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Christian Biblical Church of God
Post Office Box 1442
Hollister, California 95024-1442
(831)-637-1875
Fred R. Coulter, Minister
May 12, 2005
Dear Brethren,
From all the e-mails, letters and
reports we have received, it is apparent
that God blessed everyone with a
meaningful and inspiring Passover and
Feast of Unleavened Bread. During
the week of Unleavened Bread, on
Tuesday, I traveled to Boise, Idaho.
Bill Scherer met me at the airport
Holiday Inn and after visiting Richard
Fisher, who is recovering from an
accident, we gathered for a special and
very inspiring Bible study at Marge
Sharver’s home. It was great to
see the brethren there because Boise was
the first (WCG) church that I pastored
beginning in May 1965. Also, we
were able to visit with Ruth Kennedy,
who I first met 40 years ago. She
is now over 96 years of age, still lives
in her own house and fully takes care of
herself.
On Wednesday I flew to Salt Lake
City, Utah. Bob Jacobson met me,
and we visited 84-year old Marie Riley,
who I had also met and baptized 40 years
ago. For the past two years she
has been living in an assisted-living
care facility, which is near the
airport. However, just over a
month ago she had a massive stroke that
left her unable to talk and barely able
to move. Although she could not
talk, I could tell that she recognized
me because when I squeezed her hand, she
responded by squeezing back. That
night we had a wonderful Bible study
with 17 brethren at the Jacobson home.
On Thursday morning at about 8:30, Bob
took me to the airport. After
getting checked in and inspected from
head to toe, I began to wait for my
flight to Phoenix. At about 9:30 I
was paged over the airport paging
system. When I got to the phone,
Bob was on the other end. He told
me that Marie’s caregiver had called and
informed him that Marie died at 4:00 in
the morning. Because of her
condition, we knew that she did not have
long to live, but I was happy that I was
able to see her the day before she died.
I immediately called Dolores to tell her
about the trip and Marie’s death.
While at the airport I made another call
to Virginia Moeglin (Meg), who was in a
hospital in Reno, Nevada. In her
early 80’s, she suffers from a severe
terminal condition of blood clots in her
heart. I was happy to be able to
talk with her and though she was very
weak, she appreciated the flowers that
we sent to her. She realized that
her life in the flesh was coming to an
end, but she was looking forward to the
resurrection and to being on the Sea of
Glass with all the saints when Jesus
returns. I told her, “Meg, I’ll
see you there.” She died on
Sunday evening, May 1.
What a wonderful blessing it is to have
the opportunity to serve brethren who
are faithful to love God the Father to
the very end as Jesus said, “The one who
endures to the end, the same shall be
saved.” That is the goal of our
lives—to be faithful unto death.
Very few in the world truly understand
this. However, God reveals that He views
death far differently than men do:
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is
the death of His saints …. The righteous
has hope in his death.” And again, “Be
faithful unto death, and I will give you
a crown of life.” And again, “The
righteous perisheth, and no man layeth
it to heart: and merciful men are taken
away, none considering that the
righteous is taken away from the evil to
come. He shall enter into peace:
they shall rest…” (Psa. 116:15, Pro.
14:32, Rev. 2:10 and Isa. 57:1-2).
Marie and Virginia fought the good
fight, finished their course and kept
the faith. They passed their final
exam—death. From this time forward, a
crown of righteousness is laid up for
them, which the Lord, the Righteous
Judge, will give to them at the
resurrection—and also “to all who love
His appearing.”
When I got to Phoenix, Leon Ritchie
met me at the airport and took me to the
Hilton Garden Inn in Scottsdale.
Although Leon had many obstacles to
overcome to find a meeting place for the
last day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, with God’s help, he did an
exceptional job. We had nearly 100
brethren in attendance for morning and
afternoon services and an excellent meal
between services.
In all three locations I gave a
special Bible study/sermon The
Mystery of Godliness for You.
The Scottsdale sermon is included in
this mailing. While you will not
find one scripture that you have not
heard before, you will discover the
profound reality of God the Father and
Jesus Christ’s calling, and how they are
personally involved in our lives.
Moreover, you will learn how important
the Scriptures truly are because every
word is God-breathed from the Father!
The Scriptures are the Father’s words,
and He Himself is teaching us through
His Word and the power of His Holy
Spirit (John 6:44-45). Remember,
the greatest work of God is the work
that He is doing in each one of our
lives so that we can develop godly
character for eternal life. The mystery
is this: We are being converted from
being sinners to being righteous, from
being evil to being perfect (Matt.
5:48)— the mystery of godliness
for you!
Book Review of The New Testament
In Its Original Order
The New Testament In Its Original
Order—A Faithful Version With Commentary
received a very positive review in the
April-June 2005 Bible Editions and
Versions. The entire review
written by Dan Decker (bold type added)
follows:
“This large, attractive, hardbound
book, about the size of a big-city phone
directory, is about one-third Biblical
text with the rest introductory
information, commentary and appendices.
Also distinctive as the translator tells
us: ‘This translation has retained the
original placement of the books of the
New Testament that is reflected in the
Byzantine Text. The complete order
is as follows: The Four Gospels, Acts,
The Seven General Epistles, Paul’s
Epistles to the Churches, Paul’s epistle
to the Hebrews, Paul’s Pastoral
Epistles, and Revelation.’ The
Greek text used as a basis is the
Stephens 1550 Greek New Testament, which
was also the basis of the 1557 Geneva
Bible.
“There is a clear conservative bias
in the commentary. This bias is
also indicated in a private
correspondence with this reviewer, where
he writes: ‘The main purpose of this new
translation is to combat the tidal wave
of new translations that destroys the
true meaning of the Word of God.
Because there is so much confusion in
the “Christian” community today, we felt
that it was necessary to include the
commentaries and appendices along with
the New Testament translation in one
volume. We did this because we
wanted to restore the New Testament and
its teachings back to the times of Jesus
and the apostles, instead of viewing it
through the lens of later historical
interpretations and questionable
orthodox traditions that originated
three to fifteen hundred years later.
This way we are able to present the
original meaning and teachings of the
New Testament divorced from the standard
Catholic and Protestant traditions.’
“The book’s introductory material had
a detailed and scholarly explanation of
the translation of Greek verbs, which is
most informative. Moreover, there
are two delightful facsimiles of the
title page, and the first page of the
Gospel of John, from the Stephens Greek
Text of 1550.
“The volume is divided into four
parts, each consisting of several
chapters. Part one, ‘About the New
Testament,’ consists of eight chapters
on topics such as when the New Testament
was written, canonization, and a tribute
to William Tyndale. Part two,
‘History and Preservation of the Bible,’
is largely about the preservation and
authority of the text. Part three is a
translation of the New Testament.
And, part four consists of twenty-four
appendices, dealing with doctrine and
historical data.
“The reader will find this translation
very similar to the King James
Version, using ‘begats’ and
italicizing words supplied by the
translators. However, there are
not the ‘thee’s’ and the ‘thou’s,’ as in
the KJV. There are
cross-references in center columns of
each page, and also explanatory
information, by which a star in the text
alerts the reader. While not
recommending this work for its
commentary, this reviewer finds it an
excellent translation for those desiring
a literal one”—Dan Decker
Letters about the New Testament
and The Day Jesus the Christ Died
To Whom It May Concern:
I have so enjoyed The New
Testament In Its Original Order (from
the Stephens Text 1550) written by Fred
C. Coulter and The Christian Passover by the same.
He writes very informatively, with much
detail and Scriptural backup, but also
easy to understand, even for a beginner
(in the subject).
I have been a Christian for almost 50
years and yet never have studied the
Jewish Feasts, Passover in particular,
nor understood much about the Sabbath.
As a result of studying these books, I
feel now I have a grasp of the
incredible significance and importance
of keeping Sabbath, the Passover, the
Feast of Unleavened Bred, etc. I
differ with Fred Coulter in a couple of
areas, but that doesn’t take away from
the wonderful blessings I have received
from these books.
When I called and asked how much the
books were, I was told (I believe by
Kimberly) that if I wanted to, I could
send a donation. I appreciate that
approach so much. We also have a
ministry (focusing on the practical
application of the Christian walk) so I
know how difficult it is to find the
balance between giving books away and
getting enough income to keep the
ministry going. I believe God is
pleased when we do it as you did and He
will see to it that the income follows.
Please find a donation check enclosed
and one of our newest books.
Sincerely,
NM, King’s High Way Ministries
Dear Fred,
Thanks for coming up to Seattle to see
us. It’s always nice to see you.
I am hoping I will be able to come down
to your area this year, but it depends
on selling my house…
Fred, I know I haven’t written to tell
you how much I value and appreciate your
New Testament translation, but I read it
every day and I am getting so much out
of it. The clarity and readability
are amazing. I know you agonized
over every single word and it really
shows. It is a beautiful book and
reflects your commitment to the truth of
God. I have enclosed a sheet with
a few possible corrections that you can
review. Best wishes to you and
Dolores.
Love,
PA
Dear Bro. Fred Coulter,
Hello. I enjoyed the book called, “The Day Jesus the Christ Died.”
After I received the free book last
year, I read it over and over. It
touched my heart to understand more
clearly about the Christ who died that
day. I agreed and believed that
these words were spoken of the truth by
the name of Jesus Christ.
Yesterday, I was shocked and surprised
that I got another free book called, The New Testament In Its Original Order:
A Faithful Version With Commentary. I overviewed the pages beginning with
what you wrote about the explanation of
the original Greek language and the
other issues in the book. I really
enjoyed and read and understood it more
and more. I want to thank you for
sending these wonderful books. I
am pleased to read and to learn from
God’s Word. I want to learn more
and more about Jesus Christ. I
know that God will direct me in the
right way of finding the right answers
in my life for the future. I can
show and prove to the deaf people like
me to believe in God’s True Word in the
original languages. May God help
you to write more books. … God bless you
and your church. I will pray for
you as you will pray for me to seek more
of the truth in God’s Word.
Yours truly in Christ,
EVB, Fl.
Dear Fred,
I truly appreciate all the work
that the CBCG is doing. The Day Jesus the Christ Died is
truly a phenomenal book. I am
reading it slowly so I can really grasp
what was written. I have always
taken the Passover seriously, but this
book has given me a much deeper
appreciation for what Jesus Christ did
for us.
You wrote about the wonderful
moment when Jesus first went to present
Himself to His Father after He was
resurrected. I have also thought
about the time just before Jesus was
made a pinpoint of life and was
impregnated in Mary. I think it was very
hard for both God the Father and Jesus
Christ to be separated, even knowing why
it was necessary. It must have
been very emotional for them. This
book has done something else for me.
As I read it I can visualize everything
that happened that day. I have
read these scriptures over and over, but
now the picture is very clear.
Thank you for this book. May God
bless you and this work and bless and
protect us all in these dangerous times.
Sincerely,
JG, Texas
Dear Mr. Coulter,
A short time ago I came across
your web sites and have been reading and
listening to what is there and thanking
God that FINALLY I have found where
God’s truth was being proclaimed.
In 1970 my wife and I became affiliated
with the WCG. However, since the D
& R was in effect at the time, we had to
give you our marriage before we could be
baptized. Several years later when
it was rescinded we were able to get
together again and because of this
trial, we had an even more wonderful
marriage until she died very
unexpectedly while we were attending the
FoT at Pocono Mountains in 1987.
I continued in the church until it got
so bad that I couldn’t take it any
longer. Then I was introduced to
the PCG, and for reasons I’m not sure of
it was short lived.
I received The Day Jesus the
Christ Died and The Harmony of
the Gospels for which I thank you
very much. I would like to be on
your mailing list and any information
regarding a fellowship group in my area.
I am now 84, retired and “enjoying” some
of the limitations that come with
getting old, but am so thankful to our
Great God that He has blessed me in so
many ways.
The enclosed check is for tithes
and offerings that I have been setting
aside until God would lead me to where
they would be used to help proclaim His
truth.
Thank you for being there,
RS, Texas
Dear Fred,
First of all, many thanks to you and the
Burrows for the wonderful Passover
Promise coloring books! We spent
about 3 hours last evening reading and
going over them with our children.
We all enjoyed it very much. The
kids thought it was great to see
pictures on every page. It was
nice to see the Passover shown in a
family setting, as we kept it that way
last year. We think it is
important for the children to grow up
seeing, hearing and knowing what it is
all about. It was so wonderful and
refreshing to finally be able to read a
Bible Story that is biblically accurate,
so we didn’t have to stop and change
anything in order to correct it!
Perhaps you could put the coloring books
on the website as a PDF file so people
could print them out and make their own
books for their children and save you
printing and mailing costs. You
would be surprised how many Passover
books (mostly from a Jewish perspective)
and activity pages there are out there
now …
Thanks for the Passover video.
Take care and may you all have a rich
and meaningful Passover and Spring holy
day season.
M & L D, Alaska
Comments from York Publishing
Mailing
Originally, Dr. Ernest Martin worked
with some other scholars who planned to
produce The Original Bible Restored with a new translation. After Dr.
Martin’s passing and during the past ten
years, very little progress was made
toward that end. Recently, we were
able to get a small mailing list with
names and addresses of some of the
people who were associated with this
project. We sent a mailing to them
through York Publishing advertising the
book. We received a good response to our
mailing. Below are some of the
comments we received from those who
ordered the New Testament. (We included
complimentary copies of The Day Jesus
the Christ Died with the New
Testament orders.)
Dear Mr. Coulter,
I am very happy to receive notice
of the New Testament. I have been
waiting for quite a few years to see
something in print. Thank you so
much.
ML
Mr. Coulter,
We were so pleased to receive the
letter yesterday. We have been
waiting for Dr. Tabor’s version all
these years and were very pleased to
hear about your version. I don’t
remember Dr. Martin talking about yours,
we were very pleasantly surprised.
Please rush the books ASAP to the above
address. Thank you very much.
C & E S, Ohio
Dear Mr. Coulter,
I’m glad you did this. We
have been waiting for years. Sorry
Dr. Martin couldn’t finish his work—you
did—great!
Dear Fred,
Greetings and thank you for the mailing
about the New Testament. I
graduated from AC in 1968. Served
in the Washington DC area until the big
split in 1973. I left just before
the split. Our lives are so
different than what we would ever have
believed back then. I look forward
to The New Testament In Its Original
Order. I also appreciate the Harmony of the Gospels that you did
in 1974. Thank you.
Sincerely in His name,
BN
From New Zealand
Warm greetings to you Fred and the
brethren,
Passover preparation is our major
concern, with your helpful counsel and
care package, Steve and I will journey
to Christchurch—arrange the baptism
service for Lisa and gather the little
group in Christchurch for Passover and
the NTMO. Then we will share the
Sabbath and the first holy day together.
The group down there, on the south
island, has never met together before,
so we feel privileged to help in this
new beginning. Friends of ours
from Perth (also in CBCG) will be
traveling over to New Zealand to join
us. We will have the final 2 days
of Unleavened Bread here in Waihi with
Eileen and the Brown family who live
about an hour away. Eileen will be
flying to Christchurch to be with us for
the baptism and Passover, etc.
Although we are such a little group of
God’s people, we do have a loving
“family” relationship and all deeply
appreciate your teaching ministry.
We are ever mindful of the gifts
constantly coming our way through the
generosity of the United States
brethren, and assure you all, we are so
grateful and share all you send to us
with our brethren and many others who
ask questions and show some interest
here. We are advertising the book The Day Jesus the Christ Died to
coincide with the false hype of
“Easter.” Have a wonderful
Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.
With warmest love,
Steve and Jenny Gough
Happy to Be Fellowshipping
with Brethren Again
Dear Fred,
I am very pleased with your
cassettes that you are sending and I am
real happy with the local church in
Bristol, Indiana. You have a good
way of expounding the Bible. I am
enclosing something to help in spreading
the Gospel.
I am looking forward to the spring
Holy Days. Everyone in our little
church is so friendly, it is a joy to
attend church. I had no friends in
LCG as all they wanted me to do was to
warm a seat.
Sincerely yours,
May God bless you and all your staff.
AL, Indiana
Trouble in Making the Truth
Known
Dear Mr. Coulter,
Three years ago in our little Bible
Study group, I started to read from The Harmony of the Gospels when I
was abruptly interrupted—just for
wanting to read about the events that
concerned the Passover.
I really stirred up a hornet’s
nest. Each time my husband and I
shared in a Bible Study from CEM tapes,
or Bible Correspondence lesson, we tried
to stay with the Bible teachings.
We didn’t hear any complaints, but
several in our group evidently thought
we were preaching “Armstrongism.”
But when they had a presentation, they
spliced together tapes from several
Protestant ministers leaving us with a
very empty feeling from those services.
Then again this year, the 14/15
Passover problem came up again.
Last year the man who brought up this
problem was called out of town, so we
had it here in our home. We’ve
been with this group for 4 years and
last month decided to send them a letter
that we were no longer attending with
them, as they seemed to be affiliating
themselves more and more with
Protestants.
So this year, in order to please
both the 14th and 15th observers of Passover, they kept it on
Friday and Saturday nights. Your
research has really blessed us with a
firm foundation and was very surprised
to see the thick Passover book, plus the
Ceremony booklets. I really didn’t
know that I had ordered them, but what a
blessing. Would you mind sending
me more information about the CBCG.
God Bless,
A & K B, South Carolina
General Comments
Dear Fred,
I want to thank you and the
brethren so very much for all the tapes
and books you have sent. Through
them the Scriptures have opened up to
me. I now see and feel the action as I
read and study. I understand more
and more. It is no longer a duty, but a
need to try and to be closer to God.
I feel His life and want to be more
worthy of Him. Each day I know how
inadequate and unworthy of all He wants
to give to us. I know He loves me
but can only give to the level that I
can handle. Thank you for helping
me to comprehend how very much God loves
me and those around me.
With love,
HC, Washington
Dear Fred,
Thank you and the brethren very much for
your sermon tapes. Especially the
one on “Spiritual Strength in Time of
Disaster.” It will help us keep
our focus on the big picture—total
conversion, becoming more Christ-like;,
keeping the two great commandments;
expressing love toward the brethren;
being pleasing to God through our
conduct and staying the course come what
may. Thanks again for feeding the
flock.
Sincerely,
TF, Ohio
Attention: Fred Coulter
I really enjoy the sermon tapes
that have been given to me. We
need the meat, especially in these last
days. Please put me on the mailing
list and also send me a list of what you
have available. There are several
I want to get. Others have shared
the tapes with me and I really want
whatever you have.
Thanks so much for those sermons.
I have learned a lot from them.
I’ll be glad to get the first tape Care
Package and to be on the regular mailing
list.
Sincerely,
JA, California
Hello Fred,
I hope that you and your family
are well. I would like to visit
Sabbath services in my area. Would
you ask someone to call me so we can
fellowship? I am looking forward
to seeing you in June … I am listening
to the Revelation series now. I
have been in God’s Church for almost 18
years and I can’t believe how much I
have learned since I have been receiving
these tapes. I thank God for this.
I had no idea how much I didn’t know.
That is so sad. We are absolutely
living in the Laodicean era, for lack of
a better term. There is still so
much I need to learn. Thank you,
Fred and those helping you, for being a
conduit for God to open my eyes.
Where I was attending I was not growing
and learning. But I really want to
be where brethren actually discuss God’s
word on the Sabbath. I do not want
to socialize or join a club. I
want to listen and to learn and grow in
grace and knowledge.
My husband of 25 years is not a
church goer, never has been. However, he
never asks me to turn off the tape
player when he comes home from work or
comes into the room where I am listening
to the tapes. He does encourage me
and we never argue. We have a
blessed marriage. Thank you once
again.
Your sister in Christ,
K, New Hampshire
Dear Mr. Coulter,
Thank you again for the very helpful
material you have diligently prepared to
aid our study and understanding of God’s
Word and His purpose for our existence
and for all of humanity.
Your books and tapes are an
immense help and deeply appreciated.
As you correctly stated, “God’s word
never gets old but it is continually new
and refreshing. Some of that comes
from going through life and gaining more
experience that helps us understand what
was there all along. Your books
and tapes are tremendously helpful in
making sense of those further
experiences and have really helped
enlarge the big picture! Passover
and Unleavened Bread were more
meaningful than ever!
Thank you Fred,
R & M, Washington
False Prophets
Today, we are confronted with a
multitude of false prophets and
teachers. Not only from apostate
“Christian” denominations of this world
but from within the churches of God.
In fact, we are being confronted with
false teachings all the time from
supposed ministers and self-proclaimed
teachers. But what is more amazing
is that many brethren and ministers fall
for their perverted teachings and leave
the truth of God. Without a doubt,
there are more false prophets and
teachers than there are true servants
and ministers of God! During the
days of Elijah, he was outnumbered by
450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of
the groves—850 to 1. No doubt the
ratio is even higher today. There
have been false prophets beginning with
Cain right down to our time.
Jesus Christ warned that this would
happen! His disciples asked Jesus
about the end times, “ ‘Tell us, when
shall these things be? And what shall be the sign when all these things are about
to be accomplished?’ And Jesus in answering them began to say, ‘Be
on guard lest anyone deceive you.
For many shall come in My name, saying,
‘I am the Christ’; and they shall
deceive many … For there shall arise
false Christs and false prophets, and
they shall give signs and wonders, in
order to deceive, if possible, even the
elect. But you, watch out for them! Behold, I have
foretold all these things to you”
(Mark 13:4-6, 22-23).
In his second epistle, the apostle
Peter sounded the warning that false
teachers would secretly come into the
church: “But there were also false
prophets among the people, as indeed
there will be false teachers among you,
who will stealthily introduce
destructive heresies, personally denying the Lord who bought them, and bringing swift
destruction upon themselves. And
many people will follow as
authoritative their destructive
ways; and because of them, the
way of the truth will be blasphemed.
Also, through insatiable greed they will
with enticing messages exploit you for
gain; for whom the judgment of old is in full force, and their destruction is ever watching” (II Pet. 2:1-3; also see Jude
3-4).
The apostle Paul also warned the elders
of the church at Ephesus that false
prophets would come, and even from their
own ranks men would rise up and bring
false teachings. They would gain
their own following. We have seen
this happen over and over again in our
lifetimes—nothing has changed: “And now
behold, I know that you all, among whom
I have gone about proclaiming the
kingdom of God, will see my face no
more; wherefore I testify to you on this
day that I am pure from the blood of
all, for I have not held back from
preaching to you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore to yourselves and to
all the flock, among which the Holy
Spirit has made you overseers, to feed
the church of God, which He purchased
with His own blood. For I know this: that after my departure
grievous wolves will come in among you,
not sparing the flock; and from
among your own selves men will rise up
speaking perverse things to draw away
disciples after themselves” (Acts
20:25-30).
Why do these things continue to happen?
In addition to those who sneak in with
the determination to change doctrine and
cause confusion, there are ministers who
come up with strange doctrines and
brethren who believe their teachings and
follow them. Why does it happen?
Paul clearly tells us why! It is a
two-fold problem: 1) False ministers
fail to preach the Word—the truth of
God. Rather, they preach their own
ideas about the Word of God—things that
sound good—lies that sound true.
2) Brethren listen to them and accept
their teachings without proving whether
they are true or not. Here is what
Paul wrote: “I charge you, therefore, in
the sight of God, even the Lord Jesus
Christ, Who is ready to judge the living and the dead at His
appearing and His kingdom: Preach the Word! Be urgent
in season and out of season; convict,
rebuke, encourage, with all patience and
doctrine. For there shall come
a time when they will not tolerate sound
doctrine; but according to their own
lusts they shall accumulate to
themselves a great number of teachers, having ears itching to hear
what satisfies their cravings; but
they shall turn away their own ears from
the truth; and they shall be turned
aside unto myths” (II Tim 4:1-4).
Paul had to warn the Corinthians very
sternly about their practice of allowing
false teachers to preach in their
congregations! They were extremely
tolerant, and when they heard them speak
they all thought it was a good thing.
(Just like the newscasts today—present
both sides—fair and balanced—you
decide!) In order to contrast his
preaching with that of the false
apostles, Paul had to try to shame the
Corinthians to their senses: “I would that you might bear with me in a little
nonsense; but indeed, do bear with me.
For I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God because I have espoused
you to one husband, so that I may
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the
serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness,
so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
For indeed, if someone comes
preaching another Jesus, whom we did not
preach, or you receive a different
spirit, which you did not receive, or a
different gospel, which you did not
accept, you put up with it as something good. But I
consider myself in no way inferior to
those highly exalted so-called [false] apostles … For
such are false apostles—deceitful workers who are
transforming themselves into apostles of
Christ. And it is no marvel, for Satan himself transforms
himself into an angel of light.
Therefore, it is no great thing
if his servants also transform
themselves as ministers of
righteousness—whose end shall be
according to their works” (II Cor.
11:1-5, 13-15).
Yes, they look good! They sound
good! They even use scriptures—but
twist and turn the meaning to suit their
own schemes and interpretations (II Pet.
3:16-18; II Cor. 2:16-17; 4:2).
Just look at many modern professing
“Christian” churches. They embrace
a lawless do nothing, feel good, do
whatever seems right gospel. “God
accepts you—you are saved! You don’t
even need to repent. You don’t
need to be baptized; just believe. ”
They are paving the way for the False
Prophet of Revelation. It appears
that all one needs to do is to be
religious and faithful to their
religion, regardless of what it is, and
he or she is accepted.
Why Does God Allow False
Prophets?
God did not create us as robots or with
instinct as He did the animals. He
has given us intelligence and has given
us free moral agency. God allowed
Adam and Eve to choose. Under the
sway of Satan the devil they chose to
sin and to eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. We
need to remember that God has always
made known His laws and commandments in
every generation. Otherwise, God
could not impute sin or bring judgment
against sinners because where there is
no law there is no sin (Gen. 4-6; Rom.
1:18-32; 3:9-23; 4:15; 5:12-14).
Later, when God gave His laws and
commandments to His people Israel, which
they understood, He commanded them to
choose: “For this commandment which I
command thee this day, it is not hidden
from thee, neither is it far off.
It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest
say, Who shall go up for us to heaven,
and bring it unto us, that we may hear
it, and do it? Neither is it
beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say,
Who shall go over the sea for us, and
bring it unto us, that we may hear it,
and do it? But the word is very
nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy
heart, that thou mayest do it.
“See, I have set before thee this day
life and good, and death and evil;
in that I command thee this day to love
the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways,
and to keep his commandments and his
statutes and his judgments, that thou
mayest live and multiply: and the LORD
thy God shall bless thee in the land
whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that
thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn
away, and worship other gods, and serve
them; I denounce unto you this day, that
ye shall surely perish, and that ye
shall not prolong your days upon the
land, whither thou passest over Jordan
to go to possess it.
“I call heaven and earth to record this
day against you, that I have set before
you life and death, blessing and
cursing: therefore choose life, that
both thou and thy seed may live:
that thou mayest love the LORD thy God,
and that thou mayest obey his voice, and
that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he
is thy life, and the length of thy days:
that thou mayest dwell in the land which
the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give
them” (Deut. 30:10-20, KJV).
Just before the children of Israel went
into the Promised Land, God again gave
them warnings so that they would not
change the Word of God or get caught up
with the gods of the Canaanites and
serve them instead of the true God:
“These are the statutes and judgments,
which ye shall observe to do in the
land, which the LORD God of thy fathers
giveth thee to possess it, all the days
that ye live upon the earth. Ye
shall utterly destroy all the places,
wherein the nations which ye shall
possess served their gods, upon the high
mountains, and upon the hills, and under
every green tree: and ye shall overthrow
their altars, and break their pillars,
and burn their groves with fire; and ye
shall hew down the graven images of
their gods, and destroy the names of
them out of that place. Ye shall
not do so unto the LORD your God …
“Observe and hear all these words which
I command thee, that it may go well with
thee, and with thy children after thee
for ever, when thou doest that which is
good and right in the sight of the LORD
thy God. When the LORD thy God shall cut
off the nations from before thee,
whither thou goest to possess them, and
thou succeedest them, and dwellest in
their land; take heed to thyself that
thou be not snared by following them,
after that they be destroyed from before
thee; and that thou inquire not after
their gods, saying, How did these
nations serve their gods? even so will I
do likewise. Thou shalt not
do so unto the LORD thy God: for every
abomination to the LORD, which he
hateth, have they done unto their gods;
for even their sons and their daughters
they have burnt in the fire to their
gods. What thing soever I command you,
observe to do it: thou shalt not add
thereto, nor diminish from it”
(Deut. 12:1-4, 28-31, KJV).
After giving these specific commands,
God then gave them instructions
regarding a false prophet: “If there
arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer
of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a
wonder, and the sign or the wonder come
to pass, whereof he spake unto thee,
saying, Let us go after other gods,
which thou hast not known, and let us
serve them; thou shalt not hearken
unto the words of that prophet, or that
dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God
proveth you, to know whether ye love the
LORD your God with all your heart and
with all your soul. Ye shall walk
after the LORD your God, and fear him,
and keep his commandments, and obey his
voice, and ye shall serve him, and
cleave unto him” (Deut. 13:1-4, KJV).
The reason that God allows false
prophets is to test us to see whether we
truly love Him with all our hearts and
with all our souls! If you love
God you will not get involved with false
prophets and false gods.
In God’s covenant with Israel, since
they had the administration of death, a
false prophet was to be executed, even
if he/she were a family member.
False prophets were not to be tolerated
because they would turn the people away
from the Lord God of Israel—the true
God! “And that prophet, or that dreamer
of dreams, shall be put to death;
because he hath spoken to turn you away
from the LORD your God, which brought
you out of the land of Egypt, and
redeemed you out of the house of
bondage, to thrust thee out of the way
which the LORD thy God commanded thee to
walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away
from the midst of thee. If thy brother,
the son of thy mother, or thy son, or
thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom,
or thy friend, which is as thine own
soul, entice thee secretly, saying,
Let us go and serve other gods, which
thou hast not known, thou, nor thy
fathers; namely, of the gods of the
people which are round about you, nigh
unto thee, or far off from thee, from
the one end of the earth even unto the
other end of the earth; thou shalt
not consent unto him, nor hearken unto
him; neither shall thine eye pity him,
neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt
thou conceal him: but thou shalt surely
kill him; thine hand shall be first upon
him to put him to death, and afterwards
the hand of all the people. And
thou shalt stone him with stones, that
he die; because he hath sought to thrust
thee away from the LORD thy God, which
brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
from the house of bondage. And all
Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall
do no more any such wickedness as this
is among you” (Deut. 13:5-11, KJV).
Today, under the administration of
the spirit, we do not have the authority
to execute false prophets or to destroy
their property. However, we are
not to allow them to join with the true
brethren of God. If we find them
in our midst, we are to disfellowship
them because they seek to draw us away
from God the Father and Jesus Christ
with their false teachings.
Jesus Christ warned His followers to
beware of the doctrines of the scribes,
Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians
(Matt. 16:5-12; Mark 8:14-21). He
further warned that all the traditions
of Judaism were vain practices,
rejecting the commandments of God—hence
false doctrines, by false prophets (Mark
7:1-13). Because we also keep the
Sabbath and holy days of God, some
ministers and brethren fall victim to
the false teachings of Judaism. They
become confused because of Judaism’s
false interpretations of Scripture,
especially as they relate to the
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened
Bread. These false Jewish
practices are at the heart and core of
the centuries-old controversy on whether
the Passover should be observed on the
14th day of the first month
or on the 15th day of the
first month.
The Christian Passover book was written in great depth
and detail, covering every one of these
false teachings: how they arose; why
they are wrong and what the truth of
God’s Word is. This book is over
500 pages long, and every chapter covers
vital truths that are extremely
important and necessary to understand in
order to combat these false teachings.
If you do not have The Christian Passover book, please
write for it, and we will send it to you
at no cost. If you have the book
and have not reviewed it or read it in
several years, it would be an extremely
worthwhile project for you to reread it.
You might be surprised at what you have
missed or forgotten.
Recycled Passover and Unleavened Bread
Heresies
As we have learned through the years,
false teachings and doctrines are
recycled. Old propositions are
presented over and over again as “new
truth.” This is why God commands
us to prove all things and hold fast to
that which is good (I Thes. 5:21). We
are to be like the Bereans, who searched
the Scriptures daily to see if those
things were so (Acts 17:11).
Such is the case with a recent paper
that was mailed to many brethren and
ministers in many of the churches of
God. I received one and knew instantly
that the research was extremely poor.
Many assumptions were made by the
writer, a minister in a church of God in
Utah. He stated that the foot
washing came after the Old Testament
Passover supper and therefore comes
after the bread and wine ceremony of the
New Covenant Christian Passover as well
– and not before the bread and wine.
He also stated that the Night to be Much
Observed and the 14th Passover are combined and should be
observed beginning on the 14th day of the first month, and the Feast of
Unleavened Bread should end on the 20th rather than on the 21st.
We will examine both of these
assertions.
The answer to the first false
doctrine that God combined the 14th and the 15th into one feast
is the most simple to refute. IF
YOU SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES YOU WILL NOT
FIND ANYWHERE THAT GOD EVER COMMANDED
THAT THESE DAYS BE COMBINED AND OBSERVED
AS ONE FEAST. Even though Judaism
combines the two days and observes their
Passover on the 15th and then extends the Feast of Unleavened
Bread until the end of the 22nd of the first month, these dates have no
Scriptural basis. The history of
this teaching and practice is thoroughly
covered in The Christian Passover.
Remember, we are to obey God and keep
His commandments—not the traditions of
Judaism or of any other religion.
God warned through the prophet Isaiah:
“And when they shall say unto you, Seek
unto them that have familiar spirits,
and unto wizards that peep, and that
mutter: should not a people seek unto
their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if
they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them”
(Isa. 8:19-20, KJV).
Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep the
commandments—namely Mine” (John 14:15).
There is no question that Jesus and the
apostles kept the Passover on the 14th as found in Exodus 12, Leviticus 23,
etc. Again, a detailed study about
this is covered in The Christian Passover.
However, some ministers are confused
about the 14/15 Passover; yet, they
refuse to read the book. In fact,
one evangelist, who now heads an
educational ministry and to whom I
personally gave an autographed copy in
1994, threw it in the waste can!
To this day he complains that he doesn’t
understand why the Passover is such a
complicated issue.
Why does the Christian Passover appear
to be a complicated issue? The
answer is very simple. Satan
does not want people to be in a true
covenant relationship with God the
Father and Jesus Christ.
Therefore, his ministers and scholars
confuse the truth with their lies and
twisted interpretations. Look at
the result! Those who profess
Christ have no clue as to what the New
Covenant Christian Passover is.
They participate in the sacrifice of the
Mass, the Eucharist, communion or the
Lord’s Supper. In their ceremonies
some use leavened bread, some unleavened
bread; they use wine or grape juice and
even water. Some take it
daily, some weekly, some quarterly.
What mass confusion. God is not the
Author of confusion—Satan the devil is!
Look at the various churches of God!
Some keep the Passover on the correct
day, the 14th of the first
month; and at the correct time, the
night of the 14th, as Jesus
and the apostles did. Others keep
it on the afternoon of the 14th.
Some keep it on the 15th.
Some are even more confused because they
reject the calculated Hebrew Calendar
and devise their own calendar; hence,
their 14th day of the first
month is the wrong day.
To further complicate matters, some have
a meal with their Passover ceremony,
contrary to Paul’s instructions in I
Corinthians 11. Still others
participate in the foot washing after
partaking of the bread and wine.
This last error is the result of a
mistranslation in the KJV in John 13. This error was
incorporated into the recent paper that
was sent to me.
When I read this paper, I thought
that I had answered those very questions
a long time ago. Later, I remembered
that I had indeed written a letter to a
man who had made some of the same
assertions that the minister in Utah was
making. I looked in my old files
and found the original copy of the
letter that I had sent to him.
What follows is the letter that I wrote
on January 19, 1975 to answer
those false assumptions, while I was
still a minister in the WCG. I
have edited it and made some additions.
The Timing of the Foot Washing
Dear M. K.,
It has been brought to my
attention through the Theological
Research Project Team that you had
submitted a paper to the First Year
Bible Class, “The Life and Teachings of
Jesus Christ.” You wrote on the
subject of a seemingly obvious
misplacement of verses and the sequence
of the New Covenant Christian Passover
as outlined in the Harmony of the
Gospels authored by me.
I was furnished with a copy of
your paper. Thank you very much
for your interest and the things you
showed in your paper. I hope that
this direct answer from me, the author,
will be helpful to you in many ways,
especially for any of your future
endeavors along these lines.
Before we get into the subject, several
things must be borne in mind when
dealing with topics like this.
-
The Bible is inspired
[God-breathed] by God as written
in the original language.
Translations may or may not
retain varying degrees of
inspiration.
-
When there is an apparent
conflict between scriptures,
every facet of the problem must
be considered.
-
When there is a difficulty with
the KJV then an investigation
into the Greek or Hebrew is
necessary to clarify the
situation.
-
Especially when dealing with the
Gospels, a key to understanding
is that no single Gospel
contains all the facts and
evidence alone, when one or more
relate the same event.
Overall the four Gospels are
complimentary to each other and
must be properly coordinated for
a complete understanding.
Each Gospel account is essential.
For example: Matthew and Mark show only
one Passover; Luke, two; and John,
three. If we did not have John and
Luke we would not have certain keys
related to the time period and the
chronology of Jesus Christ’s ministry.
At Jesus’ last Passover, when He
instituted the New Covenant ceremony, we
would have some major problems if all
four accounts were not available to
coordinate all the activities.
Here some examples:
1. John
does not show the bread and wine
ceremony, only the foot washing.
So if John alone were used as a guide,
or if Matthew, Mark and Luke were not
there, we would only know of the foot
washing ceremony and nothing about the
bread and wine.
2.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and I Corinthians
only show the bread and wine ceremony,
but we would know nothing about the foot
washing. Therefore, if these three
accounts were used without John’s
account, we would only observe the bread
and wine ceremony of the Passover, as
does much of professing Christianity of
the world.
3.
Matthew, Mark and Luke do not show that
Judas ever left the meal to betray
Jesus.
4.
Matthew, Mark and Luke do not show the
long discourse that Jesus gave to His
disciples after the supper as does John
in chapters 14-16.
5. Only
Luke records the argument that occurred
between the disciples during Jesus’ last
Passover as to who would be the greatest
among them.
6. Only
Luke records that the disciples took two
swords with them when they all went to
the Mount of Olives with Jesus.
So, it is obvious that if the
approach was of pitting each account
against the other in a negative way, the
list of problems and difficulties
throughout the entirety of the four
Gospels would be immense indeed.
Because many scholars have taken this
approach, they are in hopeless confusion
as to how to solve many of these
problems because they believe that the
differences between the four Gospels are
contradictions, when they actually are
not.
The Apparent Problem at Hand
Your paper deals with a section which
projects all the options that were open
to me while reconstructing the
chronology of the events of Jesus’ last
Passover when I wrote the Harmony.
All of the factors that you have brought
up were deeply considered by me before
arranging Luke’s account, which was not
placed in the numbered verse sequence.
Why did I arrange verses 21-23,
then 19, 17, 18 and 20 of Luke 22 in
that order? Was this arrangement
merely done to satisfy Worldwide Church
of God doctrine? (If so, then the
scholarship of the book is greatly
limited in proper understanding, as any
other scholar and author who is bound by
personal views, prejudice, bias or a
doctrine of his church that prejudices
him to distort the truth to appease
doctrine, tradition or whatever and to
please humans and not God. Please
be assured that the WCG is on public
record [at the time this letter was
written in 1975] and has proven its
desire to have all of its teachings and
doctrines to be in complete agreement
with biblical truth.) Or, on the
other hand, were there good reasons for
making the arrangement in the way that I
did? If so what were the reasons?
First, I arranged Luke in the
way that I did because of the order that
Matthew and Mark used. Second,
Luke 22:17-18 was when Jesus passed the
larger container of wine to the
disciples to have each one pour a small
amount of wine in a smaller for himself.
This was distributed to each one before
Jesus gave thanks and broke the bread,
symbolizing His broken body. Next,
in verse 20, after giving thanks, Jesus
instructed them that the wine they were
drinking was symbolic of His blood, the
blood of the New Covenant. Third, Matthew, Mark and Luke all
show that the ceremony of the broken
bread came before the drinking of the
wine, and the drinking of the wine came
after the Passover supper. Luke chapter
22 verse 19 in the Harmony was placed
before verses 17-18 in order to
coordinate it with Matthew and Mark. In
fact, the partaking of the wine was
nearly the last thing that was done
before Jesus and the apostles left for
the Mount of Olives.
In order to determine when Judas left
to betray Jesus—before the bread and
wine, or after the bread and wine—we
need to carefully examine John 13.
John in his narration of the foot
washing specifically shows that Judas
left shortly after the foot washing.
The basic key to understanding when the
foot washing took place is found in the
context and in the Greek words which
clarify everything.
Perhaps the whole supposition for
your rearrangement of the verses would
have been clarified or could have been
seen as not accurate if you had only
researched the subject in any
Greek-English Interlinear. In
addition, if you had some basic
understanding of the Greek verbs and
participles used in the verses in
question, you would have seen the error
of your premise.
In order to understand the proper
order of the Passover ceremony, we need
to begin with the account of the foot
washing. In the KJV in John 13:2, there
is a mistranslation, which seems to
indicate that the supper had ended by
the time the foot washing began.
It reads: “And supper being ended …”
However, the Greek actually shows that
that phrase should have been translated:
“during supper.” Unfortunately,
this removes the basic premise of your
paper. So let’s begin by examining
the critical verses in John 13 one by
one:
# 1) John 13:2: Supper Being
Ended, or During Supper: In the KJV it reads “And supper being
ended …” and this is a most unfortunate
mistranslation. The Greek-English
Interlinear translation by George Ricker
Berry reads “and supper taking place
...” If you had only used this
interlinear English translation, you
would have realized the foot washing did
not take place after supper but “during
supper” or “supper taking place.”
The Greek word genomenou genonenou translated “supper taking
place” or “during supper” is a present
tense participle and should never be
translated in the past tense. This
participle is derived from the prime
verb ginomai ginomai, which means “to be, to become”
or “to come into being.”
Therefore, genomenou genonenou has the meaning of “during the
taking place of supper,” or “while
taking place.” As such then, since the
prime verb ginomai ginomai is the root verb of the
participle genomenou genonenou, it can also be translated “At
the beginning of supper.” Berry’s
translation, “supper taking place,” does
indicate that the foot washing took
place at the beginning of supper.
Finally, because genomenou genonenou is a present tense participle,
it is completely incorrect to translate
it in the past tense “after supper” as
translated in the KJV. This
erroneous translation has caused a great
deal of confusion. Those who do
not understand the Greek do not know
that this should be translated in the
present tense.
Other Greek Words That John Would
Have to Have Used to Mean That Supper
Had Ended: The main Greek word for “end” is teloV telos which means “end, conclusion of” or
“termination of.” The Greek word for
“being ended” is sunteleosqeiswn sunteleostheison as used in Luke 4:2, referring to the
end of Jesus’ forty-day fast and
temptation by Satan the devil.
Notice that the prime root tel tel for the meaning “end” is the basic
root for this word. John could have used
this word to express the fact that the
supper “had ended.”
In addition, we find that the
drinking of the wine did, in fact, occur
“after supper,” as the Greek clearly
shows in Luke 22:20 and I Cor. 11:25
where the Greek phrase, meta to deipnhsai meta to deipnesai is used, which means “after
supper.” There is no question that
the Greek word meta means “after.”
John could also have used this word to
show that the foot washing took place
“after supper,” as did Luke and Paul to
show that the drinking of the wine took
place after supper. However, he
did not use this word.
As a result, the whole supposition
you presented, that the foot washing
took place after supper, is not
confirmed by the Greek. In fact,
the Greek clearly refutes any such
claim.
Now let’s follow the sequence of
events of John 13, and we’ll see that
the foot washing took place at the
beginning of the Passover supper and
continued past the time that Judas left
to betray Jesus.
13:2 “And during supper (the
devil having already put into
the heart of Judas Iscariot …”
13:3 “Jesus, knowing …”
13:4 “Rose from supper …”
(additional proof that supper
was in progress)
13:5 “to wash the disciples’
feet …”
13:12 “sat down again …”
When we take into account the
entire context of John 13:2-12 we get
the complete picture. Thus, the sequence
of events from verse 2 through verse 12
is as follows: “During supper (i.e. the
beginning of supper), Jesus knowing …
Rose from supper … washed the disciples
feet … sat down again.” “Sat down”
was actually a reclining position.
With all the disciples in a reclining
position, Jesus easily carried out the
foot washing.
When we put all the facts
together, it becomes clear that Jesus
instituted the foot washing at the
beginning of the Passover ceremony.
Then He sat down again, or reclined,
which was the position for eating the
Passover supper. If the supper had
been completed, there obviously would be
no reason for Jesus to recline again.
13:13-17 Jesus gives the explanation for
the foot washing.
13:18 Jesus indicates that He had chosen
Judas to betray Him, “… he who eats
bread with Me has lifted up his heel
against Me.” The Greek verb “he
who eats” is a present tense participle trwgwn trogon, which can also be
translated: “the one who is eating with
Me …” As the Greek indicates, it
was an active present tense fulfillment
of the prophecy of Jesus’ betrayal.
When Jesus said this about Judas, they
were still eating, the supper was still
in progress, after the foot washing had
already taken place. In Mark
14:18, we find a more direct statement.
Jesus is quoted as saying in the first
person, “… that one of you will deliver
me up, who is eating with me”
(EGNT, Berry).
13:26 Jesus dips the sop or “morsel,”
then gives it to Judas.
Satan enters into him and he leaves to
betray Jesus to the Jewish religious
authorities. However, when Judas
left, supper was still in progress.
The Jews had a custom that the
master of the paschal supper gave a
morsel to all who were at the table.
So there was nothing particularly
unusual about Jesus giving a morsel to
Judas. If supper had already ended
and was not still in progress when Jesus
gave the morsel to Judas, there would
have been no need for the disciples to
think that Judas was leaving in order to
buy something for the feast (i.e. the
Passover supper that they were eating)
or to go out and give something to the
poor who were also eating the Passover
supper in nearby houses.
Conclusion From John 13: The context of John 13 alone shows that
supper was still in progress past the
time that Judas had departed. An
important point to keep in mind: Only
John’s account shows when Judas left.
None of the other Gospel accounts do.
Without a doubt, John shows that Judas
left while supper was still in progress,
and it continued after he had left.
Therefore, the foot washing had to have
taken place at the beginning of the meal
and could not have taken place after the
Passover supper was finished. The
Greek and the flow of the context of
John 13 prove this.
# 2) The Breaking and Eating of
the Bread Took Place While They Were
Still Eating the Passover Supper: Matthew 26:26 and Mark 14:22 show that
while they were eating, Jesus took
bread, blessed and broke it, etc.
Therefore, supper was still in progress
at this point. It would only be proper
for Jesus to institute the breaking of
the bread of the New Covenant Passover
ceremony after Judas had left.
Judas only received an unceremonial
morsel from Jesus to symbolize that he
would betray Him. Therefore, Judas
did not partake of eating the bread that
Jesus had broken and blessed for the New
Covenant Christian Passover.
# 3) Matthew, Mark, Luke and I
Corinthians Show That the Drinking of
the Wine Was After the Eating of the
Bread: Matthew 26:27, Mark 14:23, Luke 22:20
and I Corinthians 11:25 are all in
agreement in the sequence of the bread
and wine part of the ceremony.
# 4) The Wine Was Taken after
Supper—Not the Foot
Washing: As we have seen, Luke 22:20
and I Cor. 11:25 show that it was after supper when they partook of
the wine as shown in the Greek phrase meta to deipnhsai meta to deipnesai. This phrase cannot
mean “during supper” in any way.
It can only mean “after supper.”
Remember that Judas had already left during supper, and the drinking of the wine was after supper. This means that
Judas could not have taken part in the
wine ceremony.
Was Luke “Confused” About the Sequence
of Events? Did He Have a “Bad
Memory” or What?
Now we will address the crux of
the final problems in Luke’s account,
which on the surface gives the
appearance of a different sequence than
the other Gospel accounts; or, does it
really? Let’s examine what Luke
wrote, because his order of the events
was actually clarified very simply by
Luke himself.
Luke 22:20 is the key verse
because the drinking of the wine is
stated before the announcement by Jesus
that one of the disciples (Judas) would
betray Him. Luke does not show
that it was Judas who was the betrayer;
neither does he show Jesus dipping of
the sop and giving it to Judas.
But does Luke really show that the
partaking of the wine occurred before
the announcement of the betrayal just
because it is stated first? That
is the key question. In verse 20,
Luke wrote, “In like manner also, He
took the cup after supper ...”
Luke is clearly stating that the
sequence of the cup was after supper.
Now we know that according to John’s
account, Judas left during the supper.
Therefore, Judas could not have been
there during the drinking of the wine.
Luke agrees with John because he wrote
that they partook of the wine,
symbolizing the shed blood of Jesus after supper, as the Greek phrase
clearly shows: meta to deipnhsai meta to deipnesai.
But does this mean that Luke is
not permitted to narrate something that
had actually occurred prior to this? Of
course not!
Now we can examine Luke 22:21 and
understand that there is no
contradiction in what Luke had written,
although he placed it after the
partaking of the wine. “Moreover
the hand of him (who is) delivering me
up (is) with me on the table …” (EGNT,
Berry). The Greek phrase epi thV trapezhV epi tes trapezes means “at the table.”
This clearly shows that when Jesus said
that the hand of the one who was
betraying Him was with Him at the table, He said it while the meal was still in
progress, even though it is placed
after the drinking of the wine, which
took place after the meal. The
Greek clearly shows the difference
through the use of the verbs and
participles: in verse 20, past
tense, “after supper,” and in verse 21,
a previous present tense, “Moreover the
hand of him (who is) delivering me up
(is) with me on the table …” How Luke
used the Greek words and their tenses
actually shows that the chronology in
the Harmony is correct, even though the
narration in Luke appears to be slightly
different from Matthew and Mark.
Conclusion: This is the basis for the difference of
the sequence of verses in the Harmony—
rather than any fault on Luke’s part, or
a fault on the part of the WCG, or a
fault on my part. (Please be sure that
we are not teaching heresy! And
please be careful not to use the Word of
God so carelessly because it might cause
you and others trouble that perhaps you
never intended.) However, in the
Harmony, for the sake of the actual
progression of the events as they
occurred, I arranged Luke 22:17-23 in
the order as found in the book..
I hope that this answer will help
you come to a clearer understanding of
this section of the book. If you
have any more questions, please feel
free to write or call me or to see me
personally. I will be glad to be
of any assistance possible.
Binding and Loosing
The question of binding and loosing in
the New Testament Church is one of the
most misunderstood doctrines of church
and ministerial authority.
Catholics believe that their popes and
leaders have the power to change the
very Word of God in any manner they see
fit and believe that God backs up these
decisions. Hence, they claim that
the pope is infallible in his decisions
and decrees. One of the most
obvious examples is their changing the
day of worship from the Sabbath to
Sunday. (See Rome’s Challenge to the
Protestants.) Furthermore, their
entire system of religion is based on
the belief that all their pagan
practices have been accepted by God
because the popes and religious councils
have decreed that they have bound and
loosed these matters by the authority
they claim was given to Peter and his
successors. However, Jesus never
gave any such authority to Peter, the
other apostles or the brethren. Other
churches believe different things about
the power of binding and loosing.
Because of this confusion, I have
updated the translation of these two
scriptures in Matthew in order to more
precisely reflect the original Greek..
As you will see, Jesus Christ never gave
the powers of binding and loosing as
claimed by these religious leaders.
Updated translation of Matthew 16:19,
“And I will give to you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven; and whatever you may
bind on the earth will have already been
bound in heaven; and whatever you may
loose on the earth will have already
been loosed in heaven.”
Updated translation of Matthew 18:18,
“Truly I say to you, whatever you shall
bind on the earth will have already been
bound in heaven; and whatever you shall
loose on the earth will have already
been loosed in heaven.”
(Beginning of New
Appendix)
Matthew 16:19 and 18:18
Binding and Loosing in the New Testament
Church
The Roman Catholic Church claims that
Jesus gave to the apostle Peter and his
future successors the powers of binding
and loosing so that whatever they would
bind or loose on earth would be bound or
loosed in heaven. They further
contend that this authority grants an
infallible pope the power to bind and
loose contrary to the Word of God—thus
making the Word of God void—and that
this authority was given to Peter by
Jesus Christ as recorded in Matthew
16:19 and 18:18. However, an
exegetical study of the Greek does not
support such claims.
In Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar,
William D. Mounce gives a clear and
insightful explanation of the underlying
Greek text, showing that what Jesus
taught is entirely different from what
many religious authorities assume, teach
and practice. He writes, “In some
translations of Matthew [16:19 and]
18:18, it seems like Jesus promised his
disciples that whatever they bound on
earth would be bound in heaven, and
whatever they loosed on earth would be
loosed in heaven. In other words,
they had the power to bind and loose,
and Heaven (i.e. God) would simply back
up their decrees. But the matter
is not quite so simple; the actions
described in heaven are future perfect
passives—which could be translated ‘will
have already been bound in heaven … will
have already been loosed in heaven.’
In other words, the heavenly decree
confirming the earthly one is based on a
prior verdict [God had already made—“For
ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in
heaven” (Psa. 119:89).]
“This is the language of the law court.
Jewish legal issues were normally
decided in Jesus’ day by elders in the
synagogue community (later by rabbis).
Many Jewish people believed that the
authority of Heaven stood behind the
earthly judges when they decided cases
based on a correct understanding of
God’s laws. (This process came to
be called ‘binding and loosing.’)
Jesus’ contemporaries often envisioned
God’s justice in terms of a heavenly
court; by obeying God’s laws, the
earthly court simply ratified the
decrees of the heavenly court” (p. 121,
bracketed comments added).
Jesus did not give His apostles
and disciples the authority to make
binding decisions regarding anything on
earth that had not already been decreed
in heaven. Jesus specifically
taught that He did not come to abolish
the Law or the Prophets (Matt. 5:17).
Therefore, whatever is bound or loosed
cannot be contrary to the laws and
commandments of God, the revelation of
the prophets or the teachings of Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ did not give His apostles the authority to loose
any of the Ten Commandments or any of
God’s laws that are not connected with
the priesthood and temple ritual.
However, Jesus did give His
apostles the authority to loose the
religious traditions of the Jews
(Mark 7:1-13, Acts 10:28) as well as
pagan religious traditions (I Pet. 1:18,
Acts 14:8-18). New Testament
teachings that were foreshadowed and
prophesied in the Old Testament and
“bound” or decreed in heaven before
Jesus Christ came in the flesh are as
follows: to love the Lord God with all
one’s heart, soul and might (Deut.
6:4-6; Matt. 22:37-40); for Jesus to
magnify the law and make it honorable
(Isa. 52:14; Matt. 5-7); for Christ to
die for the sins of the world (Psa. 22,
Isa. 53; John 1:36; Rev. 13:8);
forgiveness of sin, upon repentance,
without temple animal sacrifices (Psa.
32:1-2; 51:1-17; Rom. 3:20-24; Heb.
10:1-17); circumcision of the heart
(Deut.10:16; Rom. 2:28-29; Col.
2:10-13); Sabbath and holy day keeping
for uncircumcised Gentiles (Isa.
56:1-6), taught by Paul (Acts 13:42-44;
Heb. 4:9, I Cor. 5:8); and many others.
Any Christian-professing ministry or
church that promotes sin—the
transgression of the law— in its binding
or loosing decisions is operating
contrary to the Word and will of God.
Its decisions are simply inventions
of men and do not have the authority
of heaven behind them. Examples of
these are: adding to or taking
away from the Word of God (Deut.
12:30-32; Rev. 22:18-19); worshiping
other gods or goddesses (Ex. 20:2-3; I
Cor. 10:20-21); endorsing the making and
worshiping of idols (Ex. 20:4-6; Isa.
42:8, 17; 44:9-20; I Cor. 10:14; 12:2;
Rev. 9:20-21; 21:8); worshiping the dead
“saints” (Isa. 8:19-20); exchanging the
Sabbath and holy days of God for the
pagan holidays of apostate Christendom
such as Halloween, Christmas, New Years,
Lent, Easter, etc., or any other
so-called holy days of any
religions of the world.
All binding and loosing decisions made
by the ministry and brethren of Jesus
Christ must be in complete accord with
the Word of God and the teachings of
Jesus Christ. These decisions are
authoritative because they have “already
been bound or loosed in heaven.”
As Jesus said, “All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to Me”
(Matt. 28:18). All binding and
loosing must be based on the
authority of Jesus Christ and the Word
of God.
(End of New Appendix)
In order to cover these topics, this
letter has become rather lengthy.
However, it is essential that we all
completely understand these things so
that we will not believe false
teachings. What we have been
practicing in our observance of Passover
and Unleavened Bread is correct and
scripturally sound.
Brethren, once again thank you for your
continued love, prayers and support.
As you can see we are reaching out to
many new brethren and people with the
truth of God—which is the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. As a result of
sending out the New Testament and The
Day Jesus the Christ Died, many are
hearing and reading the truth for the
first time. Thank you for reaching
out to the brethren and new people.
We will keep you supplied with these
books so that you can continue to spread
the Word.
May God the Father and Jesus Christ
continue to bless you with Their love,
grace and understanding in everything.
With love in Christ Jesus,
Fred R. Coulter
FRC
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