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This is a non-WLC article. When using resources from outside authors, we only publish the content that is 100% in harmony with the Bible and WLC current biblical beliefs. So such articles can be treated as if coming directly from WLC. We have been greatly blessed by the ministry of many servants of Yahuwah. But we do not advise our members to explore other works by these authors. Such works, we have excluded from publications because they contain errors. Sadly, we have yet to find a ministry that is error-free. If you are shocked by some non-WLC published content [articles/episodes], keep in mind Proverbs 4:18. Our understanding of His truth is evolving, as more light is shed on our pathway. We cherish truth more than life, and seek it wherever it may be found. |
Only one book in the Bible systematically presents that good news. All the other books have fragments, but only one book presents it systematically. This book is the first of the epistles because it is the most important. The epistles have letters to seven churches: Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, but Romans is first.
First and Second Thessalonians are about the second advent, in every chapter. That is not good news unless you understand the meaning of the first coming. Any group that preaches the second advent apart through the lens of the cross is perverting the Gospel. We are not ready for that glorious epiphany until we have taken shelter under the cross – the climax of the first advent.
Romans is the first of the epistles, dealing with our first great problem. The power of sin can never be broken in life until the guilt of sin is removed: that bad temper, that impurity, gluttony, that worry, that cruelty, that spirit of gossip, that maliciousness.
In the book of Romans, we learn that all our guilt is like a grain of sand along the mountain of Yahuwah’s forgiveness, and all our sin is like a spark falling into the ocean of Yahuwah’s mercy. It is in this book that we learn that Yahuwah justifies the ungodly, is more willing to save you and me than a mother is to save her child from a burning home. That’s good news.
We all have a passionate desire, a driving motivation to be accepted. Relationships matter most in life, not money, not apparent business success, not academic glory.
But life is triangular. I cannot accept myself until I am right with Yahuwah and know he accepts me.
Do you know what the loudest sound in the world is? The silent cry of a guilty conscience is the loudest sound in the world. It is usually not for things done because you and I do not dare to do bad things, it is about things undone – for our spouse, for our sons and daughters, for our parents, brothers and sisters, for our brothers and sisters in the faith, for our neighbors. The loudest sound in all the world is the silent cry of a guilty conscience for all the things undone.
“Since you did it not unto the least of one of these, you did it not unto me.” This is a piercing, scary accusation against all of us, because we cannot say, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” None of us can say, “I always do those things that please Him.”
So here is a book that deals with our biggest problem: how to be accepted by Yahuwah so that I might accept myself. When I can accept myself, then I can accept others.
I know I have faults, and they are innumerable, so why should a similar number of difficulties with my brother or sister prevent me from accepting them? This is the triangle: acceptance of Yahuwah, you can accept yourself, and when you accept yourself, you can accept others.
So here is a book that deals with our biggest problem: how to be accepted by Yahuwah so that I might accept myself. When I can accept myself, then I can accept others.
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You can always tell someone who has never found acceptance with Yahuwah. They are bitter, critical, and love to gossip. They feast on the errors of their brothers and sisters. That is the sign they have never been able to accept themselves because they do not know acceptance with Yahuwah.
So here is a book that deals with this issue of acceptance and how to get rid of guilt. It answers all the significant problems of our lives: Why suffering, tragedy, why sorrow?” If Yahuwah is good and all-powerful, then why? What follows death? How should we live? What should our relationship be to governments, to the church, to family, to neighbours?
How can we avoid being deceived, particularly by bad religion? Never forget that most religion is bad. Unless the religion we cherish makes us kind, courteous, tender-hearted, and pitiful, it is not the religion of Christ. A religion merely of dogma that makes us better than those other folks who don’t know as much as we do—what a deception!
The greatest deception of the human mind is that a mere assent to the truth constitutes righteousness. The Gospel breaks the heart. It changes the mind. We come to it with the ‘excepts’ of Yahushua ringing in our ears. “Except a man or a woman be born again, they cannot see the kingdom of Heaven.” “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” “Except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, there is no life in you.”
If people only knew the value of the book of Romans, they would fight to get it. And then they would spend their life studying it as though their lives depended on it – because they do.
This is a non-WLC article by Dr. Desmond Ford.
We have replaced the English titles and names of the Father and the Son with those employed by the apostles. In the scriptural quotations provided, we have restored their original names as used by the inspired writers. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the historical development by which the name Yahushua came to be rendered as “Jesus.” Additionally, we recognize that the English term “God” has been commonly employed as an equivalent for the Hebrew Eloah or Elohim. -WLC Team
