Faith

 Faith

By Richard P. Joseph

10/19/2025

Ephesians 2   8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The above verse is one of the most controversial verses in all of scripture and I can’t figure out why.  In fact, this issue had much to do with Martin Luther splitting from the Catholic church.  I am assuming that the real problem is that most people really don't know what faith means.  So, hopefully, after reading this article the centuries old argument will be solved; finally!

I looked “faith” up in Strong’s concordance and it didn’t help much so I did the next best thing; I looked it up in the bible.  Imagine that.  One of the easiest to start with is Ephesians 2:8-10.  In these verses the Apostle Paul is telling us that “works” do not save us but it is actually “grace” that saved us through the “faith” that God gave us.  However, in the next verse he tells us that we are God’s workmanship In Christ Jesus for “good works”, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.   Are you confused yet?  Before I boil this down, let’s take a look at what James (the brother of Jesus) said about faith.  

James 1:22

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 

James 2:14-18

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

So, the argument starts as you hear many protestant preachers say “All you need is faith to be saved” and then you get the Catholics who say “You must also have works to be saved”.  The problem is that those that can’t seem to figure this out have never stopped and defined faith.  I do have to admit that I did hear a preacher once say that “Faith is an action word”.  That actually solves the entire issue.  If you read the epistle of James you will quickly see that Faith is indeed a verb.  Faith is not faith unless there is an act associated with it.  The book of Hebrews describes this well.  Here is one verse.  

Hebrews 11:7

  7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Noah believed God but that wasn’t faith.  When Noah started building the ark, that was faith.  This is really a physics lesson.  James also says that:

James 2:20 

But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is [h]dead?

This is the same as describing potential energy with kinetic energy.  A dead log has potential energy (belief) stored up inside of it.  This log is really accomplishing nothing useful just sitting there.  However, if I put a match to it and release the potential energy  (belief) and the log begins to burn, this potential energy now becomes kinetic energy (faith).    In other words, if there is no action taken, there is no faith.  When the bible talks about Abraham believing God and it was counted to him as righteousness, it is because Abraham not only believed God, he took action on that belief.  So James is correct, faith without works is dead, or in other words belief without action is not faith.  James is simply defining what faith is.  So, unless you plan on taking action on your belief then do not call it faith.  If you say you believe in God but never lifted a finger to honor him by your actions then maybe you should re-evaluate your stance.  That is why James talks about actually feeding your starving neighbor instead of just saying that I will pray for you.  He is talking about the helpless people, not the lazy people.  If you say you are a Christian you are saying that you act upon your belief, not just talk about it.  Jesus, many times, told those that he healed that it was their faith that healed them.  For example, the woman that had an issue of blood for 12 years could have just stood there and done nothing even though she believed that Jesus could heal her but she didn’t.  She forced her way through a massive crowd and dove at Jesus’ feet and touched the hem of his garment.  That movement was faith.  So in the end there really is no argument at all.  You can believe in God but in order to be saved you must make a move.  Once you move then God can heal you.  That is how you are saved by faith.  The works part of it is inside the word faith.  You can do a bunch of worldly works which can’t save anybody but you can do the works of faith which can move mountains.

Jesus Revealed

 Jesus Revealed

By Richard P. Joseph

David Jeremiah just wrote a book for the next generation, I’m guessing because those that read the 1990’s Left Behind books never saw it fulfilled!  In other words,  they keep predicting the second coming of Christ but it, for some odd reason, never seems to happen so they keep writing more books and movies and sermons predicting the second coming is right around the corner.  I am certainly in the wrong business if I want to make a lot of money.  The futurist doctrine of the second coming is nothing but a big pot of gold for those promoting it.  I am trying to go through Revelation again, not to make money, but real slow this time, to glean the truth from it.  

So what should I expect by going through the book of Revelation real slowly?  I’m really not sure but perhaps I can pick up on clues that the untrained eye never sees.  But let’s be honest, those that completely understood the book of Revelation were those that lived through it in the first century.  I do not believe we will ever completely understand all of it, that is unless new material is uncovered but that is not likely.  So let’s take a look at a few things I am getting from the first chapter.  

John wrote the book of Revelation to the seven churches which were in Asia Minor.  My first question is: Why was it written to churches way up in Turkey and not in Jerusalem?  One reason might go something like this (which I have heard a couple different scholars expound upon);  Since Paul was imprisoned from 60 to, at least 62, and couldn’t visit those churches, John may have taken on the mantle until Paul was available again.  But John got arrested and was sent to Patmos, which was a prison Island close to those churches.  Along with that, as you read through the book of Acts you will discover that, at the beginning, just after Pentecost,  nearly all of the missionary activity was in Jerusalem.  However, when Stephen was martyred by the authority of Saul, the Church began to spread outward into the Roman empire.  As you near the end of Acts you find that most of the activity is now outside of Jerusalem.  So those seven churches were a hotbed of Christian activity at that time which was around 62-63 AD when John wrote the letter.   The second reason John wrote it to them is a reason that most pastors just can’t wrap their minds around and that is, it was relevant to those in the first century.  It was written to “them” because it was them that were to be affected by it, not us. Obviously, the church at Jerusalem also read it too.  Why people are still waiting for Jesus to be revealed when John wrote an entire book revealing Jesus to us is beyond me.  Of course we all want to see Jesus in heaven with our own eyes but that is not the revelation, what John saw was the revelation.  Just read it and you will know!

The book of Revelation was the announcement that the Parousia was beginning.  Revelation is a book of coded numbers.  It uses several different coded numbers but let’s just look at the number seven right now.  There was a seven year period of activity that was split in two sections, there were seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls and a seven headed monster.   These are not necessarily written in chronological order but rather they are layers of the same thing.  The number seven is a number of fulfillment just like when the earth was created in six days and God rested on the seventh day indicating that all was fulfilled.  John now doubles down on the fulfilment scenario by introducing a new order of priests being that the old order would pass away in the next seven years.

Revelation 1:6

 6 and has made us [c]kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Peter, probably after reading Revelation himself, repeated this observation.

1 Peter 2:5

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ

This may sound nice to us today but placing yourself back in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, you would be stoned for blasphemy.  In the old order, only Levites could become priests.  In the new order each man is the priest of his household and Jesus, who is from the tribe of Judah, is the High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.    

Basically, what I am saying is that the book of Revelation is a book showing completion and transition.  One other note I would like to make is a true story I had recently.  I may have mentioned this before but it is worth mentioning again.  I told a friend about the preterist view and she had a friend that had multiple seminary degrees.  He met me and I asked him to explain to me what the words soon and near meant.  I asked that because in the first few verses of Revelation it uses those words as time stamps of the prophecy fulfilment.  The scholar first asked me what bible degrees I had.  I told him none, only a science degree.  He then, in a very condescending manner, told me that I had no right to challenge him from my uneducated point.  He said the answer is too complicated to just explain in a short meeting.  On one hand I can understand what he was saying as there are many times that I try to explain to someone deep things of scripture but they do not even have a basic understanding of scripture so I sound like I am speaking a foreign language to them.  But I am not that uneducated and all he had to do was explain what soon and near meant.  The truth is that for him to explain what soon and near meant he would have to do what we call high level linguistic gymnastics.  That is a nice way of saying that he had to make up a bunch of nonsensical theology in order to evade the simple definition.  Using Occum’s razor, I will stick with the straight forward uneducated answer.  In other words, John and Jesus were not liars and Jesus did return exactly when he said he would.  No gymnastics necessary.  We will look at the number seven later in other articles so stay tuned.

A Legacy Worth Remembering

 A legacy worth remembering

By Richard P. Joseph

9/13/2025

Kirk, or in Scotland, a “church”.  Well, maybe in America too.  Charlie Kirk was a walking, breathing church.  It was perhaps the most effective church I have witnessed in my life thus far.  While Billy Graham brought thousands to Christ, Charlie Kirk explained to the masses why it is logical to follow Jesus Christ.  And just as Jesus was martyred at 33 years of age, Charlie followed at the age of 31, and it is a legacy worth remembering!

While Charlie’s assassin heard voices, so did Charlie.  The assassin heard the voices of liberal leaders, politicians, rabble rousers, sexual perverts and other deranged sociopaths, all of whom are spiritually bankrupt and therefore mentally deranged.  This assassin, like many other recent cowards, obeyed those voices and acted upon it sealing his place in hell.  As I have mentioned many times before, liberals only destroy and tear down, they have no mechanism to build up.  On the other hand, Charlie obeyed the voices that he heard too resulting in young people becoming alive and vibrant, ready to build and create a future of progress and peace, strength and stability, family and hope.  In John chapter 10 Jesus talks about us hearing voices:

 1“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.   

Charlie Kirk heard the voice of the Good Shepherd and obeyed, giving life and hope to thousands.  Satan, the assassin, heard the voices of hirelings and caused carnage and destruction.  This is what the left does.  That is why they are here, to cause chaos, they serve no other purpose.    

Matthew 10:27-31   Jesus tells his disciples to bring out in the open the secret things that he is telling them and Charlie again obeyed.

27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in [h]hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a [i]copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

While Charlie was shouting from the housetops the blessings of God, a left wing coward, doing what his leaders told him to do, took Charlie’s life.  

Again, Satan thought he won.  Satan himself is a condemned being but his followers keep on going as if he is somehow still going to win.  The assassin in this instance is his own Satan.  While shock waves reverberated around the globe, and sadness has filled our hearts, Jesus won again.  This type of action only reinforces the love of God and it will send more people out of Satan’s camp.  Charlie understood that there are some that can kill the body but not the soul.  Charlie’s soul is safe and more souls will be won by this cowardly act.  Even Charlie’s wife, Erika, has set her resolve to expand what Charlie has started.  Again the only people that win are the Christians.  We always win.  We never lose.  It is etched in stone and set on the Rock.  So who are you going to listen to?

If this article somehow falls into the hands of someone who is confused about all of this, I invite you to find resolve and clarity in the house of God.  Hearing the wrong voices has consequences and it won’t be nice.  Hearing the voice of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, also has consequences such as peace of mind, wholeness of body, clarity of life, love of others, fruitful living and the ability to build instead of destroy.  Let him who has ears to hear, hear.  “Let’s Roll”

 We have met the Enemy

By Richard P. Joseph

9/2/2025

As you read the history of the Israelites in the Old Testament it seems that the main enemies of the Jews were the surrounding pagan nations in Cannan and then also in Assyria and then Babylon.  While the people of Israel were in constant warfare over land they were also their own enemy because of sin.  In fact the prophets made it very clear that the more they sinned the more problems they had with their neighbors.  For example, Ezekiel warned the people of Israel that God was about to send the Babylonians to lay siege to them soon just as they already did to Judah.

Ezekiel 4

 “You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem. 2 Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around.

Over and over again Ezekiel warns the people of Israel that they will be overrun because of their idolatry.  The book is so redundant, it is hard to keep reading.  In the end, however, Jeremiah and Ezekiel also told the people that God would once again have mercy on them and bring them back to the land that they possessed.  This same scenario also took place in the New Testament except the lessons would end and a permanent state of change was about to occur.

During the first century AD the Romans occupied the land of Israel, and just about everywhere else for that matter.  Therefore, if you asked a Jew “who is your enemy” you would get a quick decisive answer “the Romans”.  They still, after all of those prophets said, could not come to grips that they were causing their own problems with their idolatry.  

The message of the prophets is summed up in the 1970 Pogo cartoon by Walt Kelly where he proclaims “We have met the enemy, and it is us”.  Well, Jesus must have read that cartoon because that is exactly what he said as well!  

While the Jews were awaiting a messiah that would loose the shackles of the Romans, Jesus never saw the Romans as their problem, he saw sin as their problem.  In fact Jesus healed Romans, said to pay taxes to Rome, and told them if a Roman auxiliary asked them to carry their weight one mile to go two miles.  Then Jesus told them that anyone who sins becomes a slave to sin.  Consistent with the prophets, Jesus blamed sin for their problems, not other nations.  And also consistent with the prophets, God was about to use other nations to punish Israel.  The only thing missing this time was the thing about the land.  It appears that the land Jesus talks about is a spiritual land, not a physical land anymore.  Not only was the land going to be a spiritual land, the gentiles would live in it too.  

In Matthew chapter 5 Jesus gives his famous sermon on the mount.  If you pay attention, you will notice that Jesus is attempting to explain that the letter of the law will become the spirit of the law.  The letter will transform our hearts to live the law, not just obey it.  Our very souls will be transformed so that goodness would simply be the way of life.  He never talked about taking back any physical land, he talked about taking back, or redeeming, our souls from sin.  Those that were looking for the kingdom of God found it, and those who were looking for a physical land were repulsed by what he said.  Jesus finally gives the Jews notice in Matthew 5 25-26;

 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.

This was an invitation for the Jews to reconcile with God before the great judgment that was about to come.  They were about to put Jesus on trial but the fact is, they were on their way to court and they were sure to be found guilty.  Jesus is begging them to reconcile with God before they get to court but their arrogance got the best of them.  

We need to learn from their mistakes.  First of all, it is not necessarily the land or the other people, we are our worst enemy.  Our sin and idolatry will ruin us just like it ruined the ancient Israelites.  In AD70 the sons of the promise of Abraham succumbed to their arrogance and lost the land, their lives and the blessing.   In the sermon on the mount the land and the blessing was given over to the humble and the meek, the real sons of Abraham.  Our land is in the heavenly realm and that realm is active right here on earth.  We have met the enemy and it is us but we have also met the messiah and he can save us from ourselves. 

Colossians

 Colossians

By Richard P. Joseph

It is difficult for me to use scripture to prove my point.  Sounds crazy doesn’t it but let me explain it another way.  It is unethical to pull short passages out of the bible in a scattered manner and piece them together like a politician creating a gerrymandered map of congressional districts and present it as a meaningful and sane work of  civil representation.  Once scripture verses are pulled out of context and pasted into a conglomerate of other verses that have been pulled out of context, you end up with blasphemy.  You can just as easily gather all of the letters in this article, rearrange them into other words and come up with a totally different article.  In fact that is what I did with the alphabet.  I used the 26 letters and arranged them into words that mean something in particular and wrote this article.  Someone else can use those same 26 letters and write an article about hunting elephants in Africa.  That is why “context is king” when it comes to interpreting scripture.  The general meaning of the epistle must always be maintained at all cost.  So what does that have to do with the book of Colossians?

In this article I will attempt to explain what I have been promoting in most of my articles, that there is a theme, or in other words, a context that must be maintained in all of Paul’s epistles as well as the greater scope of the New Testament.  Once you see this pattern, you can’t unsee it.  In this article I am going to cite multiple verses but only for the purpose of highlighting the context.  But again, please don’t just read these articles without reading your bible.  These articles are only meant to point out things that you won’t hear from a pulpit.  After reading this article, please read the entire book of Colossians.  Nothing replaces scripture.  

Remember that the overarching theme of the new testament is that the era of Judaism is coming to an end (the end of the age) and a new era (the new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ) is coming.  The entire new testament is eschatological in nature.  The vineyard is being taken from the chosen people and given to the elect which was completed by AD 70. .  

Col 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

This verse describes Jesus as the firstborn from the dead.  The carcass here is Israel.  I am not against the notion of the dead also including the gentiles that were dead for a long time either.  Jesus then becomes the head of the body (the church).  Note that there is a transfer here from one system and group to another.  

Next we go to Col 2:16-17

16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a [j]festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the [k]substance is of Christ. 

Here is an expansion of the verse; 

16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a [j]festival or a new moon or sabbaths, (Judaism/law) 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the [k]substance is of Christ (The new covenant which replaced the old covenant). 

Col 3:11

11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

This is again self explanatory.  It doesn’t matter if you are a Jew anymore, it only matters if you are a follower of Christ.  

As you read the entire third chapter it is as if Paul is telling them, not to obey, but to perform the ten commandments.  The ten commandments are no longer a civil law but a heart change.  The law becomes alive in the Christian unlike it did before that time.  In Christ we can live out the law because the law was conquered by Jesus Christ.  He is our salvation.  He is our redemption.  He is our resurrection.  He is our eternal life.  While the letter of the law was passing away, the spirit of the law became alive.  

The Beatitudes

 The Beatitudes

By Richard P. Joseph

07/25/2025

In Matthew chapter 5 we read what is commonly called the beatitudes.  Many of the prophets attempted to teach these things but the people never seemed to get it.  It always came back to “how to follow the letter of the law the best”.  Seemingly they never understood that there was a deeper meaning to the law.  Paul rightly dubbed the law as the ministry of death.  The Spirit of the law is the higher calling.  In the beatitudes Jesus called blessed those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those that suffer for righteousness sake.  He never mentions the law.  Remember, this is a jew talking to jews in the first century.  But is he really talking about the law?  Maybe he is.  

Next he tells them that you are blessed if you are persecuted for My name's sake because those that apply the law also persecuted the prophets who did what Jesus was doing.  He then calls his followers salt and light in the world.  While the Jewish leadership was busy killing the prophets and setting heavy doctrinal burdens on the people, Jesus is calling those that follow him and meet the standards set above, salt and light to the world.  A definite shift is taking place here.

Verses 17-20 are very interesting as he explains that he didn’t come to abolish the law but rather to fulfill it.  In fact, I prefer that he was the fulfillment of the law.  He then turns around and tells them that not one jot or tittle will pass from the law until all is fulfilled.  Then he sounds like a pharisee and tells them whoever breaks one of these commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.  Then he doubles down and says that your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.  This is something to scratch your head over.  While his jewish followers were to keep the law until the parousia (AD70) when heaven and earth passed away, did he really expect his followers to keep the law better than the priests who kept it nearly perfectly?  I don’t think so, in a literal way.

While the priesthood kept the letter of the law precisely, they neglected the spirit of the law nearly completely.  Throughout Jesus’ ministry he constantly used physical things to explain spiritual truths.  For example, this is why Catholics are led so far astray as they cling to the physical and can’t seem to understand that Jesus was really referring to the spirit.  While Catholics think they are really eating Jesus' physical body, which would make them a cannibal, they can’t grasp what Jesus said.  “That which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit”.    In the same way, Jesus is presenting the “new law”; one of spirit, not flesh.  By loving God and loving your neighbor, you would easily surpass the priests.  By being humble and meek and forgiving your enemies, you move even more up the ladder.  By cleaning your thoughts and mind, you again move closer to what Jesus is talking about.  By understanding that sin starts in you, not in your actions, you then can start real personal reform.  Anyone who clings to the physical meaning of the beatitudes will never really understand it.  Not by following a judicial law can we be cleansed but by cleansing our heart from the inside out.  But what about those who would cling to the law?

Jesus seemed to give a warning to those Scribes and Pharisees who were standing in the shadows waiting for him to slip up.  In Matthew 5:25 Jesus is giving them an invitation to reconcile with God before the upcoming judgement.  

 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 

What the Pharisees failed to understand is that they were actually on their way to court.  Jesus was giving very good advice for them to reconcile with their adversary (Almighty God) before they end up in prison with a life sentence.  Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened in AD 70 as they were judged and jailed.  Their modern day offspring still didn’t get the memo!   This is also good advice for us living today as we ourselves need to come to that point in all of our lives and do the same thing.  Be reconciled to God and move from death to life.  From judgement to grace.  From the physical to the Spiritual.  So to answer my previous question, Jesus is talking about the law, just not the old physical law but rather the law of grace which greatly surpasses the law of judgement.