DECEIVING AND BEING DECEIVED by Stephen Benton

THE PASTOR'S PEN

DECEIVING AND BEING DECEIVED                                                               by Stephen Benton

        Good morning and welcome to The House Of Good News.    Don't let the name of our church deceive you into thinking that everything uttered here is good news. We are currently in the thick of a study that's full of bad news, depending on whose side you are on: God's or Satan's. If you're on God's side, the bad news will not affect you. If you are not on God's side, you're on the verge of being  "set up" big time.  Satan is about to unleash a masterful lie and you and a vast percentage of the professing Church will fall victims to the lie. God identified the deception as a "Strong delusion." I  believe God's word without question and if  God says it will be a strong delusion, this smug-attitude Church world better take heed.  Remember, God is going to ultimately spit this Church  out of his mouth.    As the Head of the body of the Church, this Church Age has nauseated Christ, made him sick to his stomach, and he's going to puke it up.

          There's a passage in Hosea 4:5 which reads:

        "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me:"

          God's people are not destroyed for lack of emotion.    They are not destroyed for a lack of zeal, but they are guilty of having zeal but not according to knowledge.   We have been called to be a kingdom of priests unto God.  Many are going to be surprised when they are rejected at the time of the rapture but they shouldn't be.  Personally,  I have had my fill of hearing saints spout off about spiritual matters based on their own concepts.   They constantly reveal their ignorance about God's word and I'm learning not to even bother to dispute with them anymore.  My feeling now is, if they want to be stupid, let 'em go to hell and burn.

                         

                 The trademark of  being on God's side is that you will have a love for  the truth of God 's word. That love for the truth of God's word is impossible unless you also have the Spirit of God dwelling in you;  a Spirit that God has promised to give to all who believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ.  And just  for the record, there's not one scripture in the bible that says God has to give a particular sign as evidence of  being filled with the Spirit.  (My "lack of knowledge, know- it-all" Pentecostal friends will stop reading at this point and say "he's off" and they won't bother to even check me out.)  It does mention "signs that will follow those who believe."  (Mark 16)  But it does not list any of those signs as a mandatory experience for salvation.  The Pentecostals simply took one of those signs, arbitrarily, and made it essential for salvation.  The Church has been preaching that faith is unseen but when it comes to the salvation of an individual, the Church,  like Israel in the wilderness,  puts God on trial and proves him by requiring him to show them a sign.  Again, God's people  are destroyed for lack of knowledge.   

                 God destroyed Israel in the wilderness for that same action after they did it for forty years. This last Church Age is now 90 years old and since the Holy Ghost fell on Azusa St. in Los, Angeles in 1906, P entecostals have continually demanded a sign from God every time someone believes.    Sorry, there's no scripture to substantiate that doctrine and those who read this and disagree with what I wrote about speaking in tongues as proof of the Holy Ghost, my sincere Pentecostal brothers should come forward in spiritual confrontation and enquire where I'm getting this false doctrine from.    Then in love, they should attempt to reconcile me to the truth.    During my 19 years of teaching God's word in California, not a single critic of mine has obeyed the scriptures in that area. Still they call me a false prophet and a heretic. They also violate the greatest sin on God's hate list by freely sowing discord among the brethren in telling them that my doctrine is off.  That's  a convenient word to use when an individual doesn't know where or how someone is off, only that what he or she teaches is in conflict with what they personally,  without scriptural support,  believe.    Saying someone is off is a cheap way of casting a questionable shadow on everything he or she teaches.

I am finding out that many  who profess  to be on the Lord's side  are severely lacking  in their love for the truth.    I found that to be true while publishing the news of the day of  the Rapture.    There is a multitude of so-called saints who are firm believers  that the day of the Rapture cannot be known.   They have been deceived by Satan and the worst part of  being deceived is that one is unaware of  his or her condition.    Not having a love for the truth makes one a prime victim for deception.

               Where the message of the Rapture is concerned, there are those  who say that the date is not important because we should be in a constant state of readiness.    Little do such individuals know that by making that statement they have entered into the sin of  blasphemy.    If the message of the day of the Rapture is from Satan, it should be viciously attacked.

          What are the rules of engagement against a  false doctrine?    Find the flaw in the scriptures.   If it is from God, it should be tenaciously embraced.   In either case, whether it be from God or Satan,  it should be examined in the light of the scriptures  being offered.    Now, if the message  came from God, and He has seen fit to reveal the day of his appearing,  then those  who say the date doesn't matter because we should always be ready, are saying, in reality, that God gave a vain message and that, my friend, is pure and simple blasphemy.

See "Blasphemy Aainst the Holy Spiritt" on YouTube, The House of Good Newz channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjI3PUaEKhU&t=5s

The scriptures show five items capable of being  blasphemed.

They are: (1.) The name of God (lsa.52:5; Ro.2:24;    Rev .16:9),    (2.) God Himself  (lsa.65:7; Eze.20:27; Rev.16: 11, 21).    (3.) The doctrine of God (I Tim.6: 1).    (4.) The  Word of God (Tit.2:5).    (5.) The Holy Ghost (Mt.12:31-32).

                Those who rejected the truth of the revelation of the time of the Rapture did so in violation of a commandment given by Paul as he wrote under the direction of the  Holy Ghost.    He wrote in Thessalonians:

1.    "Quench not the Spirit."

2.    "Despise not prophesyings."

3.    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

One quenches the Spirit by  despising prophesyings.   Paul dealt with the subject of prophecy  more than all of the rest of  the Apostles.   As a result, he was also despised more than all of the other   Unbelief is not a new state of being.   After I taught the rapture  message at my Dad's church one gentlemen came up to me and told me he did not believe the message.    I said,  "Brother,  that puts you  in the majority and that ain't never  been nothin' special."

                Paul was telling the church,  rather than despise the prophecy, prove it. How?  Against  the scriptures.   If it is true, either in part  or in whole, hold fast that which is  good.

                             Like  any true prophesy,  the one God gave to me  is easy to  prove.

 I wrote  a book  and  gave scriptural references.    All  one has to do is examine

  the  scriptures  to  see if they  have been rightly divided.    Will today's loving of the word of God church do that?  No!  I say that emphatically because not one individual  has confronted  me with  objections to the scriptures God purportedly  gave to me.    Some have nit-picked over some of the Greek words,  none of whom  are genuine Greek students.  (A  true Greek student can read,  write,  and  analyze  the syntax  of  Greek language without  the aid of   a dictionary.   I'm  not  a Greek student either. Still, they will question some of the Greek references  as a license to reject  the  entire message.

         After these individuals have accomplished making someone a two­-fold candidate for hell by rejecting the truth of the message,  they smugly go on their sanctified way unaware that they are those whom Paul wrote about  in his  epistle  to Timothy:

           "He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil  surmisings,   Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth... "

                                          I Timothy  6:3-5

                    Understand  that  this  day  we  are living in is a day of unprecedented  deception.   Paul wrote that evil men and seducers (demonic angels, gods, spirits) will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.  Here  is revelation.  The strong delusion will be  sent by God.  The deceivers and seducers will deceive and will be deceived.  What is the meaning of will be deceived? It means that God will allow the gods to actually believe their lie that they are fostering upon the earth.  What is a much more convincing lie is they actually believe that what they are saying is the absolute truth!    Now that I have had a firsthand look at the scriptural ignorance of this present Church Age,  I  know beyond all doubt that many  in the Church will believe the lie and will become the  falling away spoken of  in II Thessalonians, Chapter two.  The falling away must precede things spoken by the Spirit of  God.   It is time that we give the more earnest heed  to the things spoken by the Spirit of  God.

Written in the THE WEEKLY WORD OF THE HOUSE OF GOOD NEWS

12/29/1996

To read more current revelations from Pastor Steve, check out his book published September of 2017 on Amazon.com

 https://smile.amazon.com/Gods-Final-Secret-Stephen-Benton/dp/1976338476/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509271792&sr=1-1&keywords=god%27s+final+secret+by+stephen+benton

RIGHTEOUSNESS WITHOUT WORKS by Stephen Benton

    THE PASTOR'S PEN

RIGHTEOUSNESS WITHOUT  WORKS 

by Stephen Benton

            The subject of Righteousness without works has caused much furor in Christian circles because it is  misunderstood even though it is a simple truth.  Let me take another stab at clarifying this truth once again.  

            First, let there be no mistake about the fact that works of righteousness are a definite part of salvation.  Here I somewhat agree with James where he wrote, "...faith without works is dead."  Works of righteousness will sooner or later accompany the life of the individual who has placed his faith in Jesus Christ.  But James' entire line of reasoning is wrong where he writes about works being the issue by which one is made righteous.  Note what he says:

            "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar:

            Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

            And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God."  James 2:21-24.

          No, Abraham was not justified by his works.  We are told in Genesis 15:6 that Abraham was justified by his faith which was accomplished about 25 years before the sacrifice of Isaac.

            According to James' epistle, Abraham was justified by his works, not by his faith.  Paul's writings are diametric to what James wrote.  Watch!

            In Antioch Paul had a showdown with Peter because Peter was eating freely with the Gentile converts until a certain group appeared:

 

"For  before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. " Galatians 2:12

Notice, the group came from James,  the  'James Gang',  and they are called the circumcision.   Let me  tell you, they are legalists, those who think salvation is accomplished by the keeping laws which is the same as works of righteousness  accomplished through fleshly effort.

The issue of works is not the works themselves but the source of the works, whether they be generated by the flesh, personal effort, or by the Spirit. That is the issue.  Remember the opening question of Romans chapter four:

"What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?"

For if Abraham were justified by works. he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. " Romans 4:1&2

What works? Works done in the flesh and not produced by the Spirit. People who are motivated by fleshly works are continually pointing the finger at those whose fleshly works do not measure up to their own.   I know people  who do not smoke,  drink, lie, cheat,  swear, cheat on their spouse and do not believe in God. Where do they appear in the scheme of salvation?  They don't because they have never exercised faith in God but relied on their own code of ethics and fleshly ability to keep a standard for themselves.  Without faith in Christ they will live a life of sobriety and die in their sins and go to hell.  Now notice  how Paul directly contradicts the doctrine that  is being peddled by James.

"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."   Galatians 2:16

I have read a lot of commentators who try to reconcile the writings of Paul and James but they cannot be made harmonious.  Why not?  Because James is a false apostle.  Jude, the brother of James, wrote about  his own brother in his epistle when he talked about those who had crept in unawares.  James did not meet the requirements of an apostle laid down by Peter before the Holy Ghost came; James the half-brother of Jesus, was not a disciple of Jesus during his earthly ministry and yet we find him clearly in charge of the Church n Jerusalem.  He is the forerunner of those who sit in the seats of authority in churches who have no business being there.  Not what F. Dake has to say about James' epistle:

 "James is more Jewish in content than the gospel of Matthew, the gospel for the Jews; than Jude and Revelation, and even Hebrews.  There are only two references to Christ and apart from these the book of James could take a place with the O.T. canon as far as doctrine is concerned.  There is no mention of the gospel, the incarnation, life death, or resurrection of Jesus Christ.  There is no suggestion as to the Messiah having come or of redemption through him.  There is no trace of early Christian controversies."

                     In short, James preached salvation through works of the flesh and a large percentage of those preaching the gospel today are patterned after the doctrine of James and not  Paul's.   My doctrine is purely Pauline.

And here I will add another statement of Paul's:

"I   marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

Which is not another: but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach another gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that  ye have received, let him be accursed. "  Galatians  1: 6-9

         If you continue reading in that chapter you will see the clear contrast Paul makes between Peter and James in verses 18 and  19.  Later in chapter two  he sounds like Jude in verse four and I believe his reference is to the James gang.   He continues his denouncement  of that faction in verses 5   and 6. The question you might ask now  is how or why did the book of  James come to be a part of the canon of scriptures?   I believe God allowed it in order that we might  fully grasp the contrast of the two  systems being preached  in the early church.  One, James' doctrine,  leads to bondage, the other, Paul's, led one to freedom and life in Christ Jesus. Beware, Paul's  language is spoken in the House of Good News.

Keeping the law  is easy.  Walking  after the dictates of the Spirit  is much more difficult but produces a quality of salvation far superior to that of the legalistic, do and don't doctrine. We would be much more effective in bringing people to Christ if we preached  the power of the  Holy Ghost in their lives instead of hammering them with a list of personal,  fleshly responsibility.

All of that was the introduction to today's message, Beware of the Concision.  Paul employs a play  on words here as he denounces the group   in the new testament  known as the circumcision. 

I intended  last Sunday to bring out the difference of two groups known as the circumcision so let's do it right here.  Turn to Philippians 3:3.

"For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh"   

Here Paul makes a distinction between his converts and those identified earlier who were with the James gang. The latter was called the circumcision in a negative sense because they were not worshipping God in the spirit but in their own ability to keep the law.  Let me digress again.  Go to Acts chapter 15.  There we have a recording of the first Council.  (Originally counsels were held in the church to doctrinal issues; nothing like the carnal circuses they are today.) The issue was circumcision.  There were those, (no doubt James' group) who preached that unless one was circumcised he could not be saved. Notice a little remark made by James during this meeting and it will tell you clearly where his head was. 

       "For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read n the synagogues every sabbath day."  Acts 15:21

WHAT? Did you see it?  James is advocating the reading of the law of Moses in Gentile congregations every sabbath day.  I can just about assure you that James also had a problem with meeting on Sundays.

For all of the reasons I have pointed out, Paul warns the Philippians with the following words:

       "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision."

 Philippians 3:2

Regarding the term dogs, Jesus once made reference to dogs when addressing the woman who sought healing for her daughter.  She was a Gentile.  He told her that it was not proper to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs.  That statement has offended many but it shouldn't.  There Jesus used the term dogs in the sense of household pets who sat under the table while the family ate and received scraps of food from the hands of the children.  Jesus was not calling the woman a dog.  But here, the use of the word dogs refers to the mangy, flea ridden,  rabid  infested, vicious dogs; the junkyard  type of dog.  The term is symbolic and speaks of an element within the church and the effects of their  false doctrine.  It is the same group we have referred  to  earlier.

          Paul further identifies them as evil workers. Why are they evil? Because essentially, they make the grace of God of none effect because if salvation  is accomplished  through the works  of the flesh then grace is made void!

          The reward of salvation becomes the payment of a debt because the individual earned it by working and that act nullified the need of salvation by grace (unmerited favor) through faith. Therefore, teaching that righteousness  comes about by works is itself an evil work.

We come now to the third term, the concision. The idea behind  this word  is that of a surgeon operating on someone with a dull knife,  like a butter knife. The result is not a clean cutting around of the flesh but an unsightly, gashing wound which would surely result  in the painful, infectious  death of the individual being operated on.   That's what the   works doctrine is equivalent to. Most saints are under the scalpel of "concisionists."  They preach every Sunday and Wednesday about your sins. Their message is often generated from your own confession or from the confession of someone else involving you.  Put another way, many  preachers  are in the business  of dissecting  sin every Sunday, a message that only depresses the hearer and never brings him to victory in Christ  Jesus. The believer goes to church and hears another installment on his shortcomings.  Those who preach that message think that they  are  perfecting the saints. No, they are only making the saints aware of their dilemma of sinfulness and their own personal helplessness of being able to live perfectly.   Naturally,  those who are concerned  will  resort to self­ effort to make themselves acceptable with God and that act opens up a whole new can of  worms.

First and foremost, it leads directly to self-righteousness. When I accomplish  the perfection  of that which I can see is wrong,  I then have the right to point  my finger at those who have not  risen to my own  personal level.  More, I am deceiving myself into believing that I have  arrived spiritually.   That brings me into an ego problem,  the same thing  that caused Satan to be ejected from the presence of God. Understand that God is not accepting any standard of righteousness  except his very own.

Who can come up to that standard through self-effort?

If you would like to probe further into the issue of the works of the Holy Ghost versus the worthless, righteous works of the flesh, tune into YouTube: "Consider Jesus" on the House of Good Newz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpv_xmU5_3E

Written in the THE WEEKLY WORD OF THE HOUSE OF GOOD NEWS

12/29/1996

To read more current revelations from Pastor Steve, check out his book published September of 2017 on Amazon.com

 https://smile.amazon.com/Gods-Final-Secret-Stephen-Benton/dp/1976338476/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509271792&sr=1-1&keywords=god%27s+final+secret+by+stephen+benton