Program 155: The Forgotten Gospel

The forgotten part of the gospel is that you are good enough, just as you are, to be worthy of the Creator’s love.

Welcome to WLC Radio, a subsidiary of World’s Last Chance Ministries, an online ministry dedicated to learning how to live in constant readiness for the Savior's return.

For two thousand years, believers of every generation have longed to be the last generation. Contrary to popular belief, though, Christ did not give believers “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, he repeatedly warned that his coming would take even the faithful by surprise. Yahushua urgently warned believers to be ready because, he said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” [Matthew 24:44]

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

* * *Part 1: (Miles & Dave)

Miles Robey: Hello! Welcome to World’s Last Chance Radio. I’m your host, Miles Robey and have we got an interesting program planned for you today. Dave Wright is going to be telling us all about the forgotten gospel. Dave?

Dave Wright: Thanks, Miles. Have you ever had that experience where you remembered that you were supposed to remember something, but you couldn’t remember what it was that you were supposed to remember?

Miles: Oh, yeah. Hate that. It’s worse than if you forget it entirely. Drives me nuts trying to remember what I was supposed to remember but can’t quite grasp ahold of.

Dave: I know. It’s very frustrating. Well, today I want to talk about the forgotten gospel. And when I say “forgotten gospel,” I’m not talking about some ancient lost book.

Miles: What?! You’re not going to surprise us with an introduction to the Gospel of Mary Magdalene or … I don’t know. The Gospel according to Lazarus?

Dave: There’s actually already a non-canonical “Gospel according to Mary Magdalene,” but no. Today I want to discuss the gospel message itself. There’s a very important element of the gospel that’s been forgotten, and yet it’s a vital part of the gospel message.

If I were to ask you, What Scripture reference best summarizes the gospel message? what would you say?

Miles: “For Yah so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Dave: John 3:16. That’s good. And you’re right: the message of Yah’s love, as expressed through the gift of His son to save sinners, is at the very heart of the gospel message. But there’s a whole other dimension to the gospel and it’s this other dimension that has been forgotten because it is this other aspect of the gospel that is what transforms us into Yah’s image: repentant sinners, safe to save.

Miles: So what’s that?

Dave: It’s found in the very next verse. John 3:17. We always quote John 3:16, but I believe John 3:16 should always be read in the context of John 3:17. Do you know it?

Miles: Uhhhh …

Dave: Okay. That’s all right. Why don’t you go ahead and look it up and read both verses? John 3, verses 16 and 17.

Miles: “For [Yah] so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For [Yah] did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.”

Dave: Verse 17 encapsulates the part of the gospel we’ve forgotten: Yahuwah doesn’t condemn us! You don’t have anything to “prove” to your heavenly Father. He knows you better than you know yourself.

Miles: “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” [Psalm 139:13]

Dave: Psalm 139, yes. In fact, why don’t we turn there? Read verses 1 to 4 once you have it. Notice the extent of the knowledge your heavenly Father has of you. Go ahead.

Miles:

You have searched me, Yahuwah,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Yahuwah, know it completely.

Dave: Your heavenly Father knows you better than anyone else on earth. His knowledge of you is so deep and intimate that He knows you even better than you know yourself. And yet, despite His knowledge of you—and here’s the forgotten part of the gospel—He accepts you anyway, just as you are.

We all know Yahuwah loves us. We’re taught to sing it from babyhood. But to know that He knows everything about us and accepts us anyway? He doesn’t judge us? That’s the part we miss.

Miles: Well, yeah. Because we feel judged; we feel guilty. I know you’ve shared before where the Bible says that Yahuwah doesn’t judge us. I think that’s a surprise to most of us.

Dave: Uhhhh, yes. John chapter 5. I think it’s verse 20 or 21.

Miles: Um, verse 22 actually. It says: “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.”

Dave: So the son has the job of judging. And what did he say to the woman caught in adultery?

Miles: “Neither do I condemn you.” [John 8:11]

Dave: And yet, as you just correctly pointed out, we still feel judged. We still feel guilty. The reason is as simple as it is far reaching: when Adam and Eve fell, they not only sinned by disobeying the divine law, but their very natures were changed. Yes, as we know, they gained a fallen nature and every one of their descendants has inherited the same sinful nature. But more than that, they internalized the lie that being human—being what they were created to be—wasn’t “good enough.”

Miles: I know you covered that in a previous program, but this is a really new concept. Could you explain what you mean for anyone that missed that program?

Dave: Sure! Well, for anyone who missed that program, you can still listen to it on our website or YouTube. It’s called “The Why Behind the Lie.” It’s covered in detail there, but for now, I’ll just summarize it.

Basically, the devil tempted Adam and Eve to be dissatisfied with their state, as they were created to be. Now, of course they were created pure and innocent. However, they were still human.

Miles: We tend to overlook that, don’t we?

Dave: Yes, but this is a vital point. Adam and Eve were fully human. Sinless humans before the fall, certainly. But still human. What does this mean? It means that they were created with the capacity to grow: in love, in experience and knowledge, in likeness to their Creator who was also their heavenly Parent.

Miles: In our previous program, you mentioned Genesis 2 as evidence that their, uh, less-than-all-knowing state was still perfect.

Dave: Of course. Only Yah is all-knowing. But the ability to grow, to learn, to know and experience on an ever-increasing basis was how He created humans. Being ignorant, being human, did not make these two humans less perfect or less loveable. I see you’ve got it. Why don’t you go ahead and read that for us?

Miles: Yeah, it’s Genesis 2 verse 25: “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

Dave: The story of Creation week, of course, is in the previous chapter. It tells how Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day. They were the crowning pinnacle of Yah’s entire creation. What does Yahuwah say at the end of Creation week? Actually, go back just a bit. Read verses 27 through … 31.

Miles:

So Elohim created man in his own image, in the image of Elohim created he him; male and female created he them.

And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

And Elohim said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

And Elohim saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Dave: So we have these newly created beings. Created in the very image of Elohim, perfect in their innocence but still ignorant of a lot of different things. And their Creator, their heavenly Father, still pronounces them very good despite their ignorance! Despite their lack of complete knowledge! What does that tell you?

Miles: That He was happy with them? They couldn’t be improved upon? They were good just as they were?

Dave: Yes! They were good—perfect, lovable—just as they were, just as they’d been created to be. And then two chapters later, in Genesis 3, we’ve got the serpent coming slithering along implying that they are somehow less-than they could be, less-than they should be. He doesn’t state it right out. He just points out that they don’t know everything Yahuwah knows. And now they feel less-than.

Miles: You put it like that and all of a sudden you see how ridiculous that assertion truly was. Of course they knew less than Yahuwah! He’s the Almighty! He’s God! Even the highest archangel in Heaven will never be able to ascend to His status and knowledge.

It reminds me of that place in the New Testament that says Yah made man a little lower than the angels.

Dave: That’s a great passage. Why don’t you read it for us? Hebrews 2. Go ahead and start at verse 1 so we can read it in context. Notice that there is nothing in here to suggest that the creation of Adam and Eve, as human beings, could have somehow been improved upon, which was what the serpent was implying. Go ahead.

Miles:

We ought, therefore, to pay the greatest attention to the truth that we have heard and not allow ourselves to drift away from it. For if the message given through angels proved authentic, so that defiance of it and disobedience to it received appropriate retribution, how shall we escape if we refuse to pay proper attention to the salvation that is offered us today? For this salvation came first through the words of the Lord himself: it was confirmed for our hearing by men who had heard him speak, and [Yah] moreover has plainly endorsed their witness by signs and miracles, by all kinds of spiritual power, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, all working to the divine plan.

For though in past ages [Yah] did grant authority to angels, yet he did not put the future world of men under their control, and it is this world that we are now talking about.

But someone has said: ‘What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you take care of him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honour, and set him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet’.

Dave: Notice that, even though Adam and Eve were created lower than the angels, Yah still crowned them with glory and honor and set them over the entire Creation on this world. This is the truth, the gospel of the kingdom, that the writer of Hebrews doesn’t want us to forget and drift away from. Being human is good enough to make us loveable to our Creator. Being human is good enough to fulfill Yah’s purpose in our Creation. And, to demonstrate this, Yahuwah sent a fully human Messiah to redeem us from the fall.

Keep reading. Uh … verse 8.

Miles:

Notice that the writer puts “all things” under the sovereignty of man: he left nothing outside his control. But we do not yet see “all things” under his control.

Dave: Because of sin. The entrance of sin delayed—it didn’t change or make obsolete, it merely delayed—Yah’s plan for the human race. Keep going. Verse 9.

Miles:

What we actually see is Yahushua, after being made temporarily inferior to the angels (and so subject to pain and death), in order that he should, in [Yahuwah’s] grace, taste death for every man, now crowned with glory and honour. It was right and proper that in bringing many sons to glory, [Yahuwah] (from whom and by whom everything exists) should make the leader of their salvation a perfect leader through the fact that he suffered. For the one who makes men holy and the men who are made holy share a common humanity. So that he is not ashamed to call them his brothers. [Hebrews 2:1-11]

Dave: In every way imaginable, we see the Father trying to let us know that Satan’s implication in Eden—that being human isn’t good enough—is a big, fat lie. This is why the nature of Yahuwah as ONE (not three) and the nature of Yahushua (as a fully human Messiah) is such a vital doctrine.

See, in a very real sense, we’re all sons and daughters of Yah.

Miles: Yeah, I’ve always liked how Luke gives the Saviour’s lineage in Luke 3. Matthew, in Matthew 1, starts at Abraham and works downward. You know, Abraham begot Isaac; Isacc begot Jacob. Jacob begot Judah, and so on and so forth all the way down to Christ. But Luke starts at Christ and works backward all the way to Adam. He says Yahushua was the son of … back and back and back. Back to Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methusaleh, the son of Enoch, and back still further to Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam who was, Luke says, the son of … Yah.

That’s beautiful! We’re used to thinking of just Yahushua as the “son of Yah,” but I am, too! So are you. We’re all sons and daughters of Yah.

Dave: And that, right there, should tell you everything you need to know about your … “lovability” to your heavenly Father. He loves you! Just as you are! Yes, you’ve got a fallen nature. We all do and the Father has a plan to take care of that for us, but that’s just because He knows we’ll be happier when we’re not struggling against this nature we’ve inherited from the fall. He still loves us.

See, it’s an observable pattern that the adults that are the most well-adjusted, the adults that are the happiest are, by far, those who had emotionally healthy and happy childhoods. And to have an emotionally healthy, happy childhood, a child needs one thing more than anything else.

Miles: What’s that?

Dave: To know on a soul-deep level that his parents believe he has worth and value. To be emotionally healthy every child needs to believe with her whole heart that Mummy and Daddy love her and value her. That he or she has worth in the eyes of the parents.

Now, some kids may not get this from both parents. Sometimes, mothers can be extremely critical of their kids while the father provides a safe haven. Other times, the father is very abusive—and all forms of abuse are emotionally abusive—and the mother is the one to make a child feel loved and worthy. Situations like this obviously cause damage, but even having just one parent who sees value in the child goes a long way to helping the individual grow up emotionally healthy. Or, at least, healthier.

Miles: That’s a good point. We hear about healing our “inner child.” That’s all about healing the damage to our self-worth which is caused by bullying and denigration, even when that bullying and denigration is done by one’s own parent.

Dave: It’s true. To be balanced, happy, emotionally healthy and resilient, we need to truly believe, deep in our hearts, that we have intrinsic value. And we do! We do have worth and value. We are lovable. This is the long lost, forgotten message of the gospel.

* * *

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* * *Part 2: (Miles & Dave)

Miles: You said that for an adult to be happy, well-balanced, and emotionally healthy, he or she needs to have a healthy sense of self-worth which is most easily obtained in childhood. If you feel valued by your parents, you will value yourself.

Dave: Right. As parents, we need to remember that the way we speak to our children will become their self-talk as adults.

Miles: Right. An excellent illustration of this is found in a Cluster B personality disorder called Borderline Personality Disorder or BPD. In a study published in 2010 in the Corrections Compendium, it was estimated that only 1 to 2% of the general population have this disorder. However, that number ranged between 12 and an astonishing thirty percent in prisons. Now, what makes this so applicable to our discussion today is that Borderline Personality Disorder is most commonly developed in early childhood as a result of severe abuse from the child’s primary caregiver. I don’t know if that holds true 100% of the time, but it certainly was long thought to be the only way someone developed BPD. That’s the impact we, as parents, have on our child’s self-esteem.

Dave: It’s very true. But what we haven’t recognized is that when Adam and Eve sinned, they internalized the devil’s message of not being “good enough” and passed that down to every descendent. We all, to a greater or lesser degree, have internalized this message. Some people seek to fill the void through their careers, others through changing their appearance, when the reality is our unworthiness is a message from the devil, not our loving Father.

Let me tell you a story to illustrate. My oldest son, as you know, is in university. Last year, he took a comparative religions class. One of the things he discovered, while taking this class, was a huge difference between how we Christians view “God,” and how many pagans view their “goddess.” Now, I’m not saying that Christianity is wrong and we should all become pagans. However, as we’ve said before, every religion has some error and every religion has some truth. That’s how Yahuwah draws all hearts to Himself regardless of their background. But the difference between the two views was really profound.

Miles: How so?

Dave: Well, for example, he went to Pinterest. You know, the website where a lot of people post photos and memes?

Miles: Yeah?

Dave: He typed in the word “God.” Then he opened a new tab, went to Pinterest, and typed in the word “goddess.” The differences were striking. For example, on the page for quotes about “God,” was a meme that said, quote: “And He loves me despite the fact that I fail Him every day.” Another said, “God sees our sin more clearly than anyone but He loves us more than anyone.”

Miles: Well . . . yeah. I’m not seeing the problem here.

Dave: Well, let me read you some of the quotes that popped up when he typed in “goddess.” One said, “I am deeply loved. I am divinely blessed. I am my own sacred light. I honor the goddess within.” Another said, “I exchange my shame and anger for self-love and self-compassion.”

Miles: Okay. I think I see where you’re going with this. The quotes and memes under the “God” search is all very, uh, negative, isn’t it? Very down on oneself. It says “You’re a failure. You’re bad. You’re sinful. Yeah, God loves you anyway. It’s pretty amazing since you’re so awful.” By contrast, the pagan statements are really affirming, aren’t they? They make you feel good about yourself.

But is that really a good thing? I mean, we are sinners. We are wicked and in need of a Saviour.

Dave: But the thing is, Miles, what does each different focus produce? It’s an observable phenomenon that the people who boast the most are those who feel the most insecure. Those who loathe themselves, are they truly capable of loving anyone else?

Miles: That’s hard to do, isn’t it? So, personalizing this, what does this mean to you? Personally?

Dave: It means that I, and you, and everyone listening is lovable just as you are. This is why we’re invited to come to the Father, just as we are. We’re sinners with a fallen nature. Of course we can’t improve ourselves. What’s more, Yahuwah knows this. Any “improvement” must be done by Him.

Miles: Any re-creation must be done by the original Creator.

Dave: That’s an excellent way to put it.

No. We’re not divine. We never will be, but the message Yahushua brought is that Yah’s divine purpose in the creation of the human race will be fulfilled when Yahushua returns to set up Yah’s kingdom on earth. And part of that message is that humans are good enough as humans to fulfill this divine destiny. Yahuwah created human beings for this role. We don’t have to, like the serpent suggested, “be like God” in order to fulfill our divine destiny. Human beings, in their Yah-ordained humanity, are “good enough” to inherit the earth.

Miles: Even though you admit, obviously, that we’re all sinners, you still keep saying that we’re “good enough.” How do you define “good enough”?

Dave: The human race is what Yahuwah created to fulfill His purpose. Again, we don’t have to work our way up to godhood. We don’t have to be reincarnated until we achieve divinity. Being human is enough because that’s what Yah created. He created human beings. He could have created demi-gods. But He didn’t. He created human beings and He gave to them dominion over the earth.

Miles: So, so … how was this message lost to us? I know you said that we’ve all internalized the serpent’s message of being not enough, but Yahushua came to bring us the gospel – the message that humans are good enough to inherit the earth. If this is the true gospel message in its original purity, how was this lost to us?

Dave: That’s a great question. The Old Testament closes with the Israelites under the control of the Medo-Persians. Even after some of the Babylonian captives returned to the land of Israel, they were still part of the Medo-Persian empire. Once Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, Judah was never again its own, independent country.

In the New Testament, of course, the foreign power in charge was the Romans. What we overlook is the influence on the Jews of the power ruling them during the inter-Testament time period.

Do you remember the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream talked about in Daniel 2? Daniel interpreted the dream and told Nebuchadnezzar that the head of gold represented him, or Babylon. What came next? Can you name them in order?

Miles: Um, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome—

Dave interrupts: Greece! That was the power that ruled Israel during the inter-Testament time period. And, just like how both the Roman pantheon of gods and Roman architecture was influenced by Greek architecture and religion, so their philosophy influenced the empire they ruled. This included the Jews.

Now. When you were in university, did you take any classes in philosophy?

Miles: Uh, yeah! I took one class. It was interesting, especially seeing how modern philosophy gets so many of its ideas from the ancient Greeks.

Dave: Okay. Socrates was one of the greats. To put it simply, he taught that the material world—the world we see around us and which we experience through our five senses—is but a dim reflection of a higher, ideal reality. He argued that ideas are more real than things we can touch. To Socrates, our physical world is inferior because it’s constantly changing. Likewise the human body isn’t the ultimate reality because it’s mortal. Each of our minds are part of the Absolute Mind. But the main point is that the reality in which we live is a faint reflection of the ideal.

Miles: Heaven?

Dave: No. That would have been too material, too real for Socrates, too. This influence from pagan philosophy can still be seen in the various heresies that plagued the early Church. Gnosticism is one of the most well-known of those heresies. It comes from the Greek word, gnosis, and means “knowledge.”

Why don’t you grab that dictionary there and look up the definition for us? Again, this was an early Christian heresy. Many of the heresies that dogged the early Church were, basically, various ideas drawn from Greek philosophy, applied to the new religion. You have it? Go ahead.

Miles: Okay, it says Gnosticism is, quote, “The thought and practice especially of various cults of late pre-Christian and early Christian centuries distinguished by the conviction that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through gnosis.”

Dave: Gnosis, again, meaning “knowledge.” Does that sound familiar? Just where did this idea come from that more advanced knowledge would somehow make you a better person?

Miles: The serpent.

Dave: Exactly. This whole idea that the material world is evil, and that our human bodies are evil and corrupt leads to a false gospel that’s entwined with the unbiblical teaching that we have an immortal soul separate and distinct from our bodies.

Miles: How do you get to that conclusion?

Dave: Well, in Eden, the serpent convinced Adam and Eve that they needed to be something more than human in order to be acceptable to Yah. Right?

Miles: Right.

Dave: And with this … advancement, if you will, not only would they be “more,” but the serpent promised something else. What was it? Genesis 3, uh … verses 4 and 5. What does that say?

Miles: “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For Elohim knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Elohim, knowing good and evil.’”

Dave: By acquiring this new, advanced knowledge, they wouldn’t be limited to life in a physical body.

Miles: That right there is heresy! Most Christians speak of the soul as separate from the body, but the Bible spells right out that the soul does not exist separate from the body. Here. Listen to this. It’s Genesis 1 … no. Genesis 2 verse 7. It says: “And Yahuwah Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Dave: That’s a great verse. Notice that man did not have a soul prior to that point. It was the very act of the Father breathing the breath of life into his nostrils that made the soul. A body with the spark of life from our Creator is the “soul.” There is no disembodied spirit-soul floating around. There wasn’t before Adam and there certainly hasn’t been after Adam.

But the lie advanced by the serpent was that Adam and Eve didn’t need to let the fear of death stop them from grasping for advanced knowledge. Sure, the body might die, but conscious knowledge, the soul, would go on in some sort of spirit realm.

Miles: That’s interesting. You can see how, in a variety of forms, this belief is worldwide. Wherever the human race has spread, so has this, this … lie from Eden. Whether it’s belief in an immortal soul that goes to Heaven or hell at death, or reincarnation of some form, it all gets back to that same lie.

Dave: There is no excuse whatsoever for Christians of all people, Christians who have access to the Bible, to still believe in this satanic lie of an immortal soul. The Bible declares repeatedly that man is a soul and that the soul dies. Let’s take a look at a couple of places. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 18 and read verse … uh, 20. Ezekiel 18 verse 20.

Miles: All right. It says: “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

Dave: Note: the soul who sins shall die. Not necessarily the soul that remains less than divine in its humanness. Being less than divine is not the criterium that determines death, nor is ascension to a higher, supra-human state the condition for inheritance of eternal life.

Circling back, when a body dies, the soul dies, too. They’re linked. Turn to Ecclesiastes 12. This is a book we don’t quote from very often, but it’s got some great passages. Ecclesiastes 12, verses 6 and 7. Here, Solomen is facing death after a lifetime of dissipation. “Vanity of vanities,” he says. “All is vanity.” But what I want you to notice is his description of death. Read it as soon as you have it.

Miles:

Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,
Or the golden bowl is broken,
Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the well.

Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to Eloah who gave it.

Dave: Yahuwah told Adam and Eve that when their bodies died, they would return to the dust of the earth. Genesis 3:19. He says, quote:

By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.

Solomon adds to that by clearly stating in Ecclesiastes 9 verse 5, quote: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” Then, just three chapters further on, are the verses you just read which shows that when the body dies, the breath returns to Yah who gave it and the soul ceases to exist.

Miles: This goes along with what Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 15 to 17.

Listen. He says, quote:

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of [Yah]. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Dave: Isn’t that a great passage? And it’s very comforting, too. You don’t have to worry about loved ones spying on you from Heaven or, worse, being horrifically tortured in hell. When a person dies, it’s like being unaware when you’re asleep. We all “sleep” until raised when Yahushua returns and we’re given new, immortal bodies to go with our new, purified, unfallen natures.

But again, the point is that the physical—the physical realm, the physical body—it’s all good. It isn’t evil by default just because it’s material and physical. Yah pronounced the physical world with our physical bodies, to be “very good.” If the physical were evil or somehow lacking like Satan tries to convince us, we certainly wouldn’t be given new bodies at the resurrection.

Satan’s lie that has pervaded every single religion on earth—including the Christian religion—is that the physical (the material world, the physical body) is lacking and less than. It’s not “good enough” and that’s the exact opposite of what Scripture teaches.

Miles: Well, when you think about it, that error has a really debilitating effect on the human psyche, doesn’t it? Children raised in an environment in which they are constantly being belittled and having their self-confidence destroyed grow up to be insecure, often boastful, fearful, jealous, envious, unhappy, insecure, imbalanced people. I’m not saying they can’t grow past that, but they have to heal from the damage of that philosophy before they can.

Dave: Right! Now apply that same insight to religion. What happens when someone’s religious and spiritual beliefs teach them that what they are isn’t good enough, that to even admit to being good enough means that they’re even worse because the very refusal to acknowledge how awful you are makes you sinful. Can people who cling to such twisted, unbiblical theology be expected to fulfill Yah’s plan in their creation?

Miles: Well … no. You explain it like that and the answer’s no.

Dave: Just as children cannot mature properly if they’re laboring under a constant burden of dislike and disapproval, so humans will never be able to fulfill their Yah-designed destiny as long as they cling to the belief that they are somehow “less than” and in order to fulfill their divine destiny, they must somehow make themselves more.

Miles: Oh, and that belief is a burden! This constant feeling of never being good enough. We get it from society; we get it from the church—

Dave: The one place we don’t get it from is the Bible. The gospel message is a message of freedom! We don’t have to buy into the devil’s lies anymore. Turn to Luke 4. Luke chapter 4 and … let’s see. Let’s read it in context. Um, read verses 16 through 19. What does that say?

Miles:

So 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 to read. And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of Yahuwah is upon me,
Because He has anointed me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of Yahuwah.”

Dave: The gospel is a message of good news! It heals those ruined by sin and broken under an incredible burden of not feeling “good enough.” It frees us to step forward into the destiny that awaits us as human beings created to fulfil the divine plan in our Creation.

Let’s look at another verse. Go to John chapter 8 and read verses 31 and 32.

Miles: All right, uh … “Then Yahushua said to those Jews who believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’”

Dave: The good news of the gospel is that Yahuwah’s original plan in the creation of human beings will yet be fulfilled. This truth frees us from the burden of never being good enough on account of our humanness.

Go on to verse 33. What does that say?

Miles: “They answered him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, “You will be made free”?’”

Dave: See, they didn’t “get” it. They were taking his words literally and Yahushua was speaking of the attitudes and beliefs that influence our thoughts and feelings, which drive our words and actions. That’s why he answered them in verse 34 and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.”

Sin simply increases that devil-imposed burden of not feeling good enough. Our guilt makes us feel even more unworthy and less-than. Yah plans to free us even from that when He gifts us with new, unfallen natures.

Miles: That is incredibly encouraging.

Don’t go away, folks! Up next is our Daily Mailbag.

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You are listening to World's Last Chance Radio.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

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In one of his last recorded letters, the apostle Paul told Timothy, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of [Yah], and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of [Yah] may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” [2 Timothy 3:16-17]

Some people question why there are so many conflicting beliefs in Christianity if, indeed, the Bible is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness. The key is to take all things in context. One of Paul’s statements that many Christians disagree over precisely what he meant is when he referred to the “weak and beggarly elements.” Some have taken this to mean that the divine law is no longer binding. However, this interpretation contradicts other passages of Scripture!

So just what was Paul referring to, what did he mean, by the phrase “weak and beggarly elements”? To find out, listen to the previously released radio program titled “Paul & Galatians: Just what was he talking about?” Learn the truth for yourself because truth is always consistent. If your interpretation of Scripture is correct, one part of Scripture will never contradict another passage of Scripture. Once again that’s “Paul & Galatians: Just what was he talking about?” on WorldsLastChance.com. You can also find it on YouTube!

* * *Daily Mailbag (Miles & Dave)

Miles: So we’ve got an interesting question coming to our daily mailbag today from Valparaíso in Chile, South America. Did you know that Valparaíso set a world record?

Dave: No. For what?

Miles: In 2007, they set off sixteen thousand fireworks in Valparaíso. Actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for that.

Dave: Huh. I would have liked to have seen that!

Miles: Sounds spectacular, doesn’t it?

Anyway, Daniela—no last name—writes: “Dear Miles and Dave, I’m writing because I’m hoping you can help me with something. Ever since I was child, I have loved to daydream. It’s my preferred method of escape and yet I always feel so guilty for doing it! I don’t daydream about anything bad, per se. But I always feel guilty when I do and I don’t know why. Is escape really a sin?”

Dave: No. It’s not.

Miles: Seriously? … Now, see … I was not expecting that answer!

Dave: Really? Why not?

Miles: Because we’re talking about escapism! I guess I’ve just always assumed—and been told—that it’s bad.

Dave: No, no. It’s not really. In fact, escapism can be a very practical even healthy tool in dealing with overwhelming pain or stress.

Miles: Healthy??

Dave laughs: You’re really hung up on escapism being a sin, aren’t you?

Miles: Well … it’s, it’s escapism!

Dave: Well, would it help you get off this hook on which you seem determined to hang yourself if I said that there are some forms of escapism that are harmful and should not be engaged in?

Miles: A bit. Maybe. I don’t know. Saying there are some forms of escapism that are bad implies that there are some that are good. What sort of “escapism” isn’t bad?

Dave: Well, let’s take a look. Turn to Psalm 119 and while you’re turning there, let me ask you this: Would you say that David had a stressful life?

Miles: Oh! Yeah! Any bloke that takes on, what was it? Six? Seven wives?

Dave: Over eight, actually.

Miles: Over eight wives is just asking for stress! One’s enough for me!

Dave: Same here. Happy wife, happy life! But let’s see how David handled his stress-filled life. Read verse 97 of Psalm 119.

Miles: “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

Yeah, but this is meditation!

Dave: Not all escapism has to be smoking, drugs, or alcohol. In a sense, escapism is emotional self-medication. Why can’t you “self-medicate” away the pain and stress through Yah’s word?

Miles: Well, I guess there’s no reason you can’t.

Dave: We’re used to focusing on the various forms of escapism that are harmful. But, like I said, escapism itself can be a valuable tool in regulating stress.

Miles: So what about Daniela’s struggle with daydreaming? Is that bad if she’s not daydreaming about bad things?

Dave: There is something called “maladaptive daydreaming” that can take over a person’s life. Just like any addiction, it can cause problems at work, or with interpersonal relationships. That sort of thing. Any addiction that causes more problems than it solves is not good.

But, hey! If she wants to escape her stress dreaming about what life in the earth made new will be like, go for it! There may not be anything inherently sinful about daydreaming of herself as the Big Shot, Told-You-So Boss of the Entire World, but a better use of time would be to fill the mind with Scripture and the promises of Yah.

Miles: That’s true. If you’re stressed or hurting, finding a promise, memorizing it, and meditating on that is going to help you a whole lot more than … well, virtually any other escape I can think of!

* * *Daily Promise

Hello! This is Elise O’Brien with today’s Daily Promise from Yah’s word.

First Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 16 to 18 contains some startling advice. It says: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of [Yahuwah] in Christ Yahushua for you.”

Amy and Jordan Demos learned the blessings that come with giving thanks in every situation. The Demoses were moving across the country to the state of Tennessee in the United States. It was a long trip and two of their friends agreed to help them by driving a moving truck with all their belongings. Attached to the moving truck was a trailer, carrying their only car. The day before their friends were to leave, the Demoses took their car to a service station to fill the gas tank. While there, they discovered that they had accidentally left their debit card at home. Since the car was just going to ride on the trailer anyway, the couple didn’t worry about it and just went home. They could always fill the tank when they reached their destination.

The next day, Amy and Jordan’s friends left early. A large moving truck pulling a trailer holding a car is quite a load and speed obviously isn’t possible. Despite their careful driving, disaster was waiting. One of the wheels on the trailer carrying the Demoses car caught on fire!

Quickly, the friends drove the moving truck with the trailer over to the side of the road. Three strangers driving past stopped as well and quickly helped unhitch the trailer from the moving truck. Shortly afterward, the car caught on fire!

While the Demoses lost their only car in the fire, none of their other belongings were lost or damaged. More important still, their friends weren’t hurt. Neither were the strangers who helped or the firefighters who came to put the fire out. The story may well have had a different ending had the car had a full tank of gas.

Rather than dwell on the loss of their vehicle, the Demoses instead chose to focus on Yah’s wonderful protection through this trying ordeal. On Instagram, Amy posted, quote: "We see SAFETY and PROTECTION. Not a single person came out of this with a scratch or burn. It's a MIRACLE."

Just before his betrayal in Gethsemane, Yahushua gave his disciples a beautifully encouraging promise. He said, quote: “These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” [John 16:33]

No matter what happens, Yahuwah is in control and will work all things out for our good. First Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13 reassures us, quote: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but [Yah] is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” No matter what trials we are called to go through, Yahuwah will never leave you nor forsake you. His eye is on you and He will bring you through every trial and difficulty.

We have been given great and precious promises. Go and start claiming!

* * *Part 3: (Miles & Dave)

Miles: This forgotten aspect of the gospel message truly is good news. Now, just for clarification, what about sinning? Does saying “You’re good enough” somehow … I don’t know … absolve us from any responsibility to resist sin?

Dave: Of course not. You know, there’s a fine line. On the one hand Hebrews admonishes, “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” [Hebrews 12:4] On the other hand, the reality is that as long as we have fallen natures, we will occasionally fall and stumble into sin. That’s why, when we’re gifted with higher natures when Yahushua sets up Yah’s kingdom, the freedom from sin will be so great and such a gift.

Miles: So, basically, our Creator is also our re-Creator.

Dave: Yeah! That’s a great way to put it, yeah. This is the good news of the gospel and it addresses the lies told by the serpent in Eden. We are good enough in our humanness. Yes, right now we have fallen natures, but the Father has a way of escape planned for that, too. But He created us human! Being human is not less-than. It’s good enough. Turn to Colossians chapter 1. Here, Paul identifies this concept as part of the gospel message.

Colossians 1, verses 21 to 23. And as you read, I want you to notice that nowhere is anything said about the human body or the physical realm being evil. Go ahead.

Miles: “Once you were alienated from [Yah] and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.”

Dave: Sin reinforces that serpent-instilled belief that you’re not good enough. So, like Adam and Eve when they heard their Father’s voice in the garden, they ran and hid. The guilt made them want to hide themselves from their best friend. And we do the same. That’s how our “evil behavior” alienates us from Yah. He doesn’t hold us at arms distance. It’s in our own minds that the guilt separates us from Him.

Okay, go on. How does Yahuwah handle that?

Miles:

But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Dave: What is the hope held out in the gospel?

Miles: That we’re good enough.

Dave: And accepted in the beloved.

Miles: I noticed the emphasis on Christ’s physical body. This really flies in the face of the pagan philosophy that our physical bodies are themselves inherently evil, doesn’t it?

Dave: It does! What Paul is saying right here explains why a human—not divine; not human and divine. Simply wholly human—was necessary to be our Redeemer. It’s what proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that, in Yahuwah’s eyes, being human is sufficient. Certainly strive against sin, but you don’t have to strive to be divine. That’s not what He created you to be.

Miles: Wow! That’s a new thought. When we embrace the self-incriminating burden of never being “good enough,” of our humanness always making us less-than, we’re really finding fault with Yahuwah’s creation, aren’t we?

Dave: And if you find fault with Yahuwah’s creation, you’re really finding fault with … whom?

Miles: Yahuwah.

Dave: Yah. That’s right.

There’s a really beautiful statement Yahushua made in explaining how much Yah loves us. It’s not one we typically hear in sermons about Yah’s love, but now that we know the Saviour was fully human, it emphasizes even more the Father’s love and acceptance of His human children. It’s in the gospel of John. John 10 verse 17. But let’s … okay, let’s see. Let’s start at verse 14 to get the context.

Miles: All right, it says:

I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and am known by my own. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

“Therefore My Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again.”

Dave: All this talk about sheep and the good shepherd? That’s just context. It’s all leading up to this last verse. “Therefore.” This is the reason why. For this reason my Father loves me.

In other words, Yahushua is saying, “Our Father loves you soooo much that He loves me even more for being willing to die for you.”

Miles: That’s beautiful.

Dave: Love will always awaken love. This is why it is so vital we hear and share and spread the gospel message. Just like a child that will blossom and mature and grow in an environment of love and appreciation, believers will do the same when they grasp the fullness of how much the Father loves them and accepts them just as they are.

I know we’re almost out of time, so I’ll just very briefly touch on one final point. The doctrine of a triune godhead is the natural extension of the idea of an immortal soul. If being human isn’t good enough, your Saviour certainly can’t be human. Then, if not human, what is he? So we get this twisted, ridiculously impossible idea of a three-in-one godhead where the so-called “God the Son” shared an eternal pre-existence with the Father.

Miles: Hmmm. You’re right. And so, really, the trinity doctrine of a divine “God the Son” really destroys the power and beauty of the gospel, doesn’t it?

Dave: It hides the most important aspect of the gospel itself by reinforcing the serpent’s insinuation that being human means you’ll never be good enough.

By contrast, Yahuwah deliberately chose to have a human Messiah to reinforce that He has a plan for humanity, a destiny planned for the human race from the very beginning.

Turn to Matthew 25 and read verse 34. This is an incredible affirmation of our value to the Father as human beings.

Miles: “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Dave: It has always been the Father’s plan to populate the earth with human beings and allow them to have dominion of it. This has been His plan from the very beginning and it will finally be fulfilled when Yahushua sets up His kingdom. This is the gospel of the kingdom of Yah: You are good enough and Yahuwah loves you just as you are.

Miles: Amen. Thank you, Dave.

Please, join us again tomorrow, and until then, remember: Yahuwah loves you . . . and He is safe to trust!

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This program and past episodes of WLC Radio are available for downloading on our website. They're great for sharing with friends and for use in Bible studies! They're also an excellent resource for those worshipping Yahuwah alone at home. To listen to previously aired programs, visit our website at WorldsLastChance.com. Click on the WLC Radio icon displayed on our homepage.

In his teachings and parables, the Savior gave no “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, the thrust of his message was constant … vigilance. Join us again tomorrow for another truth-filled message as we explore various topics focused on the Savior's return and how to live in constant readiness to welcome him warmly when he comes.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.