My friend Ryan Rhoads From www.revivalorriots.org write this and i really feel to post on my blog its very good study take your time to read be bless

This one is quite a bit longer simply because it is such a commonly held misconception about the character and nature of God that it does require me to spend a bit more time laying a foundation for understanding where I am coming from. Please do not just skim through this.

This is one of the most foundational things that Christians the world over need to understand in order to live a victorious life free from sin, disease, and the bondage that the devil has kept people in for thousands of years.

That said, again, please read through this in its entirety. This is not just an issue of understanding Ananias and Saphira. This is an issue of understanding the finished work of the cross and what Jesus did to atone for sin by instituting the New Covenant.

One thing that I have noticed throughout the last few years of preaching that God is good and that Jesus took the full penalty for sin is that there are a very small handful of Scriptures that church-folk have been taught are pat-answers to completely contradict the grace and forgiveness that was given in the person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

I have also found that any time there are one or two verses or passages in Scripture that directly seem to contradict and come against what the vast majority of the New Testament says on said issues, that there is probably something else going on.

The devil is always the one that wants to accuse, blaspheme the goodness of God, steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10, Rev. 12:10).

Who else would be the one speaking against the all-sufficient, once-for-all sacrifice and atonement for sin and instead come along and say that Jesus’ sacrifice was not enough?

I mean really, just think about it instead of just getting offended because I’m going to poke at a lot of your pet doctrines here.

Let’s start with the basics here. I will get to Ananias, Saphira, & Herod once the foundation has been laid.

Click “read more” if you are seeing this from my home page!

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Under the old covenant of Law, sin had to be atoned for through constant, repetitious sacrifices by the Levitical priesthood in the temple.

All throughout the book of Hebrews, we see a direct contrast between the ways of the Old Covenant versus what Christ instituted in the New Covenent.

Under the New Covenant, Jesus sacrificed Himself once for all time (which means it was complete and can not be added to) and forever abolished the Old Covenant way of doing things and how people had to relate to God.

“Unlike the other high priests (under the Old Covenant), [Jesus] does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” – Heb. 7:27

Most Christians unfortunately are living their lives with an unhealthy and destructive mixture of the Old Covenant of Law and the New Covenant of the Grace of God through Jesus Christ.

This is what Jesus was addressing when He spoke of not putting new wine into old wineskins (Luke 5:36-38).

We have to keep in mind what Paul said in Romans 5:

“To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.” – Romans 5:13

“Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act (of Christ’s atonement) resulted in justification and life for all people.” – Romans 5:18

“The law was brought in so that sin might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more” – Romans 5:20

So, if the law and the Old Covenant was instituted so that people would understand their need for a Savior, and then Jesus came and fulfilled the requirements of the Law (Matthew 5:17), it would stand to reason that there is a much bigger difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant than just a few blank pages in your Bible.

John writes, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” – John 1:17

You will notice that “grace and truth” are on the side of Jesus — not on the side of the Law of Moses. Am I saying that something was wrong with the Law itself? No. Paul even said to Timothy that the Law is good when it is used properly (1 Timothy 1:8)…but that it is not for the righteous (1 Timothy 1:9). He also addressed this in Romans 7:7

The issue was not with the Law itself — the issue was with the people and their inability to live up to the standards of that covenant and remain faithful to it.

“For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor,or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.” – Heb. 8:7-13

The sin issue was completely settled and satisfied in the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who made atonement to God for the sins of the whole world, not just Christians (1 John 2:2).

That does not mean I am insinuating that everyone is “saved” or that I even remotely entertain the notion of what is commonly called “universalism”.

You are saved by grace (God’s act of sending Christ to atone for sin) through faith (your response to and acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice – Eph. 2:8).

That does mean that the issue of sin was completely, undeniably, overwhelmingly dealt with on the cross.

“For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” – Heb. 9:24-28

Most Christians are stuck in an Old Covenant mindset of constantly having to confess, renounce, repent, over, and over, and over, telling God how sinful they are and apologizing constantly for all the sin in their nation.

Most people do this because of a bad understanding of a single verse in 1 John that is taken completely out of it’s cultural and biblical context. For more on that, go here.

There are entire ministries and people groups that have devoted untold millions of dollars to rent stadiums and buildings as they gather millions of people together to fast and pray, crying out to God for forgiveness…as they ‘repent for the sins of the land’…thinking that if they do this enough, maybe, just maybe, God won’t wipe out our country and kill everybody. As if somehow Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t good enough.

They are offering ‘sacrifices for sin’…totally ignorant of and denying the fact that Jesus has already paid for it.

It doesn’t work.

Sin was dealt with on the cross, entirely through Jesus Christ and it had absolutely nothing to do with the religious works of God’s people who were trying to take away sin in their own strength by their own sacrifices.

Now that sure does sound like what the author of Hebrews is referring to in the following passage:

“First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.

For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

“This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”

And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.” – Heb. 10:8-18

Let me just ask you like this: If God is no longer remembering your sins, why are you? And what makes you think He enjoys it when you’re constantly bringing up the reason for His torture and death on the cross?

Do you think that constantly bringing up how sinful and dirty you are actually makes you more holy? Because it doesn’t. Jesus’ sacrifice is what has already made us holy in God’s eyes.

God doesn’t look at the junk in your life. When He sees you, He sees His Son. That is good news.

That is why Paul writes:

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” - 2 Cor. 5:14-21

God does not count man’s sins against them! That is the message of reconciliation: That Christ became the atoning sacrifice for sin and once-for-all satisfied the wrath of God towards sin.

Does that mean that there is not a DAY of Judgment for those who have rejected the payment for sin? NO. There is still a DAY of wrath for those who reject Christ’s payment and atonement for sin.

There is a big difference in the Scriptures between “the last days” (which began at Pentecost) and “the last DAY” when Jesus returns.

For more on understanding my view of the “end times”, read this and this.

What I am saying is that it the day of judgment is NOT today.

Why?

Because Paul writes that now is the time of the Lord’s favor (not His wrath or judgment), and that today is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2).

Now, the next question that probably pops in most people’s minds is that I am saying that it is okay to go out and sin or that God is 100% okay with you going and living a sinful lifestyle. And that if we just tell people God isn’t counting their sins against them, that they will go out and sin.

How insane is that?

First of all, sinners will sin. They’ve been told for thousands of years how terrible they are and how angry God is over their sin and people have used the Old Covenant of the Law to back up their points, entirely ignoring what Jesus did on the cross. And it’s amazing, because they don’t even realize that they are empowering and exciting sin in people’s lives when they do that (1 Cor 15:56).

The power of sin IS the law. This is why Paul said before the law, he didn’t even know what coveting was…but when the Law came, sin seized the opportunity and it produced in Him every kind of coveting (Romans 7:7-12).

Secondly, I have never said anywhere that it is okay to go out and live a sinful lifestyle. I have gotten accused of saying that more times than I can count and I tell every one of my accusers to show me one single, solitary place in any articles or videos I have released where I say that it is okay to sin.

And it’s amazing because they just entirely disappear after that and never answer the questions I propose to them!

What I do say is that it is only through recognizing that Jesus became our sacrifice for us, our atonement for sin, NOT THROUGH TRYING TO “LIVE HOLY” or through meaningless confessions of ‘repentance’ as so many frequently preach, that we will actually live free from sin. You ‘repent’ when you change your mind about things and start living your life according to that mindset change.

It is in considering ourselves “dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ” (Rom. 6:11) that one actually overcomes sin in their lives. More on this topic here.

You are not really preaching the Gospel if people do not accuse you of saying that it is okay to sin. Paul dealt with this. That is why he had to clarify this message of grace in his letter to the Romans:

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” – Rom. 6:1-2

All of this lengthy discourse to say the following:

One of the most basic and life-changing revelations that we have received from Scripture through the Holy Spirit is found in Hebrews 1:1-3 and Colossians 1:15…that Jesus is Himself the perfect, expressed will of God.

You have heard it said like this: “Jesus Christ is perfect theology“.

The following passages are why we say this:

“In the past (which obviously means He’s not doing it any more), God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but (which means IGNORE EVERYTHING BEFORE THE ‘BUT’ because NOW something is different) in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” – Hebrews 1:1-3

God spoke in the past through the prophets and in many different ways.

But.

But NOW.

He speaks through Jesus. Who perfectly, 100% modeled the will of God and exactly represented His character and His nature.

That alone should entirely change the way you read the Bible. That is how I can now read the Bible without getting confused or tripped up over certain passages that seem to contradict things that Jesus said or did.

Let’s keep going.

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” – Colossians 1:15

So again we see that Jesus perfectly modeled and represented God when He was on this earth.

This coincides with why Jesus said to His disciples, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father”. And yet the disciples still had a hard time grasping this (John 14:6-12).

Why? Because there were so many things that they had been taught while living under the Law that seemed to directly contradict Jesus’ teachings and His examples.

It is from all of the following, foundational perspectives that I want to address the very touchy subjects of Ananias, Saphira, and Herod in the book of Acts.

Please do your best to ditch all pre-conceived notions and things you’ve been taught in church on these issues and actually use your brain to think in light of Jesus’ work on the cross and the instituting of the New Covenant that I have just shared.

As I said at the beginning of this discourse, it never ceases to amaze me how so many people who have been brought up in church will undeniably disregard the literally dozens and dozens of passages of Scripture that are in support of the fact that sin was dealt with entirely through the person of Christ.

Some even going so far as to agree, when asked, that Jesus has “taken away the sins of the world” (John 1:29), and yet when we preach that God has dealt with the sin issue and is no longer judging people or nations for sin, they always bring up Ananias, Saphira, Herod, and the book of Revelation.

That’s all they’ve got in their ‘arsenal’, so to speak.

Now with everything that I have shared up to this point in the article in elaborating on what Jesus paid for and all of the Scripture to support the absolute, 100% finished work of Christ in atoning for sin in God’s eyes, doesn’t that sound a bit crazy?

As said previously, in regards to the book of Revelation, yes, I do believe that there is a “day of wrath”, which Scripture calls over and over “The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord”. I am not going to expound on that subject in this article because it is already extremely lengthy. Again, if you are interested in my understanding of “the end times”, go here and here.

To understand what happened with Ananias and Saphira, first I need to address a few more things.

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” – Prov. 18:21

Jesus illustrates this principle very clearly all throughout the Gospels when He would speak to situations and they would change…whether it was healing the multitudes and telling His disciples to do the same (Matthew 4:23-24, Matthew 9:35, Matthew 8:16, Mark 6:56, Luke 9:11, Matthew 10:1, Matthew 10:7-8, Luke 10:8-9, Luke 10:19, Acts 10:38), or commanding storms that were about to bring destruction to be still (Matthew 8:23-27), or any number of the many things He did…He was always speaking words of LIFE. He even goes as far as to say that the very words He speaks are life (John 6:63).

However there is a flip-side to the principle of and the power of our words as established in Proverbs 18:21. We see this reality elaborated upon in James 3.

Jesus also illustrated the other side of the coin:

“Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.” – Mark 11:13-14

“In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.” – Mark 11:20-24

As you continue reading, keep in mind that it was Peter who noticed that Jesus also had the power to curse and bring death by what He spoke. And yet He never used that power to bring death on anyone who opposed Him, nor even upon Judas who lied to Him…

We even see this power of our words having a similar effect in several passages from the Old Testament:

“Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.

At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’”

“If I am a man of God,” Elijah replied, “may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.” – 2 Kings 1:10-12



“From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!”

He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.” – 2 Kings 2:23-24

Elijah and Elisha had been entrusted with a great responsibility to accurately represent the character and nature of God. They had been given great authority (much in the same way that Moses was given similar authority to perform miracles and supernatural signs in the book of Exodus) and with that great authority came great responsibility.

It certainly does not even make rational sense that God Himself, who perfectly demonstrated His will through Jesus, who never used that ability to hurt anyone, would want 102 people burnt up with fire and 42 little kids mauled and eaten by bears simply because they had a difference of opinion or because they were poking fun at somebody.

How can I say that? Because of what Jesus said on the issue.

Seeing as we have already established earlier in this article that Jesus perfectly modeled the will of God, we now have a conundrum with these passages. Especially in light of the fact that we know it is not God’s will that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).

Let’s take a look at what Jesus said to His disciples on the issue of “judgment” and “raining down fire from heaven”:

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him.

But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.

And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them, as Elijah did?”

But Jesus turned and rebuked them, saying ““You do not know what manner of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man came not to destroy people’s lives but to save them”. And they went on to another village.” – Luke 9:51-56

James and John sure must have felt quite confused by this! They certainly (as evidenced by what they said) knew the story of Elijah calling down fire from heaven and destroying people, and I am quite sure they were probably well aware of the aforementioned story with Elisha as well as many other instances throughout the Old Testament where they felt their actions were entirely justified, even in the sight of God!

You will notice that Jesus NEVER SAID: “Call fire down from heaven? Are you guys kidding? You can’t do that.”

He said: “You don’t know what manner of spirit you are of“!

Which would stand to reason that they inherently had the ability to do what they asked Him about if they chose to, but in doing so they would be aligning themselves with a spirit that was anti-Christ.

Are you seeing it yet?

The depth of responsibility that we have to speak words of LIFE and not DEATH over people because of the great authority that Jesus has given to us (Luke 10:19) through His sacrifice and His Spirit in us?

Let’s take a look now at what I believe really happened with Ananias and Saphira:

“Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?

Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.

Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”

“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.” - Acts 5:1-10

First of all, remember that Peter was the one who recognized Jesus’ ability to pronounce death over something that was previously alive (Mark 11:20-24).

And that Jesus never exercised that ability over people and He Himself perfectly modeled God’s will.

Yet here we see Peter, speaking “in the name of the Lord”, that now all of a sudden God is really, really angry with this lie that they have told. Can you picture how intimidating this apostle of our Lord must have been? Of course Ananias and Saphira knew they were in the wrong. In no way am I excusing their behavior.

But to insinuate that God is going to strike someone down for telling a lie when Peter Himself denied the Lord by LYING three times is absolute insanity, especially in the light of the revelation of the grace of God and the fact that the issue of sin was entirely dealt with on the cross!

I believe that Peter was so intimidating in the way that he spoke to Ananias that Ananias was gripped with fear that he dropped over dead.

We have all been in meetings where an “offering” is taken for the “man of God” and “his ministry”.

Think of how manipulated and intimidated you felt in those situations — do those people, or do they not, sound just like Peter in this situation?

“If you don’t give, God will release the devourer on you and your household!”

After seeing what Peter clearly assumed was the “judgment of God”, he then pronounces over Saphira the same fate — thus cursing her by the same spirit of religious intimidation and fear that took out her husband.

I propose to you that Peter did not have a full understanding of this grace of the finished work of the cross. How can I say this?

Let me ask you this: Is God a respecter of persons? Isn’t it interesting that later on in the book of Acts, Peter has a vision and admits that it is “now” that he realizes that God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34)?

What does that mean? That at least prior to Acts 10 (*ahem*, yes, that includes Acts 5), Peter had some messed up theology.

It is clear as one reads through the Gospels and the book of Acts, and especially from the fact that Paul had to rebuke Peter to his face (Galatians 2), that the disciples didn’t always have the best theology or a full understanding (at times) of “the will of God” as demonstrated through Christ. It confused them because of the mixture of Law and Grace that they were wrestling through.

Much in the same way as it has confused generations of believers since then.

This is why we must always, always, always look to the example of Jesus Christ as our model for what God looks like and what He does and wants to do. Can we learn from other people in the Bible? Absolutely! But we must exercise our brains and the discernment that God has given us when we run into passages of Scripture that seem to directly contradict what Jesus said and did, and even at times be willing to say, *gasp*, that the disciples made mistakes!

This is why people get confused. Because they are trying to reconcile the actions and behavior of certain people who were just like you and I—people who are learning what we have been given in Christ and how to reveal that on this earth—with the things that Jesus did.

And as I believe I have clearly shown, they don’t always line up.

If you have attended ‘church’ long enough, I am sure you can think of many times when you, or other people, have said things “in the name of the Lord”, that upon later study and revelation, you realized those things actually had nothing to do with the Lord, His ways, or His nature.

In many instances, you probably found that they actually were diametrically opposed to the character and nature of Christ! So basically, you were telling lies about God…and yet, somehow you were not struck down!

Do you see how shallow and pathetic the argument is that so many bring up to try and say our Father is unpredictably angry and, while yes, Jesus did satisfy the wrath of God towards sin…it just wasn’t quite good enough?

Even with the realization that there are countless people, even right now, who are “lying to God” and yet they continue living their lives without death coming upon them or “judgment” for their sin.

Many of you reading this right now are probably “testing the Spirit of the Lord” by entertaining all those angry thoughts in your head about me as you read this! You’d better watch out! Or God might just smite you! Jesus and John said if you are even angry with someone you’ve already committed murder in your heart, right (Matthew 5:21-22, 1 John 3:15)?

Do you see how crazy this doctrine is?

We should be overwhelmed with thanksgiving that God put the punishment for sin on Jesus! We’d all be in big trouble!

If God is still judging people for their sins, then Jesus died for NOTHING. People will be judged in “the last day” based on whether or not they have received and believed on Christ as their atoning sacrifice for sin.

If someone is truly “saved”, their lifestyle and their actions will reflect as such. Again, in no way am I saying that those who “practice sin” (read: sinners who have not accepted Christ) will inherit the Kingdom of God.

If you truly have “repented” in the first place, you will grow up into Christ (Eph. 4) and do as He did (1 John 2:3-6).

And now finally, on to Herod:

“On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.” – Acts 12:21-23

As I mentioned above, time and again, we need to ask hard questions when we come into contact with Scriptures like these.

I’m not going to directly tell you anything specific about the situation with Herod.

But what I am going to do is ask the same questions that I had to ask myself once I came to an understanding of what Christ did on the cross in taking away sin.

I believe that I have laid a solid Scriptural foundation for what I have presented above on the issue of forgiveness of sins/judgment/etc. I leave you with the following questions for you to take to God on your own time.

I am not looking to just tell people WHAT to think. I am interested in teaching people HOW to think.

- Did Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice for sin and the fact that God is not counting men’s sins against them all of a sudden go on vacation for this one instance with Herod?

- Did the disciples really have a solid understanding of everything that was going on in the growth of the early church? I think it’s safe to say that they didn’t as is evidenced from the situation with Ananias & Saphira and Peter and Paul’s altercation…

- How many people do you know who claim to see “angels of the Lord” and yet these angels seem to be doing things that are in direct opposition to the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus and His completed work on Calvary?

- Didn’t Paul himself say that satan masquerades as an “angel of light”? (2 Cor. 11:14)

- Didn’t Jesus say that the thief is the one that comes to steal, KILL, and destroy? (John 10:10)

- Aren’t there literally hundreds and hundreds of people who have lived since the days of Christ who have themselves claimed to be God, even have had people worship them as God, and yet they live on and are not “struck down” and ‘eaten with worms’? That being said, has God all of a sudden, again, become a respecter of persons when it came to Herod?

- Do angels have free will (as evidenced by satan and those who followed Him)?

- Is it possible that whoever relayed the report of this situation to Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, saw an “angel of light” strike Herod, and, himself being without a revelation of the atonement of sin through Christ, simply assumed it was “an angel of the Lord” and reported as such to Luke?

- Could it be that, just like those of us who are still learning about the goodness of God and understanding what Jesus did for us, that Luke didn’t even bother to question this “judgment of the Lord” because he still didn’t even get the revelation that Paul later received about grace?

- How is it that all of those who are leading cults all over the world and themselves being worshiped as God do not all of a sudden come down with a nasty case of “worms” that causes them to die in front of those who are worshiping them?

- Didn’t Paul say in Colossians 2:18-19 that it was indeed possible for people to go into great detail about visions that they have seen of angels, and yet these people were simply imagining it in their carnal mind and only believed it was real because they had “lost connection with the Head (who is Christ)” in the sense of not recognizing what Jesus did?

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I know that this article was extremely lengthy but I do pray and hope that it has helped you at least get a more solid understanding of what the cross of Christ has accomplished. I put a lot of time and prayer into the things I have presented here.

The Bereans did not “study the Scriptures to see if what Paul was saying was false”. They studied the Scriptures to see if they were true (Acts 17:11).

There is a difference. You will find what you are looking for.

My hope that you will take what you have read before the Lord and look into the Scriptures for yourself to see whether they be true.

I personally will not buy into any doctrine that makes the sacrifice of Christ of no effect.

Much love!

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!” – Luke 2:1