The Fundamental Foundations – Part 1

by ‘Holbert Marie’

Personal testimony, foundations of the Fundamentals:

In the late fall of 1978, at 21 years of age, I found myself sitting on a hill over overlooking a church that I normally was in attending a Sunday evening service. I was distracted that day and found myself desperately crying out to the Lord to speak to me and give me guidance and clarity as to what He wanted me to do with my life at that point in time.  Everything had come to a dead end. A house rehabbing company that I was part of had dried up and in any case, it was not something I wanted to invest my life’s effort into pursuing. I had been to college for a year and hated it, thought it was a pursuit of useless knowledge, nonsense (what some East Texans call, “booch”), and had actually flunked out, earning ridicule and causing my parents and family shame. However, my desire to have “a normal upper middle class American Dream” type of life, that would make my family and parents ‘proud’, pretty much died on a summer night, June 14, 1972 some six years before I flunked out of college; the day everything changed, I met God!    

My search for God was not a casual or flippant one. One has to understand, I was not raised to just accept everything I was taught as being truth, in fact the opposite was true. I was raised to dig in, challenge and to know why I believed what I believed and why I was doing whatever it is that I was doing. (Debate and arguments over any and everything was the norm in my home growing up as the fourth of four boys.) So in the terms of, “Who or is there a God?”, I felt this was a critically important topic, one I really needed to get right!

So, when I was 13, as I entered the age of reason, and I really started asking questions about life and questioning the nature – (not so much the existence) – of a ‘real God’ as it was common sense to me that there was some kind of ‘creator, intelligent “God” type of being’ that put all this into place. – (Something, especially extremely complex life forms, cannot come from nothing or by random chance. Believing that is really a special kind of ‘faith’ that defies basic logic that far exceeds any ‘religious’ faith in a creator ‘God’!) – There were two primary questions that firmly came to — (From the Holy Spirit though I did not know it at the time.) — my ever-inquisitive mind: A.) Does my life have a purpose or meaning? B.) What happens to me when I die?  Not exactly uncommon questions, but none the less, important ones that I really wanted answers too. This led me on a search or what I called a ‘bus tour’ of the various religions that I had at least a casual knowledge about, to begin the search for a ‘real God’.  It seemed apparent to me, even at that age, that for one’s life to have any real meaning, there has to be some sort of God or ‘greater power’, or purpose, that gives it meaning outside of oneself! Again, to me at least, this was just common, simple logic.

– (I think I should say at this point that I am not a classical ‘intellectual’ in an academic sense, I am not and never have been a voracious reader – I have read a good number of works – especially the first 15 years or so from meeting Jesus – from a wide variety of differing Christian authors but generally, outside the scripture, I have read little else over the last 20 or so years! Eccl 12:12 is one of my preferred scriptures – I am not one who likes to just learn things just to “know stuff’, nor am I a ‘micro mind’, one who really digs deep into a specific subject to know every little detail — ( I am satisfied knowing the fundamentals and basics in most instances) — unless I think it is really important and then I will dig in earnestly. However, even then, though not an academic intellectual, I am very much a thinker and one who likes to discover and find things, as much as possible, on my own and then see what others may have to say to see how it might line up with the conclusions I have come to and not the other way around! — (This is what Paul did by the way –Gal 1:15-2:2)– And thus, it was in my search for God. I was not looking to become an ‘expert’ in religions, I just wanted to know the fundamental core beliefs and examine them objectively using fundamental critical, logical thinking, something I was well trained to do by my father and in my families, ‘challenge everything’ environment!) –

It was obvious to me that there was some sort of creator “God” that put this thing we call the universe and our world together. No complex artwork creates itself of its own accord, there must be an artist, a creator behind it! The “‘theory’ – (It is not a theory, fits none of the ‘scientific method’ qualifications to be called a theory) – of evolution” – as far as being a relevant idea to how complex living things came into existence) — was therefore nonsense to me from the moment I was taught it. I dismissed it out of hand as foolishness, simply because it is based on a faulty premise with bad foundations and fundamentals and is clearly not consistent, measurable or observable which is what real science is!

Therefore, as I begin to look for answers to these two basic questions, I started doing research by looking for ‘God’ by reading up and inquiring into other religions, outside the one I was raised into. However, I was very specific in my research, I wanted to know what their concept or idea of who God or ‘the God’s were and if they were approachable or ‘knowable’. — (As I grew up in the 60s and 70s and there were all kinds of “New Age”, Buddhist/Hindu eastern based religions flying around and also Islam and Judaism, who accepted Jesus as a prophet or ‘good man’ but not as a God in the flesh, there was plenty of available ‘religions’ to delve into). I begin to discover in my studies and observations, that Jesus Christ, the supposed head of the ‘Christian religion’, kept showing up everywhere!, — (This was my ‘religion’ — liturgical denomination – that I was partially and nominally, raised in, my father left this church when I was about seven — and therefore I had a bias against “Christianity” because of obvious hypocrisy I saw both in my own home and culture,  I also wanted to be ‘fair and objective’ in my search for God!*)  I noted that Jesus (Isa) is one of the ‘big three’, (the sinless prophet) in Islam. Was called an ‘incarnation of Krishna’ by Hindus, an ‘ascended master’ by Buddhist, Even had one follower of a Buddhist/New Age sect, (who was formally from a Southern Baptist home) call Jesus his ‘personal guru and master’!

[*Note: I had never heard of C.S Lewis’s, ”Mere Christianity” (which I find excellent) and Josh McDowell had not written his books at that time, which I have never read. So, this was all the Holy Spirit and me. Also, I had never read the Bible for myself before this, they do not teach you to read the Bible in the church I went to and as I mostly went to the adult service on Sunday’s, which was extremely boring for a seven-year-old, I virtually had no background in the Bible at all at the time, but I was well versed in sitting, standing, kneeling and being told to ‘sit still’ and not being very successful at obeying that!]

So, because Jesus kept showing up in all these other religions; I felt the need to start reading about Jesus and seek the only book that we know that contains His actual words, the Bible, and specifically, the first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I asked one of my brothers – (who eventually become a ‘priest’ in the church I grew up in) – which book should I read if I wanted to learn about who Jesus is? He recommended the gospel of John and so I began to read, with one purpose in mind, “Who is this man Jesus Christ?” I initially thought He was just what I called a ‘deluded do-gooder’, a hippie, who was just saying, ‘peace and love’ – which to the hippie meant freedom to have as much sex and drugs and ‘pleasure’ as they wanted! By the time I reached John 8, my opinion had been dramatically changed, and when He came to the woman caught in adultery, I found myself challenged and intrigued about His predicament; how would He answer those snakes – which Jesus himself called them more than once – (Understandably, due to my background with this class of people, I did not care for the Pharisees much)? He was trapped, I saw no way out and I spent some time thinking about how I would answer.

Once I saw His answer, I was convinced that this man was anything but a pot smoking, ‘deluded ‘free love’ hippie do-gooder,’ if there was anyone who could be a personal “God in the flesh — John 1:14” it was probably this man. I had come to the end of my two-year search. I had found, I believed, “God”. I had begun this search with the notion and idea, that once I found God and was convinced that He was God, that I will accept Him. So now that I had ‘found God’ I was faced with the predicament of not knowing what to do? How do I ‘accept God?’ This led me to watching, by chance, a Billy Graham crusade on TV, that happened to be on that very night for three days starting on June 12^th. I watched and carefully heeded the ‘altar call’ that he is famous for and I followed and repeated the prayer of the most famous and respected evangelist of our time, which ultimately led me to nothing but a hopeless despair that led me to seriously contemplate committing suicide, even putting a loaded gun to my head! — Why? Well, the reason was simple, I had sincerely followed the ‘sinner’s prayer’ and the end result was absolutely nothing happened in my heart, soul, mind or being to give me any indication that I was ‘saved’, or that God heard it, or that He existed or even knew or cared about who I was! This devastated me, I felt rejected by GOD! I was already dealing with massive rejection issues from my family, this was just too much to bear.

Ultimately, I had a massive flaw that I did not calculate into my thinking as I went out on my search for a “real God” — the flaw? I had stated when I found God I would ‘accept Him’. It had never occurred to me that God might have a say (a vote) in whether or not He would accept me! Relationship is a two-way street! I was quite arrogant in my approach to the topic of, “Find out who is God and then I will accept Him!” The hard and cold truth is this; whether or not “I accept God” or not, has absolutely no impact on His being or existence, the same cannot be said for me! Putting it simply and succinctly, I was not the only one who had a vote in the matter! And it appeared to me, after my truly sincere attempt to ‘accept Him’ that God was either, 1.)  not a personal God, or 2) was no longer involved or interested in my world or 3.) the most devastating prospect, had ‘voted’ to not accept me, and that was the option my mind settled on!

The next day in utter despair, I loaded the gun we kept in my upstairs attic room, put it to my head and began to shake as I was muttering, “Even God has rejected me!”, there was simply no reason to live in this mean and selfish world. It was then the second basic question popped into my mind, “Holbert, what happens to you after you pull the trigger?” I had no answer for this, and I removed the gun from my head, thinking, ‘you’re such a loser you cannot even commit suicide. Still my logical mind was asking the question, ‘now what?’ This lead me to my desperate and final plea to the “whoever shows up God” that I would surrender my life to“, late at night on June 14, 1972.

As my search for God was not casual or flippant, neither was the night when He revealed Himself to me, when the Lord Jesus Christ showed up to a nearly 15-year-old kid, who had come extremely close to killing himself after feeling rejected by God. One who had been crying out desperately all day to know if there was a real God who even cared about his existence, finally culminating with this impassioned and final cry of anguish late at night:

 “God, I know there is a God, the world and me did not get here through some random chance over billions of years, that sort of thinking is a fool’s thought. I think that Jesus Christ is God, He is the only one that makes any sense. Yet when I called out to Him, there was nothing there. So now I must ask some real questions about you 1.) Are you still around after creating all this stuff or did you just kind of make it and move on? and 2.) If you are still around, are you a personal God that interacts with or even cares about us at all or do you just kind of sit back and watch and let it go off on its own, with little intervention into our affairs? And if you are there, 3.) Who are you as there are so many religions claiming to represent you, but they do not agree at all and cannot be the same God and most make no sense or claim Jesus in some form or fashion? Finally (and most importantly for me at least): 4.) Do you care about ME at all or am I just another grain of sand on the beach of life?  If so, how can I know you? You have to reveal yourself to me in a way that I can understand that you are real and not just some story in a book or made up by clever men seeking to manipulate, control or profit from ‘religion’.—

 (Even at 14, a few weeks before 15, if you were as serious about finding a ‘real God’ as I was, these four questions are not so deep, they are actually ‘fundamental’ and it didn’t take much discernment at that age to realize people were generally self-centered!)

 —. Ultimately God, I cannot go to you; I am stuck in this body, so you must come to me and reveal yourself! And here is the deal God, whoever you are, if you show up, and reveal yourself to me, I will give you my life, all of it, (And I really meant it, STILL DO! It wasn’t just about ‘accepting Jesus’ to get out of hell, it was about GIVING HIM MY WHOLE LIFE TO DO WITH AS HE SO SEES FIT!) it may not be worth much, but it is all I have to offer, but I will give it up to which ever God shows up! If you are real and if you give a rip about me at all, I will give you my life fully! If no one shows up I will have to assume that either there is no personal God or that God does not really care about me or who I am and I will have to muddle through this life as best I can on my own! But if you are there and show me who you are, I am yours, completely! And oh one more thing, anything you might have for me, I want it!

This was, as said above, a deeply desperate and sincere cry that I meant with all my being! Within a moment of this desperate plea, ‘glory’, power and an indescribable presence of a person from another dimension. entered my room and my heart and I heard in my being, a clearly discernible voice saying:

“My name is Jesus Christ, I am the Son of the Living God, I have heard your cry and your life now belongs to me! You are mine and I love you!”  

Words cannot adequately describe the feeling and presence that overwhelmed me at that moment. It was like liquid love. Ever since that night the idea of living a life outside of His known will or desire was forever destroyed – (though I have been as, Paul said, “the chief of sinners”, my desire has been to do His will!)  Praise, worship and thanksgiving was pouring out of my whole being and through my mouth. The Lord was not finished yet. Again, the clear discernible ‘golden’ voice spoke to me saying, “Speak in tongues.” I was like ‘What?, Speak in tongues?!!, What is that?”  Again, He said to me, clearly, “Speak in tongues. You asked me if I had anything for you that you wanted it so … Speak in tongues!”  “Well Ok!” The next moment a torrent of words and phrases that I did not know or understand came flowing through me and out my mouth. Remember, I had not read the Bible, I knew nothing about the day of Pentecost, being ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ or speaking in other tongues. This was all Him, 100%. It was like what happened to Cornelius and company in Acts 10.

So here I am, six years later, sitting on a hill, once again desperately crying out to my Lord, “Father, what do you want me to do, I am so dissatisfied with where I am. I have given you my life, what do you want to do with it now? Please Lord answer me!”

Once again, in an instant, His voice was clear as were the instructions:

“Son, I want you to go back to college, finish what you started, get your degree in Physical Education and History, be a coach and teacher for a season. This is your ‘seminary’. I will use this to both train you and send you into the nations to declare my name.”

As I said earlier, I hated college, thought it was useless. I had considered various Bible schools to which the Lord clearly said, “No, that way is not for you, I am your teacher, learn from me!”  I had gone to college initially because this is what American Upper middle-class kids do! So, two and half years after flunking out, I found myself not only going back to college, but doing so eagerly. I finished my degree in two and half years and was on the “dean’s list’ often. This is what the Lord does when you truly surrender your life to Him. He gives you the power (grace) and yes, even desire, to do what He has called and wants you to do! (By the way I have certain learning disabilities that greatly impact my ability to read and write with the speed that is necessary to keep up with serious college courses and Texas A&M was not one to either ‘hand hold you’ or inflate grades and pass you because you are paying higher tuition!)

As He said to me on that hill, I did go on to coach and teach US history for several years, first in a public school and then in a Christian School and it did serve, as He also told me, as my “seminary” – ministry training. So my professional back ground and training, my “seminary” is as a sports coach and teacher. And then finally, as He said, He sent me to the nations.

One of the many things, I learned from my ‘seminary’ is that coaching is very critical and redundant. You practice and repeat good fundamentals and techniques over and over again until you do the skill without thinking about it. (If you practice bad fundamentals and techniques, that is what you will do. You will do what you practice, what you spend your time, mental energy and effort on is what you will do, and those things that you spend most of your time, mental (thought) and physical resources on, is what will be most important to you (your treasure) as well) Coaching is practical. You can ‘know’ a lot but it really doesn’t mean much if you do not take what you know and turn it in to executable action—fruit. This is true in life, in music and any other skill or profession. I wish I had a dollar for every time a kid I was coaching said, – after I had corrected them or told them to do a specific skill for the umpteenth time – “Coach I know that!”  To which I would normally reply with something like, “Well, son I don’t really care about what you know, I only care about what I see you do with what you know, and you are not doing what you say that you know very well right now, so I am going to tell you to do it again until you actually do it the right way and do it consistently – (becomes good habit) – without thinking about it!”

Your time and your thoughts  and desires are some of your most precious commodities, what YOU do with them will determine how worthwhile your life is for the Lord and for others. If you wish to be excellent in anything, it will require redundant, repetitive, and often BORING AND TEDIOUS effort and practice as it becomes habit (Phil 3:1, Jude 3-5). If you practice using good technique, you will develop good habits, if you practice bad techniques, that too will become a habit, and it is much more difficult to fix bad habits then it is to develop good ones from the beginning. It is impossible to fix them if you are unwilling to see that what you are doing is wrong or needs correction. Even, if one has practiced good fundamentals and has good habits, they then have to be diligently maintained if you wish to remain excellent and sharp. The enemy is always trying to meddle with us and cause us to develop bad fundamentals or to stop doing the ‘boring fundamentals’ at all! So we need to be diligent to remember our foundations and practice the fundamentals of spending time at the feet of Jesus and listening to him (not the “Martha’s” (our family who ‘love us’ – Luke 10:40, 41– or the “Judas’s” (John 12:1-7) – that are wanting to call us to their agenda), worshiping, in prayer (both in the Spirit and in the natural 1 Cor 14:14) and in the word and then in obedience DO what He tells us to do, like the slave/servant we are supposed to be! (Luke 17:5-10)

Eventually, I found myself, at His leading and calling; privileged to be in Kyoto Japan (1994) with my wife and at the time, two children – became four–. I had, ‘stumbled’ across a small International Bible study that was held on the campus of Kyoto University which they had asked me to come in and lead. This quickly grew, by His grace, and we had many nationalities and ‘tongues’ and this quickly grew into an International community which has now been ‘deployed’ all over the world! It is primarily for this community that this particular writing (and others) began and from it, I have felt the Lord tell me that I need to finish the writing of this ‘book’ which I have dabbled around with over the last 20+ years, this is the only ‘book’, I ever plan to write, As I said, I am not an ‘author’ or a ‘skilled or trained’ writer. I am a coach, not exactly skilled in grammar and writing and this is not something I enjoy, it is an act of obedience! Unless, the Lord says otherwise, or my kids or someone else decides to compile and edit all of the ‘revelations from the Word’ the Lord has given me over the years, in to some sort of cohesive work, this is it! . (Holbert Marie, completed February 2021)

Introduction:

This is the first part of what I intend to be the only ‘book’ I ever write. I do not know if it will ever be formally published. I will tell you up front, this is not a ‘light’, ‘casual’ read! It was not created to be a ‘best seller’ or a good ‘relaxing read before bedtime’. Those who know me are not surprised at that! It was written to make you delve into the word of God, to think deeply and meditate on it, to challenge you and drive you to the Lord, the author and finisher of your faith! “In Him we live and move and have our very being” (Acts 17:28).

I have written up and released various parts of it to differing groups or people over the last 20+ years. However, because of the bevy of false teachers and prophets and deceptions that we are seeing today (as Jesus warned us would happen in Matt 24:4–9-14), I believe the need for just good solid, “dig deep and hit the rock” (Luke 6:47, 48) biblical fundamentals is critically important at all times but especially now, at this time. I find myself some what appalled by the lack of just good basic solid biblically backed ‘fundamental/foundational’ doctrine being taught or presented to a large portion of the body today. Even the ‘gospel’ — (if it really could be called ‘the gospel’ is debatable) — being presented in most church venues is quite ‘watered down’ or in many situations ‘marketed’ and ‘sold’ — “Confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you get eternal life, healing and blessings galore because He loves you so much no matter what you did (true) or what you do going forward (not true)!” What a great deal; to bad it is not true, as there is little to ‘no counting the cost’, no repentance required. –

(Though it does not matter what you DID in the past, the Lord will forgive and restore and heal, but we would be wise to remember that he did tell the woman caught in adultery to “go and sin no more!” When one is truly born again, there will be the fruit of a changed life, a changed mindset. there will be as John the Baptist said, a bearing of the ‘fruit of repentance’ which we will discuss in depth later on. Though we wrestle with to ‘put to death’ our flesh ‘sin nature’, there is now a desire to love, serve and please the Lord and that includes a desire to not let our sin nature rule over us as it did before we MET Jesus not only as saviour but as LORD!) —

Oh how we have strayed from the original teaching and preaching of Peter and Paul and yes, even Christ. (The gospel according to Jesus, as spoken to the multitudes FOLLOWING HIM, can be found in Luke 14:25-35). We are coming into the time were the 2nd and 3rd seed of the parable of the sower, (Matt 13:4-8, Matt 13:20-22) and “the falling away” of 2 Thes 2:1-3 as well as 2 Tim 3:12,13; are being fully manifested right before our eyes!

I am quite sure that there will be those who would contend with me over my definitions and applications. To them I will use the only direct quote from someone outside of scripture through the entire book, simply because I could not express my thoughts on this matter any better:

This is from Charles G. Finney’s “Systematic Theology“, ‘Authors Preface’ – Point 8 and 11.

Author’s Preface
8.) If any of my brethren think to convince me of error, they must first understand me, and show that they have read the book through, and that they understand it, and are candidly inquiring after truth and not “striving for masteries.” — (To me this in not a competition, the goal is not to win a debate; nor is it intended to be a battle of wits. This is about seeking and finding the “Truth!”- HM) — If my brother is inquiring after truth, I will, by the grace of God, “hear with both ears, and then judge.” But I will not promise to attend to all that cavilers may say, nor to notice what those impertinent talkers and writers may say or write who must have controversy. But to all honest inquirers after truth I would say, Hail, my brother! Let us be thorough. Truth shall do us good.

He went on to say:

11.) I hold myself sacredly bound, not to defend these positions at all events, but on the contrary, to subject every one of them to the most thorough discussion, and to hold and treat them as I would the opinions of any one else; that is, if upon further discussion and investigation I see no cause to change, I hold them fast; but if I can see a flaw in any one of them, I shall amend or wholly reject it, as further light shall demand. Should I refuse or fail to do this, I should need to blush for my folly and inconsistency, for I say again, that true Christian consistency implies progress in knowledge and holiness, and such changes in theory and in practice as are demanded by increasing light.

(from Systematic Theology, PC Study Bible electronic database Copyright © 1999, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

“Holbert Marie” March 30th, 2021
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Preface:

As a missionary in multiple foreign countries and a former lead elder/pastor of an International/Chinese fellowship/community (1995-2001), (and having been formally a sports coach by profession, one who knows well the value of repetition of correct and proper basic skills, even if tedious!) I have come across a fundamental and basic problem in ministering the ‘Word of God’ to the various peoples I have had the privilege of sharing with. This problem became apparent several years back and I wrote and released the original draft of this paper at that time, [1998], to begin to address the problem.

Since then, presently 2018 (2020), I have made a number of additions and edits over those 20 + years. This paper was primarily composed for high level, but biblically ignorant academics, as the composition of this fellowship was overwhelmingly made up of post grad and post doc ‘elite’ students, the vast majority of which came from countries where Christians were the extreme minority or persecuted. So, my primary goal was to set some basic foundations of the faith, that are clearly and redundantly laid out in scripture. I have added a secondary purpose; to deal with false theological issues that I had to deal with as well that I have seen pop up in my now more then 30+ years of ministry specifically dealing with the ‘educated class’ or the ‘academic intelligentsia’. Most of those with advanced degrees in either high level science, engineering or business and a few with theological degrees and were ‘ordained’.

However, one does not need a Ph.D. or even a degree to be part of this ‘educated, intellectual class’, not at all!  — Still, basically, this article was primarily written for those who are well trained in the worlds systems and “ways” (Is 55:8) and have, more often than not, unwittingly ‘sat at the feet of Satan’ (Nebuchadnezzar’s statue – Dan 3) — the worlds secular, humanistic,’ anti-christ’ university systems — or were brought up in a family or culture that either did not know about the “God of the Bible” or were hostile towards Him. I have found that no matter where or which culture it is, the “educated” always seem to heavily ‘lean on their own understanding” and to be “wise in their own eyes”; which Solomon in Prov 3:5-8, warned his ‘son’ not to do. Unfortunately, Solomon, nor his son (2 Chon 12:1; 13,14), heeded his counsel very well as can be seen in 1 Kings 11:9-13 and in Ecclesiastes – the book that compiled Solomon’s thoughts as he neared the end of his life and reign. — His final words to us, was a summary statement of what he learned though his entire life’s pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and pleasure, calling it all a “vanity of vanities” (Eccl 1:2) and a “grasping after the wind” (Eccl 1:14), while building an expansive and powerful kingdom of great wealth that he had to turn over to a foolish son! (Eccl 2:18-20)

These are his final words, ‘the conclusion of the whole matter’:

Eccl 12:9-14

 . . . And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright — words of truth. 11 The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. 12 And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil. NKJV

Isn’t it interesting, and sad, to note that Solomon began His teaching – (first proverb or statement of wisdom) – with, “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov 1:7) and he ends his teachings with “Fear GOD and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all”. We see Solomon begin with the ‘fear of the Lord”—Yahweh–, a Holy and intimate name for God, the one he at one time knew well [2 Chron 2-7], and he ends with ‘fear God”– Elohim — a more generic and general name for “God and gods”. He no longer calls Him Lord! We see quite a difference from the man who wrote the intimate love story with His Lord, the Song of Solomon, and a large portion of the Proverbs, ending his life saying; ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity’ [Ecc 1:2,3] — the main theme of Ecclesiastes. To which he finally concludes and boils down to one specific point, all of his life’s teaching on wisdom to: ‘Fear God and Keep His Commandments For this is man’s all!’ He had come full circle at the end of his life! We of this class of people, who claim Him as Lord, would do well to learn from him, take heed and seek to finish our race well, keeping the ‘main thing’ the main thing’—FEARING AND LOVING GOD and being His servant — Luke 10:40-41!

One final but important point before we proceed. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a great proponent of ‘getting your own fork’ — My job as a coach was to teach you the proper techniques and the right way to do a skill, but YOU HAVE TO DO IT, put in the time to learn, master, execute and implement them. I can teach you how to shoot a free throw, but I can’t shoot it for you! — and digging into the Word of God and learning to hear the voice of the Shepherd yourself, ‘for His sheep hear His voice‘ (John 10:27).

I also am well aware of the 5 ‘ministries’ given to the body by the Lord and so while we most definitely have apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors and teachers, (and we will go through the roll of each of these in some depth later on) their general purpose is clearly, laid out in Eph 4:11-16

 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the (1) equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for (2) the edifying (building up) of the body of Christ, 13 TILL we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge (epignosis- recognition, FULL Knowledge) of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we (3) should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ —  16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. NKJV

It is wise and prudent to note that nowhere does Paul say that these ‘5 fold ministries, or offices’ have anything to do with me (or anyone else) having a ‘title’ (“Apostle”, “Pastor”, “Prophet”, “Teacher” etc. — In fact the Lord tells His original apostles in no uncertain terms that they are not to take up such titles! Matt 23:7-11), or making a ‘name’, or gaining ‘fame’ or a ‘platform’ for myself, or to have place or position of authority over others, or seek to profit from some revelation the Lord may have given me to give to His people! My point?

I am neither seeking the praise or profit of men and though I have gleaned much from the words, teachings and writings of others: Lewis, Nee, Finney, Ravenhill and numerous others; I would not call myself ‘a voracious reader’ other than the scripture or the historical times of it. However, I would consider myself a voracious thinker and one who spends lots of time talking too and seeking to listen to my Lord, my Shepherd; delving into the scripture and praying to understand it, from my early teen years up until now (now 49+ years later). I have also sat at the feet and carefully listened and weighed out and examined the teaching of hundreds teachers of the word from many persuasions. Though I have great respect and appreciation for those who have gone before and that I have gleaned from, I will not even attempt to site them or credit them here for the following reasons: (1) that would be impossible, and (2) nor would they desire it!

Still, I would say the majority of the teachings I will present here are from me ‘getting my own fork’ and the Lord revealing things to me through the uncountable amount of time I have spent talking to the Lord, seeking to hear and to know Him through both the Logos (scripture) and the Rhema (Spirit revealed) word of God. There has been countless times that He has showed me things specifically that He had revealed to others long before He revealed it to me and this often served as a great and comforting confirmation to me that I was indeed hearing the Lord and was not ‘hearing amiss or running in vain’ (Gal 2:2) —(CS Lewis and Watchman Nee’s “The Spiritual Man” get special mention in this regard.) This is as it should be, and I am sure that those who choose to wade into this will discover that they too may have had similar revelations or thoughts. The Lord will not give differing revelations about the fundamentals of our faith, that would be confusion! He does however seek to say the same thing in a variety of ways and using differing methods, parables, stories, metaphors, and direct commandments and statements, etc.

In summary, my hope is to be successful in doing two things: 1.) communicating basic truths that are unfortunately not taught on much in most of today’s church pulpits and ‘bible studies’. So in this regard it may be a ‘new revelation’ to most or maybe presented in a fresh way. 2.) Contending for the truth, the foundations of our faith, in a world that is quickly spiraling into wickedness, falling away from the truth as the Lord and Paul and others foretold!

Jude 3-4
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. NKJV

If this ‘book’ helps just one of the Lord’s sheep to seek, hear, follow and obey the true Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ; in a world filled with a lot of other nefarious voices, then that is ‘payment’ enough for all the time and effort poured into it. If it leads just one wayward sheep back to Him that will be a bonus. If it helps one sheep to keep from going astray and falling away in to the teeth or ravenous wolves during these trying and troubling times where Jesus said many would be offended and fall away; then the cup would truly ‘runneth over‘ and I would be more than content that my labor. or obedience, was not in vain. Ultimately when all is said and done, I have hope for only one reward; I simply wish to hear from my master and Lord say, “Well done good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21) to which I will simply say in return. Luke 17:10

‘We (I am) are (an) unprofitable (servant)s. We (I) have only done what was our (my) duty to do.'” 

 ‘HM’ 2018]

The Fundamentals

…. The Problem

I had just finished a teaching on humility at The Kyoto University group (fellowship) I was leading and had used the scripture out of James 4:6, “God gives grace to the humble but opposes the proud.” At the end of the teaching, I had opened up the floor for questions and discussion and I received a simple but illuminating question which was, ’Holbert’, what is Grace?”  This opened a virtual “Pandora’s” box of questions. I was struck with a simple fact, my diverse, highly intelligent group of International intellectuals — most, but not all, were new Christians with little to no biblical background — had virtually no common applicable definition for many of the basic, foundational, yet highly important Biblical words! Even the ones who had been Christians for some time, and had some training and knowledge of the Word, were somewhat unable to handle this question with any surety, clarity or conformity.  I discerned that I had two problems:

1.) Amongst the few ‘established Christians’ in the group, they had little training in the Bible itself and yet held strong opinions — as most of those who are of the ‘intelligentsia’ normally do — on some subjects with absolutely no supporting scripture or evidence outside what they were parroting from their limited denominational or cultural backgrounds.

2.)  I had a massive communication or language issue. As I was dealing with, (over the years) over 20 nations and some 40 languages, in which English was not their mother tongue, these problems were predictable. Yet, what I discovered was, even amongst the native English speakers, the problem was still evident.

Even in common cultures and languages there is a wide variety of communication breakdowns. One of the simpler problems we have is that the mode of our communication, languages, change quickly. The meaning of words originally faithfully translated can be lost or obscured over time, even in one generation! Add to the mix the continued movement towards “internationalism” and the mixing of cultures and languages, and the erosion of words and their meanings take on an even greater dimension. The word “love” as interpreted and understood by the Japanese word “aishtemasu” would have a somewhat different meaning and cultural application than the American meaning and application, and the Greek New Testament biblical “agape” definition is somewhat different from them both! These facts make it even more important for us to properly define and understand key words used in the Scripture. It is a communication issue and it is very important for us to understand the word of God! On top of this, it is also important that when we use common ‘Christianese’ words such as “grace” we have some sort of basic agreement amongst those of ‘the Way’ (Acts 9:2), concerning the actual meaning and application of such words. There can be much confusion and even division avoided simply by having a common definition. In my [now some 40 years] as a ‘teacher of the word’, I have come to believe that a significant amount of disagreements amongst the body of Christ comes from miscommunication and misunderstanding. It is our nature to define words through our ‘own understanding’ and cultural grid and become somewhat suspicious or negative (fallen human nature), though many times unconsciously, towards others who do not have the same understanding and point of view. 

So, in an attempt to cause us to come into some sort of common understanding concerning the ‘fundamentals’ or ‘basics’ of our faith, I have laid out some definitions of some key words from the English Scripture. I choose English for two reasons: 1.) it is my native tongue! 2.) English is generally recognized as the ‘International Language’ and even in Japan, the large majority of those I deal(t) with desire me to use English. (More than one has come to the Lord simply because they came to our study or group to practice on their English!) I do not claim these definitions to be perfect and absolute, nor do I cover every word that can be called important! I do believe, however the accuracy of words we do define is easily defensible and will serve the purpose intended.

(Though I am a missionary ‘pastor’ and this paper was written primarily for advance degree students who have little to no biblical background, I feel that this particular paper can be useful for native English speaking congregations. You might be surprised at the answers, or lack of answers, you would get if those of you who are care group leaders or pastors threw a “pop quiz” at the flock and asked them to define, in an applicable way, such words as “grace”!)

The Fundamentals of the Bible

In beginning to unlock and understand the written “word of God”, logos, “the scriptures” – gathered and accumulated in a book in English called “The Bible” or “The Holy Bible” — there are some important things to understand. First and foremost in importance, the ‘Bible’, scripture, has been given to us, it is a gift, to men through the divine inspiration from God.

2 Tim 3:16-17

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

NKJV** –[Unless otherwise noted, all scriptures quoted will be from the New King James Version, Published by Thomas Nelson, Copyright 1981.]–

(NOTE: I am not a “KJV or NKJV as the only ‘authorized’ translation” person. It is however, the version I prefer to use as my base translation when writing because I am most comfortable with it and it’s translation. I have cross referenced other versions — (‘NU’ and the ‘Majority’ text and The New English Version) — often and seek to refer to the original languages (often) — when there seems to be a question or debate about a possible translation and application. I do not wish to engage in what I consider a frivolous debate over which version of Scripture is “THE Anointed One.” However, having said that, I KNOW that you do not have to be an expert in Greek or Hebrew to hear and understand God’s word! The man born blind in John 9 forever ended that debate!)

The bible is God’s story and history about His relationship with man and is also His message and instructions for us, it ultimately centers on Jesus Christ the only ‘Begotten’*** Son of God (John 3:16):

Begotten***

Begotten, itself is an important word that is commonly not understood, even by mature Christians. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, which means two things. 1.) He existed as a conscious spiritual being, — (God is a Spiritual being, John 4:24) — as part of the ‘I AM’ of God (Ex 3:14) and thus is God (John 1:1-14) before He became a human being. In fact, he has been I AM before time existed! He states this to the Jews in John 8:42-59 where He claims to come from God and to have both seen and existed before Abraham saying, ‘before Abraham was, I AM!’ at which point the Jews sought to stone Him — (they failed, but not due to lack of effort) — for claiming to be God with the Father! 2.) In the fullness of time according to God’s plan (Gal 4:4), He became a human being placed in a young woman’s (Mary) womb and though His birth as a human baby was natural, His conception was supernatural — (no human father, no physically interactive sexual relationship) — He is 100% God through His Father, by the Holy Spirit, and 100% man through His mother Mary. (Luke 1:26-38)

We see a good example of ‘begotten’ in Genesis 2:7-24.  God creates a physical body out of clay, breathes life into it– (by the Holy Spirit) — and ‘man became a living being’, in reality, it wasn’t just the man that became a living being, it is really ‘they became a living being’, both man and woman, become a living being in that one body. The woman was in the man until God shortly after putting the man to sleep, reached in and removed the woman from him (the ‘rib’ or actually ‘curved flesh’) and crafted her into her own independent body. When the man wakes up, he immediately recognizes Eve and says — (my translation) — ‘Hey I know you, you were in me, you’re from me and are of me, we are one and the same yet not the same and wow are you different!’. The woman was ‘begotten’ out of man, and it is Adam who named her Eve, she was not newly created, nor born through natural means, she, the essence and nature of a woman, was taken out of the man and God used that to form her own body, and substance of which was also taken out of the man. (We do not see God either create another clay model, nor do we see the Holy Spirit breath life into it. That happened only once.) They were ‘two people’ in one body, and now they are two individual people, but still one. She was with him and in him as they named the animals. Man and woman were truly created, as God had said in Gen 1:26-28, in His ‘their’ (us) ‘our’ image and likeness (not the same words and we will cover them in depth in the next part), both male and female and they were ‘created’ at the same time, but their individual bodies were ‘formed’ at different times, first the man was ‘formed’ and then the woman (1 Tim 2:15), and they were also one but different!

Like the woman, Jesus the Christ, existed in God in one being, body — (spiritual in nature — John 4:24) — until he was supernaturally separated (carved) out and put in Mary’s, womb and not through natural (physical) means — “and the Word (Logos) became flesh and dwelt among us” John 1:14. God the Father is literally Jesus’s biological Father – (Needs to be stated again, without physical sexual relationship) – making Jesus Christ the only ‘Begotten’ Son of the Father, who existed and had consciousness from ‘the beginning’ [Gen 1:1, John 1:1-3] but did not have a physical body until He was born as a human being in a manger some 2000+ years ago!

Back to the Bible

This book of ‘God’s inspired teachings’ was given to us through a number of widely diverse individuals; kings, shepherds, merchants, priest, farmers, diplomats and others have all been used to write and compile the scripture over the course of some 1500 to 2000 years – possibly more! (There are pre-flood references in Scripture, not to mention the first book of Enoch which Jude, Peter, Paul and yes even Jesus (Matt 22:29-33) referenced as scripture!) — Just stop and think about that for a minute! The time from Abraham to Christ is about the same time as Christ till today. And it all fits together like a tapestry that gives us a continually cohesive story of God’s interaction with man. The level of agreement, factual and historically proven accuracy, even in its foretelling of future events (prophecy) is astounding and far beyond human ability to compose!

It was given to us in original languages relatively few today understand, myself included. So, we must trust others – (and listening to the witness of the Holy Spirit within’- 1 John 2:27) – who have gone before us to properly translate and convey the meaning of the words contained in the scripture. I believe many inspired, gifted and faithful men have done a tremendous job in giving to us the scriptures we now have in our various languages in an understandable (though imperfect) and usable manner. There are some difficult words to translate from one language to another. However, in my opinion, to the most part, at least testifying for the English-speaking world, though imperfect, translations are extremely reliable and faithful to portray the intended meaning if one is willing to dig into things a bit and listen and ‘abide’ in the Lord through the Holy Spirit. (1 John 2:22-27)

‘Important Words’ explored in this writing

In this article we will deal with a number of words, we have already touched on Begotten:  Know, Knowledge, Convict, One, Grace, Mercy, Pride [to be proud], Repentance, Humility [to be humble], Fruit, Love, Faith, Hope, “the Fear of the Lord” and Righteousness and we will touch on a many others as well like Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength. As most of you now know the original New Testament was written in primarily Greek and the Old Testament primarily in Hebrew with some Aramaic and later Latin translations. Also as mentioned before, English translations are very good but like any translation it is not exact. So, I will define it in my words as well as give you the definition from Strongs’s Greek to English Concordance and Dictionary. Strong’s dictionary was written well over a hundred and fifty years ago and is an old bell weather and established tool for scripture study. Some of the English words and abbreviations can be difficult to understand and the translation itself is the work of another’s interpretation — James Strong and his team to be specific — and is therefore imperfect. However, don’t be overly concerned with what you can’t figure out, (Don’t get caught up in ‘straining gnats’ and going off the main path to argue a trivial point while missing the main points, as is the ‘custom’ of intellectuals!) as I think we can still get a fairly good working knowledge about the words we’ll define.

Most of all though, I will give lots of Scriptural references and my advise to you is to look into these Scriptures on your own and thoroughly check out my use of them. Words like Grace, Love and Righteousness, Faith are very important!  We need to define them correctly. Also, anyone who knows me, especially my wife and kids, will quickly agree that I am by no means infallible! Furthermore, as you “get your own fork” and search these matters out yourself, you will receive your own revelation from the Lord and strengthen your relationship with Him, which is what this is all about any way.

Be Purposeful and Diligent

One other thing, take your time and be thorough here. Treat this as you would your experiments, research or work. This is actually very important, critically so. If God is truly God and the Bible is truly His words to us, and we claim to be His followers then we should hold the understanding of His words and ways, in high regard. The truth is, this understanding of His word and ways should be the top priority of our lives! Here, let me give you a quick example, one that we will come back to in depth!

In Mark 12:29 Jesus tells us what is the pivotal and most important of all commandments or statements in the entirety of the scripture.  In it, Jesus tells us that God is “One” and that we should love ‘the Lord your God’ with ‘all our Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength.’ Well, how can I love him with all my “heart” if I don’t’ really know what that means?  What is my heart? What is my soul? etc! What does “One” mean? These words are really an important aspect of understanding the scripture. A proper understanding of these basic fundamentals and application of these words that we will cover here, will give you much life and truth both here, in your relationship with God, with others, and even in your vocational professions– (for God is the holder of all knowledge and can reveal it to those who seek Him)– and in the Kingdom to come, and will be well worth the time you spend on it! Let us begin.

The Ultimate Fundamental Purpose; to KNOW (Ginosko) Him!

Let’s lay some ‘corner stone’, basic foundations first. The purpose of our studying the Bible is not so much that we know the Bible, though that is most definitely a good thing, yet, knowing the bible in itself is not our end goal.  The real purpose of studying the Bible is to know Him. We want to know the ‘author’ of the Bible. Paul puts it well in,

Philippians 3:8-11:

8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

The word “know” in this verse as defined by Strong’s from the original Greek is the word ginosko, (we will see this word a lot, over and over again, as we proceed!) and is defined as follows:

[Strong’s – ginosko, ghin-oce’-ko; to “know,”, in a great variety of applications and with many implications:–allow, be aware (of), feel, (have) known (-ledge), perceive, be resolved, be sure, understand.] – Italics and bold are my emphasis – HM

(Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.  – All Strong’s references in this ‘book’ come from this source.)

This word ginosko – “know” or “to know”— has to do with real, experiential and personal interaction, relationship; it is not so much academic or ‘head knowledge’ or ‘information’ (acquired through study) and involves the whole being of a person not just the intellect or mind. It has little to do with intelligence and real communication and experiential relationship is necessary to gain this knowing of God. This ‘ginosko’, knowing Christ, is far greater and deeper then acquiring head knowledge or information about Christ! Paul states in the above quoted scripture that this knowing of God [ginosko] is actually life itself (the resurrection is life from death) and is therefore worth everything to obtain! In fact, in comparison to this ginosko whole being, knowing of God, everything else; money, knowledge about things, intelligence, status, position, etc. is trash, garbage or dung, feces, human refuse! It was everything to Paul and in truth should be everything to us. Let’s look at how powerful and deep this word ‘ginosko’ is; it is the same word used by Mary in her conversation with the angel in Luke 1:34 immediately after the angel, Gabriel, informed her she was to bear a child, who was to be the Lord Jesus.

Then said Mary unto the angel, “How shall this be, seeing I know [ginosko] not a man?”

The implication of the word “know” here is of having experienced a most intimate, emotional, mental and physical relationship one can have with a man; in this particular example, the, ‘one flesh’ relationship between a husband and wife (Gen 2:23-25). She obviously had knowledge ‘information’ [gnosis] about physical intimacy and marriage and the need of such to conceive a child. However, she had never experienced (ginosko) this kind of intimate interaction, relationship, a type of interaction and relationship that leads to the producing of another life!

We see the first use of the word Ginosko (know) in Matt 1:24-2:1

Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.

Again, referring to marital intimate relationship.

Beware of the pursuit of Knowledge (gnosis)

We must be aware, and wisely remain aware, of the tendency that we have to get caught up in the seeking of ‘knowledge’ [gnosis — the intellectual learning of something, the acquiring of information or academic knowledge] versus the seeking of intimate, experiential, interactive “knowing”, life giving relationship. This rampant dedication to the pursuit of knowledge has been in the race of man since the fall, (Gen 2:15,16, Gen 3:1-6): In fact, it is the reason we did fall! We choose the tree of KNOWLEDGE -gnosis-, ‘being wise in one’s own eyes’ (Prov 3:7 – independence) or becoming ‘as God’, over the tree of LIFE – ginosko- knowing relationship, — and being intimate sons and daughters of God’s family (oneness, unity with God in our proper position) with Jesus who said, “I am the way the truth and the LIFE” – John 14:6.

So basically, first the woman (being enticed and then deceived by a fallen angel as Adam, who was ‘with her’, sat there and watched and said and did nothing! Gen 3:6), then the man ‘obeying his wife’, rejected the ‘tree of life’, Jesus, intimate and personal ginosko with the Son of God, in the garden and choose ‘knowledge’ (gnosis) instead, and we did so, rejecting Him, right in front of Him, His Father and the Holy Spirit!  We choose another God/mate, the serpent/dragon (rebellious angel). It was like rejecting your bride or groom at the altar and choosing the ‘brides maid’ or ‘best man’!  If you stop and think about that picture for a moment it will cut you to the core!

They, God, did not reject us, we were given permission to eat of the ‘tree of life’ (Gen 2:16) the Son of God. It is man, us, who rejected THEM! And this tendency to pursue knowledge and what we thought would make us wise — (is really selfish independence that made us blind fools and doomed us to death, as we separated (hid) ourselves from Him, life!) — above relationship with God and others has been in us, all races of men and women, ever since. And this is even stronger in our group which has chosen professions that are based around the pursuit of academic knowledge and intellectual discovery (gnosis)! As the scripture says in

1 Corinthians 8:1,2:

We know [eido] that we all possess knowledge [gnosis]. Knowledge [gnosis] PUFFS UP (makes one an arrogant fool) but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows (eido) something does not yet know [ginosko] as he ought to know [ginosko]. But the man who loves God is known [ginosko] by God.

[Strong’s] eido, i’-do; used only in certain past tenses. To see (literally. or figuratively.); by implication, to know:–be aware, behold, consider, (have) known (-ledge), look (on), perceive, see.

This word eido implies a limited amount of understanding concerning a particular subject that is gained through experience, perception or learned. You could call it ‘common sense’ or ‘practical knowledge’. It can be some experiential knowledge of having met someone a time or two but not necessarily having the deep and intimate relationship, which is ginosko. I may ‘know’ someone through casual or occasional interaction, but I don’t really know them well at all and it would be stretching the truth to some extent to call them a ‘friend’.  I do not have a ‘ginosko’ relationship (close and personal) with them. We all have varying levels of these sort of relationships and have some sort of knowledge in a wide variety of fields some more than others based on each one’s life experience and academic pursuits and personal interactions. Here is Strong’s definition of ‘gnosis’— knowledge.

[Strong’s] gnosis, gno’-sis; from ; knowing (the act ‘of study, effort*’), i.e. (by implication.) knowledge:–knowledge, science. [underline, bold my own emphasis, ‘of study, effort*’ — my addition]

Gnosis (knowledge/information) is stored in the conscience mind, our ‘hard drive’. It is our information storage and processing center. This ‘gnosis’ is also the root word for hypnosis which is a ‘black art’ of getting into a trance to bypass the conscience mind and will.  – ‘ hyp’ to go below’ the ‘(g)nosis’  the conscious intellect or mind in order to reach a person’s soul or ‘deeper being’. It is a demonic practice of the occult and dark psychological sciences — (MK Ultra/mind altering/control projects and various types of drugs and excessive alchohol) — to enter a trance to break through the conscience mind and  create a counterfeit ginosko experience or to manipulate one to do something that their own conscience would never do! — So gnosis is all about the natural mind, the thought processing intellect, intelligence, learning info about things or people and has little or nothing to do with real interaction and experiential relationship with a another person’s soul or spirit, and even more importantly, with God! Gnosis is also the foundation of the godless in the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ and separated God from ‘science’, like the “theory” of evolution’. The pursuit of knowledge -gnosis- without a foundation of the “excellence of the knowledge (gnosis) of Christ” (Phil 3:8) and intimacy – ginosko – with Jesus, (being filled with the Holy Spirit,) will lead one to arrogance, rebellion and deception, sending one to hell! The truth is, after the choice of our original mother and father to disobey in the garden, choosing gnosis over ginosko, we were all born into this fallen rebellious nature. This is what Jesus came to save us from! Jesus said this when speaking with Nicodemus:

John 3:3-8

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus (a pharisee a man of learning, an intellectual) said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

And the Lord went on to say to Nicodemus: John 3:17-20

… For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. …

And also later on outside the temple to the multitudes there:

John 12:44-48

44 Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.  45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.  46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him — the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

No one is saved through intellectual understanding, (gnosis) but through the revelation of the Spirit, (ginosko). Jesus clearly says here that the world is already under judgment and all of us who are born, were born under judgment. Jesus came to save us from the judgement and the consequences of our rebellion, our choice; the righteous wrath of God, whom we rejected choosing the knowledge (gnosis) of ‘the tree of good and evil’ over a knowing (ginosko) intimate life with Him! (This will not be the last time we talk of this, it is critical fundamental to be understood. WE CHOOSE TO DISOBEY AND REJECT GOD, not the other way around! God did not reject us. The idea that God should just love an accept us as we are is no different then having a bride or groom leave their betrothed spouse at the alter, and marry a close friend and then come back to that groom or bride and say, “You need to accept, support and take care of me no matter what I did or do!”)

The Return of ‘Gnostics’

The Gnostics — (a false teaching and religion based on ‘enlightened knowledge’, is the base of ‘humanism’ and ‘scientology’, and the ‘theory’ (not a theory at all under true scientific method) of evolution,  and the foundation of all self-centered wickedness, sexual perversity and the justification of the gratification of the flesh both then and today!) – were a cult that sprang up toward the end of the 1st century (possibly the “Nicolaitans” Rev 1:6, Rev 2:15)- who believed that Jesus did not ‘come in the flesh’ (1 John 4:2,3, 2 John 7,8) as the only Begotten Son of God, nor was He a man that was crucified and rose from the dead as savior of the world; but was simply some kind of expression or embodiment of the ‘mind of God’ or intellectual thought and philosophy — gnosis and according to some of them of ‘alien’ — (from another galaxy or planet) — origin! We have seen a marked increase — (and we will see much more as the day of His return draws nigh) — in the return of these deceptive writings — (those that twist and misapply the scripture) — and theologies, called “The Gnostic gospels”, time travel, UFO’s “advanced alien technology”, that would deceive even the elect if it were possible and unless you stay in a ‘ginosko’ relationship with the Lord, you will be deceived!

Matt 24:21–25
… For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. 23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.

Beware of these deceptions from Satan and his minions, discern the signs of the times we are in! (Mark 13:28-31) Which will only be done through the Holy Spirit, a Ginosko relationship with God through His Son!) There will be no ‘middle ground’ (Rev 3:14-21). Jesus, John, Peter, Jude, old testament prophets and Paul all warns us that such deceptions and lies would be multiplied especially as we approach the day of His coming. Paul warns Timothy, his protege, saying:

2 Tim 3:13-15

But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing [eido] from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known [eido] the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Daniel specifically tells us that “knowledge shall increase”.

Dan 12:4

But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

Jesus tells us there will be great deceptions, false prophets and teachers.

Matt 24:3-5

 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.  5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many….

And He went on:

Matt 24:9-14

 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.  10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.  11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.  12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.  13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.  14 And this GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, (ethnic groups, culture, tribes, gentiles) and then the end will come.

Jesus Christ acknowledged by all but the ONLY WAY TO GOD!

We see every ‘religion’ in every ‘nation’ (culture — root word of culture is ‘cult’ — or ethnic group) claim Jesus as either a ‘Messiah’, sinless, Holy prophet (Islam) or an ‘ascended master’ — (Buddhism), a ‘reincarnation of Krishna’ (Hindu). An ‘extra terrestrial being’ from an advanced civilization**. A ‘great teacher’– (Taoism and other assorted gnostic– ‘gnosis based’ type of religions (“Religion” is man-made ideas or philosophies about who God is and it is always based on culture and ‘gnosis’ with Jesus Christ being the exception. He is high above all culture and principalities, and human governments and ‘religions’.)

 Eph 1:19-21

….and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

Yet, while Jesus is universally accepted across all cultures and religions in some form or fashion, we see Jesus ask His disciples this:

Matt 16:13-16

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus goes onto acknowledge that Simon has spoken truly and that he indeed received this revelation of truth from “His Father” — God Most High! We see later, Jesus, ‘God in the flesh’ (John 1:14-18) , “the only Begotten Son of God” (John 3:16), later goes on to say this to His disciples while meeting with them during the “Last Supper” in the upper room:

John 14:6

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father [God Most High] except through Me.”

A short while later while standing before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish council of elders) the Lord is asked this direct question:

Mark 14:61
Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”

To which He answers directly with no ambiguity at all:

62 Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

and

Luke 22:67-70
“If You are the Christ, tell us.”
But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will by no means believe. 68 And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go. 69 Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.” 70 Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?”
So He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.”

and

Matt 26:63-64
. . . the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
64 Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

And again, in John 10:7-18, we see Jesus says that all others (claiming to be God or a way to God) are thieves and robbers. He goes on to call Himself the door by which all must come through to be part of God’s ‘flock’:

In reality the Lord leaves us no middle ground, either Jesus Christ is who He claims to be, the only Begotten Son of God, who rose from the dead, and who He and His apostles declare Him to be, or He is a liar or a deceiver Himself. He is either ‘God in the flesh’ (John 1:14), a real live human being who is both Son of God and Son of man, who lived and walked on this earth without ‘sin’ (was not self-centered) perfectly obeying His Father, GAVE, — laid down– His life to pay for our sin and rebellion and rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven and now is alive and sits at the right hand of His Father GOD, or He is nothing but some twisted imagination of men or something far worse. He claims to be God and the only way to ‘God Most High’, the Father! Again, no middle ground, no negotiations. He either is or He isn’t who He claims to be. And He with no ambiguity at all declares all other ‘God’s’ and religions to be ‘thieves and robbers’ and false representatives of the real and living God that comes to rob, kill and destroy! Which Psalm 2 supports fully:

Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. 5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: 6 “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.” 7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me,’ You are My Son, Today I have BEGOTTEN You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.'”10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Bottom line, other ‘religions’ may claim Jesus as ‘a way’ to God, or a ‘good man, teacher or prophet’, but He does not accept them at all in any way shape or form and He is redundantly clear about that!

It is really simple when we break it down to the FUNDAMENTAL truth. We will have a ginosko revelation and know Him, be His sheep, hear His voice and thus be changed and transformed into His likeness, truly having discernment of our times and understanding properly His words from the scripture. Or we will fall for the pride, arrogance and deception/lies of ‘the serpents’, Satan’s ‘gnosis’ that comes from the ‘tree of  knowledge’, (Gen 2:9, 16-17) having twisted information about Him and end up not being able to enter into the Kingdom of God because of one’s own stubborn, hard hearted, prideful rebellious choice!

Intelligence is not a Factor in Knowing God

All this simply means, when practically applied, is that one does not need to have a high IQ or be brilliant to know God (or His words) and in fact 1 Cor 8:1,2, quoted above, tells us that high intelligence can actually hinder one from knowing God and can lead to haughtiness and arrogance which ‘puffs one up’ blocking them from knowing Him or even acknowledging His existence, leading one to be as Rom 1:18-32:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known – (clearly seen and understood – gnostos – ginosko being the root word) – of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew (ginosko) God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

We were created for relationship

The truth is, if I can’t have a relationship, or friendship or any kind of PERSONAL interaction with someone I have never met, I can never actually KNOW (ginosko) them. I can only know (gnosis) about them. You can never get to really know a person by studying or reading about them. I can be a historical expert on George Washington or Mahatma Gandhi but I can never say I knew them or ever call them my friend. And the same can be said with God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Ultimately, bottom line, we were created to have relationship! We are relational beings, and to have relationship and personal interaction with God, with others, with the creatures (animals) and even the angels, who were created to be the ‘servants of the house’ (Heb 1:4) is the primary motivating fact in one’s life. IT IS THE CENTRAL PURPOSE OF OUR BEING! The Bible can lead you to God and you can learn a lot about God and that is a main purpose of God’s book. However, if you become an ‘expert’ on the book but never know the ‘author’ personally, you will be sorely disappointed when you stand before him. Jesus talks about those who seemingly did good works and had knowledge about him and his word but are cast away from his presence simply because He did not know them. Matthew 7:21-23 .

Matt 7:22-23

Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew (ginosko) you;…

We will (and did) have many people who have a desire to know about [gnosis] God and learn — gather information, eido, knowledge about — the “Christian Religion” and the Bible. However, the scripture says that not many– [Matthew 7:14 “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”]  — will want to go pass this point of “knowing about” [gnosis] into actually entering into intimacy and knowing (experiencing) God [ginosko]. Even us who have known [eido] the Lord haven’t come into a full relationship [ginosko] with Him. That is impossible on this side of life!

As far as I am concerned, salvation occurs and a person is “saved” when that person crosses over the bridge, which is the cross of Christ, and goes through ‘the door’ which is also Christ; from gnosis about God (tree of knowledge) to ginosko with God (tree of life, Jesus Christ), from knowledge about, to a knowing, interactive relationship with Him and our relationship with Jesus restores our relationship to our Father and allows us to be filled with His Holy Spirit.

I will not apologize for the redundancy (Phil 3:1)! A good coach (my professional background) constantly ‘harps’ on the key fundamentals and there is no greater ‘fundamental’ than this! Even then, the other reason I am hammering this home, again and again, is that we are so steeped, so programed, so deceived, to pursue knowledge over relationship; things over people, our hearts are hardened! It normally takes many blows to ‘break up the fallow ground’ of our hearts (Hos 10:12)! Especially those of us who come from the educated and relatively wealthy class who have never known real hunger or desperate poverty and gross injustice or persecution!

Be Careful Intellectuals and Academia!

Let me say again, we want to be very careful not to be as the religious and arrogant and ‘academically intelligent’, ‘the elite’, scribes and Pharisees who study scripture diligently and had much knowledge [gnosis] about it, but did not know [ginosko] Jesus, God on earth, when He came. Jesus speaks of them in John 5:37-40 saying:

“…. And the Father who sent me has Himself testified concerning me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one He sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.” (ginosko, intimate relationship)

The Lord later reserved His strongest words and rebukes for this same group of rabbis, priest (pastors) and religious leaders, pronouncing ‘seven woes’ upon them (Matt 23).  So, we, who are pastors, elders and teachers, should take special heed (James 3:1) to know Him and not just teach scripture for the sake of academic head knowledge, noting that Solomon STILL taught ‘knowledge’, while very clearly falling away from having a relationship with his God that was so strong and intimate at the beginning, forgetting that all of his great wisdom and intellect was an impartation, a gift from God in the first place, one that he had specifically asked for! (2 Chron 1:7-12)

1 Cor 1:26- 30 also says:

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

‘Knowledge’ in itself is not evil

As seen from John 5:37 above, Jesus wants us to come to Him and have life (John 10:10) first and foremost. Yet, though the pursuit of knowledge over intimacy (ginosko) with God and others is the core of our problem; I am not saying that knowledge in and of itself is evil. Not so! He is not anti knowledge, not at all! In fact, He created the ‘tree of knowledge’ and He put it next to the ‘tree of life’, relationship, ginosko (Gen 2:9).  The Lord God had also said that everything he created was good (Gen 1:31) which included the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil‘ which was there before man!  Knowledge, information is not bad, it’s just not to be pursued above seeking HIM FIRST (Matt 6:34-35), to know and have knowledge about Him, and having relationship with each other!

In fact, God says he gives knowledge and wisdom to those who are weary and lack it (Isaiah 40:27-31), IF they wait on him, come to him and seek him for it (James 1:5) and NOT LEAN TO THEIR OWN UNDERSTANDING.  (Prov 3:5,6)  This leaning to ones ‘own understanding’ is when one relies on their ‘natural’ (demonically deceived) mind which cannot even fathom or understand the things of God at all, for this is foolishness’ to them (1 Cor 2:10-15). Jesus Christ is “the way, the TRUTH and the life“ (John 14:6). All truth and knowledge comes through Him, and that includes in every subject. He is the creator and was with God the Father from the beginning (John 1:1-3) therefore He is the author of all things. He knows every detail about any subject including all sciences and math. HE CREATED IT WITH HIS FATHER, He knows it all and will give knowledge (gnosis) as needed about any natural subject to those who seek Him and ask Him for it! He is the great teacher! I have strongly counseled many of our Ph.D. researchers, when they were facing a seemingly insurmountable problem, to ‘talk to the Lord’ and seek Him for wisdom, knowledge and understanding in their respective fields (James 1:5). “Invite the Lord to go with you into your labs. Talk to Him as you work.” The end result of that was that year in and year out our Ph.D. students were winning awards and scholarships, jobs and favor over and over again, because they were tapping into the source of all true knowledge, Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit! So, the problem is not having or seeking gnosis knowledge, it is the seeking of ‘gnosis’ (knowledge) first and foremost over the seeking of a ginosko relationship (life) with God. Jesus clearly commands us to seek ‘ginosko relationship’ first above all things:   Matt 6:31-34

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.“

We need to understand that this ‘ginosko’ knowledge of God comes into the heart or spirit of a man when one is ‘born again’ (John 3:3), this is where the Holy Spirit comes into live and dwells in the heart — the innermost being or center of a person. Which leads us to the most important singular verse of scripture in the Bible, called the “Great Commandment”.  Mark 12:28-31

 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”

29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.  31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”


Part 2…. http://www.surefoundint.org/2021/06/17/the-fundamental-foundations-part-2/