“Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?  For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.” Romans 2:23-24.

The Hebraic movement has stirred up debates among Christians regarding the Sabbath day, as well as many other debates.  The root of this movement is doing exactly what the devil intended it to do, distract and deceive.   While many are distracted arguing over the law, there are souls dying and going to hell everyday.

“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” Hebrews 4:1-3.

“For we which have believed do enter into rest…” Hebrews 4:3.  While some argue over the day of rest, others are in His rest.  Jesus Christ IS our Sabbath!!  We “observe” (for lack of a better term) this Sabbath, Jesus Christ,  through our faith in His finished work.  It is only through our belief in His finished work that we are able to rest…not ours.

If your rest is in the law, whether it be the Mosaic Law or any other man made religious law (Sabbaths, feasts, 40 days, 100 days…whatever the case may be), you have indeed failed to do the only thing which is required to rest – BELIEVE!

This Gospel we have been given was preached to Abraham 430 years before the Mosaic Law.  “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Galatians 3:8.  We are justified through FAITH and because of our justification we can rest…rest in our Lord Jesus Christ, HE is our Sabbath. – Donna Clark Warren

“…To day if ye will hear His voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My work.  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known My ways: Unto whom I sware in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest.” Psalms 95:7-11.

There are many things that happen in the wilderness.  What is it God is wanting to show us in the wilderness?  The definition of wilderness is a wild or uncultivated state or a confusing multitude or mass .  Why didn’t God lead the Israelites straight through the land of the Philistines (enemy territory) once He delivered them from Egypt? “…God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:” Exodus 13:17.  What would you have done when you saw the war?  Would you have returned to Egypt?

How many of us today see the difficulties and run back into the world after God delivers us from our bondage?  I guess that would depend on if we followed the Lord to the wilderness or try to take the shortcut through the land of the Philistines.  Once we are delivered out of our bondage, we are led to the wilderness.  We are led to that wild and uncultivated state where we realize our true condition.  The confusing mass we see is not where God led us, it is us.  We, in our natural unredeemed state, are what makes up the wilderness.  This is the place where we are loosed from our bondage but remain fearful of the freedom.  This is also the place where God feeds us our manna, our daily portion.  The wilderness is the place where we learn to know and trust God.  Our faith holds strong to the atoning Sacrifice, Jesus Christ, who redeemed us to God, the Father.  We know our Covenant will not fail but we are not sure if we will fail…then we do.  We fall down in the wilderness.

When we fall down in this wilderness we have two options, harden our hearts or learn the ways of God.  These are the two options which determine our stay in the wilderness.  A hardened heart will turn back to the world and find their Aaron to build their golden calf (Exodus 32), while others will learn the ways of God.  It has often been said it took a short period to get Moses out of Egypt but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of Moses.

It isn’t until we learn God’s ways in the wilderness and trust God to take us through the difficulties that we are able to rest in God’s peace.  Many in the church today have built themselves a golden calf and turned their hearts back to the world.  They have hardened their hearts to God’s plan of Salvation and sanctification, created their own path and never find rest in the Lord.  Egypt’s yoke has been replaced by religions yoke.

However, there is something else that happens in the wilderness.  Something very special. “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”  Luke 15:4-7. 

If we get lost in the wilderness, Jesus will find us, put us on His shoulders and rejoices.  True repentance is an occasion of rejoicing for the Lord and deliverance for the lost.   Praise the Lord for taking us through the wilderness! – Donna Clark Warren

“For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” 2 Corinthians 11:4.

Paul warned the church of Corinth about false teachers preaching another Jesus.

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:21-23.

Jesus said not everyone who called Him Lord, prophesied in His name or cast out devils would enter the Kingdom of Heaven but only those who does the will of God.

I’m warning you. I’m warning you there are false teachers, another gospel and another Jesus being preached all over the television and behind many of the pulpits today. If you are a pastor and this offends you, you may in fact be one of them. If you are a pastor and this burdens your heart as well, God bless you.

Many have been seduced by men’s schemes and doctrines of devils to direct the Children of God away from their faith in Jesus’ finished work and caused them to have faith in their own works…no matter how holy and righteous they may seem, if done with the wrong motivation they are works. At the end of 40 days, what is supposed to happen the other 325 days?

If you feel you have been carried away by the different winds of doctrine, swept to and fro with every “new” superstitious divination that has made its way to the pulpits, don’t allow pride to keep you there. I too was caught up in this mess at one time. Glory be to God, I asked God to show me the ways I was being deceived and He opened up the flood gates!! Deceit isn’t always the other person…sometimes it is you that is being deceived but you don’t realize the deceit until you ask God to show you. Repent and come back to the faith in Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. What will the Lord Jesus Christ say to you, depart from me ye worker of iniquity or well done thy good and faithful servant? If you are not sure, look at your fruit (your congregation)…are they rotten or righteous? Not in your eyes but in the eyes of God. Turn back to God’s will. We will each be held accountable. – Donna Clark Warren.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

There are 2 types of people – the saved and the unsaved. There is only ONE type of Christian and that is a born again Christian.  “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” 1 John 3:8-10. A born again Christian “does” righteousness, they don’t have to “declare” their righteousness.  Their are two types of people and one type of Christian – the born again Christian.  Are you born again?  – Donna Clark Warren

Spiritual maturity is having the faith to stay at the Cross of Jesus for our deliverance, our healing and our victory over sin, hell and the grave and not being… led away by the schemes of men. The only fight we are called to fight is the fight of faith; faith in Jesus Christ and Him Crucified…His finished work not ours. “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:12. Lay hold of this Gospel of Jesus Christ you’ve been given and declare it before many witnesses! Hallelujah!! – Donna Clark Warren

“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.  He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:13-18.

The Roman Catholics use this scripture to claim Peter was the first pope.  However, Paul was the Apostle to Rome, not Peter.  The Romans are actually the one’s who would eventually kill Paul because of his preaching and teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.  Judaism was a tolerated religion by the Romans.  However, when Christianity broke away from Judaism, Christianity soon became illegal and there were thousands upon thousands killed by the Roman Empire.  The Roman Catholic church was established calling themselves “the church” but it was and is not “the Church” of the Apostles…it was the Roman Catholic church with their traditions, rituals and religion added to the Cross of Jesus.

Eventually the Protestant Reformation would take place where the original church of the Apostles, the church where Jesus Christ is the Rock and the Head of the church with no “merits of the saints”, the church where the Word of God is the supreme authority (sola scriptura) and the church where we are justified by faith and faith alone in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross (sola fide) would emerge from the oppression of the Roman Catholics and the gates of hell indeed did not prevail.  If left to the Roman Catholic church, they would have one believe they were the “original” church with neglecting to mention their suppression of the original church of which the Apostles teached and preached, the Church of Jesus Christ.

“And I (Jesus) say also unto thee, That thou art Peter…” Matthew 16:18.  In this verse Jesus changed Peter’s name from Simon to Peter.  Peter in the Greek is “petros” which means a fragment of a rock.  Petra in the Greek is an immovable stone, which is Christ Himself.

” And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;…” Matthew 16:18.  So how do we explain this?  Does Jesus not say “…That thou art Peter, and upon THIS ROCK I will build my church;…”?  Please allow me to give you this scripture to further explain:  “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy THIS TEMPLE, and in three days I will raise it up.” John 2:19 (emphasis added).  We would all agree that Jesus is referring to “this temple” as Himself…just as He was referring to “this rock” as Himself.

Peter was one of the builders of the church of Jesus Christ but He is not and was not the builder, the rock or the foundation – Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is the Chief Cornerstone of the Church.

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;”  Ephesians 2:19-20. 

The Church was built upon the foundation the apostles laid with Jesus as the Chief Corner Stone…not the foundation of the Roman Catholic church and it’s traditions.  Please understand, it is not the people I am attacking but the doctrine I am trying to expose.  I have many Roman Catholic friends (or I did have 🙂 ) that I don’t want to offend  but if it gets you out of the harlot and into the Body of Christ then I will continue to declare the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because the fact of the matter is, it is His Word that is offending your traditions…not me.  – Donna Clark Warren.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Romans 6:1-2.

In Chapter 6 of Romans the word sin in the Greek is actually a noun and not a verb.  It has a definite article in front of the word sin and in fact, says “the sin”.   For the purposes of this writing I will refer to sin as the “sin nature” just to distinguish the noun from the verb.  So many of us think of the “action” of sin instead of the “state” of sin.  Our “state” as a Child of God evolves as we go from glory to glory.  I am referring to sanctification; our learning and spiritual growth.  However, our “standing” as a Child of God will not and does not waiver.  Upon our Salvation, we are placed in Christ and no one can pluck us out…except us.

Death isn’t an extinction but a separation.  Our physical death is a separation of a person from our body.  Spiritual death is a separation from God.  We are born spiritually dead.  We are not spiritually alive until we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and we don’t understand our spiritual death until we are spiritually born. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3.

Before Salvation we are in a relationship with our sin nature; it rules us.   Upon Salvation, the Holy Spirit comes in and severs our relationship with our sin nature.  We are dead to our sin nature and alive unto God (Romans 6:11).   We cannot sustain a relationship with both our sin nature and God, such is impossible.  This severing of our relationship with our sin nature by the Holy Spirit, this circumcision without hands (Colossians 2:11), is what enables us to live the holy life the Lord has called us to live.  Here, in this separation from our sin nature, our birth occurs and our “state” of Salvation (NOT our standing) evolves, precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little we go from glory to glory, in His will and in His ways.  We are no longer sustain our relationship with our sin nature and we are a new man in Christ Jesus.

Our new nature is proof of our new creature.  This new nature is one of the primary characteristics of a Child of God.  You will know them by their fruit when you see the sin nature is no longer their master but they are the master of their sin nature through the works of the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ Jesus.   The “resurrected life” is our spiritual birth.

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection:  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.  For he that is dead is freed from sin.” Romans 6:5-7.

The problem for so many struggling Christians is that even though the Holy Spirit has severed their relationship with their sin nature, instead of walking in the newness of life, man has taught them schemes to over come their sin (verb) which keeps them in relationship with their sin nature (noun).   This, in turn, is lack of belief / faith in what Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, has just done – sever our relationship with our sin nature.  In other words, our relationship with our sin nature is severed but we don’t believe it so we continue in man’s ways to keep severing it.  Our “standing” in Christ remains the same as a Child of God but our “state” is one of defeat.  We have left the Cross of Jesus and moved to man’s ways.

“And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” Exodus 25:22.

The ONLY place God can meet us is at the Blood stained mercy seat, the Cross of Jesus Christ.  It is there that the bondages were broken and it is still there where our sin nature is severed.  We cannot serve two masters.  How long has it been since you have looked back to the Cross of Jesus for deliverance from sin?  God is still looking there for you.  God, through the Holy Spirit,  is still wanting to break that relationship with the sin nature and deliver you from that bondage…but we must go back to the ONLY place where He can legally deliver us – the Cross of Jesus.  The ONLY place where our Holy God can meet with the sinful human being is under the Blood of Jesus, not through our works, no matter how holy they are, but through a humble heart at the foot of the Cross of Jesus seeking to be freed from their master…their sin nature.  – Donna Clark Warren

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.   Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”  Romans 8:5-8.

Human reasoning will forever conflict with the Divine Teachings of the Lord.  The fact that we are ruined by sin and completely unable to restore ourselves confounds our intellect and insults our flesh…and I’m not only speaking to the sinners but to the Saints as well.   Too many churches today have formed their government and applied their law to the people in the pews and the people in the pews go along with them just to get along with them.  The particular works they are appointed are usually civic minded and not Kingdom minded.  The good works are performed without the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified ever being proclaimed.  Their first defense of their good works is pointing to their good works in self righteousness instead of His Works in humility.

“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.” Romans 8:11-12. 

Proper faith will always be met with proper works.  Our flesh does not like the fact that we cannot do anything to reconcile ourselves to God.  It is only through the shed Blood of Jesus Christ that we are reconciled to God and freely given the resurrected life.  “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.  According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” 1 Corinthians 3:9-13.  We will all have to give an account…how will your works stand up to the fire of God?  Will they be FOR God or OF God…their is a big difference.  One is gold, silver and precious stones and the other is wood, hay or stubble.  Discern carefully.  – Donna Warren

“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:” 2 Corinthians 9:6-8

It is God’s method for us to give to HIS WORK and He will pour out His blessings.  However, if it is not His work, it is not His fault.  The Lord has given us His Holy Word and His Holy Spirit to guide us in to all Truths and we will indeed find what we are truly seeking.  Giving to the work of the Lord out of fear is superstition.  When we give, we give to support the message being preached and if the message being preached is lifting you up instead of Jesus, it’s not God’s work.  Declare His Holy name and His Holy Word and HE will lift you up.  – Donna Warren

Believe – to accept or regard (something) as true

Superstition – a belief or way of behaving that is based on fear of the unknown and faith in magic or luck : a belief that certain events or things will bring good or bad luck.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7. The fear of the Lord is a reverent respect for Him. God did not appeal to the Israelites as their Creator, which He most certainly was but as their Deliverer which resulted in obedience from love and not fear.

We are not called to provoke the sinner to fear for Salvation…that is superstition. We are called to preach deliverance to the sinner through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. We are called to BELIEVE in His Gospel.

“That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:15-18.

Do you believe or are you superstitious? Are you preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ or teaching superstition? – Donna Warren