These young men had opened their discussion with me by asking me if I was a "New Testament" Christian. When I did not respond promptly enough, they began their presentation to me by taking me down the primrose path of the Roman Road. My first question to these sincere people was this: "What is the New Testament, anyway?" In any sales arena, once you get the prospect talking or asking questions, you are on your way to a sale. Having told me that they were graduating students, they were more than willing to answer my question. Further, since they had claimed that glorious status, it was up to them to explain the term. One of them told me that while the Old Testament dealt with the Jews and The Law, the New Testament was primarily for the Gentiles and operated under Christ’s Grace. He flatly stated that the New Testament Church was not to be concerned with The Old Law, which had been abandoned at The Cross, but was to emphasize Christ’s Grace.

The other student nodded in agreement but then added that Almighty God had been unsuccessful with the Jews, who had a history of sinful ways. Thus, Our Heavenly Father had to put out a new plan, bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles who are the non-Jewish people. The student then added, as though it was an established fact, that Almighty God had done His Best with the Jewish people, but when they rejected His Son, He decided to extend the plan of salvation to all the world, all men, whosoever will, to accept and have the peace of knowing that they would go to heaven when they die.

I had, heard that theology promoted for years, but did they have Scripture to back it up? In all of their answers, only a summary of which is written above, they still had not answered the question: What is the New Testament? If you are going to, talk about something, especially if you expect to teach others, you ought to know what the terms mean. What is a testament? What is a covenant?



On the way, to get a cup of coffee with them, I went past my car and picked up my Bible. While enjoying coffee, I went on to teach my surprised students that in every case in the New Testament both the word testament and the word covenant were translated from the same Greek word diathéké. It is Strong’s Greek word # 1242* as I had it noted in my Cambridge Wide Margin Bible. When I opened my Bible on the table before them, and they saw all the notes I had put there in the margins, they knew that they had been "had." Both words mean "a contract." Well, what is a contract? What is this New Testament (contract) under which someone must perform according to a specific thing before I can become a Christian?

By now my young friends were both frustrated and curious. They thought that they had answered my question, and here I was asking them the same question again. They simply could not understand what my question had to do with the Plan of Salvation. Quite frankly, as we shall see, it has everything to do with it.

If you are under the New Testament, and it is a binding contract of some kind, who is the Party of the First Part and who is the Party of the Second Part, and what performance does that contract spell out in lawful terms? What is the consideration? When does, or did, it go into effect? If you cannot answer these questions, do not feel ignorant, for these graduating students of a very well-known Bible College could not do so either. For them, my questions were just as if the Bible had hundreds of blank pages.

Any contract is binding on all Parties, and each of them can legally force the other to perform according to the terms, exactly as set forth. It is an exclusive document. In other words, if you are not named in it, you are not a Party to it.

When I had stopped at my car, which is a mint condition Lincoln Mark IV, the young men remarked about it. So, in talking with them over coffee, I asked them if they had a car while here .at school. One said he did not. The other pointed to the street in front of the restaurant to a nice looking older Chevy pickup sitting at the curb. I asked him if he meant the blue one with the expired meter. He bounded out to feed the meter before he came into conflict with the law. I asked him later if there was some price at which he would sell me that pretty truck. He admitted that at some price, he’d sell it, but it would be high, "a lot more than the book value." I told him that in this case, money was no object. Suppose I bought that blue Chevy truck, and drove it home. How would the public ever know that there was a contract between us? You would be the Party of the First Part, and I would be the Party of the Second Part, and the object of the contract would be the pickup. How does the world know that I own that truck now that you no longer own it? Well, the license plate, except to a police officer, would not prove it. Nor, in fact, would the contract itself, for no one would ever see either it, or the subsequent title, as they would both be locked away in my safe. No, they would properly assume some contract must exist, or within a few days the "blue light" would come by and take it away from me. Does that make sense?

Now, so that we will understand any contract a little more specifically, suppose that I left my keys to my new truck in the ignition, and some person jumped in and drove off with it. What would you call that person? You would call him a thief. Yes, but why is he a thief? There is only one reason! When push comes to shove, his name is not to be found on the contract, that conveyed your blue pickup to me. If his name is not in the contract, then he is not a Party to the contract regardless, of any other extenuating circumstances. No matter what worthy cause or reason that thief had to take my truck, the blunt fact is that he JS a thief because the contract does not include his name!

Now, with that lesson on the law in mind, what is the New Testament (contract) that you claim to be a Party to? Who is the Party of the First Part, and who is the Party of the Second Part, what is the "blue pickup" involved, when did the contract take effect and what was the "consideration" that made it lawful? If you are a New Testament Christian, you should have no trouble delineating these terms to me. This should be Basic Bible 101, and yet not one Christian in a thousand can answer that one question. Where do you find the terms of the New Testament set forth in Scripture?

I pointed my two young students to Hebrews, Chapter 8 at verse 8:

"For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah..."





These words came from the King James Version, but I want to add here. However differently we Christians believe on other matters, these same exact words, and intent, appear in the Roman Catholic Douay-Rheims and every other old and new translation on my library shelves. Now that you have read this verse, Who is the Party of the First Part? Answer: The Lord. How reliable is this contract? It is as reliable- as Almighty God’s Word, and that is beyond question. Now, be careful in your answer: Who is the Party of the Second Part? Does your Bible say that the Party of the Second Part is the Gentiles, meaning some non-Israelite people? Is the Party of the Second Part, either "all men" or "whosoever will?" No, the exclusive contract is with only two entities, the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Do you see that?

Now, the question to be resolved is this: If you are not part of either the House of Israel or the House of Judah, what right do you have to the New Testament contract, whatever it is? Don’t you see that if you are not of one or the other of these entities, you have no right whatever? You are just like that thief making off with my blue Chevy pickup, claiming some kind of right when none really exists! We do not care about all your "extenuating circumstances." We are not interested in your humanist philosophy, posing as Christianity, that insinuates that Almighty God would not be either fair or loving if He made His Contract only with the Israel people. One of these young men tried to introduce the foolish idea that the "Gentiles" were supposed to be "grafted in" and be thus granted a place in the covenant. I reminded him that only olive branches can be grafted into olive trees. You cannot graft in either figs or sugar maple branches to olive trees.

The other young preacher suggested that it was the non-Israelite Gentiles who, in Jesus, had become "spiritual Israel." I asked him if he could show me the term, "spiritual Israel," anywhere in the Bible and he admitted that he had never seen it in all the years he had been studying at Tennessee Temple. I told him that the Word of God states that the New Testament is made with the same people, that is, the sons of the same people, that the Old Testament was made with! Read the next verse:

"Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when 1 took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and 1 regarded them not, saith the Lord."

So, we see here that Almighty God has not changed His Mind, and abandoned His People Israel in favor of "all men" or "whosoever" but made the New Testament with the very same people as before. Tell me, if you are not the children of these fathers of old, what business do you have claiming the Rights and Privileges of this New Covenant?

Disclaimer: Rapture Bible Prophecy Forum, ( http://www.rapturebibleprophecyforum.com ) does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article posted on this site. We do however, encourage a healthy and friendly debate on the issues of our day. Whether you agree or disagree, we encourage you to post your feedback by using the reply button.

The rest of this article on The Covenant:
http://www.outpost-of-freedom.com/star_wars/starwars01.htm

per Gloria

This information fits right in to what we are now learning, and is far from the run of the mill. It all starts to make a lot more sense when you get to Part 3, as it talks about the old traditions of the American church and their belief structure, far different from today's teachings. The church has drifted so far away it would be unrecognizable to these people a couple of hundred years ago.

As Paul said about this link: This is excellent “Star Wars”
http://www.outpost-of-freedom.com/star_wars/starwars00.htm


Let me add to this: I have just finished lesson one and I agree, it is everything that Gloria has stated. I recommend it to any serious follower of Yahusha. Gerlinda

Disclaimer: Rapture Bible Prophecy Forum, ( http://www.rapturebibleprophecyforum.com ) does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article posted on this site. We do however, encourage a healthy and friendly debate on the issues of our day. Whether you agree or disagree, we encourage you to post your feedback by using the reply button.