Dear Sam:

You are to be commended for your diligent search of the scriptures for the TRUTH. For only through a careful and prayerful study can, we hear His divine WORD for us. The more that I search the scriptures myself, the more I am fully convinced that the King James Version is the inerrant, inspired, holy WORD of GOD. God has left man this perfect document, THE HOLY BIBLE, so that there could be no doubt as to what He has said to man throughout the ages. Interestingly enough, each time he spoke, He revealed more of Himself and His perfect plan for all mankind.

Just as interesting is how Satan has from the very beginning cast doubt upon the WORD of GOD. From our first exposure to Satan in Gen 3:1 we learn how subtle his approach is when he said to Eve, "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" And perhaps even more interesting was how Eve responded, adding words (and corrupting their intent) with her response when she told him, "... neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."

In this splendid setting, the Garden of Eden, God had given the man, whom he had created and called Adam, only a one point law: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die." Gen 2:17 To our hurt, Adam violated God's Law and because of his actions we are ALL born in SIN to die. For the wages of SIN is DEATH. Even here, however, God in His never-ending grace revealed an important part of His perfect plan for man as He provided our way out through the "seed" of the woman. Gen 3:15

In the years following Adam's expulsion from the Garden of Eden man grew even more wicked, and finally God repented that he had made man and he contemplated the complete and total destruction of all flesh. Gen 6:6,7 But, Noah found grace in God's eyes and mankind was spared. Gen 6:8 Following the flood, man again grew wicked and begin building themselves a tower to heaven thus defying God. Gen 11:1,6

God had not forgotten his promise to mankind about the "seed" and so in time he chose a man called Abram (later God changed his name to Abraham) and told him that through his "seed" He would make of him a great nation. Gen 12:1,3 Even though he and his wife Sarah were well beyond the child-bearing age, God told him that they would have a child of their own bodies. Abraham did not stagger in unbelief, but rather he believed God, and it was this belief that was counted unto him for righteousness. Rom 4:3 He is known as "faithful" Abraham. Through this nation, God was to bless all nations of the world. God chose at this time to deal with mankind nation to nation. Before God formed this chosen vessel, the nation of Israel, He prepared them for their position of world leadership by sending them into bondage for 430 years! Only when this time had passed did He call his servant Moses to duty by the burning bush. It was unto this nation and this nation ALONE that God gave His laws through His lawgiver Moses. They were God's chosen people and to this nation only was He loyal. All others were excluded from God. Later, through the Epistles of Paul, we were to find out the real purpose God had given them the Law. The purpose of the Law was to act as a schoolmaster to the Jews to show them that they could not follow them. For their rightenous (and ours) is as filthy rags unto God.

The major part of these laws commonly known as the ten commandment were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai and carved in stone by the very finger of God. We are to learn in the book of Leviticus, however, that some additional six hundred laws were added upon the setting up of the priesthood of the Levites. They were to live by these laws, and by doing so the nation of Israel would be blessed by God. Much of the Old Testament was devoted to the miserable failure of Israel to keep these God given laws. By God's grace He was faithful to them even though they were not faithful to Him. God kept sending His prophets to His people to try to get them back into the Law and right-standing with Him, but they killed His prophets, one-by-one.

Never at anytime did God give His laws to any other nation, for the oracles of God were committed unto the Jews only. Rom 3:1,2 A good portion of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and most of Acts) is the historical fulfillment of the prophesied arrival of the Jew's Messiah, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. It should be noted that He came, at this time, for one purpose only which he clearly stated when He said: "...I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matt 15:24 His job plain and simple was to set up the Kingdom which had been promised centuries before. The first four books of the New Testament speak of this gospel (or good news) of the Kingdom. He would use the laws of God to govern the Nation of Israel. But, first the Nation of Israel had to accept Him as their Christ. By their acceptance of Him as their King, He would have fulfilled all prophecy and the other nations of the world would then have their blessings through Israel. Of course, as also prophesied, this was not to be.

It should be noted that Jesus and Jesus only lived perfectly by the Law. No others could or can make this claim, for He alone was without sin. And, Jesus, the son of man, said that he came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it and that not one jot or tittle would pass from the law until all had been fulfilled. Matt 5:17,18 Its fulfillment was by giving us the Law of Faith. How wonderful are the ways of God. Ironically, those religious leaders who were in charge of keeping the laws of God crucified the Lord of Glory contrary to the law and cried, "let His blood be on us." Even Peter His chief disciple denied Him. After his resurrection He was recognized as "the Christ" by His followers, but never once was His hidden purpose for having gone to the Cross revealed to the eleven remaining followers even after his resurrection.

After the Nation of Israel fully rejected Jesus as the Christ as evidenced with the stoning of Stephen, an important historic event occurred on the road to Damascus. The leader of the rebellion against Christ from the Nation of Israel was stopped by Jesus himself, a man named Saul. To Saul (his name later changed by Jesus to Paul) Jesus gave a mystery (or secret), a mystery which had been kept secret since the world began. This mystery unfolds in the Epistles of the Apostle of Paul in the books of Romans through Philemon. The major two-fold thrust was staggering to the believing Jews. For we learn through Paul as given to him by Jesus that our Savior died for the sins of the world, both yours and mine. The Jews could not cope with this awesome new revelation, for they considered "their" God be to be theirs only and not a God for all mankind.

Their confrontations with the Apostle Paul were quick and severe. How could Paul, who was considered to be one of the most devout Jews of his time, come to such treasonous views? For Paul was telling the Gentiles that the middle wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles had been broken down and that the Law in which the Jews rested was taken out of their way. No wonder the Jews, both those who believed and those who did not believe Jesus was the Christ, were upset. Paul's gospel or good news was completely different from the gospel of the Kingdom. This new gospel was called the gospel of Christ. Rom 1:16 According to the Apostle Paul, God had set aside His chosen nation Israel and was now dealing with all mankind as individuals. More startling was the good news that Jesus Christ, our Savior, actually died for our SINS! According to this new revelation Christ who knew no sin took the sins of the world upon himself and was faithful unto death, even the death of the cross.

God's new program made the Jews livid and it was rejected by most of them, although some believed. The scriptures clearly show us that Paul did not get his information from the earthly followers of Christ, but from Jesus Christ himself. It is Jesus' faith NOT ours which gives us eternal life with God. It is a gift of God and their is nothing that we can do, except believe God. For by grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Eph 2:7,8

You may wonder why God keep this part of his Perfect Plan a mystery and not have it prophesied as well as was His Kingdom; the scriptures themselves give us the answer in I Corinthians 2:7,8 "... for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." By taking the Law out of the way, the believer is absolved from all his sins. Our sins are no longer the problem; that problem was resolved at Calvary by Jesus over two thousand years ago. The question then arises, what does keep us out of Heaven? The answer is simple, our unbelief. By believing that Jesus took our sins upon Himself and died for them, and by believing that God accepted Jesus' death in payment for our own death. This we must do by faith. This is how we gain eternal life with God and there is no other way, for Christ himself said in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." So, we must decide in our earthly lives if we are going to believe God or not.

Yours in Christ,