Dear Friends,
Greetings in Christ!
When we left off last week, Jesus had just finished warning the man He healed at the pool of Bethesda not to go back to his old sin. Oftentimes when Jesus healed someone, He told them not to make it known, but not in this case. It looks like He wanted those shortsighted scribes and misguided Pharisees to know it was Him. Moreover, He wanted them to know He did it on the sabbath day. By performing miracles on the sabbath day, Jesus was challenging the authority of the establishment. According to Dr Halley, there are seven instances of Jesus healing on the sabbath day recorded in the Gospels. (1)
Father, give us understanding as we read thy word, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
John 5:15-47
15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Solomon wrote Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. (Pr 26:4f) That is not double-talk. What Solomon is saying is that there are times when it is prudent not to answer a fool and other times when it is. This is one of those times when it is. Jesus is driving a point home: The sabbath had become a club used by the religious police to bludgeon people into submission, ie to lord their authority over them. Just as God turns curses into blessings, the enemy, whose MO is to invert practically everything, turns blessings into curses. I love the fact that our God says, ‘Take a break. Because I said so’. Of course, we are now under grace, not law. I believe it was because they had turned the blessing of the sabbath into a curse that the Holy Spirit purposely left it out of the new covenant. The fourth commandment is the only one not repeated in the New Testament.
18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Do you see the contradiction here? They are so upset about the supposed breaking of the fourth commandment that they are bent on breaking the sixth one. Not only because of the supposed breaking of the fourth commandment, but also because Jesus is honest about who He is — God. The Jews said, ‘Our Father’, but Jesus said, ‘My Father’.
That is the crux of the issue. Who is Jesus? Anytime you are debating someone who is in a cult, the bottom line is always who Jesus is. (They worship the founder of their cult as a god, so I usually start by showing them how he/she is a false prophet.) All cults demote the deity of Jesus because all cults are led by Satan. When Satan went to Jesus after He was weak from fasting, that was exactly how he tried to attack Him: IF you are the Son of God … prove it! Notice how Jesus answers them by affirming over and over that God is his Father:
19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
33 Ye sent unto John [the Baptist], and he bare witness unto the truth.
34 But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.
35 He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
41 I receive not honour from men.
42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
43 I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
John 5:15-47
According to the Talmud, it was a breach of the Law to kill a flea on the sabbath day, even if it was biting you. Of course, that is not in the Bible. They just made it up. That is the way all cults work. They reject the authority of Jesus, then come up with their own rules and force their followers to obey them, regardless of how asinine they are. Once they have their blind obedience locked in, the cult ultimately leads to death. This can be seen in verses 16 and 18 above. It could be seen with the Inquisition in the Middle Ages. It could be seen with the KKK lynchings in the South. It can be seen with the public beheadings that still take place in Saudi Arabia for trivial reasons. These are just a few examples. Several more could be given. Even if they don’t physically kill anyone, rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour always leads to spiritual death.
Here in America, for generations we have taken freedom for granted. For the most part, tyranny was something that happened somewhere else. Female circumcision in the Muslim world. Gulags in Communist countries. What is so incredible about these and many other forms of slavery is oftentimes those affected do not even know they are slaves. When Kim Jong-il died, the people of North Korea (where Christians are shot) cried and wailed upon hearing of the loss of their ‘supreme leader’. I was once speaking to a Muslim girl about female circumcision and she told me it is a ‘blessing’. Likewise, the Pharisees were taskmasters who kept the people in subjection through their misinterpretation of the Law, yet the people revered them greatly. (Matt 23:6f) You might say that slaves often suffer from a form of Stockholm syndrome.
In our day and age, the powers that be have successfully convinced people that the true Liberator, Jesus, is the One who wants to bring them into slavery. TV shows like A Handmaid’s Tale have people believing that Christianity is the most oppressive, slavish system of tyranny there is, when in fact, the opposite is true. To understand this, one need look no further than any country where the gospel has had no influence, then consider how women are treated there. The hijab itself is a symbol of slavery. For a Muslim woman, removing her hijab is an act of rebellion that can get her killed. Yet in the West, liberal-activist women think wearing a hijab is a form of protest in support of freedom. Again, the MO of the enemy is to invert.
It was Christianity that brought an end to the African slave trade in both the US and the UK. God had three Christian leaders on three different continents that brought an end to the slave trade. Lincoln in North America; Wilberforce in Europe; Livingstone in Africa. In fact, it was the Muslims who brought the slave trade to Africa in the first place. Slavery did not officially end in Saudi Arabia until the 70s, yet it still persists in the Muslim world unofficially to this day. Chrstian America, on the other hand, has led the world in fighting for freedom. Yet it appears that now they have even succeeded in convincing Americans to submit to slavery. The powers that be recognized that Americans would never willingly submit to the new world order, so they had to be convinced some other way. The method they came up with was a medical crisis. So far, it is working perfectly. Just as people blindly accepted the Pharisees’ interpretation of the Law, Americans (and people the world over) blindly believe the fake fatality numbers reported in the media for COVID. In many areas, not a single death was attributed to the flu in 2020. Obviously, the flu did not suddenly go away. It was simply reported as COVID. In these weekly notes, I have often written about how the mortality statistics are inflated in other ways as well. Yet, even with COVID patients being sent to nursing homes, even with people being killed through improper use of ventilators in New York and other places, the overall death rate remained the same for 2020. More here. If the sky is falling and COVID is the most deadly pandemic of our lifetime, why didn’t the death rate go up? Because it’s all a farce. Notwithstanding, Americans are willingly submitting to wearing useless surgical masks, which only serve as symbols of their slavery. They are lining up for ‘vaccines’ that are already killing people who take them, even young people who are healthy. Baseball legend Hank Aaron got the jab specifically to prove it was safe, but died shortly afterward. Ben Stein, famous for both acting and activism, was likewise very public about his jab, but he found the second dose almost killed him. Yet he still wants people to get the jab. (Again, oftentimes those who live under slavery don’t even know it.) People all over are submitting to ‘lock downs’, a phrase that originally was used in the prison system meaning the prisoners were not allowed out of their cells. Just like the Pharisees of old, those who enforce these mindless rules bully anyone who resists. Those at the top of the pecking order, the Tech-Left, are far worse than the Pharisees, canceling anyone who challenges their sick and twisted values, even for things like defending little girls. If you are still in the death cult, accepting the dictates of the new world order, I suggest you watch this film about the role your god, Bill Gates, has played in the plandemic.
Simply put, just like the man in our text who was carrying his bed, Just like Jesus who chose to do good things for people on the sabbath, we are being bullied. We are being bullied in many, many, different ways. As always, it is by and large Christians who are saying no and resisting the slavery of the new world order. For example, it was Christianity that was behind the Civil Rights Movement in America, ending segregation. The leader of that movement was the Doctor, Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a doctor of theology and a pastor. He famously said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” The list of ways Jesus has liberated people goes on and on. Remember who you are and who you serve. The next time somebody tries to bully you, ask yourself, who would it be better to obey, them or God? (Acts 4:19)
Father, please work in the hearts of people everywhere; open blind eyes; make new hearts that have understanding. Give us the wisdom of Solomon and the courage of David. Turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Prophecy Update (3/14/21): Today in his prophecy update, JD Farag cited two astonishing developments in the Middle East. 1.) As a result of the continuing normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, Saudi Arabia is now saying that the Temple Mount is not important to Islam. Furthermore, 2.) there are plans on the table for pipelines and/or a canal that will traverse Saudi Arabia, connecting the oil-producing Gulf states to the Mediterranean Sea, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz and the Suez Canal. This dovetails not only with the Ezekiel 38, 39 prophecy, but also Zechariah 12:11 and Revelation 16:16, as one of the proposed pipelines goes right through the valley of Megiddo, aka Armageddon. In Ezekiel 38, 39, the Magog invasion is spurred when God puts hooks in the jaws of Gog and brings him and his allied nations down to attack Israel. Sheba and Dedan (Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states) do not participate, but along with Tarshish and her young lions (the UK and the US), accuse the belligerents of attacking Israel to take a great spoil. In his prophecy update, Pastor JD asserts that 90% of Russia’s (Magog’s) economy is derived from their petroleum industry. Therefore, it’s easy to see how these proposals could cut into Russia’s GDP, hence the hooks in the jaws. It’s also easy to see how Saudi Arabia’s new stance on the importance of the Temple Mount, or lack thereof, to Islam, could make it much easier for Israel to rebuild their temple.
(1) Halley’s Bible Handbook, p 538.
