Our Warning Against Those Who Are Deceptively Teaching False Gospel

To them God willed to make

Known what are the riches

Of the glory of this mystery

Among the Gentiles which is

Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Him we preach, warning every man

And teaching every man in all wisdom,

That we may present every man

Perfect in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:27–28

            Today the Association of Pastors met as we do once each month delaying my writing until now but did something very important. Pays in verse 26 tells us who the “them” are, “but now has been revealed to His saints;”  this mystery, that which was not known beforehand by the Israelites but now revealed to His saints due to the fact that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, has come, lived among men, died for sin, rose again on the third day, and ascended into heaven to make eternal intercession for all to who He has been revealed to by the Father. Paul lays out the paradigm for preaching: 1) to teach the wisdom of God; 2) tow warn every man; therefore preaching is as a two–sided coin with one side teaching the other warning. This is the purpose of this blog, to teach, and to warn. In today’s culture as never before, with much preaching being more of a soft-production of words so that the congregations would not take much offence to preaching and ignoring the fact there is suffering that will occur when a person truly converts to our Lord Jesus Christ and applies His commands in their life. Paul could rejoice in his suffering (vs. 24) and was in great conflict over this Church (2:1)  We are to study His word and apply His word in our lives for in God’s children are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (2:3). We study and apply His word so that we would not be deceived as this world would deceive and lead away even God’s children by deceptive and persuasive words (2:4). The principles of this world are not God’s principles, rather they are the principles set forth by the Great Deceiver, Satan, who disguises himself as an angel of light. We must beware, that is to be aware of such deception and persuasive words, false philosophies, empty deceit (2:8). This study is to build up the believer, to root the believer in Jesus Christ, to become established in the faith, and all this, even under persecution we give thanksgiving, for in Him, Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (2:9). Our goal is to strive to become faithful ministers and fellow servants of Jesus Christ. This is one reason why it is so important to heed the teaching and warnings given according to Scripture and the very thrust of this blog. The soul, original sin, the understanding of man and how man is not as the evolutionists describe as just another animal on the way to some unknown destination of evolution. Man was given what no other creation of life had ever been given: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man become a living being” (Genesis 23:7). Man, we, all of us, are recipients of God’s creation of life which is the soul given to man so man has within him the image of God, that is the attributes that God has, to be able to love, not as an animal, but as a man, to create, not just do things by intuition, rather to have morals that lead man to love, and care for another man, this earth and all that God has given for him to enjoy and to give care. Therefore, we must understand what it means by the term species, and that man is of one species, not as the evolutionist would have you believe, that man is only an extended life form and has not soul. Life yes! No soul! Scripture disagrees with the evolutions and states that man, all men, are of one common stock: Adam, and Eve. Man is not derived or produced by means of other genera, or species; they are original forms, all then having a single origin. It must as it cannot be overlooked admitted that all individuals and varieties belong to a certain species and have universality inasmuch as all have essential characteristics belonging to that individual or species. There are not different forms of life, rather life has one source being derived from one single source by general consent of that source: example: all carnivorous animals have a stomach which is able to digest food, each species require a mating of a female and a male, with the exception of a worm which can be both male and female and this is a requirement easily understood by the fact that they live under the surface of the earth with no social skills or ability to meet an opposite sex. Another example would be fish, for they are not only adapted to live under the surface of water, they all have an apparatus to be able to breath under water, have fins for movement under water, etc.. Another fact is that there is immutability within the species, that is, a species is never blended into another species and the original species lost. We cannot take a rose and merge it with a tulip and then make a new species. This is not as Hegel (11770-1831 A.D.) taught that there is a thesis and an antithesis that begets a synthesis or new form. Marx fell prey to such philosophy. It is and must be admitted that there is immutability within a species to perpetuate itself, this is a characteristic of what is means by the word species.

            I am not attempting in these blogs to teach about evolution and creationism, rather to give evidence that by one man, sin, original sin entered into the lives of all men by that one man’s sin: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned’’ (Romans 5:12). We must learn, study, and apply the truths of God’s world. This will mean that we are thought of as being a “fool” to believe in a God that we cannot see, but we who are living according to God’s principles and commands are not the ones that are killing, maiming, and persecuting others; yes, some in the name of Christ have done so, but this is not according to Scripture. We are to: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but e transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1–2).

Do you not know that the unrighteous

            Will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators,

            Nor idolaters, nor adulterers,

Nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves,

            Nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,

Nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God

                                                1Corinthians 6:9–10

May The Grace Of God Be With You

Richard L. Crumb

Words Have Meaning: Use Them Carefully

For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

I will praise You, for I am

fearfully and wonderfully made;

marvelous are Your works,

and that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,

when I was made in secret, and

skillfully wrought in the lowest

parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance,

being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all

were written, the days

fashioned for me,

when as yet there were none of them.

Psalm 139:13–16

            In this modern world, and especially here in the United States, there has been a movement towards making science a deity given it a form of worship. How? By accepting the various theories by scientist who do not, and will not, believe that there is a God who has created all things and has done something special for man: He made them in His image. God is not a being as we are; He is different for He is God and not man. He knows all from the beginning to the end and by His Providential care guides and controls that which He created so that His purpose for creating man in His image will be accomplished and this by not making man a robot, rather by using man’s choices and decisions and then Providentially controls the outcome for His purpose even though man may have to suffer the consequences of his decision(s). Many scientist and philosophers have attempted to make man nothing more than another animal and do not believe in man having a soul, that which God gave Him and making him in the image of Himself. We have examined three views of the soul: preexistence, Traducianism, and Creationism and found that the Bible does not speak of the first two theories but does support Creationism for the soul. Man though will not accept this and proposes an idea about the word species and give meaning to this word according to their presuppositions. We find that men are always attempting to give words a certain meaning according to their philosophies or presuppositions: Example: The word “gay” which has as it first meaning: showing a lively and merry mood. After the seventeenth century the word “gay” was applied to homosexuality as a prostitute was called a “gay” woman. After World War II attitudes towards homosexuality changed and as the world became more hedonistic homosexual men especially applied the word “gay” to themselves and the only reason is that this word takes away their real lifestyle which is abnormal and gives it a sound of normality. Another word that we will be examining is the word “species” for many Naturalists differ in their definitions of the term, and differ greatly in their classification. For many scientists how are in the least agnostic, for many are atheistic, every variation in a species is to be determined to be a different species. They have attempted to give a meaning to this word so that their theories, philosophies will be accepted. But will they be proven and then accepted? If man is nothing more than just another species of an animal having nothing more than some difference but all in all the same then the idea of man having a soul is distinguished therefore there is no sin, especially the idea of man having original sin from one man Adam is exhausted into oblivion. We cannot speak of original sin until we examine this word, and this subject, we must understand the true idea of species and have it authenticated.

            There are various definitions of the term “species” but there are certain characteristics of species that have been generally recognized and admitted: (1) Originality: Species owe their existence sand character to immediate creation and do not owe their existence from other genera or species. (2) Universality: Each of the individual with all varieties belongs to the same species and all have essential characteristics in common. (3) Immutability: there is permanence that is that one species is never lost never combined so as to produce a third kind or species.

            We then take the time to look at the arguments that are proposed such as that which was proposed and accepted by many in the scientific world and has caused much confusion within the Christian Church by men such as Charles Darwin and his book: The Origin of Species. This will be the thrust of the blogs starting next week.

LORD, I cry out to You;

            Make haste to me!

Give ear to my voice when

            I cry out to You.

Let my prayer beset before

            You as incense,

The lifting up of my hands

            As the evening sacrifice.

                                    Psalm 141:1–2

Praise God: Pray To Him For He Hears Your Cry

Richard L. Crumb

The Unity Of The Human Race

And God said, “Let the waters abound

with an abundance of living creatures,

and let birds fly above the earth

across the face of the firmament

of the heavens.

So God created great sea creatures

and every living thing that moves,

with which the waters abounded,

according to their kind, and every

winged bird according to their kind.

And God saw that it was good”….

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth

the living creature according to its kind:

cattle and creeping thing and beast

of the earth, each according to its kind;”

and it was so.

Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image,

according to Our likeness;….”

Genesis 1:20–21;24–25; 26a

            The reading of those verses has two notices that we must notice: 1) God created all animals, fish, beast, birds, cattle, etc., according to their kind they were to reproduce. Now when it came to man God did something very different: 2) He created man in his own image, and now man would populated the earth. Did God make a single seed, or tree, or bush, or bird, or any other animal as He made only one man? This is what many evolutionists would have you believe, or somehow all species appeared at once, or in a very short time, from some miry mud. We are then before addressing the nature of the soul and the doctrine of original sin some questions need to be answered; especially in relation to man. Question 1). Did all mankind have a common origin? 2) Do all men have a common nature? The Bible answers these questions in the affirmative and is held by the catholic church (universal church: not to mean the Roman Catholic Church). Scientific men, at least many numbers which is growing, would answer those questions in the negative. How does the Bible affirm those questions in the positive? The Bible teaches that which concerns the apostasy and redemption of man and for that to be a doctrine of truth which answers those questions then we must affirm that all men are of the same origin and nature therefore the question of sin and redemption is not one that affects one and not the other because they are different, from different stock. As a Christian we may happily assume this declaration of the Bible, but we are to be prepared to defend our faith (2Peter 3:15). We should be able to give an answer to those who opposed our position.

            Let us examine closely these two points that are involved: 1) community of origin; 2) unity of species. All plants and animals are derived by means of propagation from the same original stock and are of the same species; no scientist would disagree with this point of truth. Now, it is not true that those of the same species need to be derived from a common stock.  If God, and this is where Christians would disagree with many scientist, created at the beginning, or at anytime since, plants or animals of the same kind, in large numbers and created them and place them at different parts of the earth, then all are of the same species but all are not of the same common stock. Example: Oak trees: those oak trees found in Europe and those in the United States are of the same species, but are not derived from the same common stock, that is one parent oak. God created in seven days ( I know many scientist would disagree with this, and many so–called Christians would disagree, for they believe in an old earth, and hold the words of Scripture whereby God is said to have created in six days and rested on the seventh as only a way to say that God created but the days are not 24 hours long), an it is to be admitted that God was not limited to creating one pair in one part of the earth and then allow in time for the species to spread throughout the earth, no, it is to be admitted that God would create groups of plants and animals, and place them wherever on earth, the same species, but not the same original stock. Some scientists would only admit the possibility and have the opinion that it is possible that all men may be of the same species but not all are descendants of Adam. This is in disagreement with Scripture concerning man as it reveals to us that the race is not only the same in kind but the same in origin. All men are children of a common parent, and have a common nature.

            This is the beginning of this study so that we can be ready to give a Scriptural defense for our faith, and to be ready to answer those who oppose our faith, and our understanding of Scripture. The next blog is to answer the question: what is the meaning of this word: species, or the idea of species? This is important for if man is not from a common parent then the question of original sin which befalls all men coming from the sin of a single man and affecting the world is in question.

“And again I say to you,

            It is easier for a camel

To go through the eye of a needle

            Than fro a rich man to enter

The kingdom of God.”

            When His disciples heard it,

They were greatly astonished,

            Saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’

But Jesus looked at them and said to them,

            “With men this is impossible,

but with God all things are possible.”

                                    Matthew 19:25–26

Convert to God, Don’t just believe

Richard L. Crumb

Learning From The Word Of God

For the time will come when they

will not endure sound doctrine,

but according tot heir own desires,

because they have itching ears,

they will heap up for themselves teachers;

and they will turn their ears away

from the truth, and be turned

aside to fables.

But you be watchful in all things,

endure afflictions, do the work

of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

2Timothy 4:3–5

            Paul was instructing Timothy about what he could expect and what he was to do as a Christian who could be affected by those with undesirable intentions. Those intentions often are to have power over those they teach or to whom they preach by using “happy” words, those good sounding to the soul words that scratch their itching ears. Don’t think that God who had Paul instruct Timothy and by His inspiration to Paul to write those words did not intend them to be for all Christians. Be watchful, and fulfill your ministry; this does not mean to be just a pastor, or Bible teacher, as in an educational institution, no, you have a ministry, and this ministry is what is commanded by God for all His children. Yet, they are and have been from the beginning of Christianity those who teach what God has not revealed. What we need is to be taught sound doctrine, that is, doctrine that is founded upon Scripture, not Scripture misused, rather for Scripture to be taken as it was written, for what was written came from God. Man has attempted to make Scripture prove his presuppositions. For instance: Jehovah Witness do not believe that the soul is that which God has given to man by creating for man his soul which is life itself and is able to be influenced by the actions of man. No, they believe that the soul, or Spirit of God is nothing more than a supernatural power of God which will return to God upon the death of a person. The Bible does not teach this as the soul that is sinning it will die, yes, the soul will die, as does the man who is endowed by God with a soul dies as well and the soul is alive and if the person is a Christian will live with God until the return of Jesus Christ at His second coming: “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them, then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4–5). Some would only admit that this verse relates to those who were beheaded, and as to the word in Greek it is the word for an axe in the act of chopping, or in English; beheaded, but this also means truncation, that is a being cut off from the sentence, or life, and this was as a witness for God, as the Greek word which we use; martyr and we use it to mean someone killed, which is not wrong but does not carry the actual meaning, for the word is witness, a person is killed for being a witness for God and this witness must follow sound doctrine, if not, then he is following after Satan, the beast, and if you say that you are not following Satan, or the beast, then are you following after his image? His image can include the teachings that are not Scriptural, that are not sound doctrine. We must be watchful, and this is a major thrust of this blog.

            Therefore, the object of this blog is not to arrive at some certainty that is not clearly revealed in Scripture, nor can I explain from all sides that which is to be admitted inscrutable, but to give aid to us as watchmen so that we guard against the adoption of principles that are in opposition to what is plainly and clearly taught in the Bible and are important doctrines of God. So, what have we learned? Those who hold to preexistence of the soul, as do Mormon, or that the soul is only a power but has not personality, such as do Jehovah Witnesses, and the Traducianists who teach that the soul is numerical and is divided among all the progeny of parents and it is the nature of parents that is in operation in the physical element of man, that like begets like and even though some would admit that there is some operation by God to attended and control life, either direct or creative, this is not taught in Scripture. Creationists do not teach that God does not exercise his creative power in the production of the human soul any differently that He does in the production of life in other cases. What creationists teach and deny is that the soul is not capable of division and that all souls are only a numerical division of the same essence for this would make Jesus Christ a sinner for He would then be the same essence as Adam. If this be true then how would be able to accept that the death of Jesus Christ was a propitiation sacrifice that paid the debt owed to God? We would not and this is not what is taught in Scripture. God by His creative power supplies to man the soul, as was done when God planted His Wisdom, Jesus Christ, in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Jesus was not tainted by the sin of Adam, His soul was not fouled by sin and by this He could be the true and acceptable payment by His death after living a sinless life on this earth as man, a soul, the One who had both the essence of man and the essence of God, a hypostatic union, God and man in one body. Thank God for this for now all those whom He chooses are saved by the intercession made for us by Jesus Christ.

            Next though I must undertake the subject of what is the soul? This is an interesting subject and an important one for us to understand original sin.

Oh, let the wickedness of the

            Wicked come to an end,

But establish the just; for the righteous

            God tests the hearts and minds.

My defense is of God, who saves the

            Upright in heart.

                                    Psalm 7:9–10

Put Your Trust In God

Richard L. Crumb

The New Nature From God

Most assuredly, I say to you,

he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

I am the bread of life.

your fathers ate the manna

In the wilderness, and are dead.

This is the bread which comes down

from heaven, hat one may eat of it

and not die.

I am the living bread which

came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread,

he will live forever; and the bread

that I shall give is My flesh,

which I shall give for the life of the world.

John 6:47–51

            That which is corporeal cannot become another nature of and from itself, it requires something far different from which it has not the power to create. I asked the question in the last blog: “What is life?” Man can put together in the form of bones, or flesh, or even cells, giving what was made to have blood, and even make the blood circulate, to pump the lungs and make air to enter and be discharged from the lungs, they can do all these things, at least in some manner, but they cannot make what they have formed to have life. Life is not corporeal, it is real, just ask anyone who is alive, and they will agree, there is life, but for most they have no idea from where life comes. Life then is not corporeal, it is spiritual, it is not formed by the power of man, it is formed from a power that has the power to give life, and if it gives life, and has the power of life then it also has the power to maintain life. Scripture informs us of from where life comes and who has the power to give life: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the g round, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). If a person believes in the preexistence of the soul, as do the Mormons, then why does not Scripture tells us that God reached up somewhere in the heavens and pulled down a soul and planted that soul into the body of Adam? He did not tell us this. If you are a Traducianist and believe that the soul is from a parent, then why does not Scripture inform us of this fact? It does not! In fact, only that which is corporeal is passed from one person to another by the life of a person is not from the parent, it is that which God has told us: He gives life and that life is the soul of a person. What the scientist cannot do is to give a soul to a body they may have formed even to having formed it with all the elements what can be found in a body. The creationist follow Scripture and do not put God in the proverbial box and make God able to do only that which they presuppose He can only do; no, they follow Scripture, and they do not box God is so as to make Him stop creating after God created the corporeal, or physical world. It is God who gives life. It is God who then maintains life. It is God who then by His omniscience, His omnipresence, His all powerfulness, that He controls that which He creates while allowing man and all living things to do, to choose, to be real, and make second causes, but only God can Providentially make all causes, all second causes to work out His will while not usurping man’s free choice, or in the case of Adam, his free–will. This is what the Greeks meant with the word: ἀλλὰ λαλοῦμεν θεοῦ σοφίαν ἐν μυστηρίῳ …. We speak of God’s wisdom in a mystery: that is; we speak not from what our eyes see, that which is apparent to the eyes, but what is seen by faith; we cannot know the deep things of God. We can only know what God has revealed to us and not by some ethereal, or supernatural revelation that cannot be proved, rather He speaks to us by means of His word and then impresses that word to our understanding so that we may know something of Him and what He has done and is doing and will do in the future. It is a mystery; life, the soul which is life, and all we know is that the soul is life and can die, and die eternally and whether or not a person desires to argue of the manner of the soul’s death is inconsequential for if the soul is not present with the Lord, then it is removed from the Lord and all the blessings that God through His Son is giving to His children, all that He, God the Father, has given to His Son Jesus Christ. The soul is sinful and this will be covered when I return to the subject directly on original sin and the nature of soul being sinful then needs to have its nature changed. How can this be done if not only by the power of God? God being able to make all things from nothing, ex nihilo, would He not be able to continue to make life for each and every living thing, especially the crown of His creation, man? Yes! What I have attempted to do is to not give something that is certain outside of Scripture, or to explain all sides of the equation as to the soul, only what is admitted is that which is inscrutable as found in Scripture. What has been discovered? God creates the soul and gives to each man the soul of life and God can choose whomever He chooses to have a new nature a new soul, and to have life eternal. It is not the body of Christ that comes down to be eaten by man, or His blood to be drunk as wine, those are corporeal. It is that by faith we receive by the bread and wine that which we cannot see, or touch, and is received be faith. We receive all things from God by faith and this faith is instructed by His word and His word is clear, our souls are from God and Him alone and we who are chosen of God by Him giving us faith we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are saved from death and have life eternally. Why seek any further? Read God’s word, and believe on His Son by being converted not just a believer, but truly converted and then live according to the new nature given to you.

But God has revealed them to us

            Through His Spirit.

For the Spirit searches all things,

            Yes, the deep things of God.

For what man knows the things of a man

            Except the spirit of the man which

Is in him? Even so no one knows the thing

            Of God, except the Spirit of God.

                                    1Corinthians 2:10–11

Live According To Your New Nature

Richard L. Crumb

Repentance Is What Is Required Of God's Children

For every living soul belong to Me,

the father as well as the son––both

alike belong to Me.

The soul who sins

is the one who will die.

Ezekiel 18:4

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body

but cannot kill the soul.

Rather, be afraid of the One

Who can destroy both soul

and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28

What good will it be for a man

if he gains the whole world,

yet forfeits his soul?

Matthew 16;26

Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God

with all your heart and with all your soul

and with all your mind.”

Matthew 22:37

            Is this subject about the soul important? Is this good judgment on the part of an individual to learn about the soul? Can God kill the soul? Matthew I will quote in Greek: καὶ μὴ φοβεῖσθε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτεννόντων τὸ σῶμα τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι· φοβεῖσθε δὲ μᾶλλον τὸν δυνάμενον καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα ἀπολέσαι ἐν γεέννῃ. Notice the word in bold red (γεέννῃ) gehnna, not hades, this is important for gehnna is denoting the valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem where the fire never goes out and the worms never die and eat the rubbish and garbage that is thrown there, where vile criminals not thought to have any right to a burial where thrown, a place of eternal destruction, no recovery, no purgatory as the Roman Catholics teach, a place that is where the soul that is sinning is cast, never to recover. Is this subject on the soul, and on original sin important? Ezekiel points out the seriousness of sinning by using the analogy of a man who is righteous and does all the right things but his son is just the opposite: will the man’s righteousness save the son? NO! “Will such a man live? He will not! Because he ahs don all these detestable things, he will surely be put to death and his blood will be on his won head” (Ezekiel 18:13b). Now if the son sees bad things his father is doing and does not do them will he be held accountable for the sins of his father? NO! “he will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live. But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people’ (Ezekiel 18:17b). Each man is responsible for what he does, the choices he makes and the consequences that occur. Today there is a desire and attempt to make the sins of others be the cause for a person doing wrong. Can a person be taught what is right? YES! So in some way we are accountable to what is being taught to us but in the end we are responsible for what we do for we can think properly, we can do that which is right; but we are do not share the guilt of our father, mother, cousin, sibling, society, or any other reason we may give for why we did not do what is known to be right. How often does a person hide from doing wrong, or does his evil in the dark of night? Because he knows what he is doing is wrong. Ezekiel goes on to say: “Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father? Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him’” (Ezekiel 18:19–20).

            Is there no hope for the one who has done wrong and committed sins? Is the sinner unable to undo all that he has done wrong? NO! Man cannot save himself he is responsible for his sins and has only the judgment of God upon him. God’s justice must be met! There is no hope for a sinner. Are you like King David in his petition to God? “I confess my iniquity, I am troubled by my sin……….O LORD, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my god. Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior” (Psalm 38:18, 21–22). There is hope for God according to John chapter 6, He calls, enables, draws those who He will save, and gives them faith Ephesians 2:8, and if you are not just sorry for being caught in sin, rather that you have sinned against a holy and just God who Himself came to earth to live among men, to die as a man, to rise again from death which could not hold Him, and then to ascend to heaven where as the Son of Man, the Son of God, God’s very own Wisdom, makes eternally intercession for all those God the Father has given Him. Then if you turn away from your sinfulness, it is because God is calling you; respond to Him, His call, and turn from your sins: “Therefore, O house of Israel (you are spiritual Israel) I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:30–32).

But if a wicked man turns away

            From the wickedness

He has committed and does what

            Is just and right, he will

Save his life. Because he considers

            All the offenses he ahs c omitted

And turns away form them, he will surely live;

            He will not die.

                                    Ezekiel 18:27–28

Pray to God, Repent from your sins

Richard L. Crumb

Trusting God and His Word

Thus the heavens and the earth,

and all the hosts of them, were finished.

And on the seventh day God ended

His work that He had done,

And rested on the seventh day

from all His work which God had

created and made.

Genesis 2:1–3

            Two days a week I spend two hours each day studying and assisting students in the Koine Greek language that the Bible was written and the common language the Israelites would know, and the lands which Alexander the Great, his generals who followed him being precepts over sections of the Near Asian, Egyptian, and much of Europe, Turkey, and Greece, would teach children and be used for commerce and as the general language spoken. The one thing that is most important in the study of the Bible is to allow the Bible to speak for itself and not allow presuppositions to be proved by the Bible. Allow the Bible to determine your presuppositions. We must allow the language of the Bible, even when hard to understand, or interpret in our language to speak for itself, the grammar, and the syntax. Unless you are of the belief that only man wrote the Bible and only parts of it are words of God, those parts that someone has decided based on their presuppositions, or theories, or ideologies, and do not believe that God would preserve His word, then none of what I just wrote will be of any importance to you. But….. if you are truly seeking the truth and believe that God spoke inspirationally to certain men, in certain times, and all that He spoke and had written was for us even today and not just for the times men spoke or wrote, then continue to learn and allow God’s truth to build and fortify your faith. If you are one that is confused about the subject of the origin of the soul, and how man has original sin, and have followed a belief that the soul is derived from parents as do the Traducianists but are willing to allow God’s word to speak then read God’s word in prayer and allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten you as you study His word. For instance, the Traducianist believe that it is inconsistent with God for Him to continue creation and use the opening verse as saying that God was done with creation and rested from all which He had created and made (vs. 3). In other words, God produces after the original creation mediately, that is through the operation of second causes. This then makes God to work intermediately and not directly in the affairs of this world even though some Traducianists believe that they is a superintendence of Providence but as to divine efficiency, this they deny.

            The opening verses do state that God rested on the Seventh day from all that which He had created and made, but, and this is important, it does not say that God, as a Deist would admit, sat back and only through some Providence guided this world without His divine efficiency. God rested from all that He had made and those verses say nothing about future events. Those verses cannot be used to support Traducianism. God is God: He is not controlled by the use of means, for He is the author of means and allows means to exist and then in accordance with His will to fulfill His purpose for creation, Providentially guides those means, those second causes to work within His will. God does not make us one of His robots, we are the authors of second causes, and we produce that which is done in this world, whether good or bad. We are the recipients of the consequences of our authorship in causing second causes. This does not mean that God sits back and does nothing, rather it is by God who allows those second causes to be formed and then by His guiding hand works those second causes for the good of His children. But, we have yet one question that must be answered: Life! Where does life originate? Is it by second causes? Man may produce progeny and by that production there is life but that does not answer the question: From where does life come?  How is life produced? Is it simply chemical reactions that make life? If so then we still have not answered the question for all we did was to put life as a result of chemicals and their association with each other but the question remains: How did life begin? In other words the answer is more than simplicity for the physical world can do certain things, but it cannot produce life for life is more than a combination of chemicals. Life is immaterial! Where did the power for life come? The only answer that has merit is that life comes directly from God. This then is exactly what the Scriptures teach thereby God then has not rested from producing life, rather God has rested from producing physical elements. God is continually creating therefore there must be a plan, a fixed plan whereby God by the use of His creative energy creates life with all its attributes and this by His purpose and then under His operation of Providential care is guided by His Providence. Man can produce progeny by physical means; God produces life and there is in this no derogatory element in regards to His divine character. God producing life continually creating life, then God is the creator of the soul and God is the originator of the soul, therefore the soul is not numerically divided, and as the Traducianist teaches that parents are the producers of the soul. I one is a Traducianist then he has banished God from this world and then this makes cause that God causes miracles, or that by such a theory God sanctions every act with which his creative power is said to be connected, this is not even plausible for God is Holy and is not the author of sin.

            I will continue this conclusion as to the origin of the soul and then continue to address the doctrine of original sin. What we must do is to pray, read, think, and use what God has given us, our brain, that is, to use those faculties which is God given and this is to mean this: Allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, and use your brain to see what the Scriptures are saying and not what you may want them to say. You will be blessed, and your faith in God, His Son, and the power of the Holy Spirit that is given to all of His children will not only be realized, but you will be used to further the gospel.

The LORD is in His holy temple,

            The LORD’s throne is in heaven;

His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men,

            The LORD tests the righteous,

But the wicked and the one who loves violence

            His soul hates.

                                                Psalm 11:4–5

Put your trust in God

Richard L. Crumb