With a title like this I would imagine even the casual Christian might be interested in this blog. Sad but true that most have little interest in learning beyond a weekly visit to Sunday school. So are there aliens in the Bible? The “law of first mention” might shed some light on this subject.

Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. Lam 5:1-2

So, yes there are actually aliens in the Bible. They were living in Israel’s houses. I enjoy a good alien movie from time to time. So what planet were these aliens from? Earth! Sorry to ruin the excitement. The beginning of the book of Lamentations will help clarify.

Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits. Lam 1:3

YOU are the aliens found in the Bible. Gentile nations are the aliens God allowed and even used to bring judgement to Israel. Read the entire book of Lamentations for background. So does Israel ever defeat the aliens?

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Hebrews 11:32-34

YES, Israel does defeat the armies of the aliens (Gentile Nations) from time to time. Israel is under a covenant agreement with God. If they do their part God obligated himself to do his part. (Deut. 28) I would ask you a simple question: When did you stop being an alien? Most Christians would quickly point to Jesus’ earthly ministry. You will be hard pressed to find evidence of this change in the gospels. Jesus had no ministry to Gentiles during his earthly ministry. Our apostle Paul however speaks specifically to our loosing alien status.

And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: Col 1:20-22
 
The mystery of YOU, an alien, being justified by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is revealed by YOUR apostle Paul.

Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Eph. 2:11-14

Without Jesus himself revealing the mystery to your apostle Paul you would never have known what the cross of Christ accomplished. The plan in the Bible from Genesis 12 to Acts 8 is Gentiles would be saved through Israel’s OBEDIENCE and the acceptance of their Messiah. There was NO PLAN revealed in the Bible that brought hope to gentiles in the event of Israel’s DISOBEDIENCE. This is precisely why God had the mystery hid in himself since the word was created. (Rom 16:25-26)  Without Jesus revealing a NEW and DIFFERENT GOSPEL to Paul you are still an alien and you still have NO HOPE. (Eph. 2:12) The clarity with which all these verses can be understood is lost to the vast majority of Christianity due to the failure to rightly divide God’s plan for Israel with God’s plan for the body of Christ. The failure of the vast majority of Christianity to divide the gospel of the earthly kingdom promised to Israel and a future in heavenly places promised to the body of Christ has left us floundering from scholar to scholar trying to make sense of all the verses that don’t fit together. The FACT is just that! The verses do not fit together! Yes Jesus’ teachings DO contradict many of the things Paul says. Here’s the easy answer: If you would learn to believe the Bible literally instead of denominationally you could understand all of them and believe all of them. This is letting the Bible have FREE COURSE in your life. (2 Thes 3:1) Something most will never have in their lifetime because we are too busy fighting for our tradition.

 
 
What Right Have I
 
What right have I, with human eye
To gaze into the depth?
Of Holy Words, no gold affords
Nor diamond sets its worth
This feeble mind, dares to scale
The heights each page contain
My sinful ears, wish the tune
Of thy Holy Spirit’s refrain
These hands of man, oft unclean
Grip a book divine
Tears once more, blur the eye
As words reveal thy love
Belief the key, Trust the cure
To ease each doubt or chill
Wisdom fails, thy creations thoughts
Yet you love me still
To understand, thy sacred word
Is a gift few wish to jest
To rightly divide, each plan contained
Study reveals the rest
To trust in man, Or to trust in God
Our arrogance displayed
 We doubt your Word, to ease our minds
And believe the thoughts we made
 
                                  Steve Schoenberger  7/21/2020

It's amazing the verses we ignore to prove ourselves right.

I realize the vast majority, if not all Christians would not deliberately insult God for any reason. The sad truth is millions of Christians insult God almost every time they pray. I grew up as you probably did being told that I must “confess” my sins if I want them forgiven. Men that are ignorant of the Bible’s instructions to rightly divide taught us to insult God and cheapen the blood of Christ every time we pray by confessing our sins. I’ve heard 1 John 1:9 quoted hundreds of times in my lifetime along with the instruction to confess my sins to God. How foolish this is. Read the verse below.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
I ask you this simple question, what if you don’t? What if you do not confess your sins? The opposite would then be true that your sins WOULD NOT be forgiven. Friend, if your sins are NOT forgiven then you are on your way to hell. You can’t teach this verse as an instruction to the body of Christ but then turn around and also teach eternal security because if you miss one sin you are on your way to hell. This is why Christians are so confused. One church teaches you can lose your salvation, another teaches you can’t but then tells you that you must confess each sin to have them forgiven. This is the sad state of affairs in our churches today. Would you like the correct cross references to 1 John 1:9?
And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing: Lev 5:5
If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. Lev 26:40-42
So, is confession of sin required in scripture? YES you can find an example of this in Daniel chapter 9. Is the body of Christ today required to confess their sin? NO! To confess your sins today in an insult to God and tells God the blood of his only Son was not good enough to pay for your sin. Your sins were imputed to Christ’s account as he hung on the cross. Jesus blood paid for your sins. Who are you to think you can perform a religious ritual of confessing your sins today when Christ paid for them 2000 years ago. Read your apostle Paul.
To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 2 Cor. 5:19
Why are your sins NOT being imputed to your account today? Because they were imputed to Christ’s account 2000 years ago. You kneeling down and confessing sins to God is an insult to him and his word. I ask you another simple question. Why do you allow preachers and teachers to tell you to follow words from the book of first John when Jesus himself told John NOT to go to gentiles? Why do you think the book of first John is too you today? The Covenant theology ALL of Christianity has gravitated to tells you that ISRAEL’S apostles were talking to you. Our apostle Paul NEVER tells us to “confess” our sin. Paul tells us to STOP SINNING. Paul understands imputation and knows we DO NOT need to confess our sins today, we need to stop sinning if we are. Please stop following Israel’s requirements found in the Hebrew epistles and start enjoying the liberty we have by being in Christ. Does this mean we get to sin all we want? As Paul says “God forbid” The body of Christ stands in liberty when it rightly divides the Bible. The body of Christ is held in bondage when it fails to rightly divide the Bible and insults God with millions of our sins being “confessed” to God when he never asked you to. Maybe this is why the Holy Spirit must intercede for us? God is sick and tired of hearing all your sins. Do you want to know why your prayer life is not “working”? Maybe you should study Paul’s prayer life instead of Israel’s. You would find Paul DOES NOT pray like Jesus and the 12 did. Paul understands things are different in the age of grace. Christianity has abandoned Pauline doctrine for man’s opinions.
 

July 2 marks 3-years since we started Abundant Grace Bible Fellowship. When people ask about church the first question is always: How many are you running? This is by far the most common question because success in religion is always measured in seats filled. It is unfortunate that most Christians feel this way. It's been said that "Success is NOT measured in the seats filled but in the doctrine taught" It's no wonder this thought never comes to mind for Christians today. It's because Christians join churches today for the music, coffee in the foyer and the programs not the teaching. By the way, if its all about the numbers we might as well all join Joel Osteens church online. I completely understand grace churches are typically small in comparison to the churches teaching tradition. Right division creates mature, stable and equipped Christians that have a proper understanding of the things many Christians struggle with. We are finishing up a series of lessons showing that if you removed Paul's books from the Bible that prophecy continues uninterrupted throughout scripture. Wrapping up this lesson this Sunday we will review some of the things a person will have a proper understanding of if they would have attended our small group of Bible believers for the last 3 years. Here's a sampling of those things.

1. A proper understanding of why the kingdom did not come.
2. A proper understanding of why we are not under the law.
3. A proper understanding of the purpose and future of the body of Christ.
4. A proper understanding of where the sign gifts went.
5. A proper understanding of Pentecost.
6. A proper understanding of salvation in all dispensations.
7. A proper understanding of prophecy.
8. A proper understanding of Jesus’ earthly ministry.
9. A proper understanding of the end times.
10. A proper understanding of what we should be doing now.
11. A proper understanding of prayer in the age of grace.
12. A proper understanding of the ministry of the Apostle Paul.
13. A proper understanding of how God deals with us today.
14. A faith in scripture you never thought possible!

I ask you what have you learned in the last three years? Do you understand the difference between the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of the grace of God? Do you know God's will, or are you still wondering what it is? Do you understand that the judgment seat of Christ is all about how you built upon what PAUL STARTED. Do you realize that today Jesus must be preached according to the revelation of the mystery? Do you realize all the denominational arguments over baptism, eternal security, works, gifts, and a myriad of other things could be resolved if you just parted ways with your tradition? YES, you need to part ways with your tradition and be open to the Bible taken literally exactly as it's written. This means that you accept the BIBLICAL FACT that Jesus' earthly ministry in the gospels is NOT TO YOU, because Jesus sent Paul to you. If you don't know these things, where have you been the last three years? II Tim 2:15 mentions 2 groups of people: those who are approved workmen and those who will be ashamed. Which one will you be?