Repentance from Dead Works: Vol I. of the Foundation of Biblical Faith

By Onyeije Chukwudum Dr. Okoro

The Holy Bible, "the Book Nobody Knows," as described by one Bruce Barton, is a book of ancient stories, prophecies, and wisdom literatures.

But the Bible does have other specific themes. It contains specific teachings, knowledge and instructions on the purposes of the Creator and His plan for human salvation. In the series, The Foundation of Biblical Faith, the foundational knowledge and teachings of the Scriptures and treated in-depth.

In this volume 1, Repentance from Dead Works, you will learn about the meaning of Biblical repentance and your need for it; sin, its effects, how the Creator views it, and the need to turn from it; the law and its purposes; the Levitical and Melchizedek priesthoods, sacrifices and their meanings and purposes. You will also learn the place of true deliverance in repentance and its relationship with the law.

The book defines Repentance, shows the place and functions of Biblical Laws in Repentance, and shows the difference between the Levitical sacrificial laws and the Laws in the first five Books of the Bible. It gives a Biblical example of true repentance, discusses obstacles to true repentance, and shows the need for true deliverance in repentance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 10, 2009
• ISBN: 9780595615278

Onyeije Chukwudum Dr. Okoro

From 1997-2002 I actively shared the Sacred Scriptures with people. I discovered most were bereft of the basic teachings of the Bible. From personal studies I discovered the Foundational Teachings of the Bible. I was encouraged to write to help those searching for truth. I live in Abuja, Nigeria.

Book preview

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgment

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: Repentance Defined

Definitions of Repent and Repentance

The Meanings of Dead and Work

The Command to Repent

Beginning of Repentance … Acknowledgment of Right and Wrong Deeds

The Mental Processes and Acts of Repentance

Chapter 2: Right and Wrong—Who Determines?

YahVah’s Prerogative to Determine Right and Wrong

Purposes of Laws

Humans and the Creator’s Laws

The Omniscient and Omnipresent Elohim

Chapter 3: The LAW Gives Life … SIN Works Death

Purpose of the Law of YahVah

Two Ways … Two Choices

The Law Not Nailed to a Cross

The Law of YahVah Not Burdensome

The Two Ways and Two Choices in Eden

The Consequences of our Choices

The Effects of Choosing the Right—the Tree of Life

Adam and Eve Broke Laws—Sinned!

Sin … The Transgression of the Law

The Law of Life and the Law of Death

Chapter 4: Heavenly Repentance … Wholehearted Obedience and Surrender to YahVah

Heavenly and Worldly Repentance Contrasted

The Sinai Code before Moses

Heavenly Repentance Leads to Salvation

Begin from the Beginning

Functions of the Law in Repentance

Chapter 5: Processes and Components of Repentance

The Processes of Repentance

The Components of Repentance

Repentance, Restitution, and Destruction of Unclean or Leprous Objects

The Law of Clean and Unclean and the Law of Leprosy

The Commonness and Availability of Unclean, Leprous Objects

Repentance and Forgiveness

Reaping, though Forgiven

What to Do When Reaping

Chapter 6: Example of Repentance

King David’s Repentance … Exemplary

No Sacrifice for Sin

Burnt Offering … Offering of Commitment

The Basis of Acceptance by YahVah

Chapter 7: Obstacles to True Repentance

Repentance and Lack of Knowledge and Fear of YahVah

Lack of Fear of YahVah as Obstacle to True Repentance

The Fear of YahVah

Yah’s Wisdom vs. Apostasy

Return to YahVah El Shaddai

The Depravity of Humans

The Origin and Causes of the Depravity of Humans

Idolatry and Sexual Sins … Major Causes of Human Depravity

The Universality of Human Depravity

Universal Satanic Deception

Chapter 8: Why Repent from Dead Works?

Purpose of Israel … Establishment of the Kingdom of YahVah

The Need for Repentance

Every Nation Has Her Elohim

No Nation Has Changed Her Elohim

The Unclean Not to Enter the Kingdom

Chapter 9: Repentance, Deliverance, and the Law

Why King David Sought Deliverance from Bloodguilt

False Deliverance

True Repentance and True Deliverance

The Place of the Law in Deliverance

The Need for Deliverance in Repentance

The Messiah commanded Deliverance in Proclaiming the Kingdom

Repentance Should Be Specific

Purpose of Sacrifices

General Areas of Consideration

Chapter 10: The Repentant

The Repentant Acknowledges His, Her Sinfulness

The Vigilance and Joy of the Repentant

Purpose of the Repentant … Keeping of Yah’s Laws

The Repentant Chose Obedience to Yah’s Laws

The Faith of the Repentant Leads to Life

The Secrets of YahVah are with the Repentant

Glossary

Bibliography

Dedication

The series,

The Foundation of Biblical Faith,

Is dedicated to:

All who, in all sincerity, desire to know, and in all honesty, seek

The Mighty One of Creation and His Truth

Acknowledgment

I am sincerely thankful to everyone, every author, and every publisher who has been involved and whose work has been used in the writing, typing, and publication of this book.

First, my gratitude is to the publishers of the different versions of the Sacred Writings of the Hebrews in the English language:

The Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible, KJV

The Holy Bible: New King James Version, NKJV

The New English Bible with the Apocrypha (Oxford Study Edition), NEB

The Living Bible (Self-Help Edition), TLB

The New Jerusalem Bible, JB

The Holy Bible: New International Version, NIV

The Sacred Scriptures (Bethel Edition), SS

The Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible, ROSNB

Every one of these versions has been invaluable to my understanding of the passages on the several subjects of this book. Except otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Authorized, King James Version, KJV, while the Apocrypha is taken from the New English Bible, NEB. [The ROSNB used YahVah, Elohim, Yahshua, and Messiah in both Testaments in place of LORD, God, Jesus, and Christ. The SS used Yahweh instead of YahVah, and Elohim, Yahshua, and Messiah. The JB used Yahweh only in the Old Testament.]

Second, I am grateful to the authors and publishers of the books, English dictionaries, and Bible dictionaries and concordances which I have consulted and used.

My gratitude also goes to my beloved friend, Robert Joseph Tsaku, who did not only type the Manuscript of this book but made very useful suggestions on the need to expand and expatiate on some of the things written down in the book; and to my publisher, editorial consultant, editor, and publishing services associate whose work, input, advice, and suggestions have made the ‘creation’ of the book complete. I am specifically thankful to my editorial consultant, Mr. George Nedeff, whose counsel made it possible for this book to be published together with NIGERIA.

Those who have been called upon by the Elohim of creation to the doing of His Will in respect of His coming Kingdom, especially with regard to the healing of Nigeria, through the publication of this book and and the one to which it serves as adjunct, NIGERIA: Her Woes and Their True Remedies, and who respond to this call would not only become ‘my kinsman redeemer,’ but co-workers in the Father’s vineyard. For them and for those who seek the Father of creation and His Truth in fear and trembling, the publication of this book is timely and invaluable. As I welcome you all to the Father’s vineyard to make disciples for Him and the Messiah from all nations for the soon coming Kingdom, may the Shaddai grant you the peace of the Kingdom and show you the purpose of your life and of your calling.

Lastly, my earnest gratitude is to the Father of creation and His Beloved and only Begotten Son for their faithfulness to me over the long years of working on this book and the other. I am most thankful to the Father and to the Messiah and to all for bringing the Father’s Will to pass in the writing, typing, and publication of the two books. It has been a humbling experience to learn and write these books at the feet of the Master and Rabbi. It has been as Scripture says, ‘… . Your children shall be taught of YahVah … ,’ Isaiah 54:13. He has taught His disciple even as the Father instructs His children, servants, and messengers, Psalms 32:8; Proverbs 1:1–9; Ben Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 4:11–19.

Preface

Way back in my high or secondary school I always wanted to know the truth of a matter or issue before I get involved in it or talk about it. This was especially true of religion and religious activities. By this time I had come to know that there was much confusion in religion, though the ‘confusion’ in the world was not so clear to me at that time. For this reason I consciously and purposely refused to be serious in religion and with religious activities though I grew up with a fairly strict religious upbringing. At that time I believed I would know and understand the world better some day. Early in my university days I still exercised caution in religion and religious activities in spite of my renewed interest in religion and spiritual things. It was in the middle of my medical carrier that I began to find answers to my posers on life.

I had continued to search for and find answers to those posers despite the lethal travail of the religious group I had learned some of those early truths from. Then, in the late 1990s I discovered that many who professed the Bible were wholly ignorant of its basic teachings. This discovery and the challenge to write a book on the causes of Nigeria’s woes and their remedies spurred me into personal study on the teachings of the Scriptures and on ancient history in other to find the truths in and behind these.

And so, like me, I know that there are some persons seeking for truth. There are persons sincerely seeking for truth about their lives, about human life and human existence on Planet Earth, about the universe, and about the Creator; truth about their families, their communities, their own cities, tribes, nations, countries, and the world in which they live. Though many are not actively searching for these truths, to find answers to the truths multitudes are who resort to the book called the Holy Bible which they believe contains these truths and which itself claims to contain same.

But the Bible, as much as it lays claim to Truth, also says the Truth in it is not easy to come by, even by the sincere seekers of it. It says that truth has been hidden. It also says the righteous are preyed upon by the wicked. The Scriptures show that lawlessness and the lawless abound in the world and that evil bears rule in place of good, and while injustice rules over justice, falsehood holds sway. These make the existence of the Creator unreal and obscure knowledge of the Holy One of creation. The Scriptures below portray these and show how the Creator Himself fights for His own cause:

Behold, YahVah’s[1] hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your Elohim, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgement in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

Therefore is judgement far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgement, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; In transgressing and lying against YahVah, and departing away from our Elohim, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgement is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and YahVah saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgement.

And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. So shall they fear the name of YahVah from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of YahVah shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith YahVah. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith YahVah; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith YahVah, from henceforth and for ever. (Isaiah 59:1–21)

For the wrath of YahVah is revealed from heaven against all [unholiness] and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of YahVah is manifest in them, for YahVah has shown it to them. (Romans 1:18–19 NKJV)

Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish… . But the wisdom that is from above is … without partiality, and without hypocrisy… . (James 3: 13–18)

Fight to the death for truth

and YahVah Elohim will war on your side.

(Yahshua Ben Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 4:28 Apocrypha JB)

Truth is so hindered, held back, hidden, or dead that it has to be fought for, with the support of the Creator Himself, to be revealed, resurrected, and known.

If you think truth is so easy to come by, or that you already know the truth, consider the renowned Moses. After eighty years of training for the mission of his life and the ministry of his birth, forty years in Egypt and forty years in the wilderness, he did not know the Name of the Creator. When his call came he had to ask his Caller what His Name was before he was told, Exodus 3:13–15. That Hebrew Name, hhy, when transliterated into English, is YHVH, pronounced YahVah. Note: I AM THAT I AM, or I WILL BECOME WHATSOEVER I PLEASE as used by ROSNB, is a description of the meaning of the Name.

And Moses said unto Elohim, Lo! as surely as I go in unto the sons of Israel, and say unto them, The Elohim of your fathers sent me unto you. So surely will they say unto me, What is His name? What shall I say unto them? And Elohim said unto Moses, I Will Become whatsoever I please; and He said, Thus shalt thou say to the sons of Israel, I Will Become hath sent me unto you. And Elohim said yet further unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, YahVah, Elohim of your fathers, Elohim of Abraham, Elohim of Isaac and Elohim of Jacob hath sent me unto you. This is My name to times age-abiding, and this My memorial to generation after generation. (Exodus 3: 13–15 ROSNB)

There are two versions of this name, commonly referred to as the sacred Name or Tetragrammaton. There are YHWH, Yahweh, and YHVH, YahVah. The former is commoner than the latter. Because of Scriptural evidences of the existence and meaning of the second half of YahVah in Hebrew words such as Kibroth-ha-Taa-vah, Number 11:1–35 and Tikvah, 2 Kings 22:14, as well as others like tiqvah, qavah, and lavah (Strong’s 8615, 6960, and 3867 respectively), I have chosen to use the rare version. It is with due reverence that I have used this sacred, memorial Name (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11).

There are multitudes of worshipers who believe they already know the truth or have found the truth in their religions, churches, denominations, and fellowship groups. But how can you be so sure, with the scenario the Scriptures have given us on what has happened to truth, that what you know or have found is the truth? And why is the truth so hard to come by? When did the truth begin to be hidden? Why is the Creator Himself so hidden from us? Let Scripture enlighten us:

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

And YahVah came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And YahVah said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So YahVah scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because YahVah did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did YahVah scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:1–9)

Here is the story of a major departure from truth by the people of the post diluvian world: the truth about the Creator and His creation, about the will and purposes of the Creator, and about the commands of the Creator. However, the hiding of truth dates back to Eden.

The people of the post diluvian world had refused and rejected the Creator’s command to them to spread abroad and repopulate the Earth after the flood. They rather preferred to build a city and a tower to dwell in so as to avoid or overcome the Creator’s wrath coming upon them again in another deluge. Of course, they undertook this course under the manipulation of the Serpent. However, this rebellion of theirs against the Shaddai’s command incurred for them the same fate from the Mighty One of creation whom they thought they could outwit. He confounded their language and scattered them abroad all over the Earth, and abandoned them to their whims and caprices, without His guidance. This is very similar to the incident of the Garden of Eden in which the first human parents succumbed to the Serpent’s crafts (thus coming under his authority) and were driven from the Garden and from the presence of the Elyon to fend for themselves under the rule of the Serpent.

The Tower of Babel was not just a place to hide from the wrath of the Creator; it was also a place from where these apostates wanted to observe the heavenly bodies—the sun, moon, stars, planets, etc. Known to be a ziggurat (Pfeiffer et al 2001, 167) the Tower of Babel was an apostate temple, church, circe, shrine, mosque, stupa for the apostate worship and religion founded by Nimrod and his mother-wife Semiramis. These two are the male and female idols and deities of the peoples and nations of the world. While Nimrod is the avatar, savior, or messiah, Semiramis is his mother and wife. These were major religious ideas which the apostates carried away to their heritages when they left Babel. The book The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, makes this plain. Flavius Josephus, the famous Hebrew historian, also elucidates on the incident of the city and tower of Babel in his book The Antiquities of the Jews, published in The Complete Works of Josephus.

Thus, the peoples of the world have always worshiped the sun on the Day of the Sun—sun-day, the first day of the week—from antiquity. The word Church, Cherche, or Circe is the shrine of the Sun deity, Helios, as well as the name of his priestess and daughter. (See Church in The Oxford English Dictionary, OED; and Circe in Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. 6, p. 732 and Lexicon Webster Dictionary, Encyclopaedic Edition; Dictionary of Mythology, p. BT–152.)

Adam and Eve departed from truth in Eden to follow the imaginations of their heart and the lies of the Serpent. At Babel the peoples of the world, except Shem and his lineage, also apostatised. They followed and worshiped the Serpent, rejecting the Creator and His commandments and laws. For this reason their language and vocabulary, which was Hebrew, was confused. They themselves were scattered all over the face of the Earth, having refused to spread abroad as commanded by the Creator. Thereafter, nobody and no people, tribe, nation, or race has taken to nor abided by truth—the Truth of YahVah Elohim the Creator—except the Hebrews or the people of the Book or the people of the Covenant, that is, the people of the Bible, who are of the lineage of Shem, one of the three sons of Noah. And no nation has the Creator, YahVah, revealed Himself and His commandments and laws to except the nation Israel, who are also of the Shemite (Semite) lineage, though they also succumbed to the crafts and manipulations of the Serpent and came under his deception and rule, imbibing his lies. Here are two Scriptures which show that ONLY to Israel has YahVah the Mighty One of creation revealed Himself and His commandments and laws:

He sheweth his word unto Jacob,

his statutes and his judgements unto Israel.

He hath not dealt so with any nation:

and as for his judgements,

they have not known them.

Praise ye YahVah.

(Psalms 147:19–20)

But Wisdom brought her servants safely out of their troubles.

It was she, when a good man was a fugitive from his brother’s anger,

Who guided him on the straight path;

She showed him that Elohim is king,

And gave him knowledge of his holiness [holy things, holy realm]

She prospered his labours and made his toil productive.

(Wisdom 10:9–10)

But YahVah, Elohim of the Hebrews, is also Elohim of all peoples though they do not know Him. What plans, then, did He or does He now have for the peoples of the Earth who have never known Him: the peoples who took to and have remained in apostasy—rebels before and against Him? And also his own people who also turned to apostasy? Isaiah answers these questions:

Thus saith YahVah, Keep ye judgement, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to YahVah, speak, saying, YahVah hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith YahVah unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to YahVah, to serve him, and to love the name of YahVah, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Sovereign YahVah which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him. (Isaiah 56:1–8)

Non Hebrews and non-Israelites have always lived with Hebrews and Israelites even as they too live among other peoples. That is why there are laws for the protection of foreigners and for their integration into Hebrew, Israelite community or nation.

The Hebrews have always welcomed strangers and foreigners who sojourned among them. Such sojourners were, however, required to live like them. They were required to believe what the Hebrews believe in, worship the Hebrew Elohim and