CORRESPONDING WITH FRED COULTER OF THE--- CHRISTIAN BIBLICAL CHURCH OF GOD
FRED,
I will answer you first from the logical context of 1 John 4: 1-4.
John gives ONE, the FIRST major one---- to determine who is of God and who is NOT, who are the anti-christ ones.
If we are to look to find who teaches Jesus did come into this world as flesh, blood, and bone; we may somewhere find a small group who teach Jesus was a ghost type being, not real flesh and blood and bone. Such a group would be so small they would count for nothing.
All the Roman Catholic church and all Protestant churches teach Jesus did indeed come as a human being, come as flesh, blood, and bone. Now if this is the test, the very first test, then ALL Catholics and Protestants are of God, they all teach Jesus came as fully man and fully God---- God in the flesh.
So this first test is basically useless! As a test!
Now, if John is saying the first test of trying the spirits, is that they must teach Jesus is still coming in the flesh, or coming into the flesh of his disciples, via the Holy Spirit, as Jesus promised he and the Father would come and dwell inside God's children [it's all over the Gospels].
Here is my living example.
I grew up in a Church of England school from age 6. I attended a local Sunday school from age 7.
The Church of England had me memorize the 10 commandments as in Ex. 20--- full version as in the KJV Bible. I memorized every single word. I knew exactly what the 4th commandment said, every word of it. From age 7 I believed Sunday was the 7th day. Not one single individual, teacher, priest, ever told me Sunday was the first day of the week. As a kid I never looked at a calendar, which were very plain and small back then. Why should I look at a calendar, I knew my life schedule, as what to do each day of the week, and what things I was into like Boy Scout night etc.
I came to Canada at 18. My Baptist landlord and his wife invited me to their church. I went. A few years past along. I was listening to radio preachers [no TV preachers back then]; my landlord asked me what I thought of a certain preacher, I said I liked to listen to him. He said to me, "Well he's a 7th day observer." I replied, "Well are we not also." He said to me, "No Sunday is the first day of the week." Now I just about fell on the floor in utter shock; I was speechless; I was stunned; I could hardly believe it was true.,
I went to my room and sat in utter shock. If my landlord was right, then ALL CHRISTIANITY I KNEW WAS IN ERROR!!! ALL Christianity I knew was not letting Jesus into their heart and mind. They were not Christian at all! I sat and sat dumbfounded. I accepted Jesus as my Savior when about 12 years old. I had read the Gospels over and over and over during my teen years. Jesus kept the Sabbath, clear and simple. He debated with the scribes and Pharisees HOW to observe the Sabbath, but never WHEN to observe the Sabbath. It was as clear as a cloudless sky, disciples of Jesus would be letting Him live inside them; Jesus would be coming, none stop inside a true disciple. I knew ALL of Catholicism and Protestantism was NOT teaching Jesus must live inside His disciple.
So I was using, but did not realize it then, John's number one, the first test for the spirit of anti-christ----- NOT letting Jesus come into the flesh, the very ones who were claiming to be from God and from Christ, claiming Jesus was in them.
For me it was just that simple---- as Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. Paul was following Jesus, so Paul observed the 7th day Sabbath. The words of Christ fooded my mind---- Not everyone who calls me Lord shall enter the Kingdom of God and etc. and etc. in the Gospels. It was mind-bending shocking for me to realize ALL of Christianity I knew was NOT letting Jesus live in them. It was easy as pie to use the test of John, to see the vast vast majority of Christians were anti-christ---- already starting in John's day of the first century A.D. It shocks people that I would say 99 percent of Christianity is anti-christ. But John said it was starting in his life time; how great must it be today, 2,000 years later. If you disagree with Jesus' teachings, if you do not live as He lived; if you do not live by every word of God; then minister and lay-person---- you are in effect anti--christ---- you are against Jesus. Christ came to preach the words God the Father told Him; he said so. Christ case to live the life God the Father told Him to live, to overcome sin and the world. His example in the Gospels is for us to follow Him.
In the next year I discovered people that did observe the 7th day Sabbath---- SDA church [Seventh Day Adventists] and the different Churches of God, 7th day.
I now had to go to the many tests to see who of them, was really letting Jesus into their lives.
As I studied and studied, the SDA were out. So was most of the Churches of God, 7th day. They would not let Jesus into their lives to observe God's true Feasts. Then you could find other tests to prove who really had Jesus in them. It all came down to a relative handful of scattered people around the world.
John's first and number one test had got 99.9 percent of so-called "Christians" blown off the map!!!
NOW NOTICE THE CONTEXT----
Verse 4---- "YOU ARE OF GOD, LITTLE CHILDREN, and have overcome them: because GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU, than he that is in the world."
The CONTEXT is about Christ Jesus coming NOW into the flesh and bone disciples of His; those who teach Jesus cannot live His life over again in His disciples, is the wrong spirit; it is the spirit of anti-christ, which was already in John's day, so how much more 2,000 years later.
NOW THAT IS THE TRUTH OF 1 JOHN 4: 1-4.
No Greek needed, no fancy ideas of false Christians with PhD after their name.
But Fred you want to get technical in Greek---- O I can sure do that also.
Coming your way, the technical side of it all.
Keith
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