A SAINT IN SIN CITY

SAUL SALLIE

CHAPTER 10

HE WHO HAS BEGUN A GOOD WORK IN YOU WILL COMPLETE IT (Philippians 1:6)

Mason swore at me as he pounded the wall, probably wishing it was my face. He cursed God, he cried, we talked, we hugged, he shoved me away and demanded that I leave his premises.

So I left, praying for something to say. But I had said enough, and gently shut Mason’s door behind me. My mind ran over our dialogue. I was confident that I had declared no Biblical error, but questioned if I had been insensitive in my declarations.

Even exhibiting truth in the wrong manner can be worse than saying nothing if your approach is not done in the right spirit. Case in point, but on a larger spectrum, take the religious leaders in Jesus’s day. They were zealous with their exactions of Sabbath keeping, making it a burden, rather than the delight God intended. At the same time, they were plotting the murder of God’s Son.

Now the opposite occurs. Religious leaders teach that the fourth commandment in particular is irrelevant, due to being saved by faith and grace. Yet the apostle Paul seems to disagree (See Romans 3:31). Or if they do believe in following it, they honor the day instituted by man and the traditions of humanity. The origins of which come from sun worship, rather than the day our Creator blessed and made holy after creation.

Truth is hard, and most people don’t want to be confronted with it. That’s why the patriarchs and prophets were hated, especially by kings before Christ day. Then God chose to walk among us as a human being, and humanity could only tolerate Jesus for thirty three years. Then they not only killed Him, but beat and tortured Him. Eleven of His twelve disciples were also put to death, and John, the one who wasn’t martyred, was exiled to the isle of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation.

Yet Christianity gradually became more of a political movement rather than a way of life, especially during the fourth century when the Roman emperor Constantine superficially converted to Christianity. Then he made it a legal religion, bringing in many pagan rites to the Roman church. The most prominent among them was sun worship’s venerable day of the sun.

The official day this happened seems to be March 7, 321 AD. People were no longer to do business on Sunday, in honor of Sol Invictus, the Roman sun god, and also in honor of Christ’s resurrection, which occurred on the first day of the week. Yet you will not find anywhere in the Bible that we were to keep Sunday in honor of Christ’s resurrection. The apostles still kept the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. There are examples of this sprinkled between Acts chapters 13-17, years after Christ was crucified.

So the Sabbath was then transferred from Saturday to Sunday for most professed Christians. You might say they went from worshiping the sun god to the Son of God. But does God change? (See Malachi 3:6) Who has the right to change the ten commandment law of God? This is the ultimate presumption! Yet the Bible accurately predicted it centuries before it actually happened. The scriptures tell us that humans would THINK to change God’s law. But can they really? Even if most people follow the man made laws? (See what Jesus Himself says in Matthew 15:9)

Yet just as Jesus allowed his persecutors to take Him away and kill Him, when one word could have obliterated them, the all-powerful God who created us humans to have free will is allowing fallen human history to play out. He prophesied that this would happen. That they would think to change times and laws. (See Daniel 7:25 ) The Sabbath is both a time and a law. And all the world would wonder after the beast that played a part in this. (See Revelation 13:3).

This beast is the same religious-political power that put millions of true Christians to death during the dark ages. (This is also mentioned in Daniel 7:25). In 1798, this power received what appeared to be a deadly wound. (This is also mentioned in Revelation 13:3). But the deadly wound was healed. In other words, its prominence as a world power has been healing ever since. But I digress. More about prophecy later, and back to what happened with Mason and me.

“I thought you were my friend,” Mason had said in a low, menacing voice. His face was puckered as if he had just bitten into a lemon.

“What?” I shrugged, and tried smiling. I quietly continued, “Just because I insinuated that when Beth came to you, it was actually a demon?”

Mason took a step toward me, his hands like claws as if to strangle me. Then he groaned, turned toward the wall, and began pounding it with his fists like a child having a tantrum. Then he swore, taking the Lord’s name in vain a couple times before collapsing to his knees, weeping. I stood motionless after I put a gentle hand on his shoulder. I prayed as I waited, and wondered if I was too blatant with my remarks.

But Mason and I previously had had a Bible study on the state of the dead. It was before Beth “came to him”, and he seemed to be in agreement. But one of the problems with human nature is that often emotions and feelings overpower intellect and reason.

When Mason rose to his feet, he was calm. He even snorted a laugh and apologized. Apparently the pounding and crying temporarily removed his aggression. He surprised me further by wanting to go over the state of the dead in the Bible right then and there. Quite often believers need to be reminded, rather than instructed, so I eagerly complied.

We touched on the what makes us a soul. (Genesis 2:7) What happens to the soul when we die? (Ecclesiastes 12:7) That the body without the spirit is dead. (James 2:26) Jesus called the unconscious state of the dead sleep. (John:11-14) That spirit is simply the breath of life. After death, we will sleep in the grave until Christ returns. It will basically be the next thing a person realizes if they die in Christ, and we are told to comfort one another with this teaching. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)

“What’s the point of the resurrection if we are not dead?” I asked him. “Besides, haven’t you ever been in a deep sleep? Time becomes irrelevant. Even if you are dead a hundred years, the next thing you will realize after breathing your last breath is Christ’s second coming. Besides, you should be glad Beth isn’t hovering somewhere witnessing all the pain you’ve gone through.”

Mason seemed to be positively absorbing the information we were looking at so I brought up why understanding that the soul is not immortal was so important. “You see Mace, the big lie that the devil told Eve when tempting her with the Tree of Life was that she would not surely die if she ate of it. (Genesis 3:4) Satan wants us to believe the soul is immortal. He wants us to believe in magic if you please. That way when he performs miracles, we will buy into it. He will also appear as not only an angel of light, but Christ Himself.”

We looked at Revelation 13:13, 14, 2 Corinthians 11:14, and Matthew 24:23, 24. Then we discussed the resurrection again, and looked at Luke 20:35, 36, and Revelation 21:4, which talks about no more pain and suffering. It seemed everything went favorably with our little study, and we hugged. But then Mason back peddled.

“The thing is Saul, when Beth came to me, she knew things only Beth and Beth alone would know.”

“Of course she supposedly did,” I replied mildly. “Mace, we’re in a spiritual battle involving supernatural forces. Don’t you suppose that the fallen angels are aware of your every move? Thankfully our God is even more aware of our every move. That’s why we are admonished to bring every thought into the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Mason’s jaw tightened and he slowly shook his head.

“Look Mace, Ephesians 6:12 tells us that we wrestle with spiritual wickedness in high places. Read all of chapter six, from verse ten on. It’s all about putting on the whole armor of God.”

But Mason’s jaw tightened even further, and his face reddened. Dr. Jekyll left and Mr. Hyde was back. “How dare you say Beth is from spiritual wickedness in high places!”

“Mace, that’s not what I’m saying,” I pleaded.

That’s when he shoved me and demanded, “Get out of my house!”