COWARDS BECOME BRAVE

  With Jesus dead, the Jewish leaders were emboldened. Several previous prophets (Teudus and Judas of Galilee) had gathered a large following. When the officials “perished” them, their followers dispersed. Would it be the same for Jesus? Gamaliel suggested that if Jesus is truly the Messiah, they would not, and they did not! Jesus suffered death but He did not die. He “slept” for parts of three days, and then He arose. Teudus and Judas really perished, so their doctrine dissolved.

  Jesus had not left the apostles by themselves. Immediately after Jesus arose, His Holy Ghost descended. The Holy Ghost had the “bodily shape” of Jesus (Luke 3:22). The Holy Ghost of Jesus, of which Christians are in His image, transformed to the bodily shape of each who received “it.” By the time the preaching began, the Comforter had come in the form of the Holy Ghost. “Ghost” of whom? Jesus, as “it” was in the form of Jesus. Jesus had returned, not in the flesh but in the Spirit! 

KEY PASSAGES (Underlined) ¹² By the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch …²⁷ The high priest asked them, ²⁸ Saying, “Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this Name (Jesus)? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's (Jesus’s) blood upon us.”  ²⁹ Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men… ³² And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him. ³³ When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them… ⁴⁰ When they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. ⁴¹ And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name. ⁴² And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. (Acts 5).

 

 The precondition for the reception of the Holy Ghost is accordance — all the disciples were in harmony with the Doctrine of God and reconciled with each other. It is implied that everyone set aside their doctrinal differences, loved each other, and loved God. Hatred and discord keep the Holy Ghost silent. Why? Because He as the invisible Presence of Jesus who is Holy. “For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves… (Lev 11:44) which Jesus Himself quoted.

  “Sanctification,” therefore, would be full reconciliation with God and one another, and imbuement with a loving disposition. With that countenance, then and only then, does the Holy Ghost imbue Christians. Luke wrote, “The Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him.” “Them” are  those Jesus spoke about when He said,  “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mat 16:24).

  Peter denied Jesus and did not immediately “take up his cross.” He stood silently behind as Jesus was crucified. Self-denial is not enough. Following Jesus wherever He goes is essential. With Jesus gone, Peter found it expedient to follow His Holy Ghost wherever He went. When God was finished with Peter, he too took up his own cross —  he was crucified upside down so as not to be irreverent to Jesus. “Obedience” is self-denial, carrying a burden for the eternal souls of mankind, and following the Holy Ghost wherever He may lead!

  Many Christians have only done one thing — they have believed. That does not impress God because even the demons believe (Jas 2:19). Perhaps demons even “trust” Jesus, not for their own well-being, but know that He can and will do what He says. Demons know that Jesus can save others, and that He has no purpose in saving them. Most Christians certainly have not denied themselves, have carried little burden for others, nor even followed the Holy Ghost. If some have, just who are they? Missionaries. Not only those who go to foreign lands to convert the heathen, but go into their communities, mentor, and testify what Jesus can do for them. Jehovah’s Witnesses do that succinctly, but not truly for Jehovah, but for misguided doctrine.

  It is dismaying that mobs and blasphemers are more principled than Christians — they deny themselves and follow the Unholy Ghost of Judas (i.e., Satan) wherever he may lead them. Finishing the “be ye holy” passages: “Neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt (Lev 11:44-45).

  The Hebrews had followed Pharaoh in Egypt and after coming out of Egypt, they followed the creeping thing, if he could have crept… the Golden Calf. Jehovah’s Witnesses follow El because their “god” has one state, and with that, their “god” is Baal. Mobs follow themselves. Whereas Jehovah’s Witnesses have a monotheistic “god,” mobs are pantheistic wherein everyone are “Elohim” and there is only one “El.”

  In like manner, the high priest in apostolic times was like El. He reminded the apostles, “Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this Name?” He and the mob were the “law.” He was the “one god” and the mob, the “other gods.” Those who murdered Jesus and threatened the apostles were misguided by Satan’s Unholy Spirits. Satan himself seemed to have ceased going “to and fro” and imbued the high priest, and the others, in that the mob were apparently imbued by demons.

  They were not filled with Satan and his demons but influenced them. Just as the apostles were of one accord, the chief priest and the multitude were influenced by demons. Satan entered the Serpent, Judas, and his next entry will be in the person of the Antichrist. Until then, at least, Satan can only influence from afar, demons influence others, and apparently enter some.

  With that said, modern-day Antifa seem to have demons within and the multitude around them are influenced by demons.

  The Jews made it clear that the apostles were not to teach in the Name of God, or in Jesus’s Name. Throughout history, whenever socialist mobs gather for “emancipation” of people, they demand that no one teach in Jesus’s Name. That is a common characteristic of any anarchist ideology. “Anarchist” because they must always destroy what is extant to establish a “New World Order” and ironically, that new order is ancient anarchy against God.

  Just what did Adam, Eve, and the Serpent do wrong back in the Garden of Eden. The Serpent became the “high priest” and Adam and Eve his useful fools. Adam, Eve, and Satan were the anarchist mob, and they left “Jesus” hanging alone in the Tree of Life. At the crucifixion, again with irony, Jesus had many standing under His “tree” watching Him “loving” mankind, but none stood under the Judas Tree hating himself and all alone! The crucifixion of Jesus was justice for mankind for what had happened in the beginning… poetic justice because Jesus did not condemn as the Serpent had done but redeem the mob who abandoned Him in the beginning.

  Don’t you see? The crucifixion is “page two” of the “front page story” in Genesis chapter three: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15). Eve’s seed is Jesus. The Serpent’s “seed” is mankind; those whose “father” is the Devil. Jesus stepped on the Devil’s head with Adam’s skull beneath, and for that, Jesus’s “heel” was bruised on Calvary, so to speak. (My book, The Skull of Adam, is all about that.)

  Today, the antireligious liberation theologians demand that Christians not speak of Jesus nor His Doctrine. With covid-19, in California, worshipers cannot even sing the Doctrine of Jesus. Just as Pop Corn was one tough scary dude for Joe Biden, Jesus is a tough scary “Dude” for liberals. They fear Christians just as the chief priest did in apostolic times. They fear that Christians will diminish their spiritual and civil status because that IS what Jesus came to do. Only He will judge the nations and thresh-out who deserves salvation and those who do not.

  The priest ranted on, “Ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's (Jesus’s) blood upon us.” The Doctrine of Jesus scared the mob. Their doctrine was of their own making, and that was about to cease.

  The apostles were to make the world great again with the Doctrine of God pre-eminent just as it was in the Garden when all things were very good. Finally, the leaders exposed themselves. They felt guilty for hanging Jesus from His “tree” and feared retribution. Perhaps if the apostles could be destroyed, then the disciples would wonder away. Never does the mob let up because they know that most Christians are less principled and when the crises are over, will stand back just as Peter and the apostles had done earlier. The mob depends on the complacency of Christians for their power. On the other hand, true Christians are zealots for God and are ready soldiers for God’s purposes. It is okay to take up swords against the enemies of God if they fail to bow to loving kindness! Peter should have saved his sword to cut the Satanic “cords” that bound Jesus, but he stopped short of carrying the Cross of Jesus. Simon would finally do that!

  Finally, the apostles were humbled and left, “Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name.” Jesus had not been ashamed of them and they were not ashamed of Jesus. Perhaps Christians do not counter the mob because they are ashamed of the poor Christians they are. Perhaps they are ashamed of themselves, as they fear their own lack of faith. Perhaps they understand that they are not “Christian” enough, knowing that they stop short of defending Christ’s Doctrine. Whatever the reason, mobs are zealots for Satan, but Christians are seldom zealous on behalf of Jesus.

  Because the “Ghost” of Jesus returned and was in them, those apostles who had only been cowards for Christ became bold in the Spirit: “They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” They became Christians with principle and thereafter never allowed the mob nor its leaders to intimidate them. Each one took up their “cross” for Jesus. A couple were eventually crucified, some beheaded, one killed by another mob, and John boiled in oil. Are you and I willing to take up “crosses” such as those? In the end, Christians will be beheaded for Jesus’s Name? Who will stand up (by bowing down ) for Jesus and who will not when they see the blades of the antichrists?

  The high priest reminded them that other “saviors” had been “perished” and their followers disbanded. Their hope was that the followers of Jesus would drift away as well. Their “hope” is being fulfilled at this time. Christians are slowly drifting away from Jesus to follow the doctrines of the world. The Serpent left behind many false doctrines imbued with the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, or the “Philosophy Tree.” The Confederacy, according to Jeff Davis, “died of a theory.” America, and the world as well, will all die of a Marxist theory.

  The New World Order, in the end, will be the theory of socialism enforced by anarchist communists. Then Jesus will triumph again! He will reign for a thousand years with Satan enchained and in Hell. Thereafter Satan and his corrupt ideology will be finished never to beguile mankind again!

(picture credit: Teresa Davis, Pinterest)