“Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of the Heavens.” Matt.5:19
Our last Telegraph was entitled “The Fence Makers”. In it we saw how men were making artificial barriers to restrict spiritual vision and growth. We saw how Paul condemned this in his writings. In this Telegraph we shall be concerned with those who BREAK FENCES of GOD’S MAKING. In a nut-shell, God has given mankind a legal code of living which
(a) is wonderfully wise and all-embracing,
(b) reveals the very character of God, and
(c) provides man with a set of fences for his security.
Why fences? Because on the other side of each fence there is danger lurking. It may be a hidden pit, or a quagmire, or ravenous beasts, or even a tar-pit. In His goodness, God has erected fences to save mankind from hurt. We call these fences GOD’S LAWS. In Prov.22:14 we read, “The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit.” Only those who have tasted the forbidden fruit of adultery and fornication can understand what that pit is like. And those who have been in that pit seldom wish the experience on others. Those who commit adultery have, in effect, climbed over the fence to transgress the law of adultery. They have broken God’s commandment. And in like manner men may climb over any of the other numerous fences that God has erected for us.
The Old Testament laws are many in number and profound in their scope. Jesus said, “I came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it.” Matt. 5:17. He went on to say the words we have quoted at the head of this article. And in many cases He applied more stringent application to the O.T. laws. “You have heard it said, ‘you shall not commit murder’, but I say to you that all who are angry with their brother without cause shall be liable to the judgment.” Matt.5:22. All the moral laws of the Old Testament stand today. If it were otherwise, then the character of God would have changed. But it has not. Only the ceremonial laws have ceased. Why? Because as Jesus said, He came to fulfil the law.
To transgress law is to commit sin. Man should not be climbing over the fences of God’s making. Not only does he hurt himself, but he excludes himself from God’s fellowship. God does not live on the other side of His fences, He is too pure to look upon iniquity. He cannot be found on the other side, because the fences represent the boundaries of His own character. Because of this it might seem that once a man has crossed over he is forever lost. But no. Just as the front side of His fence might read -, “You shall not commit adultery”, so the rear side is found also to have writing upon it. The message is clear and in large letters –IF YOU CONFESS YOUR SINS, I AM FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE YOU YOUR SINS, AND TO CLEANSE YOU FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. (1 John 1:9)
When a man climbs over a fence, he does not at first see these words. He will not be looking back. His purpose is to get over and beyond. But as soon as he falls into the pit or the swamp, he begins to cast his eyes about him, the word of the Lord is there awaiting him, full of compassion and care.
It then takes an act of will on his part to confess that he has done wrong, and ask for God’s forgiveness. But as soon as he does, a most remarkable thing happens. Straightway he finds himself back on the other side of the fence. He may, of course, carry some injury or hurt with him that will stay in his memory, but he is without doubt back on the right side of the fence. God made immediate restoration in accordance with His promise. Why is God able to do this? Because in the fullness of time, some 2000 years ago, God’s Son paid the price of all our sins when He was crucified at Calvary. This, and this alone, enables God to translate the sinner back into favour with Himself.
God’s laws are his very gracious provisions to us, and we should learn to love them. “Great peace have those who love Thy law, and they shall have no stumbling block.” Psalm 119:165. His laws teach us the absolute values that exist. They provide us with secure boundaries. Paul told the Romans that “where there is no law, there is no transgression”, (4:15) and that “by the law is the knowledge of sin”, (3:20) and “I had not known lust except the law said, ‘You shall not covet'”. (7:7) But God knew that men would transgress His laws, and He made gracious provision for them by sending His Son into the world to die at the hands of murderers, so that each of His laws could be endorsed with the message of hope and forgiveness.
All that we have said so far forms the basis of the great Christian message of hope, forgiveness and restoration to every onewho is a sinner. It is the message that has sounded forth in many ways and by many preachers over the centuries. It stands today as strongly as ever. Whoever you are reading these words, knowing that you have transgressed God’s laws and climbed over one of His fences, know that you can be restored. All you have to do is to confess your sins to God Himself. Say how sorry you are for what you have done, and ask for His forgiveness. You will find yourself restored to God’s favour, and you will know in your heart a peace which is beyond human understanding, the peace that only a forgiven sinner knows. May the Holy Spirit etch these words indelibly into the hearts of all who read these lines, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Sadly, we have more to say, and it will not make pleasant reading. But it has to be said, and we hope that those who read it will become wiser thereby, knowing it to be a warning.
Over the centuries from Creation, God has chosen first individuals, then a nation, and now a church, to teach and explain God’s laws. Until fairly recently it was the customary practice to have the Ten Commandments printed on the backs of children’s classroom notebooks. But today’s children know nothing about that. The Church used to teach people the laws of God. Schools did likewise. The courts of law by and large upheld the laws of God, and men were wont to walk in fear of those laws.
But what has happened? The laws of God have GONE! They are no longer with us!
Someone has taken the fences down!
We are now living in the days of the ABSENCE OF LAW. The correct term for this is LAWLESSNESS, the state of being without law. How did this come about? Who has taken the fences down? Of course, man is responsible for this crime. But unseen dark intelligences have been very much at work behind the scenes infiltrating men’s minds, and causing them to do these dreadful things. And the serpentine whispers have often been very persuasive, thus, “Doesn’t your Bible teach you that you are not under law but under grace?” Most Christians seem to be unaware that the fences have been taken down. In fact it can come as a nasty shock to some when they learn that it has happened.
Before proceeding further we must answer the dark insinuation just quoted from Romans 6:14. To be under law meansstruggling to be perfect by keeping the law. Paul told the Romans that this was, and always had been, impossible. No man could attain to that righteousness. But to be under grace means accepting forgiveness from God whenever we find that we have transgressed the laws, and becoming righteous ‘by faith’. To put it baldly, if there is no law, then no one can be ‘under grace’. Paul was NOT saying that God’s laws had been scrapped for the Christian age. That is the Satanic lie that has been whispered so continually into the ears of the Church, and particularly the Evangelical Churches of Christendom.
Both Old and New Testaments spoke of days characterised by lawlessness. Men of God prophesied that near the time of Christ’s return there would be a great increase in lawlessness. Furthermore, the prophets spoke very clearly of a ‘Man of Lawlessness’ who would arise at the climax of such days. It is one of the titles of the Antichrist. It depicts one of the most despicable and devastating traits of his character.
And now we ask our readers to reflect for a few moments. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the Ten Commandments? And if you have been favoured enough to sit under such ministry of recent days, when did you last hear an exposition of the many other lesser-known of God’s laws? John Wesley used to ask people to study the Commandments BEFORE he visited them. It is not without point that when he arrived he had little preaching to do. Men’s hearts were ready to hear the words that God had written graciously on the other side of His fences. And so they believed, and they confessed, were forgiven and born again.
How can we preach a correct Gospel in a lawless society? The answer is that we cannot. Men may thunder forth all manner of rhetoric from their platforms, and obtain vast numbers of ‘converts’ but it must be asked, to what are they being converted?
Without law, there is no sin.
Without law the conscience is dead.
If there is no sin, why do we need forgiveness?
We may be persuaded to believe in Christ, but we do not approach Him as Saviour. In truth, He cannot accept us unless we see Him as our Saviour. Indeed, if there is no recognition of sin, there is NO GOSPEL. God cannot honour any preaching UNLESS it makes the categorical statement that man is a SINNER. If God were to accept us on any other pretext, then He would be dishonouring His own Son’s death on the cross. But because of the lawless society in which we live, many are encouraged to think of God as a Friend, or a Comforter, or One to whom they may pray every day. But all of this is to no avail UNLESS first we come to the foot of the cross as SINNERS. Every other mode of approach to God is absolutely disallowed BY GOD’S OWN LAWS. And if we continue to preach a Christ OTHER than Saviour, then, we are working for the Devil and not for God. God cannot own it.
Who is mostly at fault for the lawless society in which we live? It is the Church. God did not give His laws to nations, kings, presidents, lawyers, and statesmen. He gave His laws to the Church, in the same way that He gave His laws to the Nation of Israel in days gone by.
God expects His Church to learn His laws, treasure His laws, expound His laws, reverence His laws, and as far as lies within them, to keep His laws. John tells us (1 J.5:3) that God’s commandments are not grievous. He expects us to keep them.
Furthermore, we are ABLE to keep God’s laws most of the time. Old Testament sacrifices were laid down for the occasional deviations from the .law. God never expected His people to spend all their days climbing over forbidden fences. And so it is today. By God’s grace, and with the help of His Holy Spirit, we are expected to walk in accordance with God’s laws on a regular basis. Some would have us believe in such absolute depravity of man, that he is NEVER able to do one upright deed throughout his life, without the assistance of divine providence. But fact and observation prove otherwise. God never gave His laws on the basis of an absolute impossibility of keeping them. He encouraged His people to learn them and keep them, and provided for the occasional failure. John tells us that ‘if we sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and He is the Mercy Seat for our sins.’ (The Mercy Seat in the O.T. days was the gold covering to the Ark of the Covenant, where the High Priest once a year offered a sacrifice for the sins of the whole nation on the Day of Atonement. Jesus Christ is the Reality, of which the Mercy Seat was the symbol in a past administration.)
What then has the Church done? It has stopped teaching God’s laws. This is equivalent to the pulling down of God’s fences. When the Church no longer teaches God laws, the people of the land have no way of assessing God’s character. Furthermore, as soon as the Church stops teaching God’s laws, it is found to be teaching more and more irrelevant things. That is why the people of the land make caricatures of the clerics, laugh at the bishops, and shake their heads at the archbishops. Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Runcie’s most recent act of irrelevance (and irreverence) is to aver that we can learn much from the Hindu religion about the nature of God. This is a prime example of what we mean. It comes as a direct consequence of the abrogation of God’s laws by the Church. Men will only look up to the Church when the Church thunders out God’s laws with a united voice, and men SEE that Churchmen do all in their power to reverence and obey those laws. Only then will men once again ask themselves what they are doing, and whether it may or may not be regarded as SIN in the sight of God. But the Church has taken down the fences, and as a result, man no longer possesses the definition of sin. Sin is an archaic word that has no present significance to society at large. This is the fault of the Church.
This is a sad and grievous matter of which we write. The secret aspect (or mystery) of lawlessness was at work in Paul’s day, 2000 years ago. In the last 200 years it has taken on a most alarming new dimension. But in the last 20 years, all that which Satan’s hosts planted, watered, and fostered, has grown up into a stinking weed of vast proportions. As a result men are everywhere falling into pits, and finding themselves in swamps, and attacked by these (figurative) wild animals. They are getting hurt, and they do not know why. And when they cast their eyes about for help, as a relief from their misadventures, there are no words of comfort to be seen. The fences have been taken down. And when men remove God’s fences, the writing on BOTH SIDES disappears. In other words, when men disregard God’s laws, the words of grace have no impact, and God’s ways are thwarted.
We have now reached a climactic stage in the progress of lawlessness, where the Harlot is about to give birth to her twin daughters Anarchy and Civil War. And under these two cruel mistresses, Satan plans for man to destroy himself. This has ever been his goal. These days the Man of Lawlessness parades openly in the streets of every town, and he meets with no opposition. Whereas once he would have been hounded off the streets, and warning notices pinned up in the market square, now he is welcomed by men everywhere, and even invited into the churches.
Brethren, all this makes sad news, and it is very grievous to all those who, in their own personal and private lives have been honouring God’s laws, and teaching their children as well. Sometimes we feel like mounting a campaign to gather all the faithful ones together and letting the country know that there are still those who stand by the Bible as the mouthpiece of Divine Revelation to man, a Book which shows God’s displeasure at man’s disobedience. But the tide has grown so strong, and man has been encouraged to criticise the very Book which contains the answers to all his deepest needs.
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But as if this tide of lawlessness were not enough, there is now yet a greater evil on the world scene, and one which, by divine revelation has only been with us in the 1980s.
In the first part of article we spoke of man’s TRANSGRESSION of God’s laws. In the second part we spoke of manREMOVING God’s laws. But in this part we see the devastation that results when men are deliberately encouraged to
REVERSE and PERVERT GOD’S LAWS
The truth was conveyed to us in 1983, and was linked to that passage in Revelation 16 which speaks about the THREE FROGS. We were told that their names were
FEMALE DOMINANCE: JUVENILITY: PERVERSION
Satan and his hosts have power. But their power is only in proportion to man’s disobedience to God’s laws. The more man flouts God’s laws, and breaks down His fences, the more strength is poured into the dark enemies of God. In the first instance, Satan used man’s transgression as the instument of his power. As time passed he used lawlessness as an instrument of even greater power. And now in these final days, he has chosen to send out these three demon spirits to cause men to reverse God’s laws, and by virtue of this, he is gaining power at an astronomical rate. Let us explain further.
Female Dominance is an aspect of LAW REVERSAL. From the days of Creation, Man was given the place of headship over Woman. (Headship must not be confused with dominance, the unacceptable subjugation of Woman,) and he was expected to work out this headship in a responsible manner, with dignity and purpose towards his family. But man has perverted his position, and treated Woman as a plaything, and subjugated her, in many ways and at many times in human history. The Devil has whispered in the ear of Womankind, saying “Don’t let this go on. Pay him back for what he has done. YOU take the lead. Show him what it is like to have DOMINANT FEMALES!” And so in our own day and age we have watched the reversal grow, from the days of the suffragettes to the place where the Prime Minister is a Woman. It is not that Womankind is exercising a beneficent headship over Mankind. It is a DOMINANCE, to pay him back for the years of oppression. It has come to stay, and it gives the dark powers enormous power. Recently I have seen on several occasions a sticker in the back of cars saying, “A woman’s place is in charge.”
Juvenility is likewise a law reversal. God made man to grow up from childhood to the state of adulthood, to be able to take responsibility and exercise law and order in family and public life. But in these days it has become very difficult for anything to be discussed seriously any more. The Radio and T.V have bred nations of jokers, fun lovers, those who ‘take the Micky‘ out of everyone, cartoonists, and lampooners. Nothing seems to matter save that which encourages a cheap laugh at someone’s expense. We call it the ‘nation’s sense of humour’ to cover up the real disease. Is not this a reversal of all that God intended?
Perversion is, of course, by its very name, a law reversal. To pervert is to twist something out of the true, and force it to operate where it should not operate. National law against homosexuality was reversed over 30 years ago, and it prepared the way for what we now see. The trouble is that the Church is not only silent on this issue, but may be seen to be openly complying with the perverts, by allowing homosexuals to hold clerical office, and by allowing so-called ‘marriages’ between those of the same sex.
Take music as another example. Music should be a balm to the human soul, a thing of creative beauty. But man has progressively embarked upon an era of ugly atonal discord and raving, which defiles the air wherever one goes, and afflicts the human soul. But the worst part of all this is the way in which the tendency has invaded the Christian Church, which openly advertises ‘Christian Rock’ and other excesses. It is another example of perversion, where a thing of beauty is taken and twisted hideously until all resemblance to its former glory is lost. The Devil’s Frogs have been at work in a very special way in recent years. No doubt a moment’s thoughtful reflection will enable the reader to see many other areas of perversion that abound in this land today, as elsewhere.
Finally, we must emphasise again that all areas of defilement and shamefulness in this modern world hinge upon these three things, the TRANSGRESSION, the ABOLITION, and the REVERSAL (PERVERSION) of God’s Laws.
Law is the most foundational of all Christian teaching.
Without it, nothing else stands.
It is the bedrock upon which all else is built.
It is nothing short of the very character of God Himself.
Without law, nothing in this world has any true value.
Without law, God becomes an unknown quantity.
Without law, sin does not exist.
Without law, salvation becomes unnecessary.
Without law, Christ died in vain.
Brothers in Christ, we plead with you – get back to the laws of God. Read the Pentateuch again. Then the Sermon on the Mount. Teach the laws of God to your children. Preach them in your pulpits and in your Sunday Schools whilst there is still time.
But know this. God is shaking all things. He is doing so in order that the unshakable things shall remain. Our Lord is Himself walking unseen amongst His churches as a thief in the night, looking for those who are asleep, and stealing their garments. Will you be one of those who awakes to find his clothes gone, and who suffers acute embarrassment thereby? See these words of our Saviour, in Rev.16, RIGHT NEXT TO THE PASSAGE ABOUT THE FROGS. Yes, it is a very topical word, and one that we all need to ponder at length and in prayer.
The Lord says, “Hold fast until I come!” And He is now at the very doors, for all the signs declare it. Let all those of His remnant church, who desire to be faithful to Him, take stock of their position, stay awake, and keep alert until the sun rise with the dawning of the new day of God’s Kingdom. For in His Kingdom, God will reward all such, and give them work to do amongst men, especially in the TEACHING OF HIS LAWS. Shall we not prepare for that day NOW, by attending to God’s Laws, and learning them afresh, or perhaps for the first time, so that we shall be ready for GOD’S DAY OF JOY?
“Many people shall say, ‘Come, let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths,’ for out of Zion shall go forth THE LAW, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Isaiah 2:3
