Job 36: Kings in Fetters (Part 13)
We continue from Part 12 where I have stopped at the lake of fire which shall consume the “tabernacles of bribery” (Job 15:34), the carcasses of dead men and women (Christians included) which shall fall in the “time of temptation.” (Luke 8:13) Again, going back to:
Job 36:13 "But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them."
The hypocrites in heart will never repent, as evidenced by the words of John the Baptist to the Pharisees and the Sadduccees in:
Matthew 3:8 "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:"
John the Baptist continued in the next verse:
Matthew 3:9 "And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."
This is where we know that the Pharisees and Sadduccees taught as their doctrine that the natural descendants of Abraham is favoured in the sight of God above the rest of the people in this world, to which John the Baptist rebuked them saying: "... think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."
Today, there are many churches which teach that the way God saves a Jew is different from the way he saves a gentile. Now we know that this teaching has its origin in dispensationalism which places natural Israel in a supernaturally favourable position with God according to their corruption of Genesis 12:3.
A hypocritical Christian is as the Pharisees and the Sadduccees that can never bring forth fruits meet for repentance. In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, we are shown the great importance of a repentant heart.
Luke 16:28-31 "For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."
The Rich Man was a Jew, and yet he burned in hell. He was a natural descendant of Abraham, but he was also sinner like the rest of the people in this world. God did not favour him just because he was born a Jew. Why was he in hell?
Notice what the Bible says in verse 30: the reason why the Rich Man was burning in hell (and still is) is because he knew to REPENT, but never did so in his lifetime!! In fact, that was the only thing that was mentioned whereby his five brethren may escape the torments of hell, but repentance is something that a hypocrite in heart can never do.
I have lost count of the number of teachings these days that attacks the doctrine of repentance because it is not compatible with their false doctrine of "decisionism", also called "easy-believism" or "quick-prayerism". This doctrine basically teach that we are are bound for heaven the moment we perform certain things required of us and usually given to us in the form of a procedure, like the one in the following:
Admit you're a sinner;
Realize the penalty of sin;
Believe that Jesus Christ died, was buried and rose again for you;
Trust Jesus Christ alone as your saviour.
Even though it is not explicitly stated in this list, it usually starts with a "decision" to accept Christ as Lord and Saviour, and it normally ends with a sinner's prayer. This is in a nutshell of what decisionism is about.
Decisionism teaches that a person is saved based on the outward gestures he demonstrates rather than the inward conversion of his heart. It was a liberal theology developed by Charles G. Finney in the early 1800s. Finney was most likely the first preacher to introduce the altar call, somewhere around 1825. He taught that any person, after he has made a decision to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and has prayed the sinner's prayer as demonstration of his conversion, is considered born again.
Decades later, DL Moody conducted citywide crusades based on the system developed by Finney. The result was an even higher percentage of false converts. Since 1825, Decisionism has filled churches with millions upon millions of false converts who have been deceived to think that they have been saved after they walked through a certain set of procedures, when in fact, they are still lost and on their way to hell.
Nowhere in Scripture do we find the sinner's prayer or things as such prescribed in the churches today as a necessary part for one's salvation. Do we perform a set of actions just to be seen of men, just so they know that we are born again believers? Referring to the scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus said in:
Matthew 6:5 "¶ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."
This verse is where we get a glimpse of what the scribes and the Pharisees did in those days where they pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, just so to be seen of men. This is similar to the altar calls and the sinner’s prayer in many of the churches today. In fact, as part of the church membership, they will ask you questions like “Did you pray the sinner’s prayer?” It just goes to show that modern church doctrine of salvation demands that a new convert must pray the sinner’s prayer before they will recognise his salvation, and before they will admit him into the church membership. In fact, this was something that had happened to me previously:
Now, I do not believe in praying the sinner’s prayer or performing any such rituals as you can see in my correspondence between them and myself. Sadly, many Christians see the sinner’s prayer they’ve prayed as an escape from hell and a guarantee of a place in heaven when they pass on from this life.
In the Charismatic Church, the sinner’s prayer is not only seen as a guarantee of salvation, but “salvation” to them also means health and wealth in this life. It is no longer faith in every word of God in the 66 books of the Holy Bible that save them, but that the sinner’s prayer they prayed has saved them.
Many will argue that the sinner’s prayer is like an act of repentance, and this is where we must be very careful or else we may lead many to stumble on the issue by our words and our deeds. For every real and valuable thing, there is usually a counterfeit that looks very much like it.
The Devil knows how to manufacture counterfeit doctrines that attack the true and pure doctrine of the word of God in a way that is subtle and not easily discernible. There is fake repentance and real repentance according to Paul in:
2 Corinthians 7:9 "Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing."
The words "not that ye were made sorry" ought to tell us that there is a form of false repentance whereby a person is made sorry, howbeit not after a godly manner. Then, there is another form of sorrow whereby a person is made sorry after a godly manner, eventually leading him to repentance. Consider:
Job 36:13 "But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them."
A hypocrite in heart cry not, but a true believer will cry when God “bindeth” him. The word “bind” means to fasten with bands, as in:
Job 38:31 "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?"
All forms of the word “band” are found exactly 66 times in the 1611 King James Bible, 66 being the number of books in the canon of the Holy Bible.
Psalms 2:2-3 "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."
The words of the LORD will bind a person, whether he is a believer or a hypocrite. In this passage, there are “cords” that are binding the kings of the earth and the rulers of this world.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 "And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken."
Their plan is to break the threefold cord of God so that it no longer binds them. The threefold cord is the 66 books of the word of God given to us in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, and this verse also bears a connection to:
Matthew 18:16 "But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established."
Every word of God is established in the mouth of two or three witnesses, and this goes along with:
1 Corinthians 14:27 "If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret."
Today, the two or three unknown tongues of the word of God has been interpreted for us in one language. For English-speaking people, the threefold cord of truth is interpreted for us in the 1611 King James Bible. Not too long ago, I did a search using the pure Bible search software on the word “language”, and I was instantly astonished at the results.
This word “language” is found in 22 verses in 16 chapters and 11 books. Notice the pattern of the number 22 and 1611 embedded in this word? 22 is a reference to "the will of God" which is found exactly 22 times in the King James Bible, and 1611 is the year when the King James Bible was published. Is this mere coincidence?
I know many Christians who hate the 1611 King James Bible would like to believe that. They do not like to be shown evidences that the 66 books of the Holy Bible is a supernatural book, not only because it goes against what they believe, but it also goes against modern scholarship (they love) which asserts that God has not wholly and fully preserved his word.
Going back to Job 36:13, the difference between a believer and a hypocrite is that a believer will repent at the word of God, but a hypocrite will not.
Hebrews 12:16-17 "Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."
Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a morsel of meat, and afterward, God made sure that he would not inherit the blessing. The part after the colon mark (‘:’) in verse 17 tells us why Esau was rejected: he did not genuinely repent even though it may appear on the outside that he was very sorrowful, for, if he had truly repented, then he would not have been a fornicator or a profane person that the Bible calls him. That is false repentance right there!! It has a form of sorrow, but it is not godly sorrow.
Today, many churches are into songs and music that seems to tug the heart strings. They employ these things in their worship: songs that are filled with words that hardly reflects the Bible, lyrics that speak of a perverted form of Jesus, and music that seems to soften a person's heart. They even made the congregation cry by using worship leaders that know how to arouse emotions through their voice and words.
Then, after the church service an altar call will be made, accompanied by soft music and soft words, and the people who come up to the altar will be asked to pray a sinner's prayer or perform a set of actions after which they are declared saved and heaven-bound, confirmed by hearty congratulations received from leaders and members of the church. That is full-blown “decisionism” happening in the majority of the churches today. But, were these people truly saved right then and right there?
Job 36:13 "But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them."
What made these people went up to the altar? Was it by the threefold cord of the word of God, or was it something else? Oh, they will tell you that you must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, and he was buried, and he rose bodily on the third day. That is their “simple” plan of salvation, that you must do this or do that, according to the “simple” plan of salvation that they have prescribed for you.
But, how is it possible that a lost person and a sinner is able to muster the faith enough to believe that Jesus died on the cross for all his sins, and that he was buried and rose bodily from the grave on the third day for his justification? We shall continue our studies of Job 36 in Part 14.