Holy and Separate People

Christ's Ministry

The purpose of Christ's ministry is recorded in Luke chapter 4, where He Himself quotes from the later chapters of Isaiah:

Luke 4: “16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives [the Israelites, who were described as prisoners and captives by Isaiah], and recovering of sight to the blind [we should know that we are Israel!], to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

Note that He stopped before proclaiming the Day of Vengeance, which has to do only with His second advent, and not His first.

Throwing Pearls to Swine

If one is trying to explain the Gospel to aliens, to the non-Adamic peoples, one errs from the beginning, imagining that aliens can receive the Gospel in the first place. Paul says at 1 Corinthians 1:18:

“For the account of the cross is folly to those who are going to die, but to those who are being preserved, to us, it is the power of Yahweh.”

According to all Old Testament Scripture, the “saved” include only the Children of Israel, and Yahweh says at Amos chapter 3, speaking of the children of Israel:

“1 Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. 3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”

If we agree not with the words of our God, we cannot walk with Him. The Bible promises destruction to all of the enemies of Yahweh our God. By our trying to somehow “save” them, as if that were possible, we set even ourselves in opposition to God.

Definition of Neighbor

See Neighbor

At Matt. 5:43, Yahshua is credited with the words

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor (τὸν πλησίον), and hate thine enemy”

What meaning would the saying have, if one’s enemy, as is often the case, lived in the house next door? See the note at Rom. 13:10.

So here it should be evident that τὸν πλησίον is “one near” to you, but not necessarily geographically. Rather, one near in relationship is more likely the case. The Hebrew word in the original, which is found at Lev. 19:18, is Strong’s Hebrew #7453, “from 7462; an associate (more or less close)” and Strong lists the A.V. translations of the word “brother, companion, fellow, friend, husband, lover, neighbor, X (an-) other” and so it should certainly be evident now that τὸν πλησίον is not simply “one who lives nearby” etc.

The root of 7453, 7462, is defined by Strong: “a primitive root; to tend a flock, i.e. pasture it; intransitive to graze (literally or figuratively); generally to rule; by extension to associate with (as a friend)...” and so it seems to me that one’s πλησίον can only be a fellow sheep! For the bounds of proper Christian association are set at II Cor. 6:11-18, Christ has no concord or agreement with Belial, the ungodly, those without the faith, or the children of darkness, and no government of man, sponsoring “urban renewal” and forced racial integration, can ever change that.