor Theodosius the Great in 381. The fact that Jesus ‘teachings and the eventually thousands of followers of Jesus’ teachings (the Christians) is seen as a strategically important group of people by the secular or pagan Roman emperors will have a profound and lasting effect on the implementation and understanding of the words of the Bible, in particular the New Testament.

Stay tune …..

Part XVI

Hello everyone, here comes part XVI of the series that deals with the Bible and the prophecies in the Bible and compares the prophecies with actual events. Perhaps the most compelling event of our time, the last 70-80 years, about the fulfilment of prophecies given in the Bible, is the restoration of the state of Israel in May, 1948 and that millions of Jews from countries around the world until now have moved back to the land of their fathers, Israel.
Ever since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Jewish people, formed from the 12 tribes of Jacob’s 12 sons, have had, as their task to show other peoples and nations who the holy and mighty Creator of heaven and earth is; He who has an eternal covenant with the Jewish people.
The God of Israel, the Creator of heaven and earth, took the Jews as his people and entered into a mutual covenant with them, the Sinai Covenant, after God had saved the descendants of Jacob from slavery in Egypt. This reciprocal covenant God made with the Jews was built so that the Jews had to abide by God’s commandments and rules for how life on earth in communion with God should work, something the Jewish people agreed to in a vote. By following God’s commandments and rules, God would provide for the well-being of the Jewish people and thus show all nations who He is. However, the Jewish people failed to follow God’s commandments and rules many times over the centuries and just as many times they were forgiven when they repented and returned to fellowship with God. God wanted a holy people of his supreme creation with whom He could have fellowship here on earth and then in heaven. The Jews had largely broken the Sinai Covenant and their communion with God during the last 400 years before Jesus was born see the prophet Malachi chapters 1 and 2. Here God shows in clear language through the prophet how the Jews, in particular the priesthood and the leaders, broke the mutual covenant with God again and again.
God then sent his only son Jesus to earth through a virgin birth initiated by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was born as a human child to the virgin Mary, who was a descendant of King David. Jesus the Messiah (Saviour of the Jews) coming to earth was foretold by God’s prophets for centuries and was known to the priesthood, had in all years studied the Torah or Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible). However, the clergy, most of them, no longer having the daily communion with God, it gradually became established that their future Messiah and saviour would be a warrior king like old King David. But the fact in the prophecies gives a completely different story see Isaiah 53: 1-5 and Mark 15: 1-5:
Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no [a]form or [b]comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no [c]beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and [d]rejected by men, A Man of [e]sorrows and acquainted with [f]grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our [g]griefs And carried our [h]sorrows; Yet we [i]esteemed Him stricken, [j]Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions, He was [l]bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes[m] we are healed.

Mark 15: 1-5:
Immediately, in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council; and they bound Jesus, led Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate. 2 Then Pilate asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews? ”He answered and said to him, “It is as you say.” 3 And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing. 4 Then Pilate asked Him again, saying, “Do You answer nothing? See how many things [a]they testify against You!” 5 But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.
God’s mystery in the transition from the mutual Sinai covenant God had with the Jewish people to the new one-sided covenant of grace based on Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, is that all people, not just Jews are invited by God to fellowship with him here on earth and then for all eternity in heaven. For this transition to work, sins must be paid for or covered with a sacrifice. In the ancient Sinai Covenant, the annual payment or covering of sin was regulated to the smallest detail of how to sacrifice flawless domestic animals as payment or covering of sins, that is, failure to follow God’s word and laws. In the new covenant, Jesus becomes the sacrifice that once and for all removes all the sins of the world.
God offers people, his supreme creature whom he loves dearly, a covenant in which God has facilitated the ultimate one-time sacrifice for all sin against God, that is, the failure to fellowship with God and the Holy Spirit and to follow God’s word and Jesus’ teaching. When Jesus was rejected by the clergy and the people, he was crucified because of false accusations. Jesus became the ultimate one-time sacrifice and at the same time the ultimate salvation for all people who believe – that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died on the cross as a sacrifice for all human sin, that he rose from the dead on the third day and ascended to heaven. From there Jesus will return one day to judge the living and the dead.
The Jewish people failed to keep the Sinai covenant. Through the life and work of Jesus, God facilitates that all people (nations) can now have fellowship with God here on Earth and then in heaven for all eternity and become part of God’s holy people. The requirement God sets we find in the first of the Ten Commandments namely, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” or in other words, “You shall have no other gods before me.” The Jews ‘denial of Jesus as their Messiah sent by God, meant that Jesus’ life and teachings through the last three and a half years he was on earth became the basis of the one-sided new covenant God offers all people.
It is the apostles Peter, John and Paul, all Jews, who together with the Holy Spirit lift up the name of Jesus and his teaching so that all the nations of the world will know who the Creator of heaven and earth is, that is, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and His offer of salvation through faith in his Son Jesus Christ. The confirmation of your faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour is that you are born again by water and the Spirit as Jesus explained to the Pharisee and Lord Nicodemus when he came to Jesus at night, see John 3:2-6,
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born [a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Life in the kingdom of God here on earth is radically different from everything else. Whoever finds and accepts the new life must “lose” the old one. Jesus points to the main point of the radical which is the breach that occurs between the old life and the new. Such statements as being born again are a tremendous challenge for various churches today that want to be “seeker-friendly church” and “embrace everyone”. If the “seeker-friendly church” does not dare to uphold this challenging word of a new birth as the only access to the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ, it will fail in its mission.
In Bishop Erik Pontoppidan’s (1760) sharp words, it is said of the false prophets that they “make the way to heaven wide, and deceive the souls with the hope of salvation, until they wake up in hell.” Jesus is clear when he says that a person must be born again and live a different life than the old life if he is to see the kingdom of God. For many it will feel difficult, but then one must ask God and the Holy Spirit for help.
In the early 1950s, Ole Hallesby, professor at the Theological Congregational Faculty in Norway, was accused by the media and by Bishop Kristian Schjelderup in Hamar, Norway of intimidating people unnecessarily. Bishop Schjelderup did not take long to distance from Hallesby’s position on eternal punishment and perdition if one does not turn around and be born again. The question of eternal punishment and perdition soon became a heated debate between liberal and conservative forces in the Norwegian Church.
Ole Hallesby said in principle the same as Pontoppidans in a radio speech to the Norwegian people. The media and the bishop of Hamar claimed that Ole Hallesby scared people with hell. Here is the essence of Hallesby’s speech which was broadcasted live on NRK’s radio broadcast Hallesby asked the question:” how can you who are unconverted, how can you lie down to sleep at night, you who do not know whether you will wake up in your bed or in hell?”. [2] He also warned Norway’s unconverted that “you know that if you fall dead on the floor now, you fall straight in hell!?”
The controversy over the understanding of God’s word in the Bible, the New Testament, as referred to above, is also described by Paul in his letters and in John’s Revelation chapters 2 and 3 to the congregations in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). The apostle John, who is interned on the Aegean island of Patmos, writes to the seven churches in Asia Minor on behalf of Jesus, referring to matters in the churches that apply; both factionalism and deviations from Paul’s counsel and guidance to the congregations on how to live righteously and holy to God in all situations of life as well as ask for forgiveness when we make mistakes or go in the wrong direction.
Back to the apostles Peter, John, and Paul, they have each received their commission directly from Jesus or through the Holy Spirit. They mark the first century with their ground-breaking experiences and text that builds up under the new covenant that God offers people. Paul experienced meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus where he was to arrest and lead to Jerusalem those who believed in Jesus’ teachings-see Part XV.
In Acts 9:13-16 Jesus instructs Ananias to take care of Saul (Paul) after He appeared to Saul on the way to Damascus. Jesus stopped as we know Saul temporarily on the road to Damascus: 13 Then Ananias answered:
13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much ]harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children[b] of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.

Apart from the Lord Jesus himself, the apostle Paul is the most important person in early Christianity. His thirteen letters cover all the important teachings of the New Testament. If the chapters of the Acts of the Apostles concerned with Paul’s life are added to his letter, about a third of the New Testament was either written by or about the great missionary theologian.
The apostle Paul travels to preach the doctrine of Jesus.

Map: theologicum.de
Jesus gave the apostle Peter the main task of bringing the new covenant out to his fellow Jews. It would be a difficult job to tell the Jews that the man they rejected and crucified was their promised Messiah they had been waiting for so long. A couple of other difficult issues for the Jews were that Jesus, their Messiah, had opened up to the Gentiles, i.e. non-Jews, to be able to receive the Holy Spirit by believing in Jesus’ vicarious death on the cross for all people. The male Gentiles, the new Christians, did not have to be circumcised and follow the dietary rules of the Jews.
The religious leaders of the Orthodox Jews, the high priest, and the Sanhedrin, who led the people astray regarding Jesus and his teachings, launched fierce attacks on the followers of Jesus’ teachings. To this day, the Orthodox Jews have not recognized Jesus as their Messiah. But the Bible says that soon, in a particularly difficult time for the Jews, they will be confronted with the Jesus they rejected and then they will look up to the one they had pierced.ee Zechariah 12 10
And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
Stay tuned!

Part XV

Here comes part XV of the series that deals with the Bible and the prophecies in the Bible and compares the prophecies of actual events.
Perhaps the most compelling event of our time, the last 70-80 years, about the fulfilment of prophecies given in the Bible, is the restoration of the state of Israel in May 1948 and that millions of Jews from countries around the world have moved to Israel in the same period.
This part of the series deals with the time after Jesus ascended to heaven and God sent the Holy Spirit to earth as helper and guide, as Jesus was helper and guide for the disciples the time he went with them. The Bible clearly shows us that humans cannot follow that path on their own or have the behaviour God wants from us in the relatively short time we are here on earth, approx. 70-80 years. Jesus is the only human being who has lived without sinning against God who created us and all that is. For us, Jesus becomes a teacher and an example to follow. The New Testament is Jesus’ teaching documented for future generations.
As mentioned earlier (Part XIV), the religious leaders feared the teachings of Jesus, which in many ways removed the basis of their religious activity, which they had created to control the people by a well-developed set of rules and regulations that they had the economic benefits of enforcing them. Jesus repeatedly pointed out the unjust ways in which the religious leaders led the people and practiced the Sinai Covenant. The leaders should have been examples as servants and role models for the people in the practical life based on the Sinai Covenant, the Ten Commandments and the word of God by the prophets. Instead, they rose above the people, distanced themselves from communion with God, and practiced a religious practice in which the individual’s relationship with God was neglected and ritual rules and ordinances with financial consequences took over. All this took place in spite of the prophecies in the Jews’ own Bible that is, the Law and the Prophets where it is often warned against other gods like their own gain, greed and the lack of interest in the well-being of their neighbour. Jesus himself often rebuked such behaviour and practice but was not taken seriously. The prophecies in the Old Testament have clear prophecies about the Messiah who would come and help the Jews to repent from selfishness, greed and self-interest into fellowship with God.
The clearest example of what Jesus meant and that the religious leaders did not take seriously is taken from Matthew 22: 37-40:
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
In the prophet Isaiah (ca. 700 BC), a picture is drawn that God will break into the wicked state among the Jews and their leaders. A new David (Prince of Peace) will come to create paradise-like conditions (Isa. 9: 6-7).
In the prophet Micah (ca. 700 BC) it is said that the new David will come from the city of David, Bethlehem (Micah 5: 1-6).
The prophet Jeremiah (ca. 600 BC) speaks of a new sprout, which is righteous, and which is to grow in the line of David (Jer. 23:5; see also Isa. 4:2).
In addition to these two notions, prophet Ezekiel (ca. 600 BC) speaks of a new David and a new sprout, of the raising of a new shepherd over the people of Israel (Ezek. 17:22; Is.11:1)
The supreme religious leadership, the Sanhedrin consisting of 71 priests with a high priest as leader, denied Jesus and his message to the Jews which came from God. Jesus had travelled for over three years and brought with him God’s message.. That year just before the Passover celebration the Sanhedrin used an opportunity when one of Jesus’ disciples, Judas Iscariot, went to the religious leaders and betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. The religious leaders were organizing a religious trial in which the high priest Caiaphas is the prosecutor and the rest of the Sanhedrin are judges. To bring about such a trial, the priests had stirred up some of the people in Jerusalem to support the case against Jesus.
The result of the trial is that Jesus is sentenced to death for blasphemy and for claiming that he is the Son of God, according to the leader of the Sanhedrin. Normally, such a judgment would be enforced by stoning, but the Romans who ruled much of the Mediterranean had a law that said that only a Roman court could impose death sentences within the Roman Empire and death sentences were normally enforced by crucifixion to non-Roman citizens.
In chapter 53, Isaiah describes in many ways Jesus’ mission for his Father, our God, as to a trial, condemnation, and crucifixion;
1Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no [a]form or [b]comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no [c]beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and [d]rejected by men, A Man of [e]sorrows and acquainted with [f]grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our [g]griefs And carried our [h]sorrows; Yet we [i]esteemed Him stricken, [j]Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions, He was [l]bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes[m] we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord [n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from [o]prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And [p]they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to [q]bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. 11 [r]He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the [s]spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

After Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection on the third day and ascension to heaven, Jesus sat in heaven with his Father, and put the last piece in what at the time could seem like a puzzle to many. Jesus brings out a special man who along with the apostles Peter and John, is set to lead the work of bringing Jesus’ teaching to all nations, not just Jews. This special man is the apostle Paul, formerly known as Saul, who was a staunch opponent of Jesus.
In the Acts of the Apostles chapter 7 verses 1-60 it says about the deacon Stephen and his speech before the priests and the people. The result after the speech is that Stephen is stoned, the witnesses of the stoning lay down their cloaks at the feet of the young Saul who “consenting to his death” (Acts 8:1). This young Saul was a prominent Pharisee with a good education and spoke several languages, was born of Jewish parents and a Roman citizen of Tarsus, grew up in Jerusalem.
As mentioned, this young Saul was a Pharisee and an ardent opponent of Jesus’ followers, the Christians, and began to persecute and imprison them. Saul asked the religious leaders in Jerusalem to issue papers so that he could persecute the Christians in Damascus. On the road to Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven shone around him, see Acts 9.
Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. [a]It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”
13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much [b]harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children[c] of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord [d]Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. 19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.
20 Immediately he preached [e]the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.
Alongside the apostles Peter and John, it was Saul, who later changed his name to Paul, who was to become an important tool in God’s plan to spread Jesus teachings, that is the New Covenant God offered to all men instead of the Old Covenant only intended for Jews. When the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah and Saviour – Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection became a violation of the mutual Sinai covenant the Jews had with God. This breach of the Sinai Covenant will, as we shall see cause unimaginable suffering to God’s chosen people, the Jews for centuries. God’s curses against His chosen people, described in Deuteronomy chapters 28:15-68, get in many ways a shocking start in the year 70, approx. 40 years after Jesus ascended to heaven. The Romans almost destroyed Jerusalem and the temple of God which had not been used as God had told his people because the priests and the people went their own way by rejecting a daily spiritual communion with God. Many Jews were expelled from Israel to the surrounding countries and from there on to all the countries of the world.
This breach became the background for the New Covenant that God now offers all people who come to faith in Jesus as their Saviour and follow Jesus’ teachings–they will have fellowship with God here on earth and eternal life with Him in heaven. God came up with this solution to get His holy people in full numbers at the right time that only God knows. This understanding is especially important, because here God shows in the Bible how he arranged the transition from his mutual covenant with the Jews which was based on human will and God’s requirements when it came to follow God’s laws and commandments, to a one-sided covenant from God-based faith in Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
The confirmation of your faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour is that you are born again spiritually as Jesus explained to the Pharisee Nicodemus when he came to Jesus at night, see John 3: 2-6:
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born [a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Life in the kingdom of God here on earth is so radically different from everything else. Whoever finds and receives the new life must “lose” the old one. Jesus points to the main thing which is the radical break between the old life and the new. Such statements are a tremendous challenge for various churches today that want to be “folk church” and “embrace everyone”. If the “people’s church” does not dare to clearly uphold this challenging word of a new birth as the only access to God’s kingdom clear, it is failing in its mission.
Henrik Pontoppidan’s sharp words say of the false prophets that they “make the way to heaven broad, and deceive the souls with the hope of salvation, until they awake in hell.” Jesus is clear when he says that a person must be born again if he is to see the kingdom of God.

Stay tuned ……..

Part XIV

In the Old Testament Bible, the prophecies are God’s signals to his people, the Jews to remind them to keep God’s commandments and laws in the mutual covenant between Him and the people of Israel formed by the twelve tribes of Jacob’s twelve sons. He had chosen them to be a people of demonstration to the rest of the nations of the world who did not know God, the Creator of heaven and earth, as the people of Israel had come to know God through the fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to whom God gave an eternal promise and Moses who led the Jews out of Egypt after four hundred years of slavery under several pharaohs.
This series is based on the text of the Apostle Peter in Peter’s Second Letter chapter 1 verses 16-18:

For there were no clever imaginary thoughts or experiences we followed when we announced to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his greatness.
For he received glory and honour from God our Father, when a voice came to him from the highest glory. This is my Son, the beloved in whom I delight.
And the voice came from heaven, when we were with Jesus in the holy mountain. “

Like the apostles Peter, John and James were eyewitnesses when God called Jesus his own son and they saw for themselves Jesus being transformed into a luminous figure see Mark 9, 2-4. Likewise, for the past 70-80 years we have been eyewitnesses to prophecies being fulfilled. Perhaps the most important of these fulfilled prophecies today is that the state of Israel was re-established (May 1948) that Jews from all over the world return to their homeland never to be driven away again. Further, perhaps the fastest well-developed housing establishment and food self-sufficiency in the world, today Israel is a major exporter of vegetables, fruits, flowers as well as technological equipment and IT systems.
The first thirteen parts of this series provide an introduction to the prophecies and how the prophecies have had the task of guiding and supporting the Jewish people in their relationship with God by the mutual covenant they entered. In the previous part of the series we saw that God as omniscient foresaw that the Jews would not follow the covenant the they had promised to do. This is despite frequent warnings from God through His servants the prophets for over one thousand five hundred years. In the last four hundred years before Jesus Christ came to earth, the holy God who hates injustice knew that the time for the execution of God’s curses, see Deuteronomy 28:15-68, upon the Jewish people was approaching. God warned His people about the curses that would come if they did not keep the covenant with God that was made on Mount Sinai. The Bible shows us that God always stands by his word and implements his words in due time. This issue will be dealt with in a later part of the series.
The time was right when the Son of God Jesus came to earth born as a human being, for over thirty years Jesus lived as an ordinary human being exposed to all the trials and temptations life can give and is the only one who has lived fully according to the Law of Moses as God gave it – without fail. This ballast of a righteous life gave Jesus both the necessary moral weight and practical knowledge of the Mosaic Law that was necessary in the encounter with the people and the religious leaders, that is, the scribes and Pharisees.
God sent his son Jesus primarily to the Jews so that they could accept him as his spiritual saviour and Messiah, but the people led by the religious leaders did not accept Jesus and his teachings during the three and a half years he walked among his own people.
The religious leaders feared the teachings of Jesus, which in many ways took away the basis of their religious activity, which was to control the people by a well-developed set of rules and decrees that they had the economic benefit of enforcing. Jesus repeatedly pointed out the unjust way the religious leaders led the people and practiced the Sinai Covenant. They should have emerged as servants and role models for the people in practical life based on the Sinai Covenant, the Ten Commandments, and the word of God by the prophets. Instead, they rose above the people and carried out a religious practice in which the individual’s relationship with God was neglected and ritual regulations and orders with financial consequences took over. This is despite the prophecies in the Jews’ own Bible, the Old Testament, to which Jesus himself often referred. Jesus taught in the synagogues and out among most people, he gave advice on lifestyle, made countless healings of the sick and people born handicapped. Jesus raised dead people to life on several occasions. Many individuals accepted Jesus and his teaching to repent and be born again by the Holy Spirit that Jesus gave to those who believe in him.
After Jesus ascended to heaven, his Father sent the Holy Ghost to earth as described in the Bible, see Acts chapter 2, verses 1-4 on the Holy Spirit being poured out on the day of Pentecost: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all gathered together. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3 Tongues like fire appeared, and they parted and sat on each of them. 4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. ” This time in history when Jesus ascended to heaven and the Holy Spirit was sent to earth as a helper to the people who are born again, is the breaking point of the Sinai Covenant and the creation of the new one-sided Covenant of Grace that God offers all people who accepts Jesus as his Saviour and is born again by the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught Councillor Nicodemus, a religious leader. He went to Jesus at night, see John 3, 2-6
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born [a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
The Acts of the Apostles in the Bible describes how the new covenant is established by events that the apostles Paul and Peter are exposed to governing the perception of the new covenant God offers all people, not just the Jews that were the case in the old covenant. Paul, formerly known as Saul, was an avid Pharisee, taking on the task of persecuting and imprisoning those who believed in Jesus. Saul had been commissioned to travel to Damascus to imprison people who believed in Jesus, he was in possession of papers in which the leading religious leaders in Jerusalem signed that they had given Saul the commission. On the road to Damascus something dramatic happened, see Acts. 9: 3–19:
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. [a]It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight. 13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much [b]harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children[c] of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord [d]Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. 19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.
What also happens here is that Jesus takes out a special man to lead the work of bringing Jesus’ teaching to all people, not just Jews.
This part of the series is especially important to include because here God shows in the Bible how He arranged the transition from His covenant with His people at Sinai, which was based on man’s will to follow God’s laws and commandments. The history of the Old Testament shows us that most of the people of Israel failed to keep God’s laws and commandments. What made it even more difficult for the people was that the chief priests lead the people in a wrong direction away from God, see Malachi 2:1–17 “corrupt priests”. Therefore, a new covenant had to be established and this time with the offer of salvation to all people not just the people of Israel. In the new covenant, anyone who believes that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was without sin and fault in his life on earth, was sacrificed on the cross as a sin offering for all people, will be saved. Those who believe and follow the path Jesus shows us, God in his great grace will save for eternal life with the deity in heaven. God came up with this solution to get a holy people in full numbers at the right time that only God knows.
Stay tuned …..

Part XIII

This part of the series is especially important to include because here God shows in the Bible how He arranged a transition of the covenant with His people at Sinai, which was based on man’s will to follow God’s laws and commandments. History shows us that most of the people failed to keep God’s laws and commandments. Therefore, a new covenant had to be established and this time with the offer of salvation to all people not just the people of Israel. The new covenant says that anyone who believes that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was without sin and fault in his life on earth, was sacrificed on the cross as a sin offering for all mankind. Those who believe and follow the path of Jesus, by God’s grace will be saved to eternal life with Him in heaven.
God came up with this solution to secure for Him a holy people in full numbers at the right time that only God knows. Paul’s letter to Romans 11:25 deals with this mystery that the Jews alone should not form the holy people God would have with him in heaven: “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” See also Romans 10:12 “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.” Also, Rom 10:9,“For if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
God, as we know, is a great and mighty God. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, qualities that we can hardly grasp. Before man was created, God knew that creating a holy people with whom He could have fellowship would not be easy. Man was given the ability to choose and they had to choose God and his son Jesus Christ of their own free will to achieve fellowship with God. But Satan and his evil spirits (demons) oppose God’s desire for a holy people, which is possible to those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that the Bible is the word of God, and who profess their faith in Jesus.
As mentioned in all previous parts of the series, this series is based on the text of the apostle Peter in his second letter, chapter 1 verses 16-18:

For there were no clever imagined thoughts or experiences that we followed when we announced to you the power and return to our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses to His greatness
For he received honour and glory from God our Father when a voice came to him from the highest glory. This is my Son, the beloved in whom I delight.
And the voice came from heaven when we were with Jesus in the holy mountain.
Like the apostles Peter, John, and James were eyewitnesses when God called Jesus his own son and witnessed Jesus being transformed into a shining figure, see Mark 9:2-4, likewise, we who have lived for the last 70-80 years have witnessed prophecies fulfilled by the re-establishment of the state of Israel (May 1948) and the return of Jews from all over the world to their homeland never to be driven away again.
God made a covenant (Sinai covenant) with the people of Israel to support them and have fellowship with them in daily life here on earth as long as they followed God’s word, laws and commandments, when the individual then dies their immortal soul will be part of the kingdom of God in heaven forever. The Bible shows that life on earth is a test that God puts people on so that He knows that those who are taken up to heaven will follow His words and ordinances. The Jews alone, as I see it, will not be able to build a large enough holy people for God for the time he desires, especially in light of the extensive apostasy from the Sinai Covenant and God’s word through thousands of years and the later denial of Jesus as the Son of God as the Messiah of the Jews.
Those who led the apostasy from God for thousands of years were first and foremost many of Israel’s kings and religious leaders, see Malachi 1: 6-8. This situation God was aware of would come, which is clear from the prophecies that God’s servants the prophets wrote about in the Old Testament, including 2 Samuel 7:12-13: “When your days are ended and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendants, one of your own flesh and blood, to follow you. I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will secure his king’s throne forever.’ and Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive a child; she will give birth to a son and give him the name Immanuel which means God with us.”
The Son of God was born as a Jew and when he was about thirty years old, Jesus is baptized in the river Jordan by the prophet John. It is written in the prophet Isaiah, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare the way before you. A voice crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” This is how John the Baptist stood in the wilderness and preached a baptism of repentance that gave forgiveness of sins. From all Judea and Jerusalem all went out to him. They confessed their sins and were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore a robe of camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. He preached: “There is one coming after me who is stronger than I, and I am not worthy to bend down and loosen his sandal strap. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. The man, John the Baptist whom God had designated as his prophet from before he was born was something new and exciting for the Jews, last time God sent a prophet to warn and lead the people were 400 years before Jesus was born namely the prophet Malachi. He directed a curse from God on the priesthood of Israel and told the people that they had betrayed their fathers’ covenant with God. He said that God would send a messenger to clear the way for the Messiah, see Malachi chapters 2 and 3.
Even before he baptized Jesus, John had put the spotlight on the religious acts and behaviours practiced by the people and the religious and political leaders. John lived to bring the following message: “Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 3:2). John was to pave the way for Jesus and his kingdom. He baptized the people so that they could be ready to receive the Son of God, Jesus. The Prophet John was put into service directly by God – “There appeared a man sent from God, his name was John; he came to bear witness of the light, that all might come to faith through him. He was not the light, but he was to testify of the light” (John 1: 6-8). His task was to tell people about the coming of Jesus, so that people would be baptized and be ready to accept what he said. Many believed him and followed his teachings, while the religious leaders feared losing control of their own followers. John was clear that he was not the Messiah, but only one to prepare for his entry into the world. He put it this way: “I baptize you with water. But there comes one who is stronger than I am. I’m not even worthy to untie his sandal strap. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 3:16). The preaching of John created revival. People went from Jerusalem and all Judea and all the land to Jordan, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matthew 3, 5-6). John fulfilled his life’s task at Jesus’ baptism in Jordan (Matthew 3:15). Although his mission was completed, he continued to baptize people for some time afterwards. It was his clear refs of the immoral life of the fourth prince Herod that got him sent to prison and that eventually caused him to be beheaded. Historically, John and Jesus lived at the same time as Emperor Tiberius, the governor Pontius Pilate, the fourth prince Herod and the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, these will, as we see, have a decisive influence on the lives of John the Baptist and Jesus.
During Jesus’ ministry, he often engaged in dialogue and discussion with the scribes and religious leaders of the Sanhedrin, a group of 71 members of the clergy, including the high priest. For centuries, the Jewish religious leaders had added to the Mosaic Law countless rules and decrees that were not based on the covenant between God and the people of Israel on Mount Sinai, but rather were used by the religious leaders to oppress and control the people of Israel and gain economic benefits.
Jesus was sent by God and his work and teachings were a last resort for people to turn to God away from the path of perdition, which is mainly based on selfishness, envy, powerlessness and greed which is sin in the eyes of God. Jesus repeatedly pointed to these factors as the reason why God had distanced himself from his chosen people. The religious leaders denied Jesus ‘teaching and his status as the coming Messiah, despite all the prophecies in the Old Testament that fit in with Jesus’ ministry among the people of Israel. His birth in Bethlehem his tribal affiliation, Judah dating back a thousand years to King David, Jesus’ brief exile in Egypt and growing up in Nazareth a garrison town at that time. Jesus is referred to in the Old Testament as the Nazarene. In 3 years, Jesus performs many inexplicable healings of the sick, casts out evil spirits or demons in possessed people, and awakens people who have been declared dead. Jesus points to the need to be born again to see the kingdom of God.
Councillor Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, the top religious leadership, went to Jesus at night, see John 3, 2-6: 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born [a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
God used John the Baptist to introduce baptism with water as part of God’s new covenant dedicated to all people, just as Jesus was used to introduce the Spirit of God as part of the baptism and the new covenant. Here is the explanation of Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus: “He that is not born of water and of the Spirit cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Fifty days after Easter when Jesus was crucified, the Helper or Spirit was sent to the people from God. Jesus had promised the disciples that God would send a helper to the earth instead of himself, see John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”
Pentecost is a Christian holiday 49 days after Jesus Christ, according to the New Testament of the Bible, rose from the grave on Easter Sunday. On this day, the Holy Spirit appeared to the apostles in the form of tongues of fire from heaven. … The name Pentecost comes from the Greek word «pentekoste», which means fiftieth, at Pentecost the Holy Spirit comes to the disciples and gives them strength and words so that they can now go and tell about Jesus. This will be the power for the Christian congregations.
Stay tune …

Part XII

Hi friends and family! Summer is here in Norway now. Hope for a warm time here in the north of Europe. May this year not be like in the song we used to sing when we were young, “come May you look gentle”–it was rather cool.
In Part XII of the series “We Are Eyewitnesses To…”, we proceed with the premise that God who created us wants as many people/souls as possible to seek fellowship with Him, but evil forces on earth and in the heavens lead to a continuous deception of human beings by appealing to human beings’ quest for first and foremost self-assertion and/or t work, power and greed of their own hands. “Seek first my kingdom and what I want you to do,” says God in the Bible, “and I will give you what you need in life here on earth”. God has a plan for all people, but we must seek Him with a sincere heart so that we may find Him.
Many people who do not seek God will God call upon and then it is important to be responsive and respond positively. During our 70-80 years here on earth, we will try to seek God or He will seek us, and then we must be ready to make the right decision. I can write like this because I have personally experienced what I write about, here and heard many testimonies from people who have had the same experience.
Our God, the creator of heaven and earth is a God of choice which is evident throughout the Bible. God selects people of mankind at all times through thousands of years who best serve God’s purpose, whose end goal is a Kingdom of God in heaven with a certain number of people/souls from the earth, or as many as possible, who have accepted God and his rules that govern in his kingdom of heaven. With such a perspective God begins the process of creating the people He wants in His kingdom from the earth. This is where the spirit-flesh struggle comes in between what God wants and what man wants, driven by spiritual forces that go against God’s will. It may seem that man’s freedom to choose is most often used to reject the God who created them and His instructions on how humans must live their lives here on earth (about 70-80 years) to become part of God’s kingdom in heaven forever. Follow my review on Bible prophecy and what has happened in the fulfilment of prophecy.
The starting point for this series of being eyewitnesses is still the text of the apostle Peter in Peter’s second letter chapter 1 verses 16-18:

For there were no clever imagined thoughts or experiences we followed when we announced to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses to His greatness.
For he received glory and glory from God our Father when a voice came to him from the highest glory. This is my Son, the beloved in whom I delight.
And the voice came from heaven when we were with Jesus in the holy mountain. “
We who have lived for the last 70-80 years have ourselves been eyewitnesses to the two perhaps most important and indisputable events in world history described in the Bible:
The Restoration of the State of Israel in May 1948.
(the restoration of the state of Israel is a prerequisite for the end-time Jesus return)
The Jews’ return to their homeland after more than one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight years abroad.
In the last part (part XI) we see how God chose Abraham’s grandson Jacob and his twelve sons to become the tribe of the people who would later be called the Jews after the land around Jerusalem called Judea. After May 1948, when the state of Israel was restored, the Jews of the new state are called Israelis. The story of the Jews as God’s people starts from the time when Jacob and his twelve sons and relatives around 70 people who lived in Bethel in the land of Canaan where God revealed himself to Jacob and blessed him and gave Jacob the name Israel, see Genesis 35:1-15
Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. 6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel,[a] because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.[b] 9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram,[c] God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob,[d] but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.[e]” So he named him Israel.
11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty[f]; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. 12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” 13 Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.
14 Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15 Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.

This excerpt from Genesis chapter 35 is the beginning of God’s selection of his own people, through strange events that bring forth the qualities and weaknesses of Jacob’s (Israel’s) sons, a famine that drove Jacob and his entire house to the Goshen in Egypt where they lived for about 400 years. During these 400 years, Jacob’s house grows in number to around 2 million, God points out Moses and his brother Aaron to lead the Israelites or Hebrews back to the land of Canaan to occupy the land that God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his descendants, that is, the Hebrews or the Israelites, forever. Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather, was earlier called in the Bible a Hebrew hence the name Hebrews. On the remarkable journey from Egypt to the land of Canaan, God makes a covenant with the Hebrews, now led by Moses and his brother Aaron. In the desert of Mount Sinai, God, together with Moses, Aaron, and 70 of Israel’s elders, affirmed on behalf of the people all the words of the Lord and promises of a covenant that the people accepted. The people should be God’s own people and follow the laws and rules God gives through Moses and which are written down, see Exodus 24:1-11:
Now He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”
3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the [a]judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”
9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. 11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not [c]lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.
God made a covenant, the Sinai covenant, with the people of Israel to support them in their daily lives here on earth as they obeyed God’s Word and Laws. When the individual dies, their immortal soul would become part of the kingdom of God in heaven forever, the life here on earth is a test that God puts people through so that He can be sure that we will follow His words and promises in heaven. We who live on earth today know from what the Bible tells us that evil spirits on earth and in the heavenly space are constantly seeking to lead humans away from spiritual companionship with God and the Holy Spirit. The evil forces direct our attention to worldly things such as self-love, envy, jealousy, greed, and the struggle for power, that is, the opposite of what God wants us to deal with. What we read in the Old Testament shows that God’s chosen people have great difficulty in following God’s Word and laws, the whole Old Testament is full of events that show that God’s own people are unable to live up to the covenant made with God. This despite the fact that God, through his chosen prophets many times, for at least a thousand years, warns the people and reminds them of the mutual covenant with God and of the blessings as they follow God’s word and laws, see Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and the curses who would strike them when they fail to obey the covenant with God, see Deuteronomy 28:15-68. The Bible tells us that God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that those of their descendants who followed the covenant with God would remain His chosen people, the saints, though the number of Hebrews or Israelites following the Law of Moses was steadily diminishing towards the time when God’s Son Jesus Christ was to be sent to earth.
Jesus came to earth and his activities among the Jews became the basis for the new covenant God offered both Jews and non-Jews through Jesus activity on earth, including the crucifixion, death, resurrection on the third day, ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit from God fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead.
The Jews did not manage, as I see it, to build up a holy people before God, thus God offered a new covenant between God and all people, not only Jews, that anyone who believes that Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son who were sacrificed for our salvation will have fellowship with the Trinity God, God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
God is, as we know, a great and mighty God, He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, attributes which we can hardly comprehend. God knew before humans were created that creating a people with whom he could have fellowship with would present a problem. Humans are given the ability to choose and they must choose God of their own free will to achieve communion with Him. But evil spirits on earth and in the heavenly space represented by Satan and his demonic co-conspirators, former angels, oppose God’s desire for a holy people, taken out of humanity, that is, those who believe in Jesus and God’s Word in the Bible and profess their faith.
Stay tuned …

Part XI

Hello friends and family! It is Corona time and here in Norway the authorities are now opening schools, kindergartens and universities. Here comes part XI of the series “We are eyewitnesses to …”. The series give an insight into a fantastic reality that most people do not care about – follow along follow along.
It may be right after the first ten parts of the series to recall the prehistory of Jesus coming to earth and his final crucial three and a half years as a missionary with a clear mission from his Father in heaven. The story from the beginning that led up to Jesus’ life on earth started with God our Father in heaven, the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them, arranging the conditions on earth for His supreme creation: mankind, who was meant to have fellowship with the triune God who is the way, the truth and the life. We can hardly understand this, but the Bible gives us a glimpse of what will come in eternity if we hold on to the Word of God.
The starting point for this series about being eyewitnesses is the text of the apostle Peter in Peter’s second letter, chapter 1 verses 16-18:

For there were no clever imagined thoughts or experiences that we followed when we announced to you the power and return to our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses to His greatness
For he received honour and glory from God our Father when a voice came to him from the highest glory. This is my Son, the beloved in whom I delight.
And the voice came from heaven when we were with Jesus in the holy mountain.
We who have lived for the last 70-80 years have ourselves been eyewitnesses to the two most important and indisputable events in world history described in the Bible:
The Restoration of the State of Israel in May 1948.
(the restoration of the state of Israel is a prerequisite for the end-time Jesus return)
The Jews returning to their homeland after more than one thousand eight hundred years in foreignness.
(The Jews and their religious leaders rejected Jesus as their Messiah, about two thousand years ago, to experience the tragic event in 70 AD, 35 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection from the dead and Ascension into Heaven, where Jerusalem was levelled with the earth, and there was no stone left upon the other of that magnificent temple just as Jesus prophesied before he was crucified. See Matthew 24:2
And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” The Temple is demolished (dismantled stone by stone) by Emperor Hadrian
In the year 134 AD he demolishes the temple in Jerusalem, “stone by stone,” as Jesus had prophesied a hundred years earlier. The remaining wall, the Wailing Wall, was not part of the original temple, but a support wall to the area of the temple complex. Only the seven lower stone rows of the lament wall are a remnant of the original supporting wall, the other layers dating from recent periods. The wall of complaint is 48 meters long and 18 meters high.
Now back to the background that Jesus came to earth as part of God’s plan to save as many people as possible for a life of fellowship with our God.
Way back God was let down by his perhaps closest archangel, his name was Satan also known as Lucifer. He was at that time perhaps God’s finest creature who was also given the ability to choose between good and evil i.e. to follow God’s order or to break with God’s order, see Isaiah 14:12-20 which says the following about Satan’s breaking away from God:
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. 16 “Those who see you will gaze at you, And consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, 17 Who made the world as a wilderness And destroyed its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’ 18 “All the kings of the nations, All of them, sleep in glory, Everyone in his own house; 19 But you are cast out of your grave Like an abominable branch, Like the garment of those who are slain, Thrust through with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit, Like a corpse trodden underfoot. 20 You will not be joined with them in burial, Because you have destroyed your land And slain your people. The brood of evildoers shall never be named.”

When man was created by the Trinity God, (God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), see Genesis 1:26-27: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ’They were called Adam and Eve and they too were given the ability to choose between good and evil, i.e. to follow God’s order or to fail to follow God’s order. The story in the Bible tells us that Satan who walked around the earth and in the heavens managed to cast doubt on Eve, so she broke with God’s plan that was to follow His counsel to live a perfect life in fellowship with Him. When Eve and Adam broke God’s order, they were chased out of the Garden of Eden and lost the natural communion with God and thus also eternal life. Death was the result for all living beings of breaking with God’s order, thistles and thorns began to grow. One man’s violation of God’s ordinance or injunction resulted in the imperfect world we have in every way now and it is becoming worse regarding morality, the environment and man’s struggle for power and their greed.
Our God, who is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, knew what would come both with regard to Satan’s rebellion against God and man’s transgression with God’s command in the Garden of Eden. Our God is great, all-powerful, omnipresent, and all-knowing. Already when God punished Satan for deceiving Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, God’s plan was laid for how to destroy Satan and at the same time get a people for his kingdom, see Genesis 4:14-15.
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:
Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.

Throughout the Old Testament, we see how Satan affected people very negatively, and at one point in human history, the evil of humans took over completely on earth. There were only eight people left on the earth who found grace with God namely Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. As we know from Bible history, God gives Noah instructions so that the great Ark is built to save the Noah family and a couple of all types of birds and animals. It took 120 years to build the Ark, it is told. A flood of water erupted from the fountains of the depths and it rained for forty days and nights, causing the whole earth to be covered with water, even the highest mountains, so that all living beings on earth were wiped out, only the humans and animals in the Ark survived the flood. Man’s behaviour must have been beyond all reason since God took this step. This event shows how serious it is not to follow God’s plan for mankind, included in the Old Testament. The old covenant between God and the Jewish people, practiced through 1500 years started after 400 years of slave life in Egypt. God’s own people the Jews led by Moses and Aaron went out of Egypt miraculously through the Red Seas described for us in Exodus 14:1-31 via a long desert walk up to the land of Canaan, the land God had previously given to Abraham and his descendants forever. God gave directions to the people through Moses, this became part of the foundation of the covenant God established between himself and the Jewish people. This is how the Bible describes the event of the covenant:
3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the [a]judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.”(Exodus 24: 3-7). Both Bible history and our own experience show that one thing to say about being obedient. It is something quite different to show faith and surrender so that one can have divine power that grants grace to do what we said we would do.

Blessings and Curses:
Blessings when the Jewish people keep the covenant with God that is, God’s commandments, see Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and curses when the Jewish people break the covenant with God that is God’s commandments see Deuteronomy 28:15-68.
We know from Bible history how this people God chose and made a covenant with, encountered great problems with evil spirits through 1500 years up to the time when the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was born as a human child and grown up as an adult. The Jews, as I see it, have been God’s demonstration people so that we could know how the evil forces operate. When we do not have a wizard or an anchor in our lives, that we can resort to when we cannot with our own strength resist the evils in our surroundings that we constantly are affected by. Jesus Christ is the anchor or rescue we need to stay true to God and His order the time we have left here on earth and then in heaven.
An important aspect of understanding God’s plan for the salvation of as many people as possible is genealogy tree that is listed at various intervals in the Bible. Noah’s eldest son, Sem, becomes a key person with regard to the person who in the future would crush the serpent’s head, see Genesis 4:15. One of Sam’s descendants is Nakor, whose son was Tarak, whose son was Abram, who was later renamed Abraham by God, which means the father of many peoples. Abraham was chosen by God because of his faith in the living God and the covenant God made with him, see Genesis 17:2-8. Through Abraham’s son Isaac and Isaac’s twin son Jacob, later named Israel by God, the tribe becomes the Jewish people, God’s own people. Jacob’s twelve sons formed the twelve tribes of Israel:
Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manassas, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, and Benjamin.
Our God, the creator of heaven and earth is a God of selection; it is evident throughout the Bible. God selects the people of mankind at all times through thousands of years who best serve God’s purpose whose end goal is the Kingdom of God in heaven with a certain number of people / souls who have accepted God and His rules in heaven. With such a perspective, God started the election of people He wants in His kingdom of heaven. This is where the fight between the good and evil spirits comes in: it is between what God wants and what man wants, driven by spiritual forces that go against God’s will. It may seem that man’s freedom to choose is most often used to reject the God who created them and His instructions on how humans must live their lives here on earth (about 70-80 years) to become part of God’s kingdom in heaven forever.
Follow my review on Bible prophecy and what has happened in the fulfilment of prophecy.
Stay tuned!

Part X

Hello friends and family.
We have now come to the most eventful and watershed time in Jesus’ life on earth that resulted in the completion of God’s salvation historical plan for mankind His ultimate creation, which God wants to bring as many as possible into eternity after life on earth.
Here comes part X of the series – The starting point for the series is the text of the apostle Peter in Peter’s second letter chapter 1 verses 16-18:
“16For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
17 For He received from God the Father honour and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’
18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”
Status so far in the Bible and Prophecy series:
In the previous part of the series, Part IX, we started with Jesus’s final three and a half years on earth before his ascension back to his Father, our God, and now sits at the right hand of God until the words of the Bible are spread to all nations and the fullness of the Gentiles has come. These two preconditions seem crucial to Jesus’ return, which we will look into later in the series. Jesus’ mission on earth began after he was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist and the Spirit of God came upon Jesus in the form of a dove, A voice sounded from heaven; “You are my beloved son whom I delight in,” see Mark 1:10-11. Baptism in water and filling with the Holy Spirit are absolutely necessary preparations for Jesus as the work of bringing out to the Jewish people (primarily) the Good News that the Kingdom of God is here for them. If they repent and follow the Bible’s words delivered to them by the prophets and Jesus words inspired by the Holy Spirit that God sent him during baptism in the Jordan River they will be saved from eternal punishment. After baptism Jesus began his mission among his fellow countrymen. He enabled Jesus to do signs and wonders for the next 3 ½ years, and in addition, he chose twelve disciples whom he trained to practice and carry out the teachings of Jesus. The Jews and especially the Pharisees and Sadducees, the priesthood of the Jews, knew of the prophecies of the Messiah to come. They expected the coming Messiah to deliver them from the dominion of the Romans and be reigned over by Messiah. The priesthood and the people in general had not discovered in the prophecies that the coming Messiah would shortly be sacrificed by God as a sin offering for all people. Jesus Christ would then rise from the dead after three days and be taken up to heaven to sit at God’s right hand and thus become part of God’s salvation plan for mankind. Now both, Jews and gentiles are represented by a New Covenant between God and man. About 750 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah wrote this prophecy of Jesus Christ and what would happen to him, Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:1-12.
The Lord’s suffering servant:
Isaiah 52,:13-15 Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall rise, be lifted up, and exalted.
14 Like many were astonished at his sight – he was worse prepared than any man and did not look like a human, 15And many nations shall be astonished at him, and kings shall shut their mouths. For they will see things that were never reported to them, they will hear unheard things.
Isaiah 53:1 – 12; 1Who believed the message we heard, for whom was the power of the Lord revealed? 2He shot up like a twig before God, like a root of dry earth. He had no lovely figure; we did not look forward to his sight. 3 He was despised, forsaken of men, a man of pain, well acquainted with disease, a despised man that no one would look at, we didn’t count on him for anything. 4 Verily, he took our sicknesses, and he suffered our pains. We thought he had been hit, beaten by God and harassed. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities. The punishment lay on him for us to have peace, by his wounds we have been cured. 6We all went astray like sheep; we turned every way. But the guilt we all had; the Lord let him hit. 7 He was mistreated, but humbly carried it; he did not open his mouth, like the lamb that is brought away for slaughter, like the sheep that keep silent when cut. He did not open his mouth. 8 Through tribulation and judgment he was torn away. But who in his time heeded it? He was exterminated by the land of the living, had to die for the transgression of his people. 9 They gave him a tomb of the wicked, of a rich man, when he was dead, not yet had done no wrong, and there was no betrayal in his mouth. 10 It was the Lord’s will to crush him with sickness. But because he gave his life to atonement, he shall have offspring and live long, and by him the will of the Lord shall prosper.11 After all his toil and soul he shall see light and be satisfied. My righteous servant shall do the many just when they know him; for he has borne their sins. 12 Wherefore I surrender unto him many; the mighty shall he exchange, because he gave his life in death, and was reckoned among violators. He took on the sin of many and interceded for sinners.

That part of Isaiah’s book (Isa. 52:13-15; 53:1-12) contains the Bible’s perhaps most detailed prophecy of the Messiah. It describes in advance the most important events in Jesus’ life, almost the same precision as a news report. It is a good idea to read it slowly so that you have time to think a little about what it says. Today, we are eyewitnesses to the fulfilment of prophecy through God’s Word and actual decisive events over the past 70-80 years. That most people do not take the time to study the Bible and the prophecies has to this day become increasingly strange to me when we know that the future life of each individual is at stake.
The Bible clearly tells us that without Jesus’ mission as the suffering servant who selflessly followed God’s plan to bring salvation to people, we would all be lost in eternity. Our job today is to spread the good news that Jesus died for us so that by the grace of God we could have direct communion with our Father while we are on earth and in eternal companionship in heaven.
2 Cor 5: 18-21: 18 But all things are of God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself, and gave us the ministry of the Atonement. 19 For it was God who in Christ reconciled the world to himself, not to impute to them their iniquities, and he trusted in the message of the Atonement to us. 20Then we are sent to Christ, and it is God Himself who exhorts through us. We ask you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God! 21 He that knew not sin hath sinned before us, that we may receive the righteousness of God in him.

Now back to the time after Jesus baptism in Jordan, Jesus and the disciples together Jesus mother Mary made a trip to Cana of Galilee to participate in a wedding. Jesus and his disciples were there too. It was there that Jesus did his first sign or miracle. It was Jesus’ mother who, in a way, caused the event in Cana to be referred to as Jesus’ first miracle or sign. The miracle that happened during the wedding in Cana “revealed the glory of Jesus.” John 2:1-11 1On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples were also invited. 3Then the wine ended, and Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4″Woman, what have you got to do with mine?” said Jesus. “My hour is not yet come.” 5But his mother said to the servants, “What he says you shall do. 6″Now there were some water-basins of stone there, as was the custom according to the Jews’ ordinances of purification. There were six vessels, and each of them took two or three anchors (one anchor = about 40 l) 7″Fill the vessels with water,” Jesus said. And the servants filled them to the brim.8″Now scoop it up and carry it to the kitchen master,” he said. They carried it to the kitchen master, 9and he tasted the water that had turned into wine. He did not know where it came from, but the servants who carried it knew. Then he asked the groom to come 10 and said, “Others first put forth the good wine, and when the guests are drunk, they come with the bad. But you’ve saved the good wine until now.” 11This is the first sign Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. He revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, knew from her encounter, at a young age, with the angel Gabriel, see Luke 1:26-38, that what was conceived in her life by the Holy Spirit would be special, also meeting with Simeon in the temple at the eighth day of Jesus’ birth and his prophetic words about Jesus was decisive for her, see Luke 2:25-35.
The four gospels in the Bible are named after Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and cover Jesus’ life from his birth until he was crucified on Calvary.
The following is taken from the “Great Norwegian Lexicon”:
“The first three gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are closely related in form and content and are therefore called the synoptic gospels (from Greek: synopsis, ‘consensus’). Jesus’ work here is essentially related to Galilee. After his activities there, he travels to Judea and Jerusalem, where he is accused and crucified. The relationship between the synoptic gospels is usually explained by the ‘two-source hypothesis’. This assumes that the Gospel of St. Mark is the oldest, and that Matthew and Luke have known and used Mark independently of one another. In addition, they have had another common source, called the Q source (of German Quelle, ‘source’) or the source of logia (of Greek: logion, ‘statement’) because it largely consisted of Jesus words. This source is not preserved, but it is reconstructed on the basis of the substance that Matthew and Luke have in common, but which is not found in the Gospel of St. Mark. These include Our Father prayer, the Blessings (the opening of the Sermon on the Mount), the story of Jesus being tempted and the parable of the sheep that was lost. All the gospels also have special substance, that is, traditions about which each of them is alone. The Gospel of John is probably the youngest of the gospels. It differs greatly from the others in both form and content. Here we can read that Jesus visited Jerusalem several times and that he is associated with at least three Passover feasts there (John 2:13; 6,4; 12,1). This is why one reckons that Jesus appeared in public for at least 2-3 years. Jesus also does mighty works in Jerusalem, and many of his discussions take place here. While Jesus’ opponents in the synoptic gospels are Pharisees and scribes, in the Gospel of John they are often referred to as “the Jews,” suggesting that the book was written for Christian readers without affiliation with Judaism and with a clear sense of distance to the Jewish environment as Jesus and his disciples were an obvious part of that. The Gospel of John does not reproduce parables of Jesus, and the main theme of his preaching is not the kingdom of God, as in the synoptic gospels, but “life” or “eternal life.” The prologue to the gospel (John 1:1-18) emphasizes that Jesus existed from the beginning as the Word of God, that he became man of flesh and blood, and that as the only begotten Son of God, he is the only one who can show us who God is. . “
The relationship described above Jesus repeatedly used in his preaching of the kingdom of God, By all the miracles Jesus did he reflected God who had sent him to earth. Contrary to world religions, Jesus’ teachings and the Bible’s words are a revelation directly from God and not a religion as the worldly press and the world describes Jesus’ words and the Bible.
“It’s finished!” These are the most important words throughout the Bible, for they tell us about the greatest deed God has done, namely the Atonement. Because of the finished work of Jesus, man is reconciled to God. He is reconciled to us. He does not mind us, on the contrary, he loves us and loves us with a perfect love. He has saved us from sin, death, and hell.
“It is finished” also means that all prophecies about Him are fulfilled. There must be at least 300 prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament, all of which were literally and accurately fulfilled in Jesus’ life. – Thirty-three important prophecies were fulfilled in the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life on earth. Just think of the Passover Lamb mentioned in Exodus 12. The Passover Lamb was to be taken out on a day, namely the tenth day of the month Nisan and kept in custody until the fourteenth day. Then it was to be slaughtered between the two evening hours. We read about Jesus in John 12, 1a and 12: Six days before Easter, Jesus came to Bethany. (It was the ninth day of the month Nisan). “The day after,” that is, the tenth day, Jesus rode into Jerusalem, and it was the same day that Judas sold Jesus for 30 coins of silver. Thus, on the tenth day of the month of Nisan, Jesus was pronounced the sacrificial lamb And on the fourteenth day of the same month, Jesus was brutally killed (Acts 2.2-3 and 15) between the two evening hours, that is, between 12:00 hours (midday) and 18:00 hours (evening) Just at the same time the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed, Jesus hung on the cross, and he died at 15:00 hour (afternoon).
In Psalm 22 there are four prophecies about Jesus, see verses 1, 7, 16 and 18; 1My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far away from me? Why don’t you help when I complain about my distress? 7All who see me mock me, turns his mouth and shakes his head: 16Yes, dogs gather around me, a flock of violent men surrounds me; they pierce my hands and feet.
18” They share my clothes among themselves and cast lots on my robe.”
All of this came true. And when Jesus knew that everything was fulfilled, he cried hanging on the Cross, “It is finished!”
Stay tune …

Wailing wall in Israel / Klagemuren i Israel / Muri i Vajtimit në Izrael / Zid plača Izrael

Part IX

Hello friends and family!
In Part VIII, we focused on a crucial event in the history of mankind, namely, when God allowed His only Son to be incarnated as a human being in a virgin birth and given the name Jesus Christ. God’s plan is to facilitate eternal salvation and spiritual communion with God the time we live on earth, for all people who follow God’s Word in the Bible and believe in Jesus as their Saviour. The evil forces in our world represented by Satan and his demons will constantly turn our attention away from Jesus Christ and God’s Word in the Bible, toward materialism and personal satisfaction and enjoyment.
Here comes Part IX of the series We are eyewitnesses to… – The starting point for the series is the text of the apostle Peter in Peter’s second letter chapter 1 verses 16-18:
16For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
17 For He received from God the Father honour and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”
Status so far in the Bible and Prophecy series:
What has been posted in the first eight presentations are some of the Bible’s prophecies and some of what has occurred over the centuries. We ourselves have been eyewitnesses for important events over the last 70-80 years—we can also read about past events which should normally convince even the most ardent opponent of the fact that there is a God who created heaven and earth and all that is there, and that the Bible contains the path to eternal salvation for those who believe God’s message of Jesus as our Saviour. God’s offer of salvation to those who believe is the way man can avoid eternal perdition. The Bible tells us that our soul will last forever even if our body turns to dust after death. God has given us both the ability and the opportunity to choose between His heaven or eternal fire reserved for Satan and his demons. God’s will is that you choose Jesus, and be saved.
The Old Testament shows us how God chose a people among all the peoples of the world, because through this people, the Jews, that God wanted to show that He is the creator of heaven and earth and all that is in it.
God saw that through his demonstration people, the Jews, not by their own power and knowledge, could satisfy God’s demands for the eternal communion of the soul with the deity in heaven. Therefore, God made a mutual covenant with the Jewish people whom He had designated as His own people.
If the people kept the covenant, God would bless them, see Deuteronomy 28:1-14, and these curses would strike the people if they did not keep the covenant, see Deuteronomy 28:15-68;
This mutual covenant became a tool for the Jews to gain communion with God through the high priest of the temple and sacrifice of domestic animals to God for their transgressions. Furthermore, the covenant, based on God’s former eternal promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, became part of God’s salvation-historical plan of saving as many people as possible to eternal life with Him in heaven.
In order to gain a better understanding of why God laid a plan for salvation, to save as many people as possible from a life with Satan here on earth and after death in eternal fire, we must have in mind the fatal event that occurred in the Garden of Eden, where Eve eat fruit from the tree in the garden that God had forbidden them to eat from. (Genesis 3:1-24) and thus broke the direct communion with Him who had created them. God’s response to this disobedience was to exclude his supreme creation, the human beings, from meeting with God in a perfect world, the Garden of Eden.
God created the people in His image to have fellowship with them and they were given the ability and opportunity to make choices. With this knowledge as a backdrop, it is easier to understand God’s disappointment when people acted contrary to His desire.
God still wants fellowship with mankind because he loves his supreme creation, but now they must prove that they will accept God’s leadership of the holy community here on earth and the deity in heaven. This is where God’s plan of salvation comes in, namely, to save as many people as possible from eternal perdition, to a good life on earth and when we die eternal life with the deity. God created us for a life together with his deity, notice what God said to the other persons in the Trinity in heaven (Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit, were the master when heaven and earth were created). “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 2 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ” Genesis 1:26-27,
The Old Testament prophecies show that God’s plan was to send his son to earth to be born as a human. Jesus voluntarily renounced his position in heaven as the Son of God to become human and part of a salvation plan for humanity that God alone had laid.
It was God’s wish that first the Jewish people, who had made a mutual covenant with Him, would receive his own Son and turn to God. But as we know from Bible history, the high priest and Sanhedrin (which was the highest court of the Jews, established during the Second Temple period, probably around 200 BC. It was originally located in Jerusalem. It was dissolved by the Romans after the destruction of the Temple (70 AD)
rejected Jesus as the Son of God, because following Jesus’ teachings would tear down their power which was based on corruption and deviation from God’s Word in the Old Testament. This unbelief had a catastrophic consequence for the Jewish people in particular.
We will now deal with Jesus last approx. 3 ½ years on earth. The map shows the areas Jesus travelled to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand and that the people must turn to God. Jesus conducted a mission, as we will say today, among his own people the Jews, on behalf of his Father in heaven, and at the same time he taught disciples to bring God’s word to the Jewish people, first of all and then other nations. Jesus told the people to repent, he pointed to the scriptures, the prophets, and the covenant between God and the Jewish people, about the blessings when people followed the word of God and the curses when they didn’t, but went away from him.
Jesus once said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Matt.10: 5-8
5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: ‘Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.
6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give”.

At an age of approx. For 30 years, Jesus makes a round trip in Judea, Samaria, Galilee and up to Tire and Sidon in Phoenicia (Lebanon) see Matthew 15, 21-28 over three and a half years followed by his twelve chosen disciples. Jesus and the disciples make countless healings of the paralytic, the leper, the blind, the mute, the mentally ill and bring to life the dead.
At an age of approx. For 30 years, Jesus makes a round trip in Judea, Samaria, Galilee and up to Tire and Sidon in Phoenicia (Lebanon) see Matthew 15, 21-28 over three and a half years followed by his twelve chosen disciples. Jesus and the disciples make countless healings of the paralytic, the leper, the blind, the mute, the mentally ill and bring to life the dead.

Stay tuned …..

Part I

I start this new message in 2019 to friends and family with – Happy New Year. “We are eyewitnesses to…. part I “I will come in after a briefing on my situation. We are just about started in the New Year 2019. I currently live in southern Norway, more specifically in the Lillestrøm area. The weather has been reasonably good with some snow and minus temperatures and some sun. As many of you know I had to hastily leave Subotica in Serbia because of a poor right shoulder, which, accord- ing to the local hospital’s (AHUS) opinion, is ripe for the replacement of shoulder joints (artificial). Personally, I am not too excited about doing such an operation since I cannot count on particularly better movement and less pain. For now, I need to continue with physiotherapy treatment until further notice

Now to my post about what we have been eyewitnesses of in the last 70-80 years. There was a post/discussion in the local newspaper about what had been the most important events in recent years. One of the participants in the debate believed that the fall of the Berlin Wall was the most important and significant event. For my part, I consider the most import- ant and significant event after World War II to be the Restoration of the State of Israel in May 1948.

In my Bible studies the other day I came across the text of the apostle Peter which says: “For there were not cleverly thought-out thoughts or adventures we followed as we announced the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses to His greatness. For he received the glory of God the Father when a voice came to him from the very highest glory: ‘This is my Son, the beloved, whom I delight in’. And we heard the voices of heaven as we were with Jesus on the holy mountain.” (The Bible: 2 Peter 1, 16-18) Matthew’s account says this: Jesus had brought with him Peter, John, and Jacob and they were eyewitnesses and heard God confirm that Jesus is God, Son and man, (Matt. 17, 1-3, 5). I draw a comparison between the resto- ration of the state of Israel with what Peter, John, and Jacob were witnesses of. By the Restoration of Israel as a state, God showed us His greatness once again. Against all odds and human sense, but according to Bible prophecy, we are eye- witnesses to God’s greatness in the pres- ent. I thank God that I was born in a time where we can read about what the Bible prophe- sies about the Jews and Israel and at the same time be eyewitnesses that the proph- ecies come true on the road. End Part I Continuation.

Part II

My second message in 2019 to friends and family with part II of “we are eyewitnesses to …”.
My first message (Part 1), was based on the apostle Peter’s words, “For there were not cleverly thought-out thoughts or adventures we followed as we announced the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses to His greatness. For he received the glory and glory of God the Father when a voice came to him from the very highest glory: ‘This is my Son, the beloved, whom I delight in.’ And we heard the voice of heaven as we were with Jesus on the holy mountain.”(2 Peter 1: 16-18)
We who have lived in the last 70-80 years have been eyewitnesses of God’s greatness with the restoration of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948 and the evolution of Israel until today. We are thus committed to knowing what the Bible says about this subject which was warned by the Prophet Isaiah who lived around 750 BC and who says “On your walls, Jerusalem, I set watchmen. Never shall they remain silent, not all day and not all night. You who remind the Lord, do not give you peace! And do not give him rest until he builds up Jerusalem again, making her a praise on the earth.” (see Isaiah 62, 6-7).
Immediately after the Restoration of Israel, he was attacked by Arabs both from within and from many of his neighbors, and, against all odds, the mini State of Israel managed to resist the attacks. Since 1948, the country of Israel has repeatedly been tried on the Mediterranean with military means by the surrounding Arab states led by the Arab League representing more than 250 million people in 22 countries, but each time the Arabs have been defeated.
I mention in order: Counterparty:

The first Arab-Israeli war 1948-49 Five Arab countries
Six Day War 1967 Four Arab countries
The Fatigue War 1969-70 Egypt and the Soviet Union
The Yom Kippur War 1973 Egypt, Syria, Iraq
First Lebanon War 1982-85 PLO, Lebanon, Syria, Hezbollah
Second Lebanon War 2006 Hezbollah
Gaza Wars 2014 Hamas
In the late 1970s, after losing all wars against Israel, the Arab League created the known 3 no. It was an agreement between the countries in the league they:
-Do not negotiate with the state of Israel,

Don’t recognize it, and
Don’t have peace with it.
Then the saying goes as follows, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”. Thus, indicating that Palestine, according to them, will be free from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, their goal being to exterminate Israel, the only democratic state in the Middle East.
In addition, the Arab League since the 1970s, with financial support from the selling of oil, has worked for the boycott of Israel within the UN, the other international organizations and media in all countries.
The Jews have re-established their national state against all odds. The population of Israel in 1948 was 872,678 and in 2005, the population was 6.3 million (Store Norske leksikon). In 2018 the population was 8.97 million .
It is not possible to put what has happened to the Jews and Israel after May 14, 1948 in any perspective; it is unique in world history. The Jews were without fatherland for 49 generations and spread throughout the world without a common language. In one day, the Jews declared themselves as a nation state just as the Bible predicted (Isaiah 66:7-8). The ancient Hebrew language which had not been used since 70 AD was re-established in modern language form not many years after.
The Bible that the Jews have given us from God, the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is there gives us insight into what has happened and what will happen until the day Jesus puts his nail-marked feet on the Mount of Olives. We must do as Jesus told Nicodemus, a religious leader of the time, in John 3, 1-21, that we must be born again by the Holy Spirit
The Bible makes it clear that those who have not accepted Jesus as their Saviour will not enter heaven. (Revelation 21:8) .
God kept his promise to gather the Jews back into their homeland, because he has more prophecies to fulfill regarding the return of Christ in Israel. Often times, we deceive ourselves into thinking that what God has said in the Bible, He will somehow not bring it to pass, History teaches us otherwise: that God will keep his word just as He did with recreating Israel for His purposes and for His glory.
One day everyone will bow their knee to Jesus and accept the fact that He is Lord. (Philipians 2:10-11) But those who don’t admit that they are sinners and accept Jesus sacrifice now, this free unmerited gift from God, in the next life it will be too late.”
“ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast”. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Part III

Hello friends and family hope you all are well after a good summertime so far. Here comes part III of my We are Eyewitnesses to…. series.
We are eyewitnesses to …… part III
In Parts I and II, I described events that show the greatness of God, that is, correspondence between Bible prophecy and what has actually taken place. Here in Part III, I will point to several events where we can both read and be eyewitnesses to the greatness of God:
The Bible that the Jews have given us is from God, the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is there, gives us insight into what has happened and what will happen until the day Jesus sets his nail-pierced feet on the Mount of Olives. We must do as Jesus told Nicodemus, a prominent religious leader of the time, in John’s Gospel chapter 3: 1-21, that we must be “BORN AGAIN” as we say in English, but first an introduction:
Our God, the God of the Bible, is a God of choice. God choosing people is something that is repeated throughout the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. But God has also given man a free will to choose. He wants all people to be come to the realization of truth and be saved.
Cain, for example chose to kill his younger brother Abel in anger or jealousy. God chose Abel’s sacrifice over Cain’s sacrifice, which led to the first murder. God shows us in the Bible that Cain did not have an open spiritual relationship with Him as Abel did and therefore Abel was shown God’s attention.
Our God is great; He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. God created human beings to have spiritual contact with them both here on earth and in heaven when man dies and the soul leaves the body. That God has plans for his dealings with all people while they are living on earth and in heaven, the Bible makes it clear both in the Old and New Testament. According to the Bible, as I see it, is that man’s stay on earth of about 70-80 years, is a test period to see if the individual accepts God’s Word of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and thus be restored into eternal communion with God. If man does not turn to Him during his life on earth and does not establish a spiritual fellowship with God, he/she will perish and not gain eternal life in heaven, as it is stated in John 3:16. Eternal life is not based upon the longevity of your relationship with God through Jesus Christ or on any of your good works. You may repent of your sins and believe in Jesus as your personal Savior on your deathbed and go to heaven (see Luke 23:43). But no one is guaranteed a tomorrow.
You may have refused God your entire life; He will nevertheless accept you as His child if you ask with your whole heart for forgiveness and confess Him and His Son Jesus Christ with your mouth.
Here, in part three, I will discuss various matters that make us eyewitnesses to the events we are experiencing, about which we read on the news which correspond with what we read in the Bible–events concerning God’s chosen people and the state of Israel.
The mere existence of Israel and the tragic history of the Jews from the year 70 A.D. when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans and the Jewish people were scattered around the world and until May 1948 when the Jews regained their land, tells us something about God’s existence and his governing hand, and about the Bible as God’s revealed truth through the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles.
In the previous text I sent out, in Part II, I dealt with wars and strife from 1948 until 2014 and the fight against Hamas, backed by Iran.
In recent years, Israel’s opponents have been calling for a boycott of the country, the so-called “BDS movement” (“Boycott, Divest, Sanction”) which tragically encourages boycott of Israeli products, discourages investment in Israel and supports general sanctions against Israel. It appears to be a branch of the 1945 Arab League when similar actions were taken against the Jews living in Palestine. Leaders in the Western World have clearly renounced the BDS movement. The movement is an Arab Muslim movement that, in my opinion, seems to be another attempt to eradicate Israel as a Jewish state.
In 2018, the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel; this year several other countries have relocated their embassies to Jerusalem, these events helping to establish Israel as the land of the Jews and Jerusalem as the capital. ` Everything happening in Israel now, especially after May 1948, confirms the Bible’s prophecies that Jews will gather in Israel from all corners of the earth (see Isaiah 11:12). Israel will continue to flourish-they are now exporting all kinds of fruits, vegetables and flowers to countries all over the world, they are leading the world in a variety of fields of technology, electronics and medicine. The Jews have come to stay in their old homeland and the God of Israel says in the Bible that he will have a final say with his chosen people when that time comes and it is coming soon. The Bible prophesies that important things will happen in Israel and Jerusalem in the future. God has not given up on the Jewish people and the Jews will have to make crucial choices. We are meeting exciting times, especially in the Middle East, where all Muslim countries will be opposed to God’s chosen people.
Stay tuned!

Part IV

Hello friends and family. I hope you all are well after a good summer. Here comes part IV of the series: We are eyewitnesses to…based on the text of the apostle Peter’s second letter (2 Peter chapter 1 verses 16-18):
“16. For there were no cleverly conceived thoughts or adventures that we followed when we announced to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses to His greatness.

For he received the glory and glory of God the Father when a voice came to him from the highest glory. This is my Son, the beloved in whom I delight.
And the voice we heard from heaven when we were with Jesus in the holy mountain. “
For the past 70 – 80 years, we have been eyewitnesses to events in Israel that can be compared to some extent to the event where the apostles Peter, John and Jacob were with Jesus on the holy mountain. There the Apostles got additional proof that Jesus is the one he claims to be – both man and God, he is part of the Trinity God – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We have been eyewitnesses to the rebirth of the State of Israel that happened in May 1948. I was seven and a half years old when that happened and the Jews had been without state for 1878 years. I remember my father saying at the time – now Jesus is coming soon!
In our lifetime, we have received definitive proof that our God – the God of Israel is the one He claims to be – the living God – the Creator of heaven and earth that fulfils the Bible’s prophecies. God began to implement parts of His final plan to save mankind both Jews and non-Jews, the Bible clearly states that it is in Jerusalem and Israel that fundamental things in the world will happen as the time closes down for Jesus’ return.
It is neither in the USA, Russia, China, England, Germany nor the EU that the last fundamental things will happen. The State of Israel has been restored and God’s people the Jews are returning in large numbers back to Eretz Israel (Land of Israel) from distant lands as the Bible prophesies.
Since 1948, fundamental things have happened in relatively rapid succession compared to earlier time periods. It is extremely exciting to follow the prophecies; author John F. Walwoord published in 1993 the book “Major Bible Prophecies” with the subtitle “37 Crucial Prophecies That Will Affect You Today” ISBN 82-7388-296-9 (Norwegian edition). Secular historical documentation from the Middle East by the Jewish historian Josefus Flavius is summarized by Dr. Paul L. Maier in the book Josefus Hovedverk (ISBN 82-7341-669-0) original title “Josephus, The Essential Works” (1994 by Kregel Publications).

I mentioned in the previous article, Part III, that the Muslim world and the Arab Muslim countries, including the Arab League, have in recent years run an economic campaign against Israel, making repeated attempts to boycott the country, the so-called “BDS movement” (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) which tragically encourages boycott of Israeli products, discourages investment in Israel and supports all sanctions against Israel, the only democratic free state in the Middle East. What the Arab Muslim world with 250-300 million inhabitants has so far failed to do with military means of annihilating Israel, now the Muslim world of 1, 7 billion inhabitants with the help of many Western “intellectuals” and left political parties are trying to achieve the same by economic boycott!

But, God is holding His hand over the Jews and the land of Israel, even though the Jews for millennia have alternately followed God’s laws and departed from the same laws and worshiped other gods. This adultery against Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s God has caused unbelievable suffering for the Jews or the people of Israel.
Let us go far back to the times when Moses, as mediator between God and the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob and his twelve sons, brought the people out of Egypt where they had been slaves to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for more than 400 years. The wonderful exodus from Egypt (The Bible: Exodus 14) back to the land of Canaan is one big proof that God had chosen the people of Israel as His own people and at the same time become God’s demonstration people of good and evil for all other nations and peoples in the coming times. On this journey, God establishes a permanent relationship with the people of Israel based on God’s promises to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The relationship between God and the people of Israel is established by the law written on stones; God gives clear admonitions for blessings if they adhere to the law and curses if they break the law (Deuteronomy chapters 27 and 28). This situation of law, blessings, and curses underlies when God, through Moses, leads the twelve tribes of the Israelites to the Promised Land of Canaan in the north that God had promised to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants to possess forever (Exodus chapter 15).
Stay tuned… .

Part V

Hello friends and family, hope you all got through the first month of the humid and warm days of autumn after a good summer at least here in Norway. Here comes part V of the series – We are eyewitnesses to…. .
We are eyewitnesses to …… part V
The starting point for the series is the text of the apostle Peter in Peter’s second letter chapter 1 verses 16-18:
“16. For there were no cleverly conceived thoughts or adventures that we followed when we announced to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses to His greatness.

For he received the honour and glory of God the Father when a voice came to him from the highest glory. This is my Son, the beloved in whom I delight.
And the voice came from heaven when we were with Jesus in the holy mountain. “
In our lifetime, we have received definitive proof that our God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel – the living God – the creator of heaven and earth fulfilled an essential part of the prophecies of the Bible, when the nation-state of Israel was restored after 1878 years without a homeland, and millions of Jews returned to Israel.
To understand what has happened and what is happening today, I will provide some background material that will hopefully make it easier to understand why we exist. Bible prophecy is an essential part of God’s salvation-history plan for mankind. God wants all people to have fellowship with Him here on earth and later in heaven. But God has set a standard that everyone must follow in order to achieve communion with Him, namely to have a personal relationship with God they need to be born again through faith in Jesus Christ, being baptized with water and Holy Spirit, as Jesus said to the religious leader from the Jewish sect of the Pharisees named Nicodemus (John 3, 3-6). By being born again with water and spirit, a life begins with the Holy Spirit who becomes the helper here on earth and a personal relationship with the Trinity God (God the Father his son Jesus and the Holy Spirit). No church community can establish your relationship with God it is only you personally that can do it by making the choice. But when one has a personal relationship with God, it is good to have a community of like-minded people to share life’s challenges with, where one can encourage one another with the study of the Bible, the word of God.
Why must people be saved?
Not everyone understands why we need salvation. At the beginning of the Bible in Genesis, God tells us through Moses that Satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit of a tree that God had told her and Adam not to eat. Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden because of their disobedience to God and since then all humans after Adam and Eve have struggled to have a spiritual fellowship with God as Adam and Eve first had in the Garden of Eden.
Not obeying God is sin and God cannot tolerate sin, He therefore laid a plan to save mankind so that they could have a spiritual fellowship with Him and away from Satan and his demons, the former angels, who are condemned to a life away from God outside of heaven. For there are two spiritual forces in the world that affect all people at all times namely the good powers of God through the Holy Spirit and the powers of Satan and the evil demons. Man is given the opportunity of God our Creator to choose whom we will follow. When man dies, the soul lives on and the soul needs a place to be. If we do not attain communion with God before we die, we will end up in Hell on the Day of Judgment where there is eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth described in the Bible, Luke 13: 28-30;
“28. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets gathered in the kingdom of God, while you yourself are cast out.
From the east and the west, and from the north and the south, men shall come and sit at table in the kingdom of God.
How can we be saved?
The Bible is divided into two main parts – the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, God shows that He chose a people among all the peoples of the earth. This people He made His own people and made a covenant with them with clear rules and tasks. With blessings if the people followed God’s rules and curses when the people did not follow God’s rules and commandments but followed other gods such as temptations and bad behaviour of various kinds. The Old Testament shows through millennia that God’s own people often were not loyal to the covenant they made with God. Other spiritual powers, the Bible says are, Satan and the demons the fallen angels who deceived God’s people. The Bible tells us in the New Testament that God laid down a plan to establish a new covenant with His own people and with all other peoples. This covenant is a gift from God based on His grace to all people, both Jews and non-Jews.
The New Covenant in the Bible says that if you follow Jesus Christ and believe in Him then you will be saved and have fellowship with God here on earth and in Heaven. Unlike the Old Covenant where God regularly required blood sacrifice, God sacrificed his only Son as a blood sacrifice for all humanity once and for all for those who believe in Jesus the Son of God and follow Him as the Bible tells us.
God seems to have a principle for the Old Testament prophecies and for the revelations of John in the New Testament: “I will let my prophets and holy men tell what will happen before it happens so that when it happens you will know that I said it. If you do not follow my words through the prophets and holy men but turn away from me and seek other gods i.e. interests other than following my words there will be serious consequences.”
There is a strict order in what the Bible shows us when we do not follow the counsel of God, he does not want to have fellowship with us, i.e. the individual unless we repent and seek God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
Our God allows deviations from His will but at the same time the New Testament shows us that there will heavier consequences for us now, than it had for His chosen people the Jews before Jesus Christ was sent to the earth as part of God’s salvation plan to save mankind. God does not want a new “Satan” and “evil angels” into heaven in opposition to Him. God has given people a free will to choose which God they will follow and how they will behave on earth. Jesus once said “you do not believe me or do not understand me when I talk about life-related things on earth. How do you think you should understand me when I talk about things concerning the Kingdom of Heaven?”
The things I have gone through so far will be important to have as background knowledge when we go into the prophecies that led to the time when Jesus was born, as part of God’s salvation plan for mankind.
Stay tuned….

Part VI

Hello my friends! We are approaching the Christmas shopping season; it begins earlier and earlier it seems!
Here comes Part VI of the series – We are eyewitnesses to…. .
The starting point for the series is the text of the apostle Peter in Peter’s second letter chapter 1 verses 16-18:

For there were no clever imagined thoughts or adventures that we followed when we announced to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses to His greatness.
For he received honour and glory from God our Father when a voice came to him from the highest glory. This is my Son, the beloved in whom I delight.
And the voice came from heaven when we were with Jesus at the holy mountain. “
In our lifetime, we have received definitive proof that our God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Israel – the living God – the creator of heaven and earth fulfils some of the Bible prophecies when the nation-state of Israel was restored after 1878 years and millions of Jews returning to Israel. We have been and are eyewitnesses to the greatness of God in the Middle East for the past 71 years. God uses whoever He wants in His ministry to fulfil the prophecies in due time. Jerusalem as the indivisible capital of Israel and the Golan Heights as territory of Israel are now recognized by the United States of America, as did the League of Nations on September 16, 1922, adopted as international law what would become the homeland of the Jewish people. The League of Nations was the forerunner of the United Nations (UN), which assumed the obligations that the League of Nations in its time decided to apply to international law.

The Map shows the borders of Jewish Palestine – The area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – as finally determined by the League of Nations as of September 16, 1922. The territory includes most of the major settlements.
https://www.mythsandfacts.org/content/about.asp

In the previous part (V) I mentioned some background material to understand why we live at all. This time I will begin with the early prophecies of the Saviour Jesus coming to earth, a crucial event in God’s plan to save both Jews and none Jews or Gentiles as they were called by the Jews.
God sent his only son to earth as proof that He loves all people. God, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, will give people the opportunity to have spiritual communion with Him here on earth and then forever in heaven if we follow God’s counsel in the Bible given us through God’s own prophets and apostles among his own people the Jews. In the Old Testament, the prophets are divided into the big and small depending on the size of their books. The three great prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Daniel and the small prophets often come with important prophecies, they are, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Among the prophets’ prophecies there is a mixture of preaching and comforting, the prophets both warned and comforted the people; they warned against injustice and apostasy, and they preached word of salvation and hope for the future. From 850 years BC to approx. 400 BC the prophets were the bond between the Israelites and God. In addition they had the High Priest in the Temple of Jerusalem. In the last 400 years before Jesus Christ was born, there was no prophet used by God until John the Baptist stood up and rebuked the people and religious leaders and urged them to turn around and pointed to Jesus’ sermons and his healing of the sick and the spiritually lost, and God’s Word as the way to spiritual fellowship with God because the kingdom of God is not of this world. Jesus becomes the mediator in the new covenant God creates with both Jews and none Jews or Gentiles. The old covenant was established between God and his people the Jews and the high priest was the mediator who once a year stood before God in the Holy of Holies in the temple on behalf of the people of Israel and made a sin offering.
From the Bible we see that God’s plan to send his only son to earth was to create a sin offering for all people, not just Jews. God demanded that sacrifice for Him be without blemish, because of His faultless life (about 33 years) here on earth, Jesus became the perfect sacrifice God could use to forgive all people their sins. In return, in order to achieve spiritual fellowship with God here on earth and then in heaven, people must believe in Jesus as their saviour and follow God’s Word and exhortations in the Bible.
Some of the early prophecies about the coming Saviour of the Old Testament can be found in Prophet Isaiah, chapter 7: verse 14 (prophesised around the year 775 BC):
“Look, the virgin is going to have children and give birth to a son, and she will give him the name Immanuel – that is, God with us.”
This prophecy is one of many we find in the Old Testament where God tells about what will happen in the future. God created people in His image with a free will to choose and God wants people to seek spiritual communion with Him out of a free will.
Also Isaiah, chapter 9: verses 6-7
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The dominion is laid upon his shoulder, and his name shall be: Eternal Father and Prince of Peace. And the dominion shall be great, and peace shall be endless over the throne of David and his kingdom. He shall fasten it and uphold it by justice and righteousness from now and for ever. The Lord, the God of hosts, will do this in his zeal.”
Jesus was born in Bethlehem
Micah 5:2 (prophesied 750 years BC)
“You, Bethlehem, Ephratha, at least among the families of Judah! From you I let a ruler over Israel come. His origin is from ancient times, from the days of eternity.”

Psalm 22: 16-19
(a psalm of David where he disclosed a vision, he had about Jesus on the cross 1000 years BC)
“Yes, dogs gather around me,
a flock of violent men surrounds me;
they pierce my hands and feet.
Every bone in my body I can count,
people stare at me with delight.
They share my clothes among themselves
and cast lots on my robe”

The wonderful thing about these prophecies given to the Jews many centuries before the prophesies actually takes place is the information about the coming Saviour and King and that God will create a spiritual community with his own people the Jews and none Jews (the Gentiles as the Jews call them) here on earth, as preparation for eternal life in heaven. God wants all people to have spiritual fellowship with Him here on earth and be saved, but that means that people must turn from their own will, to do God’s will with our lives here on earth as the Bible tells us.
Jesus told the Jews as he travelled around ancient Israel i.e. Judea and Samaria that they had to change the way how live their daily lives, which was not a matter of concern for their fellow human beings but rather a pursuit of profit and satisfaction of their own desires. Specifically, Jesus applied it to the leading clergy, i.e. rabbis, Pharisees and Sadducees, who often under the guise of being God’s chosen leaders, first and foremost provided for themselves and overlooked the weak and poor in the community.
They mislead the people with notions which were not in accordance with the Old Testament text and the will of God.
The religious leaders of that time are to compare with today’s pastors, priests, bishops, and church leaders who are assigned a special responsibility by God not to mislead people in their search for Jesus and the daily spiritual companionship with God and the Holy Spirit.
The prophet Micah was the last one God used to guide his people until, more than four hundred years later, the prophet John the Baptist appeared before the people and their religious leaders, to prepare them for receiving Jesus (as Isaiah 40:3 prophesied) and told them that they must turn around and follow God’s ways of salvation. John the Baptist was about the same age as Jesus of Nazareth and their mothers, Elisabeth and Mary, were actually related to each other.
Stay tune …

Part VII

Hello friends and family, we are in the Christmas month of 2019 and should focus on the most crucial event in human history namely that God sent His only Son, Jesus, to earth to facilitate salvation and spiritual fellowship with God as we live on earth. The evil forces of the world will constantly turn the attention away from Jesus and God’s Word in the Bible toward materialism and personal satisfaction.
Here comes Part VII of the series – We are eyewitnesses to…. .
The starting point for the series is the text of the apostle Peter in Peter’s second letter chapter 1 verses 16-18
For there were no clever imagined thoughts or experiences we followed when we announced to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses to His greatness.

For he received honour and glory from God our Father when a voice came to him from the highest glory. This is my Son, the beloved in whom I delight.
And the voice came from heaven when we were with Jesus in the holy mountain.

“Advent time leads us up to the time of Jesus’ birth in the city of Bethlehem in the region of Judea in the State of Israel for approx. 2000 years ago. The Bible tells us that God brought His Son to earth through a virgin birth and thus Jesus was born supernaturally as both man and God. God’s plan with Jesus was to prepare to save all people both Jew and Greek, if they want to follow the Bible’s words and believe in Jesus as their Saviour. Some of the early prophecies concerning the coming Saviour can be found in the Old Testament of Isaiah the prophet, chapter 7: verse 14 (prophesied around the year 775 BC):
“Look, the virgin is going to have a child and give birth to a son, and she will give him the name Immanuel – that is, God with us.”

Micah 5:2 (prophesied 750 years BC)
“You, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, the least of the families of Judah! I leave you a ruler over Israel. His origins are from ancient times, from the days of eternity. “Our God, the creator of heaven and earth, who is the God of the Jews, says in the Bible that I know everything from the beginning of life, what is happening in the present and future.”
Amos 3:7
I let my servants the prophets and apostles throughout the ages prophesy of events that give man insight into what is my plan of salvation for men.
In Part V, I discuss why humans need salvation, not everyone knows why humans need salvation. At the beginning of the Bible in Genesis, God tells that Satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit of a tree that God had told her and Adam not to eat. Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden because of their disobedience to God, since then all humans after Adam and Eve have struggled to have the spiritual fellowship with God that Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden. Not obeying God is sin and God cannot tolerate sin, so He made a plan to save people so that they could have a spiritual fellowship with Him and away from a relationship with Satan and his demons who presently rule earth and sky, who once were angels of God and whose destiny is the lake of fire and brimstone, away from the face of God.. There are two spiritual forces in the created world and the sky which affect all people at all times namely the good powers of God through the Holy Spirit and the dark powers of Satan and the evil demons. Man is given the possibility by God our Creator to choose whom we will follow. The prophet Malachi was the last prophet God used to guide his people who had turned away from God and his words. Only about four hundred years later did the Prophet John the Baptist stand before the people and religious leaders. His plea to them was: accept Jesus (as Isaiah 40: 3 prophesied), turn around and follow God’s ways of salvation. John the Baptist was about the same age as Jesus of Nazareth and their mothers, Elisabeth and Mary, were in fact related to each other.
The time around Jesus’ birth: approx. 2000 years ago was marked by the fact that the Roman Empire with Emperor Augustus ruled most of the Middle East including Samaria, Judea and Jerusalem. Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (b
orn 23 September 63 BC, died 19 August 14 AD) was the first Roman emperor. Augustus was emperor of the Roman Empire from 27 BCE. to 14 AD
Kvirinius was governor of Syria; he had a census in Syria and Judea, all to be entered in the census, so Joseph and Mary had to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem to enrol in the census since Joseph’s family came from Bethlehem. During their stay in Bethlehem, the Virgin Mary started having birth pangs and gave birth to their firstborn and he was called Jesus as the angel who visited Mary had foretold and as prophet Micah prophesied in 750 BC,
See Micah 5:2: The Saviour of Israel, the Messiah shall come from Bethlehem
Herod the Great was king of Judea known for the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalme and the construction of great edifices. Herod is said to have been mentally ill and suffered from persecution frenzy; he killed many of his own family. The Bible tells of three wise men or astrologers from the East who came to Jerusalem and asked where the new-born King of the Jews lived. They had seen his star, the Bethlehem star, which got up at dawn and had showed them the way to there. They had come to pay tribute to him and present gifts of gold, incense and myrrh. The exact time when the wise men visited Jerusalem we do not know for sure. When Herod heard of the three wise men from the East, he called them to him. Herod asked them to come back when they had found this new-born king of the Jews so that he could also worship the new-born child. We know from history that the wise men found the Jesus child in Bethlehem not far from Jerusalem. We also know that the three wise men in a dream were told not to go back to King Herod but go home another way. Joseph and Mary were also told in a dream to go to Egypt because King Herod wanted to kill the child. In a rage of having been deceived, King Herod ordered all the boy children up to two years of age in Bethlehem and surrounding areas killed in the hope of killing the new born King whom the wise men called King of Jews..
It is written in the prophet Jeremiah chapter 31:15 of the Old Testament:
“It sounds like a cry in Rama; Rachel cries for her children, who are gone ”.The prophecy is interpreted as a warning of the infanticide King Herod was responsible for when he wanted to kill Jesus and therefore send out soldiers to kill all the boy children in Bethlehem and the neighbourhood who were two years or younger.

Before Joseph and Mary and the child Jesus went to Egypt, they went to the temple in Jerusalem to dedicate the boy Jesus to the Lord as the Law of Moses commanded them.
See Luke 2: 22-38
22 When the time of purification which the Mosaic Law commanded them (40 days) was over, they took him up to Jerusalem to bring him before the Lord.
23 For it is written in the law of the Lord, Every first-born male shall be devoted to the Lord. 24 They were also to bring the sacrifice prescribed by the law of the Lord: a pair of turtle doves or two pigeons.
25 At that time there was a man named Simeon; he was righteous and godly and waited for the time to come with comfort for Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him,
26 And the Spirit had told him not to die until he had seen the Lord’s anointed.
27 Now he came to the temple, led by the Spirit. And when Jesus’ parents came with the child to do with him as was the law,
28 And Simeon took the child in his arms, praised God, and said,
29 Lord, now you leave your servant here in peace, as you have said.
30 With my own eyes I have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all peoples,
32 a light that is revealed unto the Gentiles, and to the glory of thy people Israel.
33 His father and mother marvelled at what had been said about him.
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto his mother Mary, Behold, he is fallen to the rising and rising of many in Israel, and to a sign which is contradicted.
35 Thus the thoughts of many hearts shall come to pass. But also through your soul there will be a sword. ”
36 There was a woman there who was a prophet, Anna, Faneuil’s daughter, of the tribe of Asher. She was high up over the years. As a young woman she had been married for seven years
37 and had since lived as a widow until she was eighty-four years old. She never left the temple, but served God in prayer and fasting night and day.
38 And now she also came and glorified God; and she spoke of the child to all who waited for salvation for Jerusalem.
See Matthew 2.13-15:
The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Arise, take with you the child and the child’s mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I say! For Herod is going to look for the child to kill it. ”He got up, took the child and the mother with him, and left for Egypt that night. There he was until Herod was dead. This is how the word that the Lord has spoken through the prophet should be fulfilled:
From Egypt I called my son.
After Herod’s death, the little family could leave Egypt and return to Israel and settle in Nazareth of Galilee to fulfil what was spoken by the prophets that he would be called a Nazarene.
Stay tuned ..

Part VIII

Hello friends and family, we are now in 2020! Wish you all a happy new year.
In Part VII, we focused on a crucial event in the history of mankind, namely, when God incarnated His only Son to be a human being in a virgin girl and gave him the name Jesus, the Messiah. God’s plan is to facilitate eternal salvation and spiritual fellowship with God while we live on the earth, for all people who follow God’s Word in the Bible and believe in Jesus as their Saviour. The evil forces in our world are represented by Satan and his demons who constantly work to turn our attention away from Jesus Christ and the Word of God in the Bible, toward constant materialism and personal satisfaction and enjoyment.
Here comes Part VIII of the series – The starting point for the series is the text of the apostle Peter in Peter’s second letter, chapter 1 verses 16-18:
“For there were no clever imagined thoughts or experiences that we followed when we announced to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses to His greatness, For he received honour and glory from God our Father when a voice came to him from the highest glory. This is my Son, the beloved in whom I delight. And the voice came from heaven when we were with Jesus in the holy mountain.”
In comparison, we are all daily eyewitnesses to the greatness of God through the prophecies of the Bible and what has occurred over the centuries. We are eyewitnesses to what is happening every day around the world and in our daily lives.
In the beginning, Mark’s Gospel 1: 1-2 tells of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and of the prophets who in 750 BC wrote about Jesus, the Saviour or Messiah, who was to come to earth. The Prophet Malachi (3: 1) writes “Behold, I send my messenger before you, he shall clear your way.” The identity of the coming Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament is narrowed to come from a particular nation (Jacob’s twelve tribes), clan (tribe of Judah), family (Joseph and Mary in David’s lineage) and finally from a particular birthplace (Bethlehem). We must note in particular the lineage, the Messiah descended from Abraham, the Father of a then coming nation (the Jews), by Isaac, Jacob and David, the greatest king of the Jews. Also note God’s promise to Abraham:
In Genesis 15, God makes a one-sided, unconditional covenant with Abraham and his descendants. It is this covenant mentioned in Psalm 105; 8-10, “He remembers his covenant forever, the word he gave, in a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, and the oath he swore to Isaac. He set this up as a precept for Jacob, as an everlasting covenant for Israel.”
John the Baptist stands up:
The Baptist John is God’s prophet sent to the people more than 400 years after the last prophet, Malachi, in the Old Testament. During these 400 years, God had no contact with his people, the Jews. The prophet Malachi warned the priests because the priests sought their own ways and would not obey God’s commandments and honour Him, which is meant that the people failed their covenant with God and turned to other gods, see Malachi 2:1-17.
John lived to bring the following message: “Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). John was to pave the way for Jesus and his kingdom. He baptized the people so that they could be ready to receive the Son of God, Jesus.
Luke’s gospel chapter 3 verses 1-17:
It was in the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius; Pontius Pilate was then governor of Judea, Herod was the ruler of Galilee, his brother Philip of Iturea and Trakonitis, Lysania of Abilene, and Annas and Caiaphas were high priests.
Then the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, out into the wilderness. And he went through all the land round about the Jordan, preaching that people should repent and be baptized for pardon for their sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, A voice cries in the wilderness, make clear the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled; every mountain and every hill shall be lowered. The crooked roads should be straightened, the uneven paths become smooth. And all men shall see the salvation of God.
In large numbers, people went out to John to be baptized by him, and he said to them, “Worm fry! Who taught you how to escape the judgment of the coming wrath?
Then bear fruit corresponding to repentance. And don’t come and say, We have Abraham as father. For I tell you, God can raise children for Abraham of these stones.
The axe is already at the root of the trees; every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “
“Then what shall we do?” People asked. He answered, “He that hath two coats shall share with him that hath none, and he that hath food shall do likewise.” Some customs officers also came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Master, what shall we do?”
“Do not demand more than you are entitled to,” he replied. “What about us,” some soldiers asked, “what shall we do?” He replied, “Do not squeeze money out of anyone by violence or false accusations but be content with the wages you receive.” Now the people went in expectation, and all thought in their silent minds that John might be the Messiah.
Then he answered and said unto them all, I baptize you with water.
But there comes one who is stronger than I am. I’m not even worthy to loose his sandal strap. He will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire. He stands with the shovel in his hand to clean the grain in the threshing floor and collect the wheat in the barn. But he will burn the bait with fire that never goes out.”

Jesus is now approx. at age 30, from his hometown of Nazareth, where he grew up, in the Galilee region of ancient Israel and he embarks on a three-and-a-half-year tour of Judea, Samaria, Galilee and up to the cities of Tire and Sidon in Phoenicia (Lebanon).
Before Jesus begins his mission given to him by his father, our God in heaven, his carnal relative (cousin), John the Baptist, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, has for some years been preaching to the people along the Jordan River to repent and be baptized in water. John lived, according to the gospels, in the wilderness of Judea and in the regions surrounding the Jordan River. He was a Nazarene. He preached that the people should repent and be baptized to be ready to receive the Son of God. Some of those whom he baptized became his disciples.
The baptism of Jesus
Baptism is a symbol of abandoning the old sinful life to live a new life with God. Jesus never sinned. Yet he was baptized!
Four hundred years of silence is over. Malachi’s farewell words about a future prophet of Elijah’s size have suddenly caught new interest. John the Baptist has been given a very special mission from God. The call from Isaiah 40 to prepare the way becomes his mission: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3: 2). The people gathered and were baptized as a public sign that they wanted a new course with their lives. They would be ready for the coming of the Messiah. Many Pharisees and Sadducees also came but were rejected by John because their lives were not in proportion to the confession. Then Jesus shows up to be baptized.
John more than hesitates, the basic text says that he constantly tries to get Jesus to change his mind: “I need to be baptized by you and you come to me!” Whoever prepares the way is certainly less than the one to come, and can’t Jesus take part in a professing baptism? Yet it will be so. John baptizes the Saviour there in the Jordan River.
The call from God also had a promise to John that he might see heaven opened over the one who would later baptize with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33). When Jesus came out of the water, John experienced the fulfilment. The whole deity was present; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to mark the beginning of Jesus’ public work. At the same time, baptism was also a confirmation of the message John had preached. Repent for the kingdom of God is near!
Jesus persuaded John with these words: “Let it now happen! That is how it is right for us to complete all righteousness”.
(Mark 1:10-11)
“As soon as he rose from the water, he saw the heavens divide, and he saw the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. And there was a voice from heaven, saying, ‘Thou art my Son, beloved, in thee I have my joy.’”

Jesus testifies about John
In John 5: 31-36, we read that Jesus is highlighting the baptism that God sent to testify of Jesus’ credibility. “If I testify of myself, then my testimony is not true. There is another that testifies concerning me, and I know that the testimony which he testifies concerning me is true. You have sent a message to John, and he has testified to the truth. Not so that I receive the testimony of a man, but this I say, that ye may be saved. He was the burning and shining light, but for a little while you would rejoice in his light. But I have the testimony that is greater than John gave. For the works that the Father gave me to complete – the very acts that I do testify to me that the Father sent me.”
On a later occasion after John the Baptist was imprisoned, Jesus spoke to the people about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind. No! What did you guys go out to see? A man dressed in nice clothes. Those who wear magnificent clothes and live in luxury live in castles. What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you: more than a prophet! It is about him it is written:
Behold, I send my messenger before you, and he will clear the way for you.
I tell you: Among those born of women, none is greater than John. But the smallest in the kingdom of God is greater than he. All the people, including the customs, listened and gave God justice; they were baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and the lawyers knew God’s plan; they were not baptized by him. What should I compare the people in this genus to? Who do they look like? They look like children sitting in the square shouting to each other: ‘We played flute for you, but you wouldn’t dance. We sang lamentations, but you wouldn’t cry.’ For John the Baptist has come, he does not eat bread or drink wine, and you say, ‘He has an evil spirit in him.’” The Son of Man (Jesus) has come, he eats and drinks, and you say, ‘Look, for a great drinker and wine drinker, friend with tax collectors and sinners!’” Luke 7:24-34
see map;

(from “New Testament Overview Copyright 2006 by Jeremy B Kirby, kart copyright 1997 plc / Tim Dowley and Peter Wyart trading as Three’s Company”.)
At an age of approx. 30 years, Jesus is making a round trip in Judea, Samaria, Galilee and up to Tire and Sidon in Phoenicia (Lebanon) see Matthew 15, 21-28 over three and a half years followed by his twelve chosen disciples. Jesus and the disciples make countless healings of the paralytic, the leper, the blind, the mute, the mentally ill and bring to life the dead.
At an age of approx. 30 years, Jesus is making a round trip in Judea, Samaria, Galilee and up to Tire and Sidon in Phoenicia (Lebanon) see Matthew 15, 21-28 over three and a half years followed by his twelve chosen disciples. Jesus and the disciples make countless healings of the paralytic, the leper, the blind, the mute, the mentally ill and bring to life the dead.
Stay tuned …………………………