April 22, 2011


“Seven days you shall EAT unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall (have) remove[d] leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the FIRST DAY, there shall be a holy covocation, and on the SEVENTH DAY there shall be a holy convocation . . . so you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread . . .” (Exodus 12:15-16, 17).


Dear Brethren,

At the time of this writing, God’s people are in the closing days of the Days of Unleavened Bread. They go by too quickly! However during this brief period of time we should continue to be focusing on the meaning of these Days while learning lessons from them that will remain with us all of our lives

As all of us should know leavening is used by God as A TYPE OF SIN during this Festival. And SIN brings about everything that is bad: unhappiness, suffering, and eventually death! As to why, the Holy Bible reveals the definition of SIN to be in violation of God’s law of LOVE (I John 5:3): “Sin is lawlessness (transgression of the Law)” (I John 3:4).

And SIN, unless repented of, will lead to the second death (Revelation 20:13-15): “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).


The Days of Unleavened Bread


“This day shall be to you one of remembrance (Soncino Commentary: The whole season – meaning the Days of Unleavened Bread): you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD throughout the ages; you shall celebrate as an institution for all time. Seven days you shall EAT unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall (have) remove[d] leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. You shall celebrate a sacred occasion (commanded convocation) on the FIRST DAY, and a sacred occasion on the SEVENTH DAY; no work at all shall be done on them (the first and seventh days), only what every person is to eat, that alone may be prepared for you to eat . . . In the first month, from the 14th day of the month AT EVENING (beginning of the 15th day), you shall eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at evening (end of the 7th day). No leaven shall be found in your houses for seven days. . . . You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread “(Exodus 12:14-20, New Jewish Publication Bible).


Leavening/Sin


Having followed God’s command to put the leavening out of our homes and eating unleavened bread with each meal, is designed to teach us life and death lessons as begotten people of God. However we still find, as hard as we try not to, we still slip up here and there.

Though our sins are for the most part are unintentional they are still sin; and we must seek forgiveness from our wonderful caring Father through our compassionate Savior and High Priest Jesus Christ. And He is faithful and just to forgive us once we have repented of them (I John 1:9).

Still being human, and having Satan’s evil nature (we call human nature) within us, we sorrowfully feel deeply our frustrations while trying to live a life free of sin and find it is an impossible task (Ecclesiastes 7:20): I John 1:8-10). Even so, we must diligently continue trying, with God’s help, to live as perfectly as we can.

All of us become depressed and disappointed when we make our mistakes often hurting others, especially those who are the closest to us, husbands, wives, children, and brothers and sisters in Christ.

A case in point: Back in the late 50s, a minister told his young son that he was going to have to paddle him for something he had done: His young son replied, “Daddy, I don’t mean to do wrong, but I just can’t help myself.”


The law of Sin/Human Nature


The apostle Paul devoted a whole chapter in the Book of Romans to this subject.

Though he primarily wrote about himself, he also wrote about you and me – all of God’s people of all time— while making known his life experiences of sometimes falling short even as an apostle of God.


He wrote of his frustrations while trying hard to live fully a righteous life before God. He devoted one whole chapter about himself in the Book of Romans, Chapter 7, while knowing at the same time all of God’s true people would also be experiencing the same frustrations from time to time.

Though the whole chapter should be read (with related Scriptures) to grasp the fullness of the meaning of his writing, I will be taking only a part of it. Hopefully it will be enough to help all of us to know what we are battling!

At the same time we should not ever let ourselves become so totally discouraged that we quit the race to life— knowing as he wrote in the last verse, that Jesus Christ Himself will deliver us from this body of death when He returns by changing us into His likeness, born again, as Spirit beings in God’s Family, never having to wage the battle of human nature ever again!.

In the interim we must always continue to struggle knowing that once we put our hands to the plow (Luke 9:62), and having made our covenant with God at the time of our baptism (Romans 6; Luke 14:25-35), there is no turning back for that would lead to the second death and then become ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous (Malachi 4:1-3).

The following chapter presents an insightful look at ourselves while coming to know our enemy through the Apostle Paul’s writing of his own experience with himself:


Relating to Paul’s Experiences

Romans 7:14-15 “For we (the people of God) know that the law (including the 10 commandments) is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin (as a normal man without God’s Spirit, carnal nature has sin within it). For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do (the apostle Paul would break God’s law in spirit, not because he wanted to, but apparently couldn’t help it).

Verses 16-18 “If then, I do what I will not to do, I agree (in my mind) with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me (in my mind carnal nature has sin within it). For I know that in me, (that is in my flesh (habit of sin also in body – Mr. Armstrong) nothing good dwells; for to will (determine) is present with me, but how to perform (in my flesh) what is good I do not find.

Verses 19-21 “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice (in the flesh). Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law (Galatians 5:13, human nature), that EVIL is present with me, the one who wills to do good (human nature – evil exists side by side with God’s law, Genesis 3:13. We have to learn through God’s Holy Spirit to master ourselves Genesis 4:7).

Verses 22-23 “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members (human nature, I Peter 2:11), WARRING against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the LAW OF SIN (the very nature in man) which is in my members (he served, while wanting to obey God’s laws).

Verse 25 “O WRETCHED MAN WHO SHALL DELIVER ME FROM THIS BODY OF DEATH? I THANK GOD— through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself SERVE the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:14-25).

Related Scriptures reveal the law of sin to be human nature (Romans 7:5; 3:20; 5:13).


Stuck with Human Nature in Life


This human nature will continue to remain within each of us as long as we live in this human flesh.

With this realization in mind, we must always try hard to be vigilant and watchful of ourselves as well as the continued attacks by Satan in one way or another which usually comes at unexpected times and in ways we do not always expect.

Remember he is the price of the power of the air and can fuel attitudes of strong passions, anger, hostility, bitterness, envy, jealousy, lust, etc., in each one of us unless we cry out to God for the help needed to keep him away from us and also help us suppress this evil nature within us. (Ephesians 2:2; Galatians 5:19-21).

To aid us in our much needed understanding in this area, please seriously think about the following excerpts from a letter written by Mr. Armstrong:

Letter – What is Human Nature – Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong

Adam's Choice

Adam was compelled, therefore, to make the choice. God purposely allowed Satan opportunity to confront Adam with his way of rebellion. But He did NOT allow Satan to get to Adam first. God Himself instructed Adam in GOD'S way -- the way of the GOVERNMENT OF GOD based on the LAW OF GOD, just as Lucifer and his angels had been first instructed in the ways of THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD.

Then God allowed Satan to confront Adam. Satan got to Adam through his wife. Satan subtly deceived Eve into DISBELIEVING what God had taught them. Adam followed her in choosing rebellion and rejecting God's rule and government over them. They took to themselves the knowledge of what is good and what is evil -- deciding for themselves right from wrong.

Then, something happened to the minds of Adam and Eve -- the eyes of both of them were opened (Gen. 3:7). The spirit and attitude of rebellion had entered their minds. Their minds (hearts) now had become perverted -- deceitful and desperately wicked.

And THAT EVIL IN THEM CAME FROM SATAN, NOT FROM GOD! They were NOT created with this evil nature.

But how did humanity, today, come to have this evil attitude we call "HUMAN Nature"? Did the children of Adam and Eve inherit it from them? Or, was it passed on by heredity?

Let me give you an example of heredity. God put Adam to sleep and removed one of his ribs, out of which He made Eve. Do all men today find themselves short one rib by heredity? Of course not. Acquired characteristics are not passed on by heredity.

Evil Nature by Heredity?

Adam and Eve chose and acquired the "nature" or attitude of sin from Satan. It was not passed on by heredity. Jesus Christ called their second son "righteous Abel."

Then how do we humans come to have (universally) this evil attitude we call human nature today?

It's partly explained in the Apostle Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church. He said he desired to present that church "as a chaste virgin to Christ. BUT I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (II Corinthians11:2-3).

Satan was still around when Paul wrote. (The reason is explained elsewhere.) The people at Corinth had not received this evil nature by heredity. Rather, the apostle feared lest they (in this NEW Testament time) should be beguiled into evil attitudes in the same manner as was the original mother Eve -- directly by Satan.

Eve did not have a mind that was evil before Satan came along and confronted her. But Satan, by subtlety, deceived Eve. Eve's children were not born with this evil nature. Nor were the people of the Corinthian church. But Paul feared lest Satan, still around after some 4,000 years, [would] pervert Corinthian minds directly, as he had done to Eve.

Satan was still around when Christ was born. He tried to destroy the Christ child by having Him murdered. Satan was still around when Jesus was thirty and baptized. And he tried to destroy Jesus spiritually then, in the temptation. As Satan destroyed (spiritually) Adam, he tried to destroy the "second Adam." Satan is still around TODAY!

But the wily Satan has succeeded in deluding many, if not most, of the best minds into believing he is a nonexistent myth. The best minds, unsuspecting, are deceived (Revelation 12:9).

Here is a truth you, the reader, need to know! The spirit in every human being is automatically tuned in on Satan's wavelength. You don't hear anything because he does not broadcast in words -- nor in sounds, whether music or otherwise. He broadcasts in ATTITUDES. He broadcasts in attitudes of SELF-centeredness, lust, greed, vanity, jealousy, envy, resentment, competition, strife, bitterness, and hate.

In a word, the selfishness, hostility, deceitfulness, wickedness, rebellion, etc. that we call "Human NATURE' is actually SATAN'S NATURE. It is Satan's ATTITUDE. And broadcasting it, surcharging the air with it, Satan actually NOW WORKS IN the unsuspecting all over the world today! That is HOW Satan deceives the whole world today (Revelation 12:9; 20:3). Being invisible, Satan is not seen by people.

This prince of the power of the air -- this god of this world -- IS THE REAL SOURCE OF WHAT WE HAVE COME TO CALL "HUMAN Nature"!

Here is the real CAUSE of all the world's evils!

But it seems nobody understands it, and therefore the world does nothing about it -- except to go along with it, blaming human nature and supposing it was GOD who created us with an evil nature.

Actually, it is Satan's nature.

Spirit Communication

Let me give you an illustration of how we can be swayed, influenced, and driven Satan's wrong way by his broadcasting through the air. When God wanted to cause captive Jews in ancient Babylon to return to Jerusalem to build the second temple, He put it in the mind of Cyrus, king of Persia. The Persian Empire had taken over the rule of empire from Babylon. Following is the explanation of how God moved Cyrus to do what God wanted.

"Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia ... the Eternal stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom ..." (Ezra 1:1) that a contingent of Jews return to Jerusalem.

God did not speak to Cyrus in words or direct communication, as He talked with Moses and God's prophets. God reached Cyrus through Cyrus' spirit. God stirred up his spirit, causing him to want to do it. God did cause King Cyrus to know that in issuing this proclamation he was doing it according to the will of God.

Utilizing this same principle, Satan, prince of THE POWER OF THE AIR, stirs the spirits of humans, injecting into them attitudes, moods, and impulses of selfishness, vanity, lust, and greed, attitudes of resentment against authority, of jealousy and envy, of competition and strife, of resentment and bitterness, of violence, murder, and war. People do not recognize the source of these attitudes, feelings, motives, and impulses. As I said, they do not SEE the invisible Satan. They hear no audible voice. They do not know the attitude comes from Satan (Revelation 12:9). But they come to FEEL such attitudes, impulses, and desires. That is how Satan DECEIVES THE WHOLE WORLD.

Self-Centered Attitude

People will feel depressed and won't realize why. But those unaware of this phenomenon, with this self-centered attitude being broadcast and injected into their unsuspecting minds from earliest childhood, do, to a greater or lesser degree, absorb it until it becomes their normal attitude. It becomes habitual. It does not, of course, exhibit the same degree of effect in all minds -- one person will become more evil than another. But the natural tendency is there. They come to have it naturally. It becomes their very NATURE. And we call it "human nature."

All this is an outstanding example of just how subtle Satan is! The finest and most brilliant human minds have been deceived by it. Thus the WHOLE WORLD has been swayed by Satan into what I often term, simply, the "GET" way of life -- the way that has become HABITUAL and NATURAL which we term "HUMAN NATURE."


End of Quotes


Growing Toward Perfection


Jesus Christ said we are to become perfect even as our Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

The apostle Peter wrote,

“Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, BE DILIGENT to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless . . . You therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, BEWARE lest you also fall (as have others before us) from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but GROW in the grace and knowledge of the our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. (II Peter 3:14, 17-18).

We must continue to ask God to bless us in our Bible studies opening our minds to a greater understanding of His way of life, as well as learning from the sermons, broadcasts, booklets, etc., on our websites.


The Passover Season


God intends the Passover season, which includes the Days of Unleavened Bread, to be kept very seriously in mind by His true people, it is vital, meaningful, and also encouraging and strengthening as we continue on our journey across the spiritual desert on our way to the true Promised Land.

As we continue in this life’s journey we must be vigilant in the search to find leavening (sin) in our lives and when we find it, it must be rooted out as the Apostle Paul exhorted the members in the Church at Corinth:

"Therefore PURGE OUT the old leaven, that you may be A NEW LUMP, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore LET US KEEP THE FEAST, not with old leaven (type of former sins), BUT with the unleavened bread of sincerity and TRUTH" (I Corinthians 5:7-8).

Shortly these Days of Unleavened Bread we are now observing will become history but the lessons to be learned from them should never be forgotten.

Lessons learned with spiritual growth will enable us to continue having a relationship with our wonderful and caring God and Jesus Christ; this will make possible for us, through His mercy and grace, to stand before Jesus Christ in all of His awesome glory as He descends to this earth.

Your servant and friend,

Don Billingsley


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