KEY VERSES: 17 I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. 19 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. (Rom 16:17-19)
The message from the key verses is that those who cause
divisions and offences serve not Jesus, but their bellies. One of the most critical
doctrines of Christianity is that people are to serve Christ and not themselves.
Jesus elaborated on that when He said, “No man can serve two masters: for
either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Mat 6:24).
Serving “mammon” is archaic word for “what is trusted in.”
Some render it money, but it is having confidence in wealth, or the pursuit
of gain. Throughout the Bible, God disciplined those who trusted either money
or their own knowledge instead of His. Judas himself valued silver beyond the
life of a fellow Man, and his own God. The prophet Zechariah wrote of the foolish
shepherd, contrasting him with the Good Shepherd:
10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. 14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. (Zech 11:10-14)
This prophecy was immediate and futuristic as well. The Abrahamic
Covenant was for the Kingdom of David — for a united Judah and Israel. The
foolish shepherd was role-played by Zechariah. Perhaps the part was for King Rohoboam
who had divided Israel and Judah into two kingdoms. However, it was prophecy that
had more to do with the future than the past but used the past to explain the
future.
Judas, or Jude, means Judean or Jew. Jesus represents Israel
in that Israel (Jacob) was from whom the Messiah would come. In the key verses,
there are two doctrines; what are the two? The doctrine of Judas, or the
apostolic-time “Rohoboam,” and the doctrine of Christ representing a united kingdom
of David.
Judas was from Kerioth. He was certainly Judean as his name
suggests. Some say his family was the tribe of Dan that broke off from the area
of the Kingdom of Israel and moved north toward Lebanon. That would imply that Dannites
were unfaithful to the Abrahamic Covenant; that they denied the inheritance
given them to God. Either way, Zechariah was surely referring to Judas and
Jesus as the “Judah and Israel” in Zechariah 11:14 — Judas the foolish shepherd
and Jesus the Good Shepherd.
Now back to the key verses: The two doctrines were Jesus and
Him the Christ and Judas and him not the Christ. Jesus represents the Doctrine of
God and Judas the doctrine of sin. Essentially, the Doctrine of Christ is
service to God and men and the doctrine of sin is serving oneself. Jesus died
to serve mankind. Paul wrote, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So
then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of
sin” (Rom 7:25). With that, carnality is serving Judas, and the Law of Love is
service to Jesus.
All men have both spiritual and worldly personalities. The
flesh serves evil and the Spirit good. Because Judas had Satan in him and Jesus
the Holy Ghost, the choice is which one of two masters to serve (Mat 6:24).
According to that verse, everyone must choose one of the two masters and the
doctrines that belong to each. The Doctrine of Christ is service to Him and others,
and the doctrine of Judas is the love of money and oneself.
Regular readers know that I am vehemently anti-socialist.
Socialism is not for the “common good” as they claim but each for their own
good. It is not to serve God but mammon. It is not for eating the Bread of
Christ but for their own bellies. Socialist ideology portends and pretends to
be social justice, but it is spiritual injustice. Paul had just written about
service to others, or charity as a way to demonstrate love:
25 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. 26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. 27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. (Rom 15:25-27)
A saint (Paul) ministered to the saints in Jerusalem. “Ministering” his
serving fellow Christians, not the world. They made “contribution for the poor
saints” in Jerusalem. The Gentiles did that! Christianity is indeed
cosmopolitan, but the universalism is for Christians. Charity is not for the
global common good but the carnal and spiritual good of Christians. Because Gentiles
had received “spiritual things” their obligation was charity for “carnal
things.” Because God was so gracious with His Spirit, the saints were to be
gracious with the universal Church community, not the global cosmopolitan
community.
The Great Commission of the body of Christians is to take the Spirit to
the world and ample sustenance to the Church. The commission of Marx is to take
bare sustenance to the world and take Christ from them in exchange. Indeed, those
who trust others rather than Him are damned. The Doctrine of Christ is partaking
of the Bread of Christ and feeding the spirit of others, in contrast to the doctrine
of Judas which is to take what you can get for the flesh as Jesus is ignored.
I believe that in the end, there will remain two governments. One with the
doctrine of Judas and the other the Doctrine of Christ… The former, “That no
man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or
the number of his name” (Rev 13:7). The Antichrist, like Judas, will have Satan
in him. The mark of the beast is the mark of Satan that Judas had. “Kerioth”
comes from the same root noun as does Qu’ran. The number of the Qu-ran
is 666 and their prophet is actually Judas (Isa).
Why the alliance between the two opposing doctrines of socialism and
Islam? Because “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” or as the Bible says it, “And
the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were
at enmity between themselves” (Luke 23:12). The final alliance will be between two
kings — the king of Judah, or Judas, and the king of the world — the
Antichrist. The king of Judas is Satan and Judas is represented by the Antichrist.
Essentially, the Doctrine of Christ is that none should perish, and
the doctrine of Judas is that perishing is of little concern if it is
for one’s own good. Socialism, as a package, is nothing more than individuals
who care only for themselves, each together for individual lusts.
Judas lusted for silver, his doctrine is the lust of the flesh, and
socialism is demanding things for the flesh. It is the doctrine of
carnality and excludes the Spirit of God. How inclusive is that? Yet, even
Christians seek social justice and pursue the doctrine of liberation theology —
“A movement in Christian theology which conveys the teachings of Jesus Christ
in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions”
(Wikipedia). With that socialistic false doctrine, the responsibility of the Church
is to feed the bellies of the world. In other words, the Church is for
the doctrine of Judas.
Why are the liberal church and Islam so cozy? Both are friends of Judas
for each espouse the doctrine of Judas, only with different methods.
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