A GOOD CONFESSION
The word heart is found almost 900 times in the Bible and is interchangeable with the word mind. Thus, if we were wise, we would desire to spiritually hear what God thinks of it. And I know people think they have a good heart or at least better than their physical neighbor. Greetings. 1 Timothy 6:13 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. Jesus didn't try to save his life in this world God when questioned by Pontius Pilate: he knew he had to go to the cross that old man of sin might be crucified. Mark 15:4And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee. Again Jesus answered nothing he was not trying save his life this world. We on the hand try to justified our worldly wisdom and refuse to died the spiritual death of the cross: that we might live and Christ die. Mark 15: 5But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled. By Jesus not saying anything he fore fulled the scriptures. Isaiah 53: 7 He was oppressed, and he afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.Men afflicted Jesus or God's word every time we open our mouth and say we are speaking God's word and are not, yet we claim to love him: we hate Him. God quickeneth all things or His word by making them known unto his servants. When God does not quicken His words unto me, they are just vain words in a book. This book becomes the oldness of the letter and cannot deliver our souls. Romans 7:6But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. Psalm 119:37Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way. Our understanding or soul cleaves to an earthly understanding of God’s word because we were formed out of the dust. To think we are little more than just dust: can you imagine anything as useless as dust? Psalm 119:25 ד Daleth My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word. If Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession before Jesus, what would our enemies witness before us? And what was this good confession as we will be returning to this strange verse? The following verse has been used by millions to convince people that they could save themselves. Romans 10:9that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. I am told for the right price you can go to the Middle East and see the tomb where Jesus was buried, and with the deluxe trip package get to take home some of the rocks. Since we cannot physically prove the Jesus has risen from the dead; then the above verse relates to the seeking out of spiritual proof. John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. When we search the scriptures in our own wisdom that is all we will find. The self-righteous will confess the proof is they feel it in their heart, and by faith in themselves they justify themselves. Jeremiah 7:24But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. Very few of us ever allow God to spiritually show us our hearts as He sees it. Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? We do not want to know how desperately wicked our hearts are and refuse to allow God to judge our evil thoughts therein. Romans 10:9that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Jesus is risen from the dead when we no longer see Him as a man. We should take time and carefully examine what we have believed or think. If we say Jesus is the only begotten son of God, what does that mean to God? JESUS IS THE THOUGHTS OF GOD! When we go around just quoting verses just to flatter ourselves with no spiritual understanding: we are playing the fool. Proverbs 18:7A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. A lot of people incriminate themselves when talking to the police when they should wait for counsel; we incriminate or condemn ourselves without the Holy Ghost counsel. Matthew 12:37For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. The words of the Bible are living creatures and will not respond to our voice or thoughts; they must be risen from the dead or our mortal thinking. John 6:63It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. God Spirit makes known the Spiritual meaning of His words, without this happening we have no true confession, only our flesh exalting itself. We have kept God’s word in a spiritual tomb or our minds and rolled a stone or law to keep them in bondage to our mortal thinking. Our weapons against Jesus have been our own witness or law as to what the scriptures are saying, and by our Law He remains in the tomb. How can we confess something good coming out of a grave or our mouths? Romans 3:13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips. I have noticed since God has begun to reveal the wickedness in my own heart: that people seldom say what they mean and like snake's slitter around their intentions. People go to a physical altar confess to whatsoever they think sin is to a Preacher who is not saved himself. What we have done was flatter ourselves with a bad confession that makes us look good. God does not except our wicked hearts until it has been spiritually removed by him. Ezekiel 36:26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. In this letter we will not go into Spiritual circumcision yet witness one of the titles given to Jesus in the next verse: Minister of the circumcision. Romans 15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. Behold how one verse draws us deeper into another verse with the same words or subject. In my twenty years of playing Church, I never heard anybody speak about Christ being the minister of circumcision. Only my Pastor and his wife who were called of God and laid down their mortal thinking or lives to hear from God. Luke 17:33Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. We would have a good confession if we could lay down our mortal thinking concerning the scriptures: none of us has the power to do that. These quickie confessions years ago were called grease grace and were strongly criticized at first by other Churches but brought in thousands of unsaved people and their money. Years passed and more Churches adopted this Jewish fable and started having people or contestants come on down and to be saved. Titus 1:14not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. A Jewish fable is a commandment of men and has nothing to do with any race of people. A popular game show on television has contestants come on down, but at least they know it’s a game. I also played the come on down game and be saved, some 45 years ago and even at that time I never thought it was real. Psalm 5:9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. Let us read a good confession recorded in the scriptures. John 1:20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. We have confessed we are saved and sanctified, full of the Holy Ghost and no greater wisdom exist in the Bible that what we have seen. To see the Jesus of the scriptures, we must confess we created a corruptible image in our fleshly minds. Yet, this is the first image all of us will see, but the faithful will go pass this dark image and Spiritually see Jesus’ face. 1 Corinthians 13:12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. I could never confess the beauty of Victoria falls when I have never seen it physically. Some Churches created physical images of their God: ours are those we created in the mind. Romans 1:23and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. The scriptures are uncorruptible until we put our own corruptible thoughts on them. What we believe in our hearts as to the scripture meaning is what condemns us, and we believe our unrighteous thoughts are God's thoughts. Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Unless God reveals to us the hidden meaning of the gospel, we have no spiritual proof God exist. Years ago as a Royal Ranger,[Christian Boy Scouts] we had hundreds of young boys pray a sinner’s prayer. Afterward some of the young boy we saved confessed they did not feel saved; this frustrated the older men, who were not saved themselves. Once a mentally challenged young man kept coming to the altar every week to be saved; this frustrated the Pastor and told him quit coming to the altar. The man who was mentally challenged was no fool, only the Pastor. 1 Timothy 2:4who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. We come into this spiritual knowledge of the truth, because we have left something: our mortal thinking concerning the scriptures, and this does not happen all at once. This is the greatest mental fight unknown to the carnal man mind; your own thoughts will persecute you to see the Bible after the flesh. Matthew 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. We need not worry about other physical people persecuting you, unless you can speak the hidden wisdom found in the word. Mark 3:26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. Our own wicked thoughts against God’s word can never persecute us or other physical people because they agree. Very few actual Christians exist in American today and we will soon be destroyed by another physical nation more righteous than us. All the evil imagination we have imagined against the character of God must be destroyed by the spiritual fire found in God’s word. Genesis 6:5And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. We are commanded to be perfect in the knowledge of the scriptures and a willing mind to seek out God truth. King David felt the need to instruct his son Solomon on how to serve God. 1 Chronicles 28:9 And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. 5/27/2022 / amended 5/16/2022 Michael Rudolph Hodges
End of part 1