Degrees of Separation | Ep. 130

We're digging into the core of what it means to walk the narrow path of a true disciple, a Christian. The supposition of our faith walk in life are the baby steps of repentance, water baptism in Jesus' name, and receiving the Holy Ghost. These are the essentials of Christian doctrine. We consider the profound statement found in 1 Timothy 4:16, discussing the implications of sound doctrine in both personal salvation and collectively as a whole for the body of Christ. 

Venture with us as we navigate the intricate narratives that distinguish various religious traditions from the original teachings of Jesus and His apostles. Through a meticulous comparative analysis of Islam, Roman Catholicism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons, we reveal the contrasts in foundational claims, divine encounters, and doctrinal deviations that go against the unwavering foundations of the doctrine of the apostles, the prophets, and Jesus. You'll be invited to examine the bedrock of your convictions, weighing them against the scales of spiritual authority.  Learn why the Bible remains the touchstone of Christian belief amidst a plurality of doctrines. 

In a candid closing chapter, we confront the sensitive issue of doctrinal errors, recognizing the challenge of overcoming generations of ingrained beliefs. We emphasize the importance of biblical literacy, humility, and the willingness to engage in open discussion as catalysts for spiritual maturity. This episode doesn't merely recount historical missteps; it serves as a beacon for today's followers, urging vigilance against misinterpretation and emphasizing the need for a grounded faith. 

Transcript

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 0:03

The vision received was that of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are spent, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose and fulfill their purpose. Good morning, dearly beloved saints of the Most High. I want to talk to you today about degrees of separation. How many of you ever heard that figure of speech degrees of separation? John said he heard it. Bishop says he heard it. John, what have you heard about the degrees of separation? What is that? It's just an audio snippet that I remember. I can't associate it with that. Don't associate it with nothing Other than I've heard it before. You've heard it before. Okay, anybody else heard about degrees of separation? Julian, what have you heard about? What is that? I've heard it in reference to people, how they're connected. People around the world. They say there's six degrees of separation between one person, no matter where they are, and someone else in the world, no matter where they are. Usually they can be connected by six people who know each other. Oh, so six degrees is about six people. Six people, it's a relative term. So basically, if there's someone halfway around the world, somehow you can connect with that person by six people. Yes, okay, it's a thing. It's a thing mathematically, really, mathematically proven. All right, seven billion people in the world. I'm not a statistician, even though I may teach math. One good thing about it's not a good thing. But if Brother Rudolph was here I figured he would faint as soon as he saw this, because he's so traumatized with algebra that I'm not sure if I'd be able to get through to him. So it might be a good thing that he's not here, but I don't know. So it might be a good thing that he's not here, but I don't know.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 2:10

The Lord impressed upon me to give you this visual image and talk about the degrees of separation. And this is called a protractor, not a compass. I sometimes get those confused. This is a protractor and it measures degrees. It starts at zero and then it moves its way up 90, and then it starts at zero, moves its way up 90. And you can keep on going past 90. But this yellow little way in the middle I call it the narrow way and right here at the bottom I don't know if y'all can see it because it's kind of light, there's a red, there's a blue and there's a yellow dot, and I can see that many of you are straining to see that. And that's okay if you don't see that, because, in order for me to share with you today, I'm going to assume that you are all Christian, not that you're part of Christianity, christian, but that you all are biblical Christians. So there's an assumption that I'm making, that I'm sharing with you something that I think only a true Christian, biblical Christian, will understand.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:21

This is representing someone's life or someone's belief, streams of understanding, or a stream of belief, or a stream of comprehensions of a particular individual. And it starts over down there with a red, a blue and a yellow. What do you think the red, the blue and the yellow are? Think, as a Christian. Yes, sir, did y'all hear him? He had a great answer, but y'all didn't hear him. Okay, red, repentance has to do with the blood, right, we're all Christian, we understand where that's coming from. We got the blue, which has to do with the water, and we have yellow, which refers to receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. So those are my colors today, and this stream of belief, or this person's life, began right there.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 4:13

Why do I say that? What happened right there, that I say it began right there? Anybody there Born into the kingdom, born again, born again. That is when that man was born again. And when he was born again he started on the narrow way. And in the beginning of that narrow way I've got two scriptures that I want to focus on, at least begin with today, and the first one is 1 Timothy 4, 16. And whoever gets there first has the privilege and the honor to stand up and read it out loud 1 Timothy 4, 16. Yes, stand and read it. Lydia's got it All right. Stand up, lydia. Lydia's got it All right. Stand up, lydia. If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them and do not let the church be burdened. That may not be the first one, or I got it wrong. Is she wrong or me wrong? She's wrong. I think it's 1 Timothy and you may be in 2 Timothy. No, I'm in 1 Timothy. Did I write it wrong? Oh, I am correct. 1 Timothy 4.16?. Oh, I am correct. 1 Timothy 4.16?. Ah, all right, all right, okay, all right.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 5:44

So it says take heed unto thyself, take a look at yourself, pay attention to yourself and to the doctrine. That, and to the doctrine, I think is incredibly important for today's message. And to the doctrine, because when you pay attention to yourself in other words your way of walk, your way of talk and to the doctrine, it says you must continue in them. Was it continuing in yourself or continuing in the doctrine? I believe he's talking about continuing in the doctrine. And if you continue in the doctrine, what does it say will happen? Oh, Lydia left, sorry, she's gone. You save yourself and those who hear you. So there is a foundational element that when you are born again, you are to continue in the doctrine that caused you to be born again. Not only should you continue in that doctrine, it means don't leave it, don't put it aside. That belief, that understanding, must stay continuous in your life because it's going to save you if you continue in it. And it's going to save those that hear you, because if you preach the sound doctrine of the Lord, you are going to cause others to also be born again. That is how the doctrine and continuing in it will save us.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 7:15

So I want to talk about another scripture, and that next scripture is Ephesians 2: 16. We must pay attention to ourselves in the doctrine and continue in it. And I think the next verse kind of gives us an idea of what is that doctrine coming from. Murray's got it or no? Murray, you got it? Yeah, Ephesians 2 16. No, is 2" 16? Did I say that right? Is that Ephesians 2: 16? All right, that's not what I was looking for. Ephesians 2: 20. My bad Ephesians 2:20. My bad Ephesians 2:20. That's right. Can you read it straight from the script or do you not have it? That is correct. That is a correct paraphrase. Ephesians 2:20. Someone who could read it? All right, he's got it. All right, he's got it, amen.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 8:33

So when we're born again, we're born again according to sound doctrine, according to the truth that is found in the scriptures, and that scriptures is founded upon what the apostles and what the prophets taught, what they prophesied, what their doctrine was. And then it says, just to be sure, and Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. In other words, the apostles and the prophets did not teach separate and apart and independent of Jesus. As a matter of fact, what they taught was exactly what they received and were told to be taught by the master himself. So when we're born again, we must pay attention to our doctrine, and that doctrine must come from if we're born again. Obviously it comes from the apostles and the prophets, of what Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 9:25

There's a dearly beloved brother that came up with a what's called a comparative analysis. I'm sure once I say that you probably figure out who that brother was. But he came up with a comparative analysis of different religions, analysis of different religions, and we're going to talk about at least, to begin with, four religions today and we're going to try to compare them with sound doctrine. I want to see if you can figure out who these religions are before I identify them, but these strings are streams of thought, beliefs, understandings, and I'm going to lay them here on this table. We're going to consider some of their beliefs.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 10:18

Firstly, we know that the doctrine that came from the apostles and the prophets started historically when. Give me a roundabout age or day, not the exact day, but year. About when did it start? When did it begin? What year? What about 30, 31 AD? Some see 33 AD. Okay, so the biblical sound doctrine started around 31 AD. It started with the apostles, the disciples, the prophets and the things that they taught and preached. From the day of Pentecost onward, we have another religion started, not in Jerusalem, because, remember, the sound doctrine started in Jerusalem, then went to Samaria or, excuse me, jerusalem, judea, then Samaria, then throughout all the uttermost parts of the earth. But there's another set of beliefs, understandings and comprehensions that started about 600 AD and it started around Saudi Arabia Place, maybe called Mecca. Anybody know what that new thought or religion was? Islam. That's right. Islam started 600, approximately years after sound doctrine started, on the day of Pentecost.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 11:46

We have another religion that started around 325 AD. Council of Nicaea formulated a council of Constantinople, basically around the 4th century. Anybody know what that set of beliefs is? That's Roman Catholicism. So we've got now, if I have a pen or pencil here, we've got Islam. I'm going to spell that out because there's only five letters. We've got Roman Catholicism. I'm going to put that as RC, put that over here. And we've got another one.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 12:22

Another one started around and we've got another one. Another one started around. We got another one that started around the early 1900s and it started, let me think. I can't remember if it started in America or not. I think it started in America. But does anybody know a particular religion that started in America that uses a lot of the scriptures but contorts and twists them. Anybody know. And the person that started was Charles Taze Russell. Did that give you an idea of who I'm talking about? Who started that? Or where did he start Watchtower Society, watchtower Society, Jehovah Witness. So we got the JWs in the house today and they're represented by this line of thought. And then we got the last one. Started around the late 1800s Well, maybe not the late 1800s, but in the 1800s and started around New York and it kind of moseyed on down to Utah.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 13:29

They got the Mormons, okay. So we got the Mormons, another stream of thought or beliefs. So we got these four accompanying streams of thoughts and beliefs. And to make this kind of more engaging, I really would like your help because basically these are your multiple choices today. All right, we're going to figure out who said what, who believed what, and compare it with sound doctrine. And compare it with sound doctrine, and again, I'm assuming that we're all a part of the true biblical Christianity.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 14:15

Tell me which one follows, or, I guess, according to this comparative analysis, who follows the final authority, as a man named Joseph Smith, who was actually an illiterate person, said that his was the only true religion and all the others were infidels and he met the angel Moroni. Who was that stream of thought? The Mormon, Joseph Smith was a Mormon, yes or no? She says no, ooh, we gotta be all of the same mind, right? So let's kind of filter this out.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 14:56

Is Joseph Smith the one that started the Mormons? Yes, he was yes, and he's the one that met supposedly the angel Moroni. And he probably did meet the angel Moroni. But then we have another one that he was supposedly the last prophet. His, he also said, was the only true religion and all the others are infidels. Same wording, but he met a different angel. He met an angel Gabriel. He met Angel Gabriel. Who was that? Islam and what did that? Did anybody know what that Angel Gabriel said to him? One of the many things he said to him About Mary or about God does not have a son. So Jesus was not God's son.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 15:45

So we've got a different stream of thought and those different streams of thoughts I call it's what we call in math deviations. They deviate somehow, some way, and if I follow this guy's line of thought, would you say he has some deviations. This guy right here Remember I told you, this guy represents a guy's life, a man's life or his thoughts and beliefs, and he starts at the born again experience. He starts with the water, the spirit and the blood. But looking at his life and how he ends up, does he have any deviations? Yeah, he does, and we're going to talk about that at the end. But notice, he's got some deviations. But I got these other deviations and they're very, very differently located than this particular one, and we're going to get to that as well.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 16:35

We have another person who says the final authority was his writings and that pyramidology pyramids, egypt pyramids, were the second witness to the Bible. Anybody know who I'm talking about? Yeah, you can look up here at the multiple choices. This man said the final authority is the writings that I have, because without my writings you won't be able to understand the Bible and if you read the Bible alone, it's going to lead you into spiritual darkness. That's what he said. And he said pyramidology is the second witness to the Bible. He says it's the Mormon. Anybody say the Mormons? Say the Mormons. No, it's not the Mormons.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 17:25

Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Russellites, which became the Jehovah Witnesses, said that he was heavily involved into studying pyramidology and Egyptology to figure out the end times. And if you know anything about the Jehovah Witnesses, you see that they had a lot of predictions. What were we saying? Murray, yeah, yeah, but notice we being I'm assuming we're all Christian. What's that pyramidology symbol? Come from, that pyramid on top of the separated pyramid? Illuminati, Egypt, yeah, Egyptology, okay.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 18:01

So this other person says that the final authority is this is going to give it away the Pope, the Vicar of Christ. Who's that? So you got Roman Catholicism, all right, but who's the final authority? According to the scriptures we just read it didn't we? The apostles, the prophets and Jesus Christ, which is the chief cornerstone? So what we're doing is we're comparing little elements of different religions and seeing how they've deviated. Now, in this idea that we're talking about here, when you have a deviation in thought and belief, it leads you into what A biblical word, five letters, starts with E Error. That's what it does. Deviations in our thoughts and beliefs away from sound doctrine cause us to be led into error. And then there was another one who says the final authority is Muhammad. Who's that? Islam, okay.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 19:07

Now let's talk about the thoughts concerning deity. In Christian thought, deity is the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob, the only one, the God of Israel. Monotheistic thought says that Jesus, the God who was manifested in the flesh for the sins of all the world, is God. We have another religion, one of these four, that actually believes in polytheism, in that there's male gods and goddesses, that Lucifer was actually the brother of Christ, that Adam was or is a god and that men really are all gods. Anybody know who that religion was? He's pointing over here. You're saying the Mormons. Anybody else say the Mormons? That's right, it is the Mormons, that's what they believed, that's what they taught from its inception.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 20:00

There's another one that also believes in polytheism and says quote in the resurrection we will rise in our true character as gods. Which one of these religions said that? Was it Israel? Have you ever heard that about Israel? Yeah, I don't know. Was it JWs? Yes, the JWs said that they believe that in the resurrection they wrote that in one of their Watchtower pamphlets in the resurrection we will rise in our true character as gods. So they're kind of neopolytheistic because they're believing that they're going to be gods as well when they come to meet the Lord. Then there's another one that says they use a word for him, but it's not the name of God. And actually they are very strict, monotheistic, but they worship a moon, god. Who's that? That's Islam, yes, islam, all right. And then we have the other one that alleges that they're monotheistic, but every time you talk to them, they're always talking to you about the Trinity. Who's that? That's the RC.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 21:22

The Roman Catholics yes, let's talk about their books. What is the book that a Christian who's born again according to the sound doctrine puts their emphasis on? Huh, the Bible. What does the Bible consist of? Old Testament and and New Testament? Yes, the Bible, but there are others that do not. They say, no, we include those 66 books, but we have another 15. We call them the Apocrypha, and you also have to follow the papal decrees, catechisms and all of that. Who is that? That's the Roman Catholics. That's right.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 22:07

Deviations from the true how about this one? They follow the golden tablets. They follow the book of and I'll give it away if I say that, but they follow a particular book that a man wrote in the late 1800s. Who was that? The Book of Mormon. That's right. They follow the Book of Mormon. They say that that's a separate part, and a necessary part, to the Bible. In other words, you can't really understand the Bible without going to the Book of Mormon as well. So we have another one that does very much a similar thing.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 22:45

When this person started writing a book, his first book was called Millennial Dawn. His second book was called the Studies in the Scriptures, and he was the one that said you can't understand the Bible without having these two books. Which one of those was that one? What the JWs, the Jehovah Witness, Charles Taze Russell, wrote those two books and then he also talked about pyramidology, which I emphasized before. He wrote the book the Divine Plan of the Ages and said you had to have that book in order to understand the Bible and to be able to predict the end times and all of that stuff.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 23:19

We could talk about atonement. What is the atonement of a Christian? We did talk about it about 10, 15 minutes ago. What is the atonement of a Christian? We did talk about it about 10-15 minutes ago. What is the atonement for the Christian? It was the red color, repentance, the blood, the blood, and if we're talking about salvation, you have to have the blood, the water and the spirit. That's sound doctrine.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 23:41

But these other faiths that believe that you have to have submission to their God and the five pillars of the faith, which religion talks about that? Islam, correct? Which one? Reject that one? You think it's a moron? Yeah, I got a little. Oh, you think it's a JW? What gave it away was that the men must vouch for the women. Who's into polygamy the Mormons. So the men must vouch for the women to enter into heaven, which is kind of gives understanding as to why the women will accept other wives and accept other women, because if you're in that belief, you have to please your man because he's got a vouch for you on his way to heaven, which is the one that talks about Actually.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 24:58

Let me read this for you. This is what they say there are various things involved in getting saved. We must take an accurate knowledge of God's purposes and his way of salvation. We must exercise faith in the chief agent of salvation, Jesus Christ, and do God's will the rest of our lives. Would you all agree with that statement? Let me read it again, because it just went over your head, below your knees. What did you say? Let's say there are various things involved in getting saved. We must take an accurate knowledge of God's purposes and His way of salvation. We must exercise faith in the chief agent of salvation, Jesus Christ, and do God's will the rest of our lives. Do you agree with that statement? Chief agent, God's chief agent of salvation is Jesus Christ. That's what they say. Would you all agree with that? I would. That's pretty right on. Salvation is sure, for those who follow this course that I just described to you, but it involves persevering right to the end of our present life, of the system of things. Only he that has endured to the end that one will be saved. Do y'all agree with that? Yeah, I agree with that. You know who said that the JWs did. That's what they say.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 26:26

Now the question is you got to get into the nitpicky. What is God's will? What is God's knowledge of God's purposes and his way of salvation? Therein is the crux, therein is the difference. Okay, okay, therein is the crux, therein is the difference.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 26:49

Okay, if we look very quickly through, how did they advance their religion? How does the Christian advance the religion, the faith? How does the Christian advance the faith of the kingdom of God? What did they do? They preached the word, they preached the gospel of the kingdom throughout the world. Right, that's what we're called to do.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 27:07

This other one disseminated their faith by murder, through inquisitions, through crusades, genocide throughout the world, all the way, 360 degrees around the world. Who was that? Who did that? You can speak up loud. The Catholics, yes, the Roman Catholics did this one did a pilgrimage to a temple. They do door-to-door evangelism and there must be a two-year service requirement for the young men. Who's that? Those are the Mormons. This other one does door-to-door evangelism the JWs. This other one disseminated their faith through murder, jihad, fatwa, african slavery before the crusades, and they have polygamy as well.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 28:01

Who is that? Islam? Very radically different way of disseminating the faith. All of them in their history. Okay, do you all know what replacement theology is? That's where the Jews have been replaced as the chosen people of God and someone else has been substituted into their place. Now, again, I'm sharing with people that I believe are already in the faith, and you know that God has not replaced the Jews, but that he's grafted in the Gentiles, in with the Jews, who will believe, who will come into the new covenant faith through the blood and the water and the spirit. We understand that. We know that because he's gonna make them all one, Jews and Gentiles alike.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 28:57

But this particular line of thought says that no, it's the Gentiles. They reject the Jewish biblical roots and they substitute with Persian and Arab supremacy. Who does that Islam? Who says that Islam? Who says no, no, no, no, it's the Gentiles. And they are anti-Semitic, or at least were, in their roots, anti-black, and reject the Jewish roots. They say that Native Americans are one of the lost tribes of Israel. Maybe that'll give it away.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 29:39

Which one of them said that those are the Mormons? That's correct. Which ones have believed that? They alone, that their followers, were the last day's religious vehicle for God and the sole voice of Him throughout the world? Who said that? Who's believing in that? Them and only them. And they say that very clearly. The Jehovah's Witness, their people, their followers, their organization is the last day's vehicle.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 30:07

And then this one said no, no, no, no, no, it's the Gentiles and they reject the Jewish biblical roots. It's the Gentiles and they reject the Jewish biblical roots, and they have been anti-Semitic in their history. Who was the last one? We got the Roman Catholics? Let's talk about the roots of their faith, in the faith of a sound doctrine Christian we have. The creator of Adam is God. He is a God of covenants, he is the God of the Adamic covenant, the Noatic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the covenant made with David, the covenant made with the Jewish apostles.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 30:46

But when you look at the roots and the source where they got their ideas, this one got it through Babylonian mysticism, judaism, christianity, sabianism, zoroastrianism. They have a creed of Christ called Shahada. Who would that be? Islam, thank you, because it's Shahada, right, weren't sure about the rest of it. But the Shahada, yes. And then you have these. That this person. When he started up his faith, if you will, he was first Presbyterian, then he changed to Congregational, then he was agnostic, then he ran into the Adventists and he liked their idea of hell that there wasn't really one. Who was that? The Jehovah Witnesses? Charles Taze Russell went through a various deviations to get to where his faith was at, and what we know now, today is Jehovah Witnesses.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 31:46

We have another one that's also been influenced by Babylonian mysticism, mithraism, egyptology, hinduism and occultism. They have their hand in all the different varying faiths that were in the world. Kind of makes sense. Who would that be? The Roman Catholics? Yes, they have the Nicene Creed, their creed of faith. Now we know that for a true Christian, that there should be no idols. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Yet this particular religion has graven statues of their saints, of different disciples and apostles, and angels and women, and all sorts of religions all the way down. Who is that? Roman Catholicism? This one has idols of Jupiter, saturn, uranus, even pagan, roman with wife goddesses. Who's that? I believe and you can correct me if I'm wrong that these are the people that believe that aliens came and transplanted us on the earth and that we're going to go back to being the godlike aliens. Is that them? Ah, a lot of deviations there. Yes, that is the Mormons. Okay, yes, that is the Mormons. Okay, that is true. Yes, and you have that. Yes, this one has as their idols Kaaba, a black stone, prayer beads and a god named Hubal. Why are you laughing at that? I guess it's fun. Who's that? Who has prayer beads? Who has this black stone? That was the key one.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 33:43

Islam. Islam has a black stone that they bow down to, and this one I told you previously was very heavily into pyramids, even so far as saying there is a second witness of the Bible. Who was that? No point, there's four choices. The JWs yeah, just up there. Yeah, up there. The JWs, alright.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 34:07

Who were the successors of the founder of the faith in the kingdom of God, who were the successors of the founder of the faith in the kingdom of God. Who are the successors of Jesus, his apostles, his prophets, the disciples? This particular religion has as their successors people that were in his bloodline, people that were in his bloodline different caliphs, even so far as when they continued their successions, there was a lot of murdering and infighting in order to figure out who was going to be the next leader, the next successor. Who was that? Who had that in their Islam, had that in their history? The key word there was caliphs. All right, this one has a man named Joseph Rutherford, who was their first president and I think they've only had three in their history who followed after Charles Taze Russell and became the first president of this faith's organization. Charles Taze Russell was the key. The Jehovah Witnesses Okay, this one has popes, carnal bishops, priests, and they say they started with Peter and they say they started with Peter.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 35:36

The Roman Catholics. Now, you know that in our faith, there is to be one body, there is to be one church, one faith, one king, one head, one Lord, one baptism, one kingdom. There should be no factions, but every single one of these. I really didn't find it with the JWs, but it's probably there because people are people and they're going to have slants and different perspectives, but every single one of these has their own factions. Matter of fact, 90% of Islams are Sunnis. The rest of the 10% make of Shia, sa'idis, imams, ismailis, sufi, mystics and even the US nation of Islam, the black Muslims, a lot of factions within their organization.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 36:20

The Roman Catholics. We start from the Catholics and we go to the Protestants, and you know, the Protestants branched out into all their different ones. Even the Mormons had their splinter groups. One that really has to be understood is the perception of Jesus Christ. They all have different perceptions of Jesus Christ.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 36:41

We in the faith believe that he was God himself manifested in the flesh. Which one believes that they were the third member of the Trinity? Hmm, the Roman Catholics? Which one says that? No, no, no, no, Jesus was a spirit, god, he was like the angels, he became human and his brother was Lucifer. Not the JWs. I mix them up all the time too. Yes, the Mormons said that. These people said that he was a great prophet, but only Muhammad was the last prophet, and that Jesus the son of the revered Mary. But God has no flesh. He was the son of Mary, but not God's son. That was Islam, which one said that before Jesus was, in the days of his flesh, he was the archangel Michael and after he his flesh, he was the archangel Michael and after he ascended he became the archangel Michael again. The Jehovah Witnesses said that. They also said that he was a created being. He was lesser than God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 37:46

Now, you know, all of them have their holidays. What are the holidays of the Christian faith? If we were to say there were any holidays Passover, the feast of the Lord and how many of them are there? And some of them conclude an eighth, the feast of the Sabbath. Some of them conclude that Some of them all have their different perspectives of Mary. All have their different perspectives of Mary.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 38:14

We know Mary to be the mother of Jesus in the flesh, but you have one that venerates Mary and puts her in a pedestal as the queen of heaven, as the co-redemptor. Who is that? The Roman Catholics, the Roman Catholics. You have one that calls Mary Maryam and announced the angel Gabriel, fatima, the daughter of Muhammad. It kind of supplanted her. Who's that? Islam, yes, they said Mary was a spirit goddess in a human form that had natural sex with God, the immortal father to bring forth Jesus Christ.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 39:03

The Mormons that's right, the Mormons Talking about judgment. We know that there's a second coming of Christ, that God is going to judge the living and the dead. But one says there's purgatory and hell for sinners, the Roman Catholic Church. One altogether denies the existence of hell, the Jehovah's Witness. One says the Mahadi will judge the world, says Jesus Christ never died. It's the Islamic faith, yes. And the other says celestial judgment for humans who become gods, humans who become gods. The Mormons Now JWs have a different slant on that, but it's kind of the same thing when we come to Christ, we're going to be gods like him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 40:09

These are all deviations of the faith. Every single one of these and every single one of these is going to act like they can do this, and I separated these by location in a very specific way because hopefully it'll point out to you what makes them all so radically different to their core, what makes all of these radically different to their core, what is the root difference, the root difference among all of them that makes this not work. Thought he had his hand up, you had your hand up, or you just? No, okay, anyone, althea, just by this visual image, the blood, the water and the spirit. They all will never start if remaining in that faith will never start here. The only way to get into the narrow gate or the narrow way is to start right here. You can't get it in any other way. It says in the scriptures, if they get in another ways.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 41:31

Where legitimate people ran the race and all of a sudden this woman came out of nowhere and was in the lead and got into the race and she won. And everyone's like who is this woman? Where did she come from? What happened to her? DQ. Disqualified, you didn't even start the race legitimately and you came in out of nowhere and jumped into the street and started running and said you were the winner. And that's exactly what's going to happen to all these other religions, because they never started the race properly. You might have different thoughts that are similar to the sound doctrine found in the narrow way, but because you never started right, you can never end right. You can never finish the course because you never got started in the race. Deviations in thought, in beliefs, deviations in doctrine will do this.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 42:29

I want to talk to you about some other beliefs out there. There is another belief that I want to highlight because it's a belief that kind, of, over the last 10 years, has gotten a little bit more popular. But you might not even still know about it, but I knew about it about 10, 15 years ago, but I actually found it in the scriptures. It says in 2 Timothy 2.18 that there were two people called Hymenaeus and Philetus, that there were two people called Hymenaeus and Philetus and they, concerning the truth, concerning sound doctrine, erred. They said that the erection passed already. I'm sorry that the resurrection what did I say? Okay, I thought I said it, I guess it was tongue tied that the resurrection passed already and and I think this is the key and they overthrew the faith of some.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 43:26

The faith is also representative of this narrow way. When you teach error and then throw or cause others to renege or reject the faith that they were founded in, that they were born again in, that is a serious problem. It's not just an error, like you know, like I said, if everybody will look at this, this guy's life right here, brother Julian said he saw deviations in his error or in his thoughts, excuse me. He sees it goes. It actually goes out of the narrow way, didn't it? But then it came back in. You see, he deviated out and then he deviated back in or he repented. That's our life, guys.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 44:16

We don't have all perfect understanding. A lot of times we start the faith on the right foot. Some of us, some of us didn't. Some of us started over here, over here, over here, and we came into the born again experience and then, even in our early stages of development, we deviated, and I want to talk about that at the end. Why there was deviations. But as long as you get yourself back in the narrow way, you're going to be okay.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 44:45

It's when this particular individual deviates to such an extent that they now cannot finish the course, and I can't tell you what degree your deviation will be. Maybe it's only a deviation like this Does it say he finished the course? Yeah, some of us are not going to end up with perfect understanding on everything, but there are some deviations that are so off that lead us into such error that we cannot finish the course. I need you to consider that and we're going to talk about some of the things that we can do to avoid that type of end. But Hymenaeus and Philetus were teaching what we know today as Preterist Doctrine. Preterist Doctrine says that the resurrection already happened. Everything about that prophecy and revelation, that happened in 70 AD, all of that stuff is done and fulfilled. But see, what happened with Hymenaeus and Philetus is that they were overthrowing the faith of some and they were leaving the faith that they were founded in. That's the error. That is damnable, because now not only you are deviated, but now you're leading others to even greater deviation where they cannot finish the course.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 46:10

There are errors in our thought because of our youth. There's some that while World War I and World War II were going on, they believed in the post-tribulation rapture and as soon as World War I happened, they thought oh, that's it, it's the sign of the end, this is it, jehovah's Witness, it's the sign of the end, this is it. Jehovah Witnesses also said that, by the way. There are some that believed in the post-tribulation rapture and when World War II happened, they said, oh, this has got to be it, this is the sign of the end. Now, that was a false belief. But did they still believe in the post-tribulation rata, which is a correct conclusion? Yeah, but sometimes we have those little deviations and we still believe in the right conclusion. But how we got there was just not quite right, and so I remember talking about that with Bishop Harris because he asked me in math, if you do something wrong in the beginning, will you always get it wrong at the end? Most of the time, most of the time. But there are some kids that accidentally get it correct and I tell them that what you just did was an accident. It probably won't happen again the next time you do this type of problem. You got to learn it the right way because you want to be as much as you possibly can right all the time when you're doing math.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 47:37

We have another belief out there, called once saved, always saved. This is the type of belief like Hymenaeus and Philetus, in that not only do you begin to damn yourself, you also damn others, because that type of belief over time see this relationship from the blood, the water and the spirit to up here. This space is time, time is passing, and for some time it may be two years and then the Lord calls you home, and some time it may be 60 years and then the Lord calls you home. It doesn't matter what is in between, just as long as you understand that there's time in between and if you believe in the one saved, always saved doctrine and you leave it for a certain amount of time I can't tell you what the time is. You're going to end up reneging on your faith and relinquishing and doing what's contrary to the scripture, where the scripture says be alert, be watchful, be vigilant. You have this type of belief. You're not worried about that. You're not worried about when Jesus is going to come again, because once I got saved, there's nothing I could do to lose it. And that thought invariably causes you to think that sin is a light thing, when sin should be hated, sin should be an abomination to you. But it's those type of deviations in thought that, if unchecked, could lead you off the course and you can't finish the race anymore.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 49:09

There are errors that I know that I speak from personal experience that you can either develop before you're born again or you can develop those same errors in belief after you're legitimately born again. Some of them are or could be. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is separate from the salvation experience needed. Where does that come from? Charismatics you can receive the Holy Ghost, you can receive. Basically, they say you can receive Jesus because you accept it in your heart. You pray the sinner's prayer and you're saved right in that moment. Hopefully you've repented.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 49:54

I'm sure they'll say, yeah, yeah, you need to change. They will say that. But they divorce receiving Jesus from receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. And so if you're ingrained in that long enough and you never have the evidence of speaking in tongues and let's say you were in there for 20 years you can't talk to that person at the end of 20 years about you actually never received Jesus. What are you talking about? Because they have been conditioned in that error for so long that they're the hardest people to talk to. It's been ingrained in them. Whatever they use, oh, just call upon the name of the Lord. That shall be said. It's been repeated to them for 20 years and that's the truth. What they're repeating is the truth.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 50:37

Yet the truth has been made an error and it's caused them in their thoughts to believe in an error that has now led them to a point where you can't even talk to them about the correct biblical method of being saved Baptism. If they were baptized in the name, in the titles of Father, son and the Holy Ghost, and they have been in that and their father, mother has been in that and their grandparents have been in, that you almost can't tell them anything, because to tell them that you need to be properly baptized in the name of Jesus would condemn their parents and their grandparents and their aunts and their uncles and their cousins, and you can't talk to them. That deviation now. That deviation can happen before you actually become born again, but that can also develop afterward. There are many witnesses that I think we all have of people that have been born again according to the blood, the water and the spirit. And today they are reneging on that thought and thinking no, it really didn't matter, you could be baptized in the titles, or maybe you didn't have the evidence. You know, I know I had the evidence of speaking in tongues, but you know what? My cousin didn't and and she loves the Lord, she's serving him week after week in the church, I'm sorry.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 52:06

And they renege on those thoughts on sound doctrine because of other loves. Those are other affections that they're putting above the word of God. Jesus said that he is the truth and when truth is rejected for whatever reason, whatever, you're rejecting it, for that is what you love more. To reject truth for something else is to say I love this more than truth. I love this more than Jesus. They don't want to see it that way, but that's essentially what it is. Some of us can renege on those different elements of the blood, the water and the spirit, even after we've experienced it. Most in the faith will never renege from repentance Most. But they always get shaky on baptism. They always get shaky on the gift of the Holy Ghost.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 53:08

Error of thought could be the separation of Jesus and the Holy Ghost and you can have that before you were ever born again, because you get that thought from being part of the Roman Catholic Church. They taught you it was a trinity. Protestants teach that. Well, that was a trinity. I was raised in that. I always thought the trinity. I never looked into it, I just thought, well, everybody's teaching that I see the Father, I see the Son, I see the Holy Ghost. Okay, yeah, it's got to be a Trinity. You don't think anything of it. I became born again and he wasn't even the one that was teaching me about oneness of God. I just ran across somebody that taught it and I was like, oh, okay, and the Trinity? Just, I just left it. But that is because of the heart, the type of heart that I had and that's not to boast myself up, because we're going to get to the, to the, to the real issue later on. How do we avoid these pitfalls? How do we avoid deviating from sound truth or from doctrine? Another error in thought is simply the timing of the rapture. Now it's like I said before with this man here.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 54:23

Some of us have different thoughts on pre-trib, mid-trib and post-trib. I'm not even talking about in this place, I'm just talking about just their apostolic brethren that we know have been born of the blood, the water and the spirit and they believe in the preacher. Or maybe some of them are preterists. They don't seem to say they're preterists, they say they're partial preterists. They're partial preterists. You know they have all of these deviations in thought. Now do I think they're damnable? It depends, depends on what's happening, depends on what it's causing in other people.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 54:57

There's some people that believe in the pre-trib and they are apostolic, and they believe in the pre-trib because they were taught that from their parents and their grandparents and they were taught that for so long. And they believed in the trip because they were taught that from their parents and their grandparents and they were taught that for so long. They like me with the Trinity. I just never gave it a second thought. And they've already died, they've already gone to be with the Lord. You think that because they believed in the pre-trip and they thought they were going to be raptured first, before the trip, that they're not going to make it now?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 55:20

I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but there are some thoughts, some ideas, some errors in your thought that could actually do that. I'm not here to point them all out there's too many of them but I'm here to share that we need to consider the things that we believe. We need to always take our thoughts captive onto the obedience of Christ. It means I have to take these thoughts and measure them with what I know to be unequivocally true the Word of God. There are errors in our end time doctrine.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 55:58

As I said before, some of us believe that the Gentile church will be raptured out before anything happens and then the Jews are just going to be bit and flogged for what they did to Jesus. Some of us believe and are waiting, even though we are post-tribulationist, that they've got to build a natural temple. They've got to, got to, got to do that, it's got to happen. Well, they still believe that Jesus is going to come after the tribulation. They just in error as to how that was supposed to happen. Those are things that I believe that, okay, we're not talking about salvific, you know the scriptures talk about there's a sin unto death and there's a sin not unto death, and I think that's what I'm trying to get at.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 56:45

Some of our errors, just our thoughts, need to be checked. Some believe that there's seven churches of revelation are seven different ages. Now, whether that's going to damn in the hell, I have no idea. But if we start taking it long enough and seeing, well, okay, well, what other thoughts is this producing? What is the fruit is this producing, then we can start making statements of hey, we need to be real, real careful with that thought, because look at the ramifications of where this is leading us. It's very important.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 57:23

You know there's some that believe that there's only 144,000 going into heaven, because they read that in Revelation it's gotta be 144,000. And we've really looked deeply into that, looked at the details of what exactly was seen and heard and seen and all that. But you know, the JWs believe that there's gonna be 144,000, literally Now. After all, I mean, they've been around for close to a century let's just round off close to a century and there's probably been over a million JWs in all of that existence and only 144,000 are going, and you don't even know which one. You don't even know if they've already reached that limit. And what are you doing? Going house to house and trying to work your way there? Just thoughts that just need to be thought out a bit further.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 58:16

You know, some believe that God is going to actually send Moses and Elijah back and they still believe in the post-tribulation. They believe Jesus and Elijah coming back, those two people, because they see the elements of what they were going to do on earth and wow, that was what Moses did. Wow, that was what Elijah did. He must be sending them back. You know, we look at that and we say well, they also said Elijah was going to return, and yet Jesus said that he did return in John the Baptist.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 58:44

So there was a different perspective that was needed. There was ignorance in their thought, and we're going to get to that in a second. Actually, let's just get to that now, because I can talk about a bunch of different errors and deviations. But as I thought about this, my thought is this my thought is this. The number one cause of errors in our thinking, in our immature stage of spiritual development, is simply this: Ignorance. We just didn't know any better. I can't tell you and I've thought about it over the week, I've tried to think about what were some of my thoughts that I thought early on that I completely don't now.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 59:28

Pre-tribulation is one of them, Trinity is another, and I could go on and on. But the point is that when we are in our youth, we are ignorant to many things. You think of it, naturally. You know, one of my children got something. Well, they didn't get something in the mail. I got something in the mail and it was some scratch off thing. And so my child scratched it off and it said we want a brand new car. And he thought we want a brand new car. That's just ignorance, right? Is it damnable? No, he's just, he didn't know, okay, and the things we laugh at now, and the things that my beliefs, that I thought back then, I laugh at now, it's just, I didn't know any better, I didn't know the scriptures well enough. And so it's important that we give ourselves some time, some leeway, to grapple with some of these issues and thoughts and realize that the predominant sign of an immature saint is that they easily jump to conclusions. I think and it's due to ignorance we think when we read that verse that answers every single solitary, you know circumstance and all of these things, and then we read that verse that answers every single solitary, you know circumstance and all of these things, and then we don't realize I got a lot more to read and the only way I'm going to read more is if I have time, and time is usually for me, has been years and it's still ongoing. We need to consider those things, I guess to embarrass myself, since I embarrass my children.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:01:06

Anybody know what a homophone is. Somebody just lost their job about homophones. I don't know if you heard about a teacher writing about homophones on the web and the boss just fired him for it. I'm not getting into that, but a homophone is a word that is pronounced the same way as one or more other words, but it's different in meaning and sometimes different in spelling, like hair and the bunny rabbit hair. Okay, totally pronounced the same way, all right.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:01:36

When I read the KJV early on in my life, there was a scripture that said divers. Now what do you think when I say divers, scuba diving. I read it, divers, and I kind of bypassed it, didn't understand why they put divers in there. And I realized later on oh, it's diverse, oh, a variety of things. Okay, so that's ignorance. That's me in my immature stage.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:02:05

Or maybe you read the word desert. Well, desert has multiple meanings. The one that might strike, come to your mind real quick, is well, that's an arid, hot region, dry and all that. But desert means I deserted them, I left them behind. Well, if you don't know any better, and the only word't know any better and the only word you know is desert, the arid, temperate region. That's all you think about when you read something.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:02:33

Or maybe the word plane. Okay, you know how to spell plane, the flying one. But then there's also the plane, the field. Those are homophones and I only use that to help you understand that when we're in our youth we're ignorant. Let's laugh about it and say, oh, my gosh, knucklehead me, like I call my knucklehead ninth graders. Okay, those are things that cause us to be in error. But the number one cause of errors thereafter, meaning after we're born again, after our early youth, I think, is pride. I think that is the number one cause of errors after our youth is pride, because we have been so cemented in a way of thought that we will never consider any other way. Maybe because we had never even heard it before. I've never heard anybody talk about that. That's ridiculous and you won't even take the time to just listen and consider what that person said. I could have done that with Bishop Harris.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:03:35

First time I came to Georgia. I was experienced in Christian schools all my life. I thought I was born again according to the scriptures. I thought it was because of my faith that Jesus died, was buried and rose again. Was what I needed to be saved. Had I been baptized? Yes. Had I received the Holy Ghost? Yes. But I didn't think any of that. I thought it was just because my faith in Jesus. That's what saved me. Then, come to talk with him and come to share the scriptures with me. I started realizing oh, I never thought about that before. I never read the book of Acts with the perspective of what does Acts have to do with salvation? Never Just ignorant, and I had been quote unquote a Christian for 20 some odd years, had received the Spirit for at least two before I came up here, at least two to three before I came up here to meet him or to visit with him. I'd already met him. So it's those type of things that that I share with you because we have to have that. That I share with you because we have to have that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:04:46

I don't want to say tolerance, I want to say patience, to have that patience with each other, because sometimes in our ignorance, we don't know any better. We don't know what we don't know. We just don't know it. We don't know to know it. So we have to. It's what we tell our kids so much. It's so important. You need to get in the word. The only way to get out of ignorance is to get in the word. What are you ignorant of? The word Jesus said to the people you do err, not knowing the scriptures. So how do you overcome that? You get in the word, but that's not all. I think there's something even more important than that. But you got to get in the word to not be ignorant.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:05:38

If you don't want to be ignorant in math, you have to get into math, you have to learn it, you have to go as far as you can, otherwise you're going to stay ignorant. You'll never know your multiplication tables. You'll never know how to add quickly, because you don't want to know your multiplication tables. You've got to get into it. There's no way around it. You're not going to carry it. Well, I say you're not going to carry a calculator, but in this day and age, with technology, yeah, you basically do, you know. But if you want to do something by your heart or your head, learn your multiplication tips.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:06:10

The number one cause of error after is pride, because you become a know-it-all, because you never heard such a thing and because you never considered another perspective. There are some people that have these offhanded perspectives that you would never even consider and until you meet them you don't even know to consider it. And sometimes that has to be considered for that particular individual, and sometimes it was that perspective that he gave me regarding the book of acts that opened my eyes to biblical salvation and to what it really was, because all the years of my Christian life going to Christian schools every single one of them I had been shown a certain perspective of salvation that was not applicable. Calling upon the name of the Lord and thou shalt be saved was applicable to those that were already saved, because it was in the book of Romans written to the church written to saints. So what I believe is the antidote to all the stages of our spiritual development To reduce the risk of errors in our beliefs and in our understanding.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:07:28

You have to get knowledgeable in the scriptures. Even if it's a trial for you, even if it's arduous, even if it's difficult, even if it's quote, unquote, boring. You have to get over that and get into the word, otherwise you will remain ignorant. There's no other way around that. But here's my issue that has to do with pride, and to me this is the more important one, because if you have this in your youth and you have this in your experience and age, you will be in the right place with God. And it is this If you're going to reduce the risk of errors in your beliefs and understanding, you must have, at all stages, a heart of humility that will overcome all of the errors that you have in your thinking.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:08:21

Because what does the Lord look at? Does he look at your outward appearance or does he look at your heart? He always looks at your heart, and if you have a humble, broken and contrite heart, he will not despise, he will not turn away, he will not reject the one that is trying, that is, sincerely, genuinely, humbly trying to understand things that are beyond his understanding due to his ignorance. But when pride rises up, that's when you change your heart of humility and you have a heart of stone, and then you can't be worked with, you can't be spoken to, you can't be dealt with.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:09:03

So all of these are thieves and robbers, and it is this man right here that starts off in the water, the blood and the spirit, the sound doctrine of the apostles and the prophets, of which jesus christ is our chief cornerstone. And even though he may have deviations and he even may go off the track for a while we've known people to do that, have we not? And thank God, we've known people that have come back to that narrow way, and they've come back, and they're the ones that can fight the good fight, finish the course and, what Paul said, have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4.17. It is those JWs was kind of right when they said it's got to be God's way of salvation, continuing in God's will and endure unto the end. If you start here, if you start with sound doctrine, so is doctrine important in today's age? Absolutely. Don't remain ignorant to doctrine and don't be afraid to talk about doctrine. Our lives are built upon doctrine. Somebody's doctrine, somebody's beliefs, somebody's teachings. Let it be the teachings of Jesus Christ that is the foundation of our house, amen.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:10:37

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