Antinomian Attacks on the Covenant of God (No. 096D)

Introduction

In the First Century, from the establishment of the Christian Faith in the Middle East, the parasite system of the Gnostics infiltrated Christian Churches from the Jewish Communities and later from the pagan or Baal worshipping communities of the Sun and Mystery Cults. These communities had established themselves as Gnostic systems of social utility from Alexandria and the Levant. They had attached themselves to Judaism and Paganism as a parasite form and immediately targeted Christianity. The system and its attacks are explained in the work Antinomian Attacks on Christianity by Misuse of Scripture (No. 164C). So also see Antinomian Attacks on the Law of God (No. 164D).

They had penetrated Judaism arguing that the law was not applicable being modified by tradition and then in Christianity, as with the other cults, that the law of the Bible was given by an evil god named Jaldabaoth. They argued that Christianity had been given as a New Covenant that superseded the Old Covenant and Christians were no longer confined by or bound to it and that the law of the Bible was only applicable to Jews. This heresy was seen quite early in the faith as we see from the writings of Paul (cf. Heresy in the Apostolic Church (No. 089)). Another explanation of their attacks on the Sabbath, New Moons and Feasts is explained in the text on Colossians 2:16-17 (No. 205).

The process of the doctrines of Gnostic asceticism is examined in the papers Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183), CCG, 1996-2009 and The Nicolaitans (No. 202), CCG, 1997, 2009.

A lot of their false doctrine stems from a logical necessity to undermine the Bible faith and the doctrines of Scripture which run counter to their beliefs and practices. A lot of their false doctrine also stems from their complete misapprehension of, or disregard for, Bible theology. To insert their heresy they had to undermine the authority of the OT.

The Gnostic Doctrine was developed asserting the division of the Covenant into a theology of Old and New Testaments as a distinction in the Laws of God (L1). This false doctrine comes from an entire misrepresentation of the issue of the law at Sinai to Israel with Moses at the Exodus.

They claimed that God issued the law at Sinai to Moses and that law was done away. They claimed that Christ gave a New Covenant in his ministry that superseded the law given to Moses. This claim shows a complete ignorance of the texts of Scripture and is utter blasphemy. Anyone who utters this concept is simply unlearned in Bible teaching or a Gnostic heretic, and is not a Christian or a Muslim (S4:154).

Who issued the law at Sinai?

Scripture is quite clear that it was Christ that was at Sinai and that he issued the law to Israel (cf. Acts 7:30-53; 1Cor. 10:4). It is fitting that he was in the Exodus as he was being given Israel as his inheritance among the sons of God, by Eloah (Deut. 32:8 RSV, LXX, DSS). This elohim of Israel was identified as the Messiah in Psalm 45:6-7 and its repetition in Hebrews 1:8-9, which clearly shows this entity was the being who became Jesus Christ and that he had a God above him who appointed him.

God, no man has seen ever; nor has anyone heard His voice. He dwells in unapproachable light and He alone is immortal (1Tim. 6:16). It was the only born god, the monogenes theos of John 1:18 that spoke for him (cf. On the words: Monogenes Theos in Scripture and Tradition (B4)).

This being, who became Christ, was sent to bring Israel out of Egypt and reissue the Laws of God to it. He was to relate to Israel, through Moses, the administrative structure of the creation under that law. Further, he issued the death penalty for breach of that law, including the breach of the Sabbath under the Fourth Commandment. What sort of a perverted mind would then say it did not apply to others , once he had died for that system under that law?

Logic of the rejection of the Covenant

Were God to apply His Laws arbitrarily that would show that He is not immutable and the creation is not governed by the laws that stem from His Nature. Were He to change those laws and the system that enforces them under the Messiah, then He is in respect of persons, which Scripture says He is not (Rom. 2:11). One cannot order the death of some under the law and then tell others that the law is no longer relevant, and still be God. Scripture is clear that the elect of the Saints are those that “Keep the Commandments of God and the Faith and Testimony of Jesus Christ” (cf. Rev. 12:17; 14:12).

Moreover, the Covenant is tied to all those commandments and the Fourth Commandment is the commandment that identifies the Covenant and the Faith. That continued on throughout Christianity and is attested to be the object of persecution and the doctrines of the Churches of God right into the Seventh Century, and beyond, as we see from Scripture and the Koran at Surah 4:154. So also the Food Laws (No. 015) were kept by the Churches of God and in the Koran at Surah 3:93 (cf. Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170)).

The churches that were taken over by the Sun and Mystery Cults and the Binitarian system of Attis and the Baal system, and then the Triune God, came to persecute the true Faith. The persecutions of the Sabbath system are also seen in General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122).

Sunday is the day of worship of the Sun Cults and its festivals of Christmas and Easter are forbidden by the Bible (cf. Jer. 10:1-9; 7:18; 44:19; Ezek. 8:14) (cf. Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235)). Sunday did not enter Christianity until 111 CE alongside the Sabbath, and Easter did not enter Christianity until 154 at Rome under Anicetus and only became mandatory for those in fellowship with Rome in 192 under Victor. “Christmas” or the festival of the “Invincible Sun,” did not enter Christianity until ca 475 in Syria from the Sun Cults at the beginning of the Dark Ice Age when they got cold and began appeasing the sun from the Sun Cults.

Also the cross is a symbol of the Sun cults. Christ was killed on a stauros and not a cross (cf. The Cross: Its Origin and Significance (No. 039)). A stauros was a stake, often sharpened at both ends, invented by the Phoenicians. It is no more a cross than a stick is a crutch (cf. Bullinger).

Moreover, all who claim to be a follower of the Covenant must speak according to the Law and the Testimony or there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20).

The claim then follows from these Antinomian Gnostic heretics that the law only applies to the Jews. This begs the next question:

Who was at Sinai?

Who were the tribes to whom God gave the law? The Covenant had been given to Abraham and thus his descendants are all under the Law and the Covenant and that includes the Arabs and the Laconian or Spartan Greeks as well as the sons of Keturah and the Yemenis and those that went into Persia, Bactria and the Indus.

Those that were at Sinai were all of Israel including Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, in the East in order of march as per Numbers 10:11ff., and encampment, Simeon, Reuben and Gad in the South, Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin in the West and Dan, Asher and Naphtali in the North with Levi in the centre at the Temple and dispersed in the order of March as per Numbers 10:11-28.

Also the Mixed Multitude from the Exodus were there and orders under the law were given to apply the law to them and to all those who were to enter the lands of Israel with them or come to them later. They were bound by the law or they had to be put to death. The systems of their foreign gods were not to be permitted on pain of death.

What nations are subject to the Covenant?

The nations subject to the Covenant from the beginning were the Descendants of Abraham as we see in papers 212A, 212B, 212C, 212D, 212E, 212F and 212G.

After the reign of Solomon, Israel was split in two parts with the smaller part being the tribe of Judah with Benjamin and part of Levi based at Jerusalem and in the lands of Judah. Israel was then comprised of the other ten tribes and they, with their Levites in 21 divisions, remained in their locations until 722 BCE when they were taken captive under the Assyrians in two segments.

They were dispersed north of the Araxes and merged with the Hittite Celts and Scythian Celts and Anglo-Saxons, Lombards, Heruli and Jutes. They remained there until the fall of the Parthian Empire.

After the formation of the Church under Messiah and the Seventy, the so-called “Lost Ten Tribes” were joined by the Apostles and the Seventy (cf. 122D below) and given the opportunity of entering the Churches of God, which many did. Many of Judah and of Israel and the nations that they had joined became part of the elect within the Covenant of God and kept the Law and the Testimony. At the fall of the Parthian Empire the horde moved west into Europe and formed the nations of Western Europe. These movements are covered in the text of the Unitarian Trinitarian Wars (No. 268).

Was there a Second Covenant?

The problem was that the law could not be kept fully under the Covenant without the Holy Spirit and that was given by direction of God through the patriarchs and prophets until Messiah.

Messiah had to qualify to become the High Priest after the order of Melchisedek, which was the original and overall priesthood and that was to be at Jerusalem (cf. Melchisedek (No. 128)), and he became its High Priest as is explained in Hebrews (cf. Commentary on Hebrews (No. F058)).

The Holy Spirit was only given to the elect after the Acceptance of Christ as the Wave Sheaf (No. 106B). The Timing of the Crucifixion and Resurrection (No. 159) explains the timing in 30 CE. Christ returned to the Church and spent the next forty days with them preparing for the Spirit and their work abroad and speaking to the demons in Tartaros (cf. Forty Days Following Christ’s Resurrection 159A)).

The Holy Spirit (No. 117) was given at Pentecost in 30 CE and the Church was dispersed under the Seventy (cf. Establishment of the Church under the Seventy (No. 122D)). Christ and the Apostles kept the Laws of God and the Faith and Testimony of Christ. The entire Church kept the Temple Calendar for 2000 years until the Hillel system was introduced to the Sardis system in the 20^th century. Sardis and Laodicea lost the correct determination of the Lord’s Supper in the 20 Century.

The fact was that there was no Second or New Covenant. It was the same Covenant of God (No. 152). The Church was given the Holy Spirit so that they could be prepared to become elohim as sons of God (Jn. 10:34-36) from the First Resurrection (143A).

What happened with Christ was merely a restatement of the Covenant and an explanation of our role as the Body of Christ (cf. First and Second Statements of the Covenant of God (No. 096B)). He qualified by his death to become our High Priest and to allocate the Holy Spirit to us as part of the elohim (cf. The Elect as Elohim (No. 001)).

It is correct to say that part of the law was fulfilled in Christ but that was only the sacrificial law. The rest of the Law of God remained and we are required to observe and keep it. This aspect of the Law of God is explained in the text Distinction in the Law (No. 096). That division is accepted and was part of all the confessions of the Protestant systems in the Reformation, yet they failed to restore the Covenant and the Sabbath as its sign, although the attempt was made. They stopped at Augustine of Hippo and remained Antinomian Gnostic heretics.

Anyone who says that the law is done away shows thereby they are not a Christian and there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20). The Covenant is the basis of the faith and the Sabbath and the Fourth Commandment is the sign thereof (cf. Ex. Ch. 20; Deut. Ch. 5; Rev. 12:17; 14:12; S. 4:154).

Our sins were placed as far as the east is from the west and our bills of indebtedness or cheirographon to God under sin were nailed to the stake or stauros (Col. 2:14). It was the lying, scheming Antinomians that misrepresented the cheirographon as the Law of God that was nailed to the stake. Those that teach this heresy will not enter the Kingdom of God.

It was for this reason that the Lord’s Supper on 14 Abib prior to Christ’s sacrifice was established as the Feast or “Table Spread” (Q5) so that through the body and blood of Christ in the Bread and Wine (No. 100) and the Footwashing (No. 099) of the sacrament, our yearly sins were cleansed on a progressive basis. That sacrament then enables us to begin the yearly Feasts commencing with the Feast of the Passover and Unleavened Bread the following day.

There is thus only One Covenant which is tied to the Laws of the One True God. He sent Jesus Christ, and knowing them is eternal life (Jn. 17:3). The Covenant is tied to His Law, and the marker of that Covenant is the Sabbath as the sign of His System and God’s Calendar (No. 156).

It was Christ who gave the law to Moses at Sinai and he stated that “until heaven and earth pass away not one jot or tittle will pass from the law” (Mat. 5:18). That means not a full stop or a comma will pass from the law while heaven and earth still exist. The creation is thus tied to the law as it stems from His very nature (cf. Creation B5).

The Bible is quite clear that at the return of the Messiah the Laws of God (L1) will be restored as will the calendar of God.

The Sabbath and the New Moons will be restored and kept throughout the world on pain of death (Isa. 66:23).

Messiah will rule from Jerusalem with the 144,000 and every nation will keep the Feasts of God under the Great Multitude of the Elect and the Loyal Host and send their representatives to Jerusalem at Tabernacles each year. If they do not do so they will get no rain in due season and they will suffer the plagues of Egypt (Zech. 14:16-19). The droughts will commence from the arrival of the Two Witnesses (No. 135) and last for four years until the end of the vials of the wrath of God. The droughts will be tied to obedience after that time (cf. Wars of the End Part II: 1260 Days of the Witnesses (No. 141D) and Wars of the End Part III: Armageddon and the Vials of the Wrath of God (No. 141E)).

The Time Frame of the Plan of God

The Bible is quite clear that Satan is the god of this world (2Cor. 4:4) and that he rules under a time frame given to him by God. Christ said that Satan’s time has to be cut short or no flesh will be saved alive (Mat. 24:22).

The Plan of God was always understood to be designed on the week with the six days of the working week allocated to the rule of Satan, being six thousand years, and the Seventh or Sabbath Day as the rule of the Messiah under the millennial system for a thousand years. We are told this as fact in Revelation Chapter 20:1-3. We have explained this system under the text of Christianity and Islam in the Covenant of God (No. 096C).

It thus follows that Satan’s rule will cease soon before 2027 and a great deal of the Tribulation must occur by 2024. There is no possibility that God will allow Satan to rule for longer than He set aside for him as explained in the text Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272).

The Church has always understood the plan in terms of the week. There is no doubt that the Covenant of God was allocated to the elect in preparation for their ascent to power in place of the Demons at the First Resurrection (No. 143A), which occurs at the return of the Messiah.

The cowardice of the antinomians is evident from their claims regarding the ongoing nature of their system under the false religions of the Mystery and Sun Cults and it’s nauseating. How many times has it been uttered: “Oh not in my lifetime.”

The text in Revelation 12:12 states that Satan comes down in great wrath, knowing that his time is cut short, to move against the elect and the earth. That entire earth is to be destroyed because it is God’s Plan that all mankind shall enter the elohim under the Covenant of God and be merged into Israel as the body of Christ so that all mankind shall become elohim under the Laws of God. Thus these Antinomians with their doctrines strike at the very Plan of God and do Satan’s work for him.

It thus follows that these Antinomians will be forced to obey God and the rule of the Messiah at his return and they will repent and obey or die. They will not enter the millennial reign of Messiah alive unrepentant.

Messiah gave the Law of God to mankind and he will enforce the Law of God among mankind. It follows as a matter of logic that if Messiah gave the law to Noah when he sealed them in the Ark, and drowned all those who did not obey and were corrupted, and gave the laws to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob, and to Moses and Israel at Sinai and to the prophets and apostles, and will enforce them on pain of death when he comes again for the Millennium and the Judgment, that they are operational now to all in the faith.

God is immutable and changes not (Mal 3:6) and He and Christ are the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8).

If you wish to be in the First Resurrection repent now and keep the Commandments of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12).