Heretics, Who Followed the Sins of Jeroboam (II)

By Paul C. Jong

In the Bible, the people of Israel claim to worship God, but ultimately, following Jeroboam, they were worshipping the golden calves. In fact, more than 2/3 of the history of Israelites was a history of having worshipped the golden calves, thinking them to be God. Ultimately, even now, they continue to go on living without realizing the fact that Jesus Christ, who has come by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, is their true Savior. In spite of it all, there are many Jews who are waiting for their Savior, even now.
Then, how is the faith of you who claim to be taking part in Christianity in this New Testament Era? Do you currently believe in and follow God with a proper understanding of Him? If not, aren't you perhaps worshipping golden calves with a misapprehension of them as God? If you are like that, then you must become aware of the fact that you are worshipping an idol before God like the people of Israel. Then, you must revert back and meet the Lord who has come by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I am sure that you will be able to believe in the gospel Truth when you truly realize before God what the Truth of the salvation in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is, won't you?
I wish to testify before you the true faith and the Truth under the title, "Heretics, Who Followers the sins of Jeroboam." By all means, I hope you will be a person of the same faith as that of mine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul C. Jong
• Release date: Sep 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9788928210251

Book preview

Who Do You Follow Now?

In the Bible, the people of Israel claim to worship God, but ultimately, following Jeroboam, they were worshipping the golden calves. In fact, more than 2/3 of the history of Israelites was a history of having worshipped the golden calves, thinking them to be God. Ultimately, even now, they continue to go on living without realizing the fact that Jesus Christ, who has come by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, is their true Savior. In spite of it all, there are many Jews who are waiting for their Savior, even now.

Then, how is the faith of you who claim to be taking part in Christianity in this New Testament Era? Do you currently believe in and follow God with a proper understanding of Him? If not, aren’t you perhaps worshipping golden calves with a misapprehension of them as God? If you are like that, then you must become aware of the fact that you are worshipping an idol before God like the people of Israel. Then, you must revert back and meet the Lord who has come by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I am sure that you will be able to believe in the gospel Truth when you truly realize before God what the Truth of the salvation in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is, won’t you?

I wish to testify before you the true faith and the Truth under the title, Heretics, Who Followers the sins of Jeroboam. By all means, I hope you will be a person of the same faith as that of mine.

In Jesus Christ, the Author

Heretics, Who Followed the Sins of Jeroboam (II)

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2006 by The New Life Mission

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version.

ISBN 978-89-282-1025-1

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Don’t You Know That Idolatry Is Heresy?(1 Kings 10:1-29)

2. God’s Curse on Heretics (1 Kings 15:25-34)

3. Today’s Heretics Who Are Like King Ahab (1 Kings 21:1-26)

4. There Are God’s Servants Still Remaining On This Earth (1 Kings 22:1-40)

5. Christians Must Now Turn around and Believe in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit (1 Kings 22:51-53)

6. Who Are These Christian Leaders Seeking Only Mammon? (2 Kings 5:1-27)

7. By This Time Tomorrow, You Shall Know What True Salvation Is (2 Kings 7:1-20)

8. Who Are the False Prophets inside the Christianity of Today? (Matthew 7:15-27)

9. Let Us Lead to the Truth the Heretics Who Do Not Believe That Jesus Is the Christ! (1 John 5:1-12)

10. You Shall Not Kill the Lives of the Born-Again (Genesis 9:1-7)

11. What Should We Do to Avoid Worshipping Idols before God Like Solomon the Idolater? (1 Kings 9:1-9)

12. There Are Mighty Hunters Who Aim at the Souls of Men (Genesis 10:1-14)

13. The Descendants of Ham, Mighty Soul-Hunters (Genesis 10:1-32)

14. The Lesson of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)

15. You Must Live out Your Faith with a Pure Faith Like Stone and Mortar (Genesis 11:1-9)

Preface

These days, so many Christians aren’t aware of the fact that they have become heretics by having followed Jeroboam. If they had known that fact, they would have reverted back, and then they would have come to realize for certain what the love of God is and what the God-given salvation is by having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Then, the history of Christianity all over the world would surely have changed. But unfortunately, Christians now all over the world are still following Jeroboam’s sin.

What is the basis for the claim that Christians now all over the world are following Jeroboam’s sin? The basis for which I make such a claim is first of all the fact that they right now believe in and worship golden calves as their gods, instead of the true God, just as Jeroboam during the Old Testament Era had believed in the golden calves in place of God. To put this simply, the Christianity today is following in Jeroboam’s footsteps instead of being able to depart from the sin committed by Jeroboam during the Old Testament Era. For them, there can only be the pursuit of this world’s material blessings under the cover of the name, Jesus Christ. Christian leaders today only seek to fatten themselves and to make their own church chapel bigger by extracting donations and extorting services from their church members.

In the ancient Middle Eastern region, people worshipped Baal and Asherah. Back then, because agriculture and livestock breeding were their ways of survival, they were in need of much labor power. So, fertility was considered a family blessing. As a result, they had created and served Asherah, a goddess of fertility, and Baal, following their own greed.

Christians today are the same. In conclusion, they say they believe in God because all they want is for their flesh to be well-off. As a result, Christian leaders today are guiding their church members in the direction of worshipping golden calves. By teaching church members that if they were to believe in Jesus, they will receive material blessings and their pursuit for glory, power, and children’s well-being will go smoothly. By emphasizing material blessing instead of the well-being of the soul, they are making Christians worship golden calves in the end result.

Christians today have fallen into such a great spiritual chaos, void, and darkness. It is because many Christian leaders are like so, and what is worse is that they do not even realize that their spiritual state is currently deep in chaos, void, and darkness. This is why the history of Christianity continues to be on a path of worshipping golden calves instead of God. It can only be described as truly tragic and unfortunate.

Christians today do not know what the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit that the Lord has made and given us is. Thus, they continue to believe in the doctrines of Christianity and not the gospel of the water and the Spirit. For that reason, the fact of the matter is that despite their claim of having faith in Jesus, they continue to believe in and follow golden calves.

We must discern those that worship golden calves as God within Christianity. And by coming back before God of the Truth, we must offer the sacrifices of righteousness to God. The sacrifice that God receives with rejoice is the sacrifice of righteousness that people offer by faith after having received the remission of sin by having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Before God, you must seriously think about whether or not you are offering the sacrifice of God-given righteousness by the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.

All those Christians who are now living in this declining world must collect their minds and start believing in the gospel Truth, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Once more, you must think about Perhaps in truth, isn’t it that I believe in golden calves in place of God? Isn’t it that I love material fortunes more than God? If yes, then, you must come back before God who is righteous, just, and benevolent and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.

Should you be in doubt after reading this book, I wish for you to examine your faith once more in reference to the Word that God speaks through me, the author. Now, I declare that Christians spread all over the world worshipping golden calves to be a true heretic before God.

Aren’t you perhaps someone who is worshipping golden calves as God now? If so, I hope you will revert back and by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, worship the true God of the Trinity — God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. I send before you this message in the name of Jesus Christ who has saved us all from all our sins, given us everlasting life, and allowed us to receive the inheritance of Heaven.

The Author

SERMON 1

Don’t You Know That

Idolatry Is Heresy?

< 1 Kings 10:1-29 >

Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her. Then she said to the king: ‘It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.’ Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great quantity, and precious stones. There never again came such abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. Also, the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought great quantities of almug wood and precious stones from Ophir. And the king made steps of the almug wood for the house of the LORD and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers. There never again came such almug wood, nor has the like been seen to this day. Now King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, besides what Solomon had given her according to the royal generosity. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants. The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, besides that from the traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the kings of Arabia, and from the governors of the country. And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round at the back; there were armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom. All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. For the king had merchant ships at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the merchant ships came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys. So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. Now all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year. And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland. Also Solomon had horses imported from Egypt and Keveh; the king’s merchants bought them in Keveh at the current price. Now a chariot that was imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse one hundred and fifty; and thus, through their agents, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.

Lately, I have had this desire to teach our coworkers abroad, as well as many other souls, who it is that belong to heresy. So if there is anyone who has fallen into heresy, I would like to help him escape from it. It’s with this intention that I am now speaking about heresy from the viewpoint of the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, and I believe that such faith and knowledge is completely indispensable for everyone.

How Was Solomon’s Course of Life?

Today, we read 1 Kings chapter ten. God had given King Solomon much wisdom. So as a result, many people revered Solomon highly. On account of his amazing wisdom, Solomon’s fame reached far beyond into distant countries. So even the queen of Sheba, a country far away in southern Arabia, heard about King Solomon and came to verify his wisdom and glory for herself. She brought along hard questions and tried to test him with these questions. But there was not a single question that Solomon could not answer. The queen of Sheba also saw the magnificent palace that Solomon had built, his institutions of governance, and his administrative organization. And impressed by them, she praised Solomon, saying, It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard (1 Kings 10:6-7). Like this, King Solomon lived his entire life as a man of the flesh, boasting his wisdom and enjoying his wealth. But he did not know that his famed wisdom would eventually ruin him.

Solomon made his throne out of ivory, and he covered it with pure gold. What I would like to point out to you here is that because Solomon’s heart left Jehovah God and lived only for his flesh in such extravagance, ultimately, he ended up turning his kingdom into a nation of idolatry. Although he was a king with a great deal of carnal wisdom given by God, he was a dismal man who used this wisdom only to boast of his own righteousness and serve idols. Even though Solomon had received God’s overflowing love and blessings, his spiritual state was terribly low.

Some people, upon hearing my harsh assessment of Solomon, may object and say, Rev. Paul C. Jong, I know you are a servant of God, but how can you so easily dismiss King Solomon, whose walk is written in the Bible? But still, I do not hesitate to rebuke Solomon harshly for his spiritual corruption. And I believe that God had Solomon’s course of life written down as a lesson for us, to warn us not to worship idols and turn into heretics like Solomon. God had this passage written so that we would not serve idols. It’s not because I am somehow smarter or more intelligent than Solomon that I am criticizing and rebuking him here, but I am trying to admonish you all not to commit the same foolish act of worshiping idols as your own deity before God, as Solomon had done.

Solomon achieved very few things once he became king. All that he did after assuming the throne was construction. After he built the Temple for 7 years, he spent 13 more years to build his palace. For a total of 20 years, he worked on nothing but construction, and he only fostered idolatry among his own people in his time. In other words, all that he did as the king of Israel was to build houses and serve idols. This man was a carnal man to his bones. Even though his father was David, and even though the God that he believed in was Jehovah God, he still served idols instead of God, causing untold grief for himself. Solomon must have been mad, begging to be cursed by God.

Yahweh, the name of God, means He who exists by Himself or I am who I am (Exodus 3:14). This Jehovah God is the Absolute God for all of us. So God had given Solomon His Word of warning, saying to him, Do not worship idols, but Solomon ignored this warning and served idols anyway, taking countless foreign women as his wives, including Pharaoh’s daughter. What a spiritually foolish and carnal man Solomon was! Even though he was a wise king in carnal affairs, as far as spiritual wisdom is concerned, he scored zero.

Solomon Had a Thousand Wives

It is written in the Bible that King Solomon had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. In other words, Solomon had no less than a thousand wives. With so many wives, Solomon probably couldn’t even remember them all. When the wives greeted him, Your majesty, he probably said on more than one occasion, Hmm… I think I’ve met you before, but what was your name again? From the wives’ perspective, who bore and raised his own children, it must have been rather unpleasant to see their husband unable to remember even their names. Solomon had built his palace for 13 years, but all this work was to provide a room to each of his wives. After all, his wives were queens of a nation, and so they all had to have at least a decent room for each. Solomon probably also built several gardens and ponds for them. Moreover, since many of these royal wives were foreign women, they had brought their own idols and worshiped them, and so Solomon also built shrines for these idols. If I had lived in that age, I would have rebuked Solomon and said to him, Solomon, what use is all your wisdom? It’s better to be ignorant and fear God!

Yet despite this, so many Christians today still revere King Solomon and envy his wisdom and wealth. During his early reign, when Solomon just assumed the throne, he offered a thousand burnt offerings at Gibeon. But for how long did this man really fear God? When we can see that he feared God only while he was building the Temple of God and his palace, for after this, he was busy serving idols. In other words, once the construction of the Temple and the palace was complete, Solomon no longer feared Jehovah God. As his royal authority was consolidated and he came to enjoy wealth and material prosperity, his heart stopped trusting in God, and ended up falling into idolatry. He was indeed a foolish and wretched king. Had he served Jehovah God by faith, he would have received many blessings from God in both body and spirit, and his descendants and his people would have all have been blessed by God. But he failed at this, and instead lived his life foolishly.

If Solomon had any spiritual wisdom at all, he would not have dedicated all his energy to just seek his carnal gratification. For example, Solomon made his throne out of ivory and covered it with pure gold. But would a throne covered with gold somehow increase his royal authority? In other words, rather than manifesting God’s glory and His righteousness, Solomon poured his heart into manifesting his own glory and righteousness.

However, as this world seeks only carnal values, Solomon’s wisdom was praised even in foreign countries, and countless people brought gifts seeking his audience. Yet, from a spiritual perspective, Solomon’s life itself was a shameful life of the flesh. He was even commended by the king of Egypt, the very archenemy of Israel, and heard him praise him, You are a magnificent king, and your wisdom knows no bounds! And the neighboring kings gave their daughters to Solomon to try to make peace with him, and shipped gold and wood to him when he built the Temple. It’s because Solomon had too much wisdom of the flesh that rather than fighting against his enemy countries, that he made peace with them and served the idols that they believed in. Whereas Solomon’s wisdom may be worthy of respect from man’s point of view, for the king of Israel, God’s chosen nation, to make peace with His enemies was to turn himself into an enemy of God. It was a grievous, abominable sin before God for Solomon to make peace with the kings that had stood against God, take their daughters in as his wives, build his palace with their tributes, and accept their idols.

King Solomon was an extremely flawed man, for he had served idols before God. He was a man of failure before God, who had lived only for his own flesh. God wrote this passage in the Bible so that we would learn an important spiritual lesson here, and not allow ourselves to live only for our flesh. Even the born-again who now believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit may end up like Solomon, if they follow only the desires of the flesh. And that’s why God gave us this spiritual lesson, so that we wouldn’t live like him.

Because of King Solomon, the Nation of Israel Collectively Fell into Heresy

It was during Solomon’s reign as its king that Israel turned into a nation of idolatry. All kinds of false gods and idols in the neighboring countries made their way into Israel and were revered. Where were they revered? They were revered in the very court of Israel. Foreign religion blossomed in the court of Israel. Solomon’s court was busy to serve all kinds of foreign idols. And throughout Israel, shrines were built to serve foreign gods. Since their own king and queens served idols, the people of Israel were also happy to serve them. There were idols in every direction, with the entire country turning into an exhibition hall for idols. Fewer and fewer people in Israel believed in Jehovah God, while idolaters eventually came to prevail over the nation as its mainstream. All that King Solomon did to serve Jehovah God was to gather his people together for a week for the rituals of Passover and the Day of Atonement, as if he were sponsoring a unity rally. And once the people returned home after offering their sacrifices to Jehovah God, they all resumed serving the idols that they each believed in.

It’s because of this man Solomon that Israel turned into a nation of heresy before God. When Solomon thus began to worship idols, God issued His first warning, saying to him, Do not serve idols. If you do, I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given to it, and even this Temple that I have consecrated for My name, I will cast it out of My sight. However, King Solomon did not listen to God’s Word. He must have thought that he was the real king, above God Himself.

Among those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, there is no one who lives as his own king, if he has indeed been washed from his sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The born-again cannot regard themselves as their own kings. Only our Lord Jesus Christ is our King — that is, if we indeed know and believe in the Savior who came to this earth by the water, the blood, and the Spirit (1 John 5:6-8). However, for Solomon, he himself was his own king. It didn’t matter how God had told him so much not to serve idols, nor did it matter how God’s servants had come to him to warn him; in the end, Solomon was his own king, and so he turned God’s chosen nation into a nation of idolatry.

Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, grew up while his father was worshiping idols. So Rehoboam also served idols just like his father. God then tore the ten tribes of Israel and gave them to Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:30-31), making him king of the northern kingdom, Israel. But Jeroboam served idols even more than Solomon. Out of his greed, and trying not to lose his power and protect his life, wealth, and fame, Jeroboam changed the sacrificial system that had been established by God, altered the Day of Atonement that God had set for the tenth day of the seventh month to the fifteenth day of the eighth month, appointed ordinary people to priesthood even though they were not Levites, and then even replaced God with the gold calves of his own making. Through all these things, Jeroboam turned the entire northern kingdom of Israel into a nation of idolatry (1 Kings 12:26-33).

The northern kingdom, Israel, made two gold calves, placed one at each Bethel and Dan, and worshipped these idols. All the kings subsequent to Jeroboam would replace God with these gold calves and serve these idols. The kings of Israel were reduced to heads of a collective heresy. The southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel both turned into nations serving idols. Until the reign of Solomon lasted, God had not torn the nation apart even as the Israelites were serving idols. God had bestowed His mercy on them. However, once Solomon’s son Rehoboam assumed the throne, God tore the idolatrous nation of Israel into two, and Israel was cursed until the Lord came to this earth incarnated in the flesh.

The man responsible for bringing such curses was none other than Solomon. Because of one king’s idolatry, the entire people of Israel fell into collective heresy to serve idols all together. This Word provides a great lesson for you and me also. Solomon not only served idols before God, but he also showed this corrupt faith of idolatry to his sons and his people. It’s because his sons and his people saw the king’s idolatrous acts that they also came to serve idols without giving themselves any second thoughts. Even though King Solomon nominally claimed to serve God, his service was only at a ritualistic level, and he actually served idols rather than God.

As a result, the people of Israel thought to themselves, Even though our king is serving idols, Israel is not punished by God but it’s only prospering. So we can also live like the king also. Having thus learned to serve idols from their king, they, too, began to practice idolatry. From then on, they did not turn away from their idolatry, no matter who said what. Since King Solomon had served idols, so did his sons serve idols, as Jeroboam and his successors also continued to serve idols. There probably was no nation that worshiped foreign gods as much as Israel, for its kings and people alike. Although the Bible does not record all the idols that the people of Israel served, it does mention Asherah and Baal as the representative idols prevalent in Israel, but only because these two idols gained such a great influence in the nation. Like this, Israel turned into a nation of collective heresy worshiping idols.

Because of Jeroboam’s sins, Israel turned into a nation of collective heresy that could not be tolerated. That’s why when God condemned the subsequent kings who worshiped idols before Him, He said, He committed the sins of Jeroboam, or, He walked in the way of Jeroboam. That’s what God said whenever He was angry with the people of Israel and its king. Rather than saying, He is a wicked man; he should be beaten to death, God expressed his wrath by saying, He walked in the way of Jeroboam, or, They followed the sins of Jeroboam. Why did God say this? It was to tell us, Do not be like Jeroboam.

So the sins of Jeroboam were the greatest of all sins before God. You may try to understand Jeroboam from a human point of view, thinking, Didn’t Jeroboam do these things to maintain his throne? After all, he was only a man. However, if you now believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then God must be your king; you should never allow yourself to serve foreign idols as your king. Given the fact that it is God who has saved us, how could we forsake Him, and allow ourselves to put false gods in His place to be controlled by Satan?

Given the Fact That the Lord Has Saved Us from All Our Sins by Giving Us the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit, It Makes No Sense for Us to Serve Idols

My fellow believers, we have received our salvation by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are believers in the righteousness of God. In other words, we are of those who believe in the righteousness of God held in the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by our Lord. Isn’t this true? Of course it is. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who created the heavens and the earth. It is this God who made us, and it is this God who, when we fell into sin to be cursed to destruction, came to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man to save us, bore our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist to blot them out, and saved us by dying on the Cross and rising from the dead again. From whom has this salvation come? It has come from none other than God Himself, who made you and me and created the entire universe and everything in it; and it is a gift that we received by believing in the righteousness that was completed by this God. This God is our God, and His righteousness is the foundation of our salvation. That is why we believe in the righteousness of this God and call Him our Savior and Shepherd. And that is why this God says to us that we are His flock, and that He will take care of us forever. Ultimately, God is our protector and defender. We are His own people, who believe that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the only Truth of salvation, and that our Lord has given us this Truth.

For us, who now believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, any of us can easily testify to this gospel, but for those who do not believe in this gospel, this gospel of Truth is strange and hard to understand. Only the people of God can believe in and preach it as it is. Given how God has saved us from all our curses through the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, a life devoted to serving this gospel is the most precious and worthiest life for all of us. God loves you and me, and He has saved us from all our sins. God has delivered you and me from our sins and blessed us with the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. We had left God and gone astray to our own ways only destined to be destroyed. Each in his own way, we were serving idols, and yet we did not even know who the real God was, only to be cursed in our sins. But in spite of all this, even though we had thus gone astray, God still followed us and met with us through the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, saved us from all our sins, and has Himself become our own Shepherd. It’s not because of our own wish that we have become God’s people, but it’s all because of His love and His desire to save us. Do you believe in this, my fellow believers? Therefore, those who believe in this God, those who really believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, are those who believe in the righteousness of God; and those who believe in the righteousness of God are His people.

Even God’s children are still weak in the flesh, and so they may also commit various sins, but they must at least not commit the kind of sin that replaces God with their own gold calves. In other words, we must never allow ourselves to behave like the kings of Israel in the Old Testament. If anyone does anything wrong to anyone, it’s we who make mistakes before God; God Himself never does anything wrong to us. That’s why we cannot replace God with anything else. Only this God truly loves us, only this God is our revered God, and only this God is our absolute and true God who will take care of us forever. It is by believing in the righteousness of this God that we have been saved, and it is this very God whom we are now praising and thanking. None other than this is faith in God.

The Life of Solomon, Who Had Forsaken God, Was Vanity of Vanities; All Is in Vain

Everything that Solomon ever did on this earth was completely in vain. It’s written, He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish (1 Kings 4:32-33). However, he was a man of utter misery, in both body and spirit. He had lived a tragic and empty life both before God and men alike. This man was able to speak of his knowledge on everything, just by opening his mouth. Many kings from all over the world came to see him with seemingly impossible riddles, but there was nothing that he could not solve. However, with the God-given wisdom, this man also made peace with the neighboring countries and accepted the daughters of foreign kings as his wives. Although Solomon thought to himself that this was a wise move that came out of his own head, he did not realize that it would eventually turn into such a quagmire for him.

There were plenty of God-fearing women in Israel, and yet Solomon foolishly accepted Pharaoh’s daughter as one of his wives. What a reckless blunder it was! This was something abhorred by both his father David and God Himself. Intermarrying with Gentile women was a total abomination to God. Yet as soon as Solomon assumed the throne, he brought Pharaoh’s daughter. Indeed, he was downright contemptuous before God.

Would Solomon have thought about the consequences of his acts, how Israel would turn into a nation of idolatry and collective heresy all because of him? He surely didn’t, and its consequences were devastating.