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Light Becoming Darkness

Light Becoming Darkness

Jesus said,

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:22, 23).

The eye (lamp) is not the light itself—not photons, not the truth—but it is the medium through which the light (truth) shines. In the metaphor, Jesus is telling us that if something is wrong with the faculties that are designed to recognize, understand, process, and receive the truth, then rather than being enlightened, one will not only remain in the dark, but also the previous understanding (light) they had will prevent them from seeing new light.

God is an infinite being who lives in unapproachable light—truth, love, power, and ability (1 Timothy 6:16). Created beings are finite; we never become God and cannot enter into infinity. This means that there is always more truth for created beings to learn, new insights to comprehend, and more epiphanies to experience. Throughout all eternity future, the righteous will live lives of never-ending new discoveries, new insights, new light, new truth, growing constantly because they love the truth and long to advance in it as soon as their finite abilities can assimilate the next portion of God’s infinite truth.

The wicked, the lost, have a different attitude toward truth. Paul said that the wicked “perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10 NIV84). The lost love their beliefs, their dogmas, their rituals, their religion, or their rejection of religion, but they do not love the truth. When new truth (light) presents, they resist it, are threatened by it, and often label it heresy. And by rejecting the new unfolding light (truth), the previous genuine heavenly light becomes darkness to them, which prevents them from growing in truth until they accept the new light they are actively rejecting.

So how exactly does heavenly light become darkness to people?

In 5 CE, when Jesus was just a toddler, it was heavenly truth (light) that the Messiah who was promised to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15) and who would descend through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was soon to be revealed to the world and start His earthly ministry. But since 33 CE, after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, is it still heavenly light—truth—that the Messiah is going to be born in Israel, that the Messiah is yet to come, or has that truth become darkness to those who reject the advancing light that Jesus is our Messiah? If someone today rejects Jesus as Messiah and clings to the Old Testament prophecies about a Messiah who is yet to be born to us, are they in the light or are they in darkness?

Because the eyes (minds) of those who rejected Jesus were biased, prejudiced, selfish, and preferred the lies to the truth, the light was rejected and did not “enlighten” those who crucified Jesus Likewise today, all who reject advancing truth will find that previous truth has, in fact, become darkness (falsehood) to them. And until they accept the truth they are currently resisting they will remain in the falsehood of presenting a truth from the past which is not truth for today.

This has happened throughout human history when people discover a truth appropriate for their time in history but do not advance in the unfolding truth.

One example of this in the Adventist Church is how the message of the three angels of Revelation 14 was initially presented as the heavenly light shown down upon Adventist reformers, but as the truth was advancing, many in leadership rejected the advancing light at the 1888 General Conference in Minneapolis and, thus, the truth has become darkness to them.

In our magazine The Final Message of Mercy to the World: The Three Angels, we describe in detail what we understand to be the unfolding truth of these messages. The truth that was rejected by leadership in 1888 was the truth about God’s law being design law—the protocols upon which the Creator built reality to operate, and that the Ten Commandment law was not always in existence but was added by God as a gracious therapeutic tool specifically designed for human sinners.

But if one rejects the advancing light, if one understands God’s law to be imposed rules, the kind of laws that sinful humans make up, then one not only ends up worshiping a creature instead of the Creator, but they also interpret Scripture, including the three angels, via human legal systems—heavenly courtrooms, legal records, legal judgments, legal payments, inflicted punishments, etc.

However, when we return to worshiping the Creator and understand His laws are design laws, then one reads the three angels as they are supposed to be read—God’s final warning to the world of how reality works and what happens to those who reject Him and His design laws for life.

The high points of the messages are:

  • The central thread of the messages is about worship.
  • The first angel focuses on the eternal good news, which is the good news about God that is true in eternity past as well as eternity future—that God is not like Satan has alleged Him to be. He is the God who creates reality, whose laws are design laws, the protocols life exists and operates upon. We are called back to worship Him as Creator, and we are to stop worshiping a creature in the place of the Creator, and, thereby, give glory to God, for the hour in human history has come for people to make a right judgment about God—the hour of His judgment has come!
  • When we recognize the truth about God, we realize the system of imposed law with a punishing god is the fallen system of Babylon, the system of confusion that has resulted in the more than 41,000 different Christian groups arguing over whose doctrines are right, whose creeds are correct, whose fundamental beliefs are accurate. We are called to come out of that worldly way of thinking and functioning and return to worshiping our Creator by living in harmony with His designs for life (i.e., have His living law written upon our hearts and minds—Hebrews 8:10).
  • But if we don’t do that, if we instead reject the light and cling to the imposed-law lies, then, via the law of worship (by beholding we are changed; 2 Corinthians 3:18), we become like the false creature-god we worship and are marked in our characters (foreheads) and works (hands) to be like the beastly god we worship and …
  • Via the law of liberty, God sets us free to reap that which we have sown into our hearts, minds, and souls. After long, patient, gracious, merciful interventions by God, when people ultimately reject His truth and love, God gives them freedom and lets them go to reap the results of their own choices (Galatians 6:8). He stops using His power to protect them from what sin does, and this is known as God’s wrath (Romans 1:18, 24, 26, 28). When God no longer shields people from the devastation of breaking His design laws, then they reap the suffering that unremedied sin brings.
  • And via the law of love and truth, when the wicked stand in God’s life-giving glory, the eternal fires of infinite truth and love that flow out from Him like a river of flames (Daniel 7:10; Hebrews 12:29), the unsaved come into full awareness of their own selfishness, guilt, shame, and evil and they can no longer hide from the reality of who they have chosen to become.

This is the God of reality restoring all things back into harmony with how He constructed life to exist and operate, back into harmony with Himself and His design laws for life. It occurs when God stops using power to shield sinners from the unavoidable results of what sin does to them. It does not occur as a result of God using power to inflict pain, suffering, and death—that is how evil, sinful human governments work. God is waiting for His true friends to stand up and accept the advancing light and say of Him what is right so that people, at this time in human history, can have a real choice, see clearly the difference between the Creator God and the evil dictator, the punishing legalistic creature god, that has supplanted Him in the minds of billions—and then choose to reject the liar and return to worshiping our one and only true God and Savior Jesus Christ.

As we are about to embark on a new year, I encourage you to start it with a new resolve to grow in the truth. I invite you to be a lover of truth, study for yourself, and pray, asking God to give you a heart and mind that loves truth and is eager to grow and advance in the unfolding heavenly light as soon as you are capable of understanding it, to expose any beliefs you have that are currently obstacles to the truth, and to become yourself a source of heavenly light in this dark and sinful world.


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Testimony 50

After coming into contact with Come And Reason Ministries, I can finally say that many of my unanswered questions have fallen into place. I discovered that my view of God’s Law was “imposed laws and rules” with “imposed punishments” and that this was the major culprit of my many unanswered questions. Thanks be to God for using you and those around you to help us who have struggled with this “infection” of thought. I have now rejected the “imposed law” concept to fully embrace “Design Law”… to look thru “Design Law,” instead of “imposed law,” is a relief.

Viliami L., Australia

 

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I have found your Bible study class lectures to be very inspiring and useful as I prepare to teach class every other week. I subscribe to the podcast and download your notes on the weeks I teach. The audio and notes are such a great help in preparing. My own understanding of God’s character has grown as I teach the class. Commendations on the thought-provoking and well-prepared material Come and Reason provides. Personally, I get excited by the tie you make between the spiritual and mental/physical domains.

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Hearing Dr. Jennings’ presentations in person came at a pivotal moment in my spiritual journey that began about nine months ago, when the fault lines inherent in my belief system began to crack under questions that most reasonable people end up asking about God and His nature. These were questions I couldn’t find answers to, and they shook my faith. I was unable let it go any longer and be satisfied. My Christian experience became distant. I was afraid; the fear in me rose like thorns, pushing me away from Jesus. And then someone heard my questions and introduced me to this ministry, and my life has totally changed.

I can tell you that this new, “present truth” message is far grander and life-changing than when I shifted from being an agnostic and then a nominal Christian. It has radically altered my worldview, because it reveals a God that makes sense. It is a revolution. I believe that Dr. Jennings’ message is the final message that must go to the world. If any message could be called “righteousness by faith,” as abused as that term is by the right and the left, this is that message, because Jennings’ biblical message identifies a God who is different, whose character isn’t an impossible contradiction.

I walk this path now without fear. I see people differently, and the Holy Spirit burns in my heart. Many call Dr. Jennings’ message false and compromising, but it isn’t false, because I’ve seen the fruits within my mind and body. It is not compromising, because in this message is the only road to holiness that makes any sense. No longer do I behold a pagan god who is always angry and suspicious. Instead, I behold a God who is freeing and loving, always working for our good, and giving me every reason to love my enemy even to my own death, just as Jesus pleads with us. God is good.

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Testimony 41

I have been blessed by your ministry. I have experienced personally, and deeply resonate with, the God of love and the beautiful picture of God’s character that you present. I have seen your seminar series on YouTube, read ‘The Journal of the Watcher’ book, used your mobile app, and also listen/study the bible study lesson with you each week. I concur with many of the thoughts and perspectives that you share. I understand your conclusions on natural laws vs imposed law and the legal/penal substitution (incorrect diagnosis). This makes perfect sense to me.

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Melissa L.

 

Testimony 60

Just watched watched lesson 10 in the 1st quarter 2021 bible study classs on Isaiah. I want to thank you for your intellectual spirituality; it’s not an oxymoron! From the point of view of a teacher I also enjoy seeing how much personal pleasure you clearly take in not just tasting, but feasting on God’s word – it reminds me of Jeremiah not being able to hold it in! It makes me smile that your cup is so full and overflowing that you make it to Tuesday’s lesson (on a good day). It just goes to show the richness of God’s Word.

God bless the Come and Reason Team from our church here in Great Britain.

Andrew H., Great Britain

 

Testimony 46

Over the past couple of years God has been expanding my view of Himself and His character. Along my approximately 40-year journey, I have often had questions, but was hesitant to voice these and step outside the traditionally accepted thinking, for fear of admitting that I may in fact be eternally lost. In the recesses of my thinking has been the thought – if one blindly accepts (which is widely regarded as “real faith”) and does not question, is this really ‘truth?’ I often find it challenging to grapple with very theological ‘speak,’ but Dr. Jennings has a real gift of explaining spiritual concepts with clear practical examples. The weekly discussions are growing my Christian experience and slowly changing my view of how to live as a child of God in today’s complex world. Finally the whole Old Testament sanctuary teaching moved in my mind from fantasy to reality!

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Bradley M., Hinsdale, NY, USA

 

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I have been following your Bible study class for about a year now. I must say I am impressed with how your ministry has grown. I took it upon myself to listen to all your lesson podcasts from the past and they have both enriched me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I have learnt a lot from this class. I have also noticed how the class has grown in spiritual strength. One of the things that benefited me is that now I am not afraid of God. I use to be, but now it has melted away. The second thing is that you helped me to have a real life relationship with God. Now He is my friend that was always there and I love having him with me all the time. Thirdly, because of this class, it inspired me to take over and lead a class. I have called it “Let Us Reason Together,” adapting your inquisitive style and creating a class of free thinkers.

T. Banda, Malawi, Africa

 

Testimony 27

Your teachings about our heavenly Father have changed my life. Thank you sooooooo very very much! I know He’s doing some serious healing in my heart and life and I look forward to each new day to learn something new about Him and to just hear you speak about Him. Thank you, forever.

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Testimony 42

I am just writing to say that I have been so blessed by the teachings of Come And Reason Minitries recently. I watched last week’s bible study lesson on Youtube and am thankful that the error in the printed lesson guide you use was pointed out and this week’s study was of equal benefit, if not more so. My understanding of God’s nature has been very confused of late and I am so grateful for clarity in this matter. I have never really fully understood previously how a good God can cause bad things to happen and now I realise that He doesn’t, it’s a natural consequence of sin. May the almighty Father and His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, continue to bless your ministry.

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Testimony 44

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M.T., USA

 

Testimony 34

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Testimony 29

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