Friday, March 31, 2006
L. Ray Smith = 'Hell' Ray Smith, the blaspheming legalist who must repent!
Ray.
PS I will not let any more of you perverted gospel into my spiritual house, so don't even waste your time."
Ha Ha, the arrogant affrontery of this man! These were 'Hell' Ray Smith's last words to me where he states I have not repented. Well I have news for him, I have repented; I repented when I was called. If I didn't repent then, I could not have been called. It's an impossibility. It's like saying the Pope isn't a Catholic!! Furthermore, if I had not been called, if I had not repented, I would still be down the pub getting legless every weekend!!
So what does this tell us about this man? Answer: he has no understanding of Repentance, no understanding of Salvation and no understanding of Grace. What is worse, is he doesn't understand the nature of God - Love, Mercy and Forgiveness. Notice, he even thinks he has a 'spiritual house' which is true, a spiritual house of the Devil! How is it a spiritual house of the Devil, because his message is just another non-gospel? It's bad news, not The Good News.
So I say to him, Judge not that ye be not judged.
The 'teaching' of L. Ray Smith or better 'Hell' Ray Smith is the most subtle form of legalism I have yet come across. The man who called me a foolish heretic! Hmm. well we will see won't we? You see, when he said these things it was sheer frustrated emotion that was engaged and not one piece of Scriptural proof used to support his accusations. He had no answers, so he resorted to the usual Worldwide 'Church' of god tactic - call them a heretic and ban them - that's the way to do it!
The warning signs.
Myself, like old Ray, having once been a member of Herbert W. Armstrongs's Judaising cult, and upon stumbling across ('stumbling' being a very relevant word here) L. Ray Smith's website and forum, I instantly related to his no nonsense style of preaching/teaching, which in itself is fine, and therein found much Truth being taught, but then, Hello!? I've been here before haven't I? Yes of course I had and there it was, all the time, that old stumbling block of legalism.
Now this man openly boasts of having known both HWA and Garner Ted, his son, and when reading that I should really have been on my guard, but you know the old problem don't you, we True Believers can be a gullible lot at times, always ready to give people the benefit of the doubt, aren't we, and thereby get easily taken in? In turn and with hindsight, I realised too, what I was witnessing was those on his forum had that familiar spirit of sycophancy, just like all us suckers who fell under Armstrong's influence. All of you who were part of Armstrongism will relate to this kind of idolatry and deception - you know the score, no one can think for themselves where the Scriptures are concerned; we must wait until god L Ray Smith or god HWA has told us what this Scripture means, nevermind what The Lord Jesus Christ says1 John 2:27 "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." Old Ray's got it all so sown up, no one is even allowed to teach on his forum - I wonder why!!?? Is it 'E' for Error or 'E' for Ego? Both, I reckon.
Armstrongism.
Just what exactly is Armstrongism? It's many things and I have already explained some of the things here on this Blog, but one of biggest errors Armstrong introduced, and old Ray continues, is this blasphemy that we are not Spiritual sons of God until we are Resurrected. Through this henious error he, and Armstrong before him, deny that True Believers are saved and they teach that salvation is a life long process via chastening and chastising until Our Lord's return i.e. not made fully Holy until the First Resurrection. To support this blasphemous lie, they have the affrontery to deny the significance of our conversion - The indwelling of The Holy Spirit and our birthing as Sons of God, and they do this by saying there is no difference between a disciple and a Born Again True Believer - another lie! I will be doing a separate study on this important topic soon because we all need to understand this fundamental difference.
Negating The Lord's Sacrifice through Salvation by chastening/chastising!
As I was saying, this is the most subtle from of legalism I have yet encountered in all my travels across the WWW. What makes it so subtle? Armstrongism is the answer. How does this work then? Easy, you teach a lot of Truth to hide the blasphemous demonics, deceptions and lies at work in the background; you certainly won't find Grace in the foreground, I'll tell you that much. So what are the demonics at work here? Again easy, "salvation by works" or "salvation by process" or a negating of Our Lord's Sacrifice and those things He achieved for us through His Resurrection. He, like many others, cannot get through his thick skull the fact that Our Lord accomplished everything at the cross and in His Resurrection, so that all we have to do is believe and grow in Grace filled confidence and Faith.
How does Mr Smith do this? He accurately points out many of the errors in mainstream Christianity and then, in a total u-turn actually supports their erroneous teaching of salvation by process or works - daily cleansing - self-improvement - or in his terminology, gradually gaining our salvation through....wait for it - chastising. Can you believe that? Is that really what he says? Most definitely. He is just another purveyor of ogre gods, only in his case the 'big stick' variety that Armstrong always taught. This is fear based legalism, making Grace a conditional arrangement - a wicked blasphemy.
No understanding of Grace.
Grace is an undeserved free gift which sets us free - free from the bondage of legalism and sin. When Our Lord said, whilst on the cross, "It is finished", that is what He meant - period; everything had been accomplished for us, no more heavy burdens. From now on we would carry His light yoke, not the Devil's yoke of futile law keeping, (trying to straighten ourselves out) guilt and reproachment or waiting for the next round of chastising in order to get us saved. It makes me want to throw up, just to write those words!!
OK, so where has old Ray gone wrong re this chastising for we do know that The Father does rebuke and correct, but does He chastise and chasten those whom He loves irrespective, and has this 'chastising'/'chastening' got anything to do with our being saved. Notice I said "Being" saved i.e. ALREADY SAVED. Real chastising comes (only if it is necessary) because we are saved, not in order to achieve it, for we already have salvation if we believe and keep on believing i.e. prove our belief through faith. Notice too The Father 'chastises'/'chastens' those whom He LOVES, and who are they whom He loves? Those who are His, i.e. those Born Again = Saved. Yes he loves all people, but nowhere near as much as those who are His. For Isaac I have loved and Esau have I hated (loved far less).
The Scriptural proof of his blasphemous errors.
Now let's have a look at this word in its different forms as used in the KJV: Chasten; Chastened; Chasteneth; Chastening; Chastise; Chastised; Chastisement and Chastiseth. I will look at some of the uses of these words in Scripture and also look at how they apply to those of us who are Born Again and to those of us who are being called, for this is something old Ray doesn't understand. He doesn't think there is any difference at all between a disciple and a Born Again Believer. This Biblical ignorance alone is breathtaking.
Strong's Concordance refs 3809 & 3811; Chasten; To train up a child - to tutor, instruct or educate; by implication, discipline (by punishment). This latter remark 'punishment' is Dr Strong's remark, so just ignore it. This word 'Chasten' means to instruct, train, tutor, and teach, and yes discipline is obviously required at the early stages of our calling, but nothing else. It's just another Babylonian contamination of God's word, and poor old Dr Strong has fallen for it, like thousands of other people, and mostly Christians at that. You see, all these people, including old Ray, think that Spiritual childhood is a permanent fixture; an arrangement that, for them, is set in concrete and we as True Believers never grow in Spiritual maturity. To them, we never change, and that's because they believe in Salvation by process - salvation by self-improvement, or in old Ray's world - salvation by flogging!! This means there is never any growth or maturity because of the inherent fear.
Now don't get me wrong, because there is a difference between what old Ray says and what most of mainstream Christianity says. Most mainstreamers believe in daily cleansing and self improvement, but old Ray believes in godly inflicted whips and floggings in order to get us saved. Notice though, the blasphemy that they both have in common - neither believes we are Saved - period. Both believe a process is involved when there is no process at all other than growing in Grace and Faith, which we do because we are saved. Neither believes that if we are called, and believe, He has done everything for us and there is nothing we can add to this arrangement. What old Ray needs to learn is this, the only reason for correcting and rebuking is to get us back on track if we go astray or backslide. True Believers are saved and if they go astray they are still saved. How? Grace that's how. In this fallen condition the Lord will come and find them, by letting them sample the pig sty for a while (the prodigal son) until they come to their senses. There, it's as simple as that, but then we are talking about "The simplicity that is in Christ", something old Ray doesn't understand yet, but he will!
Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Straight away, something is going wrong here because repentance is required, so, do Born Again believers need to repent, are they Laodiceans - neither hot nor cold? They are according to old Ray. He thinks we are all so much vomit in The Lord's mouth, waiting to be spewed out. So according to him we all need 'chastening'. Well, what did you expect from an ogre god worshipper and one who has, like mainstream Christianity, sweeping generalised preconceived silly notions about certain Scriptures?
1 Corinthians 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. OK, so what's going on in Corinth? Well, it's more trouble for Paul isn't it, and repentance is required again? They're treating The Lord's Supper irreverently aren't they and even bringing upon themselves weakness through illness and even death? The point here though is this: are these people faithful and true brothers of Jesus Christ? Well yes, if Born Again they are, because that is how they would have started their walk with The Lord. The issue is, they have most certainly gone astray and committed a vile wickedness and therefore need correcting and chastening, which was obviously already under way via their illnesses. This is what chastening is for, not to bring about Salavation, for Salvation is already theirs, but to enable them to finish the race and not back slide nor fall aside! You will notice that I have emphasised Judged as well as Chastened here and that is because this word is another frequently mistranslated and misused word; it is far too severe for this situation. What human father 'judges' his children? He may appraise or evaluate the problem he is faced with when confronted with his child's bad behaviour, but he doesn't judge them. The use of this word is a nonsense and a blasphemy, for there is now no condemnation of those who belong to The Lord - how can there be!? Romans 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin (legalism) and death. Brackets mine.
2 Corinthians 6:9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; This verse needs rewriting: "As ignored and yet identifiable through God's mark or seal; our fleshly bodies dying off and yet we live by the quickening (life giving) Spirit, as tutored and educated and our lives protected." Notice how much more uplifting this verse is when The Truth is revealed and the vile papist slant removed and old Ray's floggings revealed as tutoring!!
Hebrews 12:10 "For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." Notice first, the whole verse is written past tense. Then to whom is the writer talking or writing? Can you see it, it's in the second half of this verse "that we might be partakers" i.e. in the future so these Hebrews were not Born Again for they have yet to become partakers of His Holiness? No one can be a partaker of His Holiness unless they are Born Again, it's that simple. The word 'days' is also an erroneous translation as figuratively it means 'years'. So let's rewrite this verse accurately "For they (our parents) verily for a few years taught and instructed us as it pleased them; but He (i.e. discipled us) for our profit, that we might all be partakers of His Holiness (be Born Again)." Brackets mine. So you can see, even after just a couple or so Scriptures, the Love of God comes shining through here. The Vulgate, L. Ray Smith ogre god with his chastising big stick is melting away like ice on a hot plate! Now does this verse also apply to the coming Resurrection of the Saints? Yes of course, but it primarily applies to us now. Why, because we are Spiritually alive now, if Born of the Spirit; we have been rescued or redeemed from Spiritual death. This too is another example of the Duality in Scripture.
Hebrews 12:5-9"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" Here we go again, yet another dreadful perversion of Holy Scripture. I will challenge any of you who doubt my teaching here, with a question: We as True Believers are supposed to display the fruits of the Spirit i.e. Love, Kindness, Gentleness, Patience etc. Now, can you see any of those qualities in the above passage of Scripture, keeping in mind that the writer is describing God's nature here in His dealings with us, His children - Jesus' friends and brothers!?? Now does the description as it is written in this passage describe a God who Loves us or an ogre god with a big stick who hates us, a tyrant in other words; how does this passage impact in your mind? Write me at yes2truth@hotmail.com and tell me how it impacts on your mind; I look forward to hearing from you.
Before I rewrite this whole passage as it should read, we must first ascertain what this passage is really about, then we can go into the details of the mistranslations contained therein. In order to understand the theme we must go back to verses 2 the first part "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" and 3 "For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." Now straight away from this verse and a half, we gain the understanding we need to understand what follows. Look at verse 2 where it says "The finisher of our faith." Notice, not the finisher of our salvation but the finisher of our faith. Look too at the second half of verse 3 "Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." What are these phrases telling us; what is the core thrust of this message? Why, it's the issue of giving up isn't it? These are people who are losing faith - on the verge of chucking the towel in, and it is from this perspective that we must, and I repeat, must read the rest of this chapter, for to read it with any other meaning in mind will pervert God's Holy Word.
Now, with this Truth in mind, I will translate Hebrews 12:5-9. Notice too that I have underlined other key words in this passage in order to break down the Papist Roman Catholic syllogisms (see brackets below) that I will reveal, for I have already exposed the misuse of the word 'chasten' as used in other scriptures. Hebrews 12:5 "And you have become completely oblivious to your calling, given via the Comforter which spoke clearly and thoroughly to you as sons. My sons do not treat with disrespect the tutorage and education of The Lord, nor grow weary when you are convicted of Him. 6 For whom The Lord loves, he teaches and educates and brings to repentance every son He receives or admits into His Kingdom. 7 If you stay under The Lord's tutorage, He will tenderly nurture you as sons; for how can a son call himself a son if he rejects his Father's teaching? 8 Now if some set themselves apart from their Father's teaching, of which all real sons are sharers, then they are bastards and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who taught us and we respected them: shall we not therefore in a greater degree submit ourselves to the Father of The Holy Spirit and live?" Notice again, how much love is now shining through this passage now the ogre god has been eradicated and purged from it.
[Re Papist RC syllogisms. A syllogism is where an answer, notion or idea is produced first and then a manufactured theory developed afterwards to support it. This is how Roman Catholic doctrine is constructed, thereby making it 'infallible'. To you and me, that means they make it up as they go along and are a law unto themselves; they have their agenda(s) and everyone and everything is secondary and subservient to that/those agenda(s).]
Hebrews 12:10 I have already covered so we will move on to verse 11 "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." The proper translation is: "Now training and education towards that, that is at hand does not seem of joy, but of grief, nevertheless eventually it bears the fruit of peace and to the ones who have been trained by it, gives way to righteousness." Now this passage is aimed at those coming to The Lord - those being drawn by The Father to His Son. Those who are Born Again are already righteous.
OK, I have finished this study on 'Hell'Ray Smith's blasphemies i.e. all his chastening and chastising to salvation. Now let's see if he comes up with a few syllogisms of his own, but I won't hold my breath!!
y2t
The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ: The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ
The Simplicity that is in
Christ
yes2truth, exposing those who blaspheme against Jesus Christ!
"A man that is an heretick [that's you, yes2truth] after the first and second admonition [you have had more than two admonitions] REJECT: knowing that He that is such is suberted [Gk: 'warped'], and SINNETH [that's you, yes2truth and will NOT repent, and doesn't even believe in repentance], being CONDEMNED of himself" (Titus 3:10-11).Ray.
PS I will not let any more of you perverted gospel into my spiritual house, so don't even waste your time."
Ha Ha, the arrogant affrontery of this man! These were 'Hell' Ray Smith's last words to me where he states I have not repented. Well I have news for him, I have repented; I repented when I was called. If I didn't repent then, I could not have been called. It's an impossibility. It's like saying the Pope isn't a Catholic!! Furthermore, if I had not been called, if I had not repented, I would still be down the pub getting legless every weekend!!
So what does this tell us about this man? Answer: he has no understanding of Repentance, no understanding of Salvation and no understanding of Grace. What is worse, is he doesn't understand the nature of God - Love, Mercy and Forgiveness. Notice, he even thinks he has a 'spiritual house' which is true, a spiritual house of the Devil! How is it a spiritual house of the Devil, because his message is just another non-gospel? It's bad news, not The Good News.
So I say to him, Judge not that ye be not judged.
The 'teaching' of L. Ray Smith or better 'Hell' Ray Smith is the most subtle form of legalism I have yet come across. The man who called me a foolish heretic! Hmm. well we will see won't we? You see, when he said these things it was sheer frustrated emotion that was engaged and not one piece of Scriptural proof used to support his accusations. He had no answers, so he resorted to the usual Worldwide 'Church' of god tactic - call them a heretic and ban them - that's the way to do it!
The warning signs.
Myself, like old Ray, having once been a member of Herbert W. Armstrongs's Judaising cult, and upon stumbling across ('stumbling' being a very relevant word here) L. Ray Smith's website and forum, I instantly related to his no nonsense style of preaching/teaching, which in itself is fine, and therein found much Truth being taught, but then, Hello!? I've been here before haven't I? Yes of course I had and there it was, all the time, that old stumbling block of legalism.
Now this man openly boasts of having known both HWA and Garner Ted, his son, and when reading that I should really have been on my guard, but you know the old problem don't you, we True Believers can be a gullible lot at times, always ready to give people the benefit of the doubt, aren't we, and thereby get easily taken in? In turn and with hindsight, I realised too, what I was witnessing was those on his forum had that familiar spirit of sycophancy, just like all us suckers who fell under Armstrong's influence. All of you who were part of Armstrongism will relate to this kind of idolatry and deception - you know the score, no one can think for themselves where the Scriptures are concerned; we must wait until god L Ray Smith or god HWA has told us what this Scripture means, nevermind what The Lord Jesus Christ says1 John 2:27 "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." Old Ray's got it all so sown up, no one is even allowed to teach on his forum - I wonder why!!?? Is it 'E' for Error or 'E' for Ego? Both, I reckon.
Armstrongism.
Just what exactly is Armstrongism? It's many things and I have already explained some of the things here on this Blog, but one of biggest errors Armstrong introduced, and old Ray continues, is this blasphemy that we are not Spiritual sons of God until we are Resurrected. Through this henious error he, and Armstrong before him, deny that True Believers are saved and they teach that salvation is a life long process via chastening and chastising until Our Lord's return i.e. not made fully Holy until the First Resurrection. To support this blasphemous lie, they have the affrontery to deny the significance of our conversion - The indwelling of The Holy Spirit and our birthing as Sons of God, and they do this by saying there is no difference between a disciple and a Born Again True Believer - another lie! I will be doing a separate study on this important topic soon because we all need to understand this fundamental difference.
Negating The Lord's Sacrifice through Salvation by chastening/chastising!
As I was saying, this is the most subtle from of legalism I have yet encountered in all my travels across the WWW. What makes it so subtle? Armstrongism is the answer. How does this work then? Easy, you teach a lot of Truth to hide the blasphemous demonics, deceptions and lies at work in the background; you certainly won't find Grace in the foreground, I'll tell you that much. So what are the demonics at work here? Again easy, "salvation by works" or "salvation by process" or a negating of Our Lord's Sacrifice and those things He achieved for us through His Resurrection. He, like many others, cannot get through his thick skull the fact that Our Lord accomplished everything at the cross and in His Resurrection, so that all we have to do is believe and grow in Grace filled confidence and Faith.
How does Mr Smith do this? He accurately points out many of the errors in mainstream Christianity and then, in a total u-turn actually supports their erroneous teaching of salvation by process or works - daily cleansing - self-improvement - or in his terminology, gradually gaining our salvation through....wait for it - chastising. Can you believe that? Is that really what he says? Most definitely. He is just another purveyor of ogre gods, only in his case the 'big stick' variety that Armstrong always taught. This is fear based legalism, making Grace a conditional arrangement - a wicked blasphemy.
No understanding of Grace.
Grace is an undeserved free gift which sets us free - free from the bondage of legalism and sin. When Our Lord said, whilst on the cross, "It is finished", that is what He meant - period; everything had been accomplished for us, no more heavy burdens. From now on we would carry His light yoke, not the Devil's yoke of futile law keeping, (trying to straighten ourselves out) guilt and reproachment or waiting for the next round of chastising in order to get us saved. It makes me want to throw up, just to write those words!!
OK, so where has old Ray gone wrong re this chastising for we do know that The Father does rebuke and correct, but does He chastise and chasten those whom He loves irrespective, and has this 'chastising'/'chastening' got anything to do with our being saved. Notice I said "Being" saved i.e. ALREADY SAVED. Real chastising comes (only if it is necessary) because we are saved, not in order to achieve it, for we already have salvation if we believe and keep on believing i.e. prove our belief through faith. Notice too The Father 'chastises'/'chastens' those whom He LOVES, and who are they whom He loves? Those who are His, i.e. those Born Again = Saved. Yes he loves all people, but nowhere near as much as those who are His. For Isaac I have loved and Esau have I hated (loved far less).
The Scriptural proof of his blasphemous errors.
Now let's have a look at this word in its different forms as used in the KJV: Chasten; Chastened; Chasteneth; Chastening; Chastise; Chastised; Chastisement and Chastiseth. I will look at some of the uses of these words in Scripture and also look at how they apply to those of us who are Born Again and to those of us who are being called, for this is something old Ray doesn't understand. He doesn't think there is any difference at all between a disciple and a Born Again Believer. This Biblical ignorance alone is breathtaking.
Strong's Concordance refs 3809 & 3811; Chasten; To train up a child - to tutor, instruct or educate; by implication, discipline (by punishment). This latter remark 'punishment' is Dr Strong's remark, so just ignore it. This word 'Chasten' means to instruct, train, tutor, and teach, and yes discipline is obviously required at the early stages of our calling, but nothing else. It's just another Babylonian contamination of God's word, and poor old Dr Strong has fallen for it, like thousands of other people, and mostly Christians at that. You see, all these people, including old Ray, think that Spiritual childhood is a permanent fixture; an arrangement that, for them, is set in concrete and we as True Believers never grow in Spiritual maturity. To them, we never change, and that's because they believe in Salvation by process - salvation by self-improvement, or in old Ray's world - salvation by flogging!! This means there is never any growth or maturity because of the inherent fear.
Now don't get me wrong, because there is a difference between what old Ray says and what most of mainstream Christianity says. Most mainstreamers believe in daily cleansing and self improvement, but old Ray believes in godly inflicted whips and floggings in order to get us saved. Notice though, the blasphemy that they both have in common - neither believes we are Saved - period. Both believe a process is involved when there is no process at all other than growing in Grace and Faith, which we do because we are saved. Neither believes that if we are called, and believe, He has done everything for us and there is nothing we can add to this arrangement. What old Ray needs to learn is this, the only reason for correcting and rebuking is to get us back on track if we go astray or backslide. True Believers are saved and if they go astray they are still saved. How? Grace that's how. In this fallen condition the Lord will come and find them, by letting them sample the pig sty for a while (the prodigal son) until they come to their senses. There, it's as simple as that, but then we are talking about "The simplicity that is in Christ", something old Ray doesn't understand yet, but he will!
Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Straight away, something is going wrong here because repentance is required, so, do Born Again believers need to repent, are they Laodiceans - neither hot nor cold? They are according to old Ray. He thinks we are all so much vomit in The Lord's mouth, waiting to be spewed out. So according to him we all need 'chastening'. Well, what did you expect from an ogre god worshipper and one who has, like mainstream Christianity, sweeping generalised preconceived silly notions about certain Scriptures?
1 Corinthians 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. OK, so what's going on in Corinth? Well, it's more trouble for Paul isn't it, and repentance is required again? They're treating The Lord's Supper irreverently aren't they and even bringing upon themselves weakness through illness and even death? The point here though is this: are these people faithful and true brothers of Jesus Christ? Well yes, if Born Again they are, because that is how they would have started their walk with The Lord. The issue is, they have most certainly gone astray and committed a vile wickedness and therefore need correcting and chastening, which was obviously already under way via their illnesses. This is what chastening is for, not to bring about Salavation, for Salvation is already theirs, but to enable them to finish the race and not back slide nor fall aside! You will notice that I have emphasised Judged as well as Chastened here and that is because this word is another frequently mistranslated and misused word; it is far too severe for this situation. What human father 'judges' his children? He may appraise or evaluate the problem he is faced with when confronted with his child's bad behaviour, but he doesn't judge them. The use of this word is a nonsense and a blasphemy, for there is now no condemnation of those who belong to The Lord - how can there be!? Romans 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin (legalism) and death. Brackets mine.
2 Corinthians 6:9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; This verse needs rewriting: "As ignored and yet identifiable through God's mark or seal; our fleshly bodies dying off and yet we live by the quickening (life giving) Spirit, as tutored and educated and our lives protected." Notice how much more uplifting this verse is when The Truth is revealed and the vile papist slant removed and old Ray's floggings revealed as tutoring!!
Hebrews 12:10 "For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." Notice first, the whole verse is written past tense. Then to whom is the writer talking or writing? Can you see it, it's in the second half of this verse "that we might be partakers" i.e. in the future so these Hebrews were not Born Again for they have yet to become partakers of His Holiness? No one can be a partaker of His Holiness unless they are Born Again, it's that simple. The word 'days' is also an erroneous translation as figuratively it means 'years'. So let's rewrite this verse accurately "For they (our parents) verily for a few years taught and instructed us as it pleased them; but He (i.e. discipled us) for our profit, that we might all be partakers of His Holiness (be Born Again)." Brackets mine. So you can see, even after just a couple or so Scriptures, the Love of God comes shining through here. The Vulgate, L. Ray Smith ogre god with his chastising big stick is melting away like ice on a hot plate! Now does this verse also apply to the coming Resurrection of the Saints? Yes of course, but it primarily applies to us now. Why, because we are Spiritually alive now, if Born of the Spirit; we have been rescued or redeemed from Spiritual death. This too is another example of the Duality in Scripture.
Hebrews 12:5-9"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" Here we go again, yet another dreadful perversion of Holy Scripture. I will challenge any of you who doubt my teaching here, with a question: We as True Believers are supposed to display the fruits of the Spirit i.e. Love, Kindness, Gentleness, Patience etc. Now, can you see any of those qualities in the above passage of Scripture, keeping in mind that the writer is describing God's nature here in His dealings with us, His children - Jesus' friends and brothers!?? Now does the description as it is written in this passage describe a God who Loves us or an ogre god with a big stick who hates us, a tyrant in other words; how does this passage impact in your mind? Write me at yes2truth@hotmail.com and tell me how it impacts on your mind; I look forward to hearing from you.
Before I rewrite this whole passage as it should read, we must first ascertain what this passage is really about, then we can go into the details of the mistranslations contained therein. In order to understand the theme we must go back to verses 2 the first part "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" and 3 "For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." Now straight away from this verse and a half, we gain the understanding we need to understand what follows. Look at verse 2 where it says "The finisher of our faith." Notice, not the finisher of our salvation but the finisher of our faith. Look too at the second half of verse 3 "Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." What are these phrases telling us; what is the core thrust of this message? Why, it's the issue of giving up isn't it? These are people who are losing faith - on the verge of chucking the towel in, and it is from this perspective that we must, and I repeat, must read the rest of this chapter, for to read it with any other meaning in mind will pervert God's Holy Word.
Now, with this Truth in mind, I will translate Hebrews 12:5-9. Notice too that I have underlined other key words in this passage in order to break down the Papist Roman Catholic syllogisms (see brackets below) that I will reveal, for I have already exposed the misuse of the word 'chasten' as used in other scriptures. Hebrews 12:5 "And you have become completely oblivious to your calling, given via the Comforter which spoke clearly and thoroughly to you as sons. My sons do not treat with disrespect the tutorage and education of The Lord, nor grow weary when you are convicted of Him. 6 For whom The Lord loves, he teaches and educates and brings to repentance every son He receives or admits into His Kingdom. 7 If you stay under The Lord's tutorage, He will tenderly nurture you as sons; for how can a son call himself a son if he rejects his Father's teaching? 8 Now if some set themselves apart from their Father's teaching, of which all real sons are sharers, then they are bastards and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who taught us and we respected them: shall we not therefore in a greater degree submit ourselves to the Father of The Holy Spirit and live?" Notice again, how much love is now shining through this passage now the ogre god has been eradicated and purged from it.
[Re Papist RC syllogisms. A syllogism is where an answer, notion or idea is produced first and then a manufactured theory developed afterwards to support it. This is how Roman Catholic doctrine is constructed, thereby making it 'infallible'. To you and me, that means they make it up as they go along and are a law unto themselves; they have their agenda(s) and everyone and everything is secondary and subservient to that/those agenda(s).]
Hebrews 12:10 I have already covered so we will move on to verse 11 "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." The proper translation is: "Now training and education towards that, that is at hand does not seem of joy, but of grief, nevertheless eventually it bears the fruit of peace and to the ones who have been trained by it, gives way to righteousness." Now this passage is aimed at those coming to The Lord - those being drawn by The Father to His Son. Those who are Born Again are already righteous.
OK, I have finished this study on 'Hell'Ray Smith's blasphemies i.e. all his chastening and chastising to salvation. Now let's see if he comes up with a few syllogisms of his own, but I won't hold my breath!!
y2t
The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ: The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ
The Simplicity that is in
Christ
