New Covenant Group

The Rebukers

The message is clear. Heaven yes. Hell no. Love the Loving God, or be tortured by Him. Wait, what?

It's a good thing that hell isn't in the Greek or Hebrew manuscripts of Scripture, because it doesn't make sense, in any sense. Think about it. Those who believe in hell, want you to believe in Jesus and love God, so that you won't go to hell. Anyone who believes and loves because of hell, does so because they are afraid of hell. Belief and love resulting from fear is forced, and forced love and belief is not real. So those who believe and love because of hell, don't really believe and love, so they are going to hell.

Something is wrong with this fairy tail concept.

The true message is simple. God loves. Love never fails. Period.

No Hell - Joey

Lately, Joey has been turning up the heat on a very hot subject: hell--or it seems like hell anyway. Some think he’s not right in the head--well, so he has a penchant for utilizing the arts to make his point, i.e., while having fun. And others say God has some issues, i.e., He’s a torture-chamber-making God with a penchant for burning His children when they refuse to believe. Ok, let’s get real honest, and ask some questions: Why would a loving Father make a torture chamber for His children? Should a child trust a torture-chamber-making Father? Are torture-chamber-making Fathers good? How long will it take church people to let go of these myths and hold to Scripture? Is Joey doing wrong when using satire to ask these questions? What say you?

Since hell is the ultimate straw man, his satire naturally pulls at the heart strings of those gone too literal. It's like the organ monkey routine; the torture-enduring monkey dances to the tune of the grind as it becomes the kind of theater that people like to watch and jeer. There's a love-hate in the dance and a rigid grind of nonsense for a tune. Nevertheless, they call Hell the tune, and argue that it's just. What say you?

Do you agree with the following: There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called--one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:4-6 NIV). Do you think that the following really happened: But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:4-10). So, were you made alive with Christ because you believed, or were you made alive with Christ when Christ was made alive? What say you?

Living Simple

While we are looking forward to a prosperous year, too many are going without food, water, shelter, and a reason to live. Right now, there are millions of people starving to death; most of these people have had no privilege to think past hunger in their lifetime. (For this reason, we spend very little on buildings but continue to invest to the max on/in people…Leaving the world of pretension and Cathedral keeps the mind focused on others; living simple develops a better stewardship for helping others….)

The ones who hunger need more than just a simple form of oatmeal. Allow me to indulge–I can’t imagine feeding the hungry slop while we enjoy feast; something is so abusive about our Lazarus approach and our deep-pocket crumbs.

There are scores of missionaries doing great jobs digging wells, feeding people, giving medical attention, and you should know the rest…. Let’s not reinvent the wheel–they need our help now. Let’s send it to them–!

Look at it this way, to give everyone access to clean water will take billions of dollars; it will take even more to put food in their mouths. Call your local pastor. He should advise you well. Church people know how to do it best.

Churches are much better places when people are taking care of people; it shows His grace.

Reaching 70 Times More In 2009....

Our television schedule for 2009 will change and reach more people with the Gospel than ever before; grace is always opening the doors and we stand thankful for all. Stepping into more markets, better time slots, and with a flood of new shows (declaring more of the goodness of God), makes life all too wonderful.

The Dark Knight

This trailer demonstrates the gifts and talents of men of genius; like or dislike, the movie stands….  Heath Ledger does more in this trailer than most do in a life time; he’s more than an actor and no less than eclectic. From the outside looking in, he seemed to be a great guy with some unfortunate baggage. Many have judged him critically but God refused to hear their allegations. Why? The New Covenant doesn’t allow for charges to be made any longer. God legally settled all of the allegations, charges, and condemnation 2000 years ago by the gracious work of Christ. Ledger did sin but Christ had all of that covered with His unfailing blood. Is God good? All the time–!

Desiderius Erasmus Did Muddle Up

Some are making fools look wise as they continue to add to the Protestant version of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum–what a tragedy. Now that Erasmus is king (polysemic irony intended), he might have found more favor among the few who still suppress knowledge if he had only buried his disparity over the variance of the Comma Johanneum–forgeries are but many in the Land of Oz, and since the debatable-third edition of the problematic and questionable TR, Textus Receptus, was somewhat of a slingshot-footing for the CJ’s inclusionary attraction, it compelled most to question its origin and textual-veracity.

Trashing one Textus Receptus for another wasn’t the style of a man whose sobriquet, Prince of the Humanists, was true, but finding all of the gold with all of its dross was. His style never conformed to the Deus absconditus syndrome: knowing God was beyond man’s reach.   In a pressurized manner, he gathered available manuscripts–they were not all great finds, nor were they all Greek or complete!–and published the first Greek New Testament. Two other editions followed with an honesty for more mss, and to park his finds and promulgations was of no intention. 

Desiderius Erasmus did muddle up a “pithos” to a Pandora’s Box from time to time, but his allegiance to formalism was much like his satire on Traditional Avenue: he gave ‘em hell, not censorship–! His work, The Praise of Folly (Morias Enkomion), was no small catalyst for reformation; it exposed the intention of the doctrinaires of obscurantism as the madness it was: insanity. The opposition towards the spread of knowledge by deliberate vagueness and abstruseness was the perfect–but sick–recondite for the ills of the Catholic Church; it was the formula of its elite: keeping it too difficult and out of reach for the common man to see…. For this reason, Erasmus argued against the elite holding all the cards; the common man should have never been positioned for disadvantage in any sense.

We see too much of the past in our present; we should learn from the past, not carry its baggage. Keeping the mind under lock and key as do most Protestants and Catholics is in the same vein as being conditioned like Pavlov’s dogs, i.e., by the illogical cant of shock-jocks in ministries; it’s a sensitizing technique that involves the pairing of stimuli, and the target responds as if all things are normal. Overreacting to the changes that are taking place in English Bibles and obstreperous doctrine isn’t just predictable, it’s produced; the puppet strings are just too visible for the show to be considered interesting, and yet the clowns keep the circus fans buying the tickets.

The religious obdurateness and clairvoyant epiphanies of “folks gone denominational” are but mere fans of vociferous crowing; parroting is favored as revival, and a “No Students Allowed” song is in ear. The cheers go up as EMO takes center stage. Questions are but far left, and they ain’t nothin’ rite for the drum of the ear except, “that’s not what my Bible says...Amen?! That’s right! Amen! Hallelujah!” Falling victim to Pavlovian Conditioning is the setup of the political rite, and things won’t change dare we think–!

(We need to thank God for the people in denominations that do not treat Education as kryptonite. Our kids need to look forward to a great future, and that normally requires an Education. Go for it–!)

We should not repeat the mistakes of ones who did, and still do, travel the pretentious road of highbrowism: this paradigm seems to remain yet shifts like the wind in lower and upper subcultures. The few seem to try clouding the Scriptures of the Son to the many, and their exclusive approach is never as inclusive as His love is intended. No one with right mind should ever attempt to separate anyone from His love so deep; His love is a width without boundaries, a heighth without ceiling, and an immutability without precondition. No one, no one, no one, has fact, right, or privilege to exclude the ones He loves–! These are for whom He died!

Some hate to think of the Love so good and the Grace so sweet that set us free from the law of sin and death. There was an Old Day when the human mind never grasped like this New Day, the eye never saw like this New Day, and the ear never heard like this New Day…but now that this New Day is here, God has revealed to us: what He had prepared for all who love Him.  So it might have been that slow we were to learn, but this is the New Day, a time for grasping, a time for seeing, a time for hearing, and a time for loving. Let the bad be the past and the good be your present future.  

Erasmus was of no little value in this New Day of Covenant. His works have enriched our lives forever–! Thanks is less than what he deserves because of the wonderful work of Christ; his life was God’s grace to me– a poor unfortunate if I can’t see. –Michael W. Jones

The Atonement Results: Forgiveness.

God made forgiveness, the result of atonement, all too clear in the Old Covenant: it was the responsibility of the high priest alone to make an atonement that produced forgiveness for all of the people of Israel (cf. 2 Chronicles 29:24), but God made the picture much much larger (cf. Eph. 2:4-22) and much much better in the New (cf. Heb. 7:12-8:22): He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Heb. 10:9-10 NIV).

The author of the book of Hebrews put forth the Old Covenant as holy, but powerless. He, by God’s authorship, constructed the perfect paradigm for a covenantal argument, one that surpassed its predecessor. It was clothed in nuance, and the idioms did fly as to hit their target before the tongues of works could wag; nothing could have been more empowering than taking the scenic route of sacrificial history all the way down to the foot of the cross; it laid bare the soul, unshackled the mind, and put The End over sin offerings.

Educating Old Covenant thinkers with the consummate passion of Christ was this author’s style as he led/taught some of them out of their obsession with Sinai, the failed Old Covenant. Empowering people to make it through the Old Covenant Last Days was no little task–what a book–! However, the Old was the kind of Covenant that did nuance the things to come, but it was also the kind of Covenant that could never be more than temporal and imperfect: “The law [metonymy for the Old Covenant] was only a shadow of the good things to come—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship” (Hebrews 10:1 NIV).

The transition from Old to New confused the ones who knew no Gospel at all. So, learning the Good News became the essential comfort for change. To leave the orthodox view of Law and Messiah for a Man called Jesus was to most an act of apostasy: the renunciation of a theological view held by pundits in the mainstream of religious rhetoric. Should one deviate from the old-dominant theories of Scripture, those accepted and authorized, and embrace Jesus as the One who made us righteous once and for all by His essence, character and work–as Eternal High Priest and Eternal Lamb–was as heretical as it gets in that day and age. For this reason, the apostles and their students were considered the heretics of their day; religious zealots labeled the fortunate few (the believers in Jesus) with debasing terms as do the modern-day enthusiasts who carelessly parrot their zealous ancestors; these fanatical partisans with ill-mannered methods of incendiary design unfortunately waste what the mind was made for: thinking–designed by God, useful if working, and gives praise if connected with knowledge.

In a strange sense, some of these first-century-so-called heretics were the ones who wrote the New Covenant, but their journey wasn’t of reputation, it was of power and a sound mind. The truth speaks for itself, their power was their message, and their message was the cross: such foolishness to a depraved mind, but wisdom to the changed mind. No one could grasp their thoughts without prerequisites met and an embedded Spirit in mind, for their thoughts did not originate from within, but from Him.

Jesus warned His disciples about the doctrines of works: they were leaven and of the groups who did pride themselves with the labels of opportunity and distinction. It was an age in which politics and religion went hand in hand; the venality of a nature that man did create. The leaven, the labels, the nature–it was all the same; year after year, sacrifice after sacrifice, nothing changed, and orthodoxy was as paradigmatic as sin.

It appears that juxtaposition was Paul’s approach towards painting the purpose of transition: from Old Covenant Thinking (death) to New Covenant Thinking (life). You can sense the change of Covenants in his rhythm and style. He leaves the words of Moses as a temporal death intended and clings to the words of Christ as life everlasting. His conclusions rocked the old world of sin and shame, but gave praise to the Rock of our salvation. With words like these, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22), he preached the Gospel; he preached it far and wide.

The apostle Paul found no interest in man’s ability, but viewed the love of Christ as the power it is: “For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. [Unfortunately, some have never read the conclusion, what comes after this, with this frame in mind. An idiomatic argument in the source language should never be lost in transport, i.e., to target-language styles of logic and form. English-only students tend to force more times than not subordinating conjunctions and related inflections of indefinite pronouns into magical-subjunctive play at recess without subjunctive realities in the field of real syntax. Putting the red flag up the right pole in heavy seas may perhaps calm the mind for a better read, but it’s not the concluding solution for an English reader with an if-any-whoever syndrome.] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation (NIV 2 Corinthians 5:14-19). Paul’s premise is all-inclusive, so the conclusion “might” naturally follow “if” “any” logical “since” exchange for prose finds its way–ha–! His logical transition is nuanced for the weak like fresh bread for the multitude, but most choose to keep “in Christ” pending, therefore missing Paul’s style of argument and idiom: sound-bite theology keeps the fly on the wall, but the food is on the table.

Paul uses a wonderful juxtaposition in Romans 5:18 to illustrate how God made us righteous through one act of Christ: just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. Since it would be more than just a little circuitous for any reader to render “the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men” as potential condemnation for all men, then it would necessarily follow that Paul’s use of juxtaposition obligates the reader to render its contrast, “the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men”, as actual justification, not potential, in that it brings life, not potentially, but actually–for as a gift it came upon all men.

“Unfortunate” may not be strong enough to describe the particular ills of the previous quote. An objective reader will not dismiss the read, but will see it for what it is. Even though this verse, taken from a dynamic-equivalent translation called the NIV, is slightly slanted, i.e., in the Romans 5:18 juxtaposition, towards political punditry, it has more health than ills. The KJV translators should get some plus points for staying far away from the political potentials on this one; the juxtaposition is safe and without a lot of idiomatic loss–applause intended!

Form-critical translations do have some advantages along with their many losses. For this reason, one should use extreme caution when comparing translations; never lose sight of the translators’ intention, the text-base, the terms and conditions of contracts, and the many kinds of translating methods–apples need to be compared with apples if truth is of interest–!  Keeping the good, the bad, and the ugly of method, intention, and source is best on the table for all reads; we lose nothing if all textual considerations are always available. However, some have tragically followed the tradition of elitism, but none have gained from the narrowed blindness of hiding, demeaning, and destroying extant works as with trash.

God’s judicial declaration of righteousness, the final judgment on mankind’s legal standing, should never be confused with the confidence levels or the viewpoints of individuals or corporeities. Paul makes it all too clear that judicial condemnation has actually been set aside (satisfied) legally, permanently, and gloriously by the judicial act of the One and Only Son of God, Jesus Christ.

He alone, as our Eternal High Priest and as our Eternal Lamb, made the perfect atonement for all sin by the shedding of His blood. By one sacrifice He perfected us forever (Heb. 10:14). By that same sacrifice He produced total forgiveness (Heb. 10:18). In other words, if people say that more forgiveness is needed, then more sacrifice is needed, and if more sacrifice is needed, then another Lamb is needed, and if another Lamb is needed, then another Christ is needed, and if another Christ is needed, then what are people saying? To suggest that more forgiveness is needed, in any sense, denies the work of Christ!

What about 1 John 1:9? John is a contextualist, and he leaves no room for additional forgiveness. His writings are unique and simple. We will post an explanation of this verse in a short while. Enjoy! --Michael W. Jones

The Perfect Picture: Sin Covered

"Where do people go if they die in their sin?" Since the question neglects the work of Christ, it paints an untruthful picture of sin. It assumes that Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, did not atone for all of our sins.

The Old Covenant picture of sin was all bad, but Jesus painted over all of the bad with His blood. He called His masterpiece “The New Covenant”: signed, sealed, and delivered.

Man keeps trying to look beyond the blood of Christ, but God said, “I will never be reminded of sin again…Now that total forgiveness is a reality, there can be no more sin offerings”. So now we have the perfect picture; it’s covered with the blood of Jesus, and we need to see it God’s way!

Sin did rule in death, but now grace rules through righteousness. Where sin did thrive, grace now thrives much much more. Let’s enjoy the rule of grace: it’s all of the works of Christ combined. What a life: We were born from above to live in Him.

The Gnashing of Teeth

The phrase, “The gnashing of teeth (ho brugmos ton odonton)”, has been used in many different ways…by many different authors…to convey many different things: a sense of determination, spirited resistance, remorse, aggravation, frustration, exasperation, pain, suffering, anger, rage, the sound of teeth, the imagery of rejection, and the list goes on…. (If we narrow the scope a bit, find a context, then we find our way.)

Matthew and Luke record the “Unique One” who gave extraordinary syntax to this phrase. This empowered the first century reader towards no ambiguity: an incredible read it is, but more importantly, it’s time sensitive and restricted to few…. So, His statement, “There will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth (ekei estai ho klauthmos kai ho brugmos ton odonton)”, is target-limited, thus contextually driven.  

No one had to guess their way through, for His rhythm of style and emotion did more than like idioms; He did speak deep into the heart of a culture, and bias they were. Reaction was involuntary…the bells rang and ears clamored as if to say, you can almost hear the pitch of the psalmist, “the wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish”. No modern is intended, only the target will lose, i.e., “desire”. The “he” typifies the group with singularity of intent (not uncommon in Hebrew).

This particular poetry is of no little use and made no little connection for those who heard the words of Jesus: But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The only question they had…was, “why pitch it our way? – We are simply looking for a militant Messiah to liberate the righteous”. To them the wicked were outside of the camp, they thought they were the righteous ones and the others were just on the outside looking in: rejection syndrome played in real time.  Therefore, it would be more than a little Machiavellian to render “There will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth (ekei estai ho klauthmos kai ho brugmos ton odonton)” as more than what it really is: the imagery of the target reacting to the change that did come: the ending of the Old Covenant age, and beginning of the New Covenant age. But for a moment – Did this imagery soon fade to reality? – tears and grinding as the heart of His people were cut toward the best circumcision: the heart written with the hand of God. –Michael W. Jones

the essence of REAL EVANGELISM!

Watch, Think, and Tell

Too Funny - The KJV Defense Team

The Dovetail - Hell

“Will the REAL “HELL” please stand up?!” is no small problem to the English reader.

It’s all too simple: “sheol, gehenna, and hades,” are the nouns that have been dovetailed into one English term, “hell”, and “tartarosas” is the participle used in the same play, “cast them down to hell”. (I keep looking for Temeluchus to hook-choke some unfortunate in a sermon or two – hello! – but serious they’re not. Maybe the damned get the iron and the rest of “what Tartaruchi is” makes Gnostic Headliners for the shivers of the Anabaticon of Paul: polysemous words at fall, and the Dodgers are no ball team here.)

What is there about this “dovetailing method” that isn’t deceptive? When did transliterating lose to theological bias? Why treat this aorist-tense participle with the contempt of Gorgias? Can these three nouns (sheol, gehenna, and hades) and this participle (tartarosas) be realistically understood by English readers if “hell” and “cast them down to hell” are taken literally? “Will the REAL “HELL” please stand up?!” is no small problem to the English reader. What can be gained if the reader loses the intention of the author? English readers are simply left in the dark when “hell” is used.

Has this kind of methodology created something that doesn’t exist in the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures? Yes! Should we call the use of “hell” good translating, plain commentary, or a misuse of translating?

Places and names, in most cases, should be transliterated, not translated–! …And you can’t forget about the semantic value that should never be lost in the transport of idioms and the likes.  Let’s look at it this way: translators need to translate terms that should be translated, and transliterate terms that should be transliterated, and put commentary where it belongs (footnotes, side notes, and commentaries). The reader of any translation shouldn’t have to worry about whether the things written in Scripture are commentary or not. He, “the reader”, should be able to trust that the English text is accurate, and for this reason, the interpretive process can also be done in English. This gives all of the body of Christ a fair and balanced playing field to understand His Word. –Michael W. Jones

Websites

Joey and Monica are kicking it up a notch! The New website for the YOUTH is great! Everyone has been too amazed. Fun is not the only word for it.

Joey gave me some samples of where our "New Covenant Group" website is going. WOW! People need this kind of connection. I can't even begin to imagine the impact of all of this. It's coming.... (Joey must be a miracle child! Hello!)

These videos seem to have reached the target. Thank God! Enjoy!  God is so good.

Michael and Rhonda Jones – The Gospel

Michael and Rhonda Jones – The Two One

ten limnen tou puros kai theiou

What is there about this expression, "ten limnen tou puros kai theiou", that isn’t idiomatic? In translational work, it’s better to retain idioms if possible (no easy task, and at times not possible). The literal transport of any Greek or Hebrew idiom into English need not be confused in interpretation. If a translator manages to transport an idiom from its source-language document to a receptor-language document in a form-critical manner without dynamic loss, then you have made it to first base (possibly second). The runner comes home when the reader of the receptor-language document can identify the idiomatic structure. This now gives the reader of the receptor-language document the benefit of making a legitimate attempt at interpretation. (Please keep in mind, there are many methods of translating; form-critical methods are but one category of the whole.)

Too many make the mistake of interpreting idioms without really understanding what idioms are. To think a literal transport of an idiom should be literally interpreted in the receptor language would miss the point of both author and translator….

English readers that have access to source-language material need to exercise much caution.   Too many are wrapped tight in word studies and give no room for the rest of what matters: syntax, context, idioms, nuance, and metaphor–! The market has been flooded with “Word Study Easies”, and “Grammars” have been put out of site. It’ always better to have a handful of “Grammars” than a library of “Word Study Easies”.  Word studies accomplish little if the whole needs uncovered. Consider the thoughts of Turner as the gold they are: “Just as a sentence is more revealing than a single word, so the examination of a writer’s syntax and style is that much more important to a biblical commentator. It is not surprising that fewer books have been written on this subject than on vocabulary, because whereas students of vocabulary can quickly look up lists of words in concordances and indices, in the field of syntax the study is more circuitous. There is no help except in a few selective grammars and monographs, so that the worker really must work his way through all the texts in Greek. [H. H. Rowley, “Recent Foreign Theology,” ExpTim 74/12 (1963):383; cf. Nigel Turner, Grammatical Insights into the New Testament (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1965) 2-3]”

There are  many great  "Greek and Hebrew Grammars" that  need to be on your
shelves. Enjoy! --Michael W. Jones

Rick Warren and Stephen Colbert

“Stephen Colbert wants Jesus on the show, and Rick Warren says he has connections.” This is the kind of stuff that makes for a good time. All “believers” need to get out of the box from time to time, and enjoy life. Rick Warren  and Stephen Colbert certainly have accomplished that–!

Enjoy!

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has more heart than most see. For more reasons than not, we fail to see the compassion of others until tragedy comes our way. This may be an inability that most of us have, or I dare say: want to have (too sad...).

What is there about the work of Christ that we refuse to see? Are we so naïve to think that the work of Christ in Stewart’s life isn’t working? Is there no love of God being expressed through him? Is the apostle John wrong in stating, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God”, or is he, John, using hyperbole and we didn’t get it?   

Did Christ fail to get whom He died for? Is He failing for whom He is praying for? Should we look for Stewart’s righteousness, something that he did to get justified, or should we look back to the righteous work of Christ to see if His blood justified Stewart?

When we relegate God to bypass His Word, play the role of a puppet, and start justifying people on prompt, permission, trust, and a cookie, we have joined the circus. It should be refreshing for all believers to see that Stewart isn’t boxed in Baptist or Pentecostal garb!

Stewart certainly exposed his true character on this show and he seems to have a true sense of what America really is, and that’s pretty good for most. This show in particular may be dated, but his message is all too present.

God has more than blessed us as a nation; let’s take advantage of it. Give special attention to the One who makes it ever so free. We thank God for America; it’s “a gift that keeps on giving”.

Enjoy the video!

We Love Evangelism

We love evangelism; it’s all Good News! There is nothing to worry about; your sins have been taken care of. The Gospel is the message that enlightens the eyes of our hearts. People need to hear this Truth. You were justified 2000 years ago, and those that He justified He also glorified.

It saddens me when I see/hear people telling others that, “time is running out, every few seconds someone goes to hell, get ready, get right, repent or perish, believe or burn, tick tock another one goes, don’t be left behind”, and the non-sense doesn’t stop there. Too many people are wasting their time, effort, and money on trying to get people into heaven. How unfortunate it is to act without knowing the Good News! Why act as if Christ did not complete the work of salvation? (It’s an insult to the work of Christ to participate in adding your efforts to get people into heaven.) The works of man never could bring man to repent, be justified, or anything else in a righteous sense.

Fasting and flagellating to keep people out of hell is like protecting people from little green men (aliens). It’s no wonder why some think church-people are crazy; they act mystically to a tune that doesn’t exist. That’s why so many love to use a John 3:16 quote; they don’t get the point of the passage and they love to live without context. A chicken has more sense than that.      

Scriptural logic is analogous to building a house, if you don’t understand the Gospel (the building of your foundation), the rest of Scripture won’t make sense (the building never comes together).     

Telling people about Jesus is much like pouring concrete; it doesn’t take long and it cures in time. People need this kind of healing; thinking right is the only way to live. Spreading the Word is always profitable; it never returns void.  In this way we must share: Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, did a perfect work, and it’s the right way to think and the only way to live.

Enjoy these videos as have others:

Michael and Rhonda Jones – The Gospel

Michael and Rhonda Jones – The Two One

A Big Step in a Right Direction

I had no idea that so many would take Greek this semester; it was overwhelming to say the least. Teaching Greek and Hebrew to students who really desire a front-row seat towards the Word is as good as it gets. People reading the purity of God’s Word without being handicapped by the English language is a big step in a right direction. 

Hall Harris made some excellent points on why the Greek and Hebrew language content found in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, Matthew Henry’s commentary, and Joseph Henry Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon is weak: “I have told my students for years that older lexical works, in particular those written before the beginning of the twentieth century, are best used as doorstops. That may be a slight rhetorical exaggeration, but not by much. The changes that happened in the study of Greek word meanings, Greek grammar, and linguistics that took place at the beginning of the twentieth century are thoroughly documented and marked such a complete change from the past understanding of these topics, even by the best scholars in these fields, that it was nothing short of revolutionary. Yet in spite of all this, when we turn to the NeXtBible Learning Environment (free online at bible.org) we find -- you guessed it -- some of these older reference tools, like the Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (originally published in 1890). Why are we providing older tools that biblical scholars today (myself included) would not recommend their students use?” Read more…. 

The Net Bible is one of the best English works on the market today; it’s a must read. Every student of Scripture will be more than blessed to have one. The translators have certainly given the English reader greater advantages: more clarity with less ambiguity. The footnotes are just icing on the cake.

Idioms, metaphor, and nuance should be retained in translation, not glossed by commentary. This gives the English reader a sensible text for interpretation.

If you want to visit one of the best sites on the web, go to http://www.bibelwissenschaft.de/online-bibeln/ and have a great time of it. This site offers the greatest read: a place where men are molded and made. The simplicity of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and Novum Testamentum Graece work together as a wonderful text from God. Let’s enjoy the read; it will change your life.

We are getting close to solving our Greek and Hebrew (((html))) font problem. Thanks for the patience.

More Plus Points Than Ever

This year is starting out with more plus points than what we could have imagined. The purity of the gospel is the key. You can’t beat what God does when the human ear actually hears truth! It’s All Good: the Old Covenant Age is over, and the New Covenant Age is here…the two can’t co-exist (so nice).

There is no reason to live as if a “Works Judgment” is in our future. The Old Covenant ended in the “Last Days” of a provisional age, and those days are over. Thank God–! The New Covenant never ends; it has no “Tribulational Period” or a “Works Judgment” (those were strictly Old Covenant matters that did bring closure to an age).

Relax–! God declared you righteous according to “what faith is” (2000 years ago), and He’s satisfied. You might not believe that this is true, and that’s ok, the facts will never mutate. The work of Christ–in and of itself–more than satisfied all of the righteous requirements of the Law, and nothing else is required: grace really took place for you and me (2000 years ago). We were totally set free from the bondage of the Law of sin and death (2000 years ago): Christ did this for all of us! For this reason, God views us as righteous. We now have eternal peace, and a lot of goodness to learn….

So sweet it is, Jesus Christ actually atoned for every sin 2000 years ago; all sin is actually atoned for: it’s too good, and it’s true. This one-time atonement satisfied the sin issue A to Z. Nothing can alter this perfect work. You don’t have to do anything to make this a reality; it’s a reality whether you believe or not.

The gospel is all “Good News”, not some. Don’t mix it; take it for what it is.

The results of our video samplings staggered us. A national network has given us the opportunity to take “The Gospel” national, and it’s doable. I talked with several of their moguls, and they love the content of our show. [People are finding the Gospel to be thirst-quenching, if you know what I mean.] We are being given an opportunity of grace, and that’s the way God works.

We don’t have the financial resources to make this a reality yet, but God does. It has been like “water turning into wine” around here, lives are changing, and God is getting all of the glory. For this reason, some of our programming will change, i.e., for the better: more shows, more programming hours, more coverage, deeper content, and more than enough grace to go around. Stay tuned….

Since God created this world with more than enough wealth to supply all of our needs, no one should be without healthy food to eat and safe water to drink. 

When I see poverty, it sickens me…. I can’t even imagine why the rich gloat (some, not all); they are the poorest of stewards, the shame of poverty is the fruit of their wisdom. People would never starve, be homeless, and financially stressed, if-!

Man loves to claim, i.e., in stewardship, what doesn’t belong to him: theft might seem a little harsh, but it is the better term here. Think about it! We are stewards, not owners. Be a giver, not a taker. There is more than enough for everyone, for God did pour His grace on us (((abundantly))).

The KJV Disparity: Unction, Politics, and Mythology

Logical reasons to leave the KJV - as a notable, yet problematic piece - are no less essential than what prompts its stay. The prose of such a book does engulf the mind with better than raw emotion and mystic: the hot, the cold – tempered with hell, anger, [rage], and wrath…places and attributes ostensibly held by God, yet refuted as sin. Contradiction for nuance, what a paradox masterfully put - the presupposition of like fools played as metaphor as to literal- the concept of the loose, and not so free.

 Toys are but the mind of those who finger the KJV as being more than what it really is. It’s a place where hyperbole is best, and to hell is not…where ambiguities are allowed, and denial is the game. Maybe it’s better to see it as "Romper Room" and "The Deponents" played as mere fashion: the declension of desire…simply put, "Words Gone Wild". Questions are but enemies for these toys, and it’s too logical outside of the box.

When "unicorns" and other mythological terms and ideas are embedded and accepted as "inerrant" truth [within the fabric of this archaic version of the Bible], it’s time to "Rethink" our reasons for accepting duplicitous harangue as truth. Superfluous as it may be, people want to accept these "not-so-minor-duplicities", and abdicate the impervious evidence of what is found in ancient mss alone.

The fear of comparing "apples to apples" relinquishes the mind to sophistic beliefs and needless pain, as did folkloric history to the sea dogs. Many sailors died in vain because they "fearfully believed" what they thought to be true: the world was flat. Some never enjoyed the pleasures of the deep, for the focus was too shallow to live. It’s so sad, but true - fear is a guide for the blind, and a system of trust for the deaf.

My wife and I were in shock, as were others, when this kind of anomaly demonstrated its pain in the streets of Pensacola , i.e., at the Christmas parade. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It always saddens the depths of my soul when I see my brothers and sisters in Christ walking as if to truth. [Inanition may drive them now, but help is on its way.]

It’s true that most historians wrote, as with great passion, to convey what they perceived to be true. No one really questions the sincerity of their rhetoric, and few have not learned from these so wise, but rare did writer or reader give question the place for reason. The stories of history seem to grow as ages pass, and legends are but history with veil.

Stephen Hawking makes the point all too clear: "The Greek philosopher Aristotle provided two more reasons why the Earth was round. First, he noted that Earth’s shadow always took a circular bite out of the moon during a lunar eclipse, which would only be possible with a spherical Earth. (If the Earth were a disk, its shadow would appear as an elongated ellipse at least during part of the eclipse.) Second, Aristotle knew that people who journeyed north saw the North Star ascend higher in the sky, while those heading south saw the North Star sink. On a flat Earth, the positions of the stars wouldn’t vary with a person’s location.

Despite these arguments, which won over most of the world’s educated citizens, belief in a flat Earth persisted among many others. Not until explorers first circumnavigated the globe in the 16th century did those beliefs begin to die out. Yet a diehard core of flat-earth believers persisted even past the days of the Apollo Moon missions and those glorious images of a spherical Earth suspended against the blackness of space".

"When The World Was Flat" is another excellent article depicting the struggles and problems that occur when leaving the vices of presuppositional beliefs. These same struggles and problems seem to surface more times than not when any critical and truthful approach is used in dealing with the gratuitous myths found in books held sacred.

Larry Low gives us his insight: "When the Earth Was Flat, sailors must have had incredible difficulty coming to grips with the concept of circumnavigation. Leaving the flat Earth behind was no simple task. It was a vital first step before daring to set off on voyages beyond the sight of land. Before they were equipped to encounter considerable hardships in unknown waters, they had to surpass the most challenging of all barriers, their own fears.

Henry the Navigator, who was intrepid, hugged the coastline of Africa and ventured further south than any other European had dared. Of course, it was the difficulty of navigating that made it prudent not to sail outside the sight of land. It wasn't until 27 years after Henry's death that Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope
. The age of maritime exploration had begun in earnest".

As you can see, the push, the demand, to believe without evidence or ability is without question tomfoolery, yet tragic at best. Bastardly so, the quest is carried out with the kind of folklore that exempts reasoning. The participants of such folly are the ones prone to follow the hateful pontifications of Hitler, Zwingli (Zuinglius), Luther (Luder, orLudher), Calvin (Cauvin, Chauvin, or Calvinus), Wesley, Knox, Hermanszoon (Arminius), and the like. Why? Little is given to the interest of purity and truth, love and hope, reconciliation and forgiveness, and the finished work of Christ.

"The KJV Disparity: Unction, Politics, and Mythology" is an ongoing read. Our intention is to reveal the obvious flaws that do exist in the King James Version over a period of time. Coming out the “Dark Ages” is our goal, and understanding the Scripture will get us there. We are working on a user-friendly html font, so that all can enjoy instant English, Greek, and Hebrew fonts without the effort of a download. This is most essential for this project and others. We desire for everyone to see the apples-to-apples arguments…it’s all too good!

The Unconditional Love of Jesus

There Is a Place

Video Conferencing Update

Just Another Plus

New Covenant Life is Too Good

Quicker and Better, and It's All Grace

Please don’t send us your money: this is a "Work of Grace".

Is Hell Real in any Sense or Just Mythology?

These quotes and comments are of little value

The Message is Working..."It's All Good"

A Little Bit of Pensacola

Conversion is Our Joy

Pastors Without a Question

My Wife, My Life

thinkJESUS. thinkSAVED. thankJESUS.

Quotes All Too Good

The Value of Being Able to Read

The KJV Question

English Versions of the Scripture

Love Your Enemies

Jones Questions the Methods Used in the Logic of Dawkins

Jones is preparing an exegetical piece

Believing is the Work of God

What you believe determines your conduct, i.e., your lifestyle. Take the time to enjoy each one of these questions. Please let us know what you really believe. Thanks. info@newcovenantgroup.com

Do you believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, actually atoned for our sins 2000 years ago? Do you believe that you were made alive with Christ 2000 years ago? Do you believe that you were you seated in the heavenly places in Christ 2000 years ago? Do you believe that Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God, satisfied the Father concerning our sins 2000 years ago? Do you believe that you were made holy by the one sacrifice of the Eternal Lamb once and for all 2000 years ago? Do you believe He perfected you forever 2000 years ago? Do you believe that the blood of Jesus justified you 2000 years ago?

Believe it or not, Jesus did all of this for you. He really saved you 2000 years ago. This may not make sense to you. Why? Your “natural mind” can’t receive this as true. In fact your “natural mind” can’t even know it. Why? Truth never makes sense without the Spirit. Think about it! If the message of the cross is true, and it is, and if human intellect rejects it, and it does, then what does that say about your intellect? Since our intellect is weak, God gives us a new nature. A nature that can understand and enjoy everything that He has given us. Again, what did He give us? God loved you so much that He sent His One and only Son, Jesus, into this world to save you 2000 years ago. He placed truth right in front of our eyes so that we can believe and enjoy what He really did for all of us 2000 years ago. “Believing” as defined by Scripture is not the prerequisite for salvation but the position of agreeing with the accomplished Work of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world....

The mind is the weakness of the soul.  If our intellect could drink, it would only quench thirst for a while. "The one who is empowered to drink, is the one who will  never  thirst."

We need a mind that is renewed, empowered by the Word of God. Only in the state of an empowered mind can we know what really is without question.  Learning is one thing but the ability to is another. Dr. Jones stated years ago that, "You can't expect atheists to understand God's Word without His Spirit". He went on to make the point that "Atheists lack where Christians fail. If Christians fail to see the lack of "spiritual intelligence" in all human beings (without the Spirit), they will make fools of themselves and lose the opportunity to be free of necessary accusations. We deserve to be called "fools", if we lose sight of what God has said concerning mans inability to know without His Spirit. Christians can't afford to get stuck in the nonsense of organized religion. It has clouded our judgment for too long. When we cut the religious strings that bind us to a history that does shame us, then once again we can be strong in love and Truth. It's true! We are "losing" rather than "winning, i.e., learning" if we don't give up our useless traditions and focus on the Truth that has been afforded us by a gracious and loving God. It should be more than a red flag to change our course. My grandfather use to say, "if you ride a horse and it dies, get off of it". We need to rethink our positions. Christians are being told "what to think" instead of being taught "how to think". Being someones parrot isn't the will of God!  Should we be given the grace once again to evangelize atheists with the "Good News of the Work of Christ", and we are, then we should win them if Truth is made known."

Mistakes are learning opportunities. 

What is tragic, is that most atheists assume that understanding God's Word without God's Spirit is possible.  What is even more tragic, is that most "Christians" assume the same.  For this reason, Christians and atheists for the most part add nothing to healthy dialogue. So dribble is what we do. "Never is the case that man understands God's Word without His Spirit" needs to be...between the left and right ear or at least on a "post-it-note" somewhere behind the refrigerator.  To argue a point of Scripture with an atheist is like turning water into wine.  It takes a miracle.  Think about it.  Can a man without the Spirit receive or know the things that come from the Spirit of God?  No!  Understanding God's Word really is a miracle, a privilege, an honor....  Let's not take anything away from that.  Speak God's Word with hope.  Realize who can and can't understand.  Be patient.  God is working miracles as you speak His Word.

How can we legitimately argue for or against atheism, implicit or explicit, with a depraved mind....  It takes an empowered mind to embrace and love atheists.  What they think is where we were. Practical and theoretical atheism only grow where theists fail to plant and water.  However strange it may be to the one who hears the planting or sees the watering (of His Word), it is God, and only God, who grows the mind to understand the things beyond our reach.

Theistic innatism, born with the knowledge and belief that God exists, and tabula rasa, born with a clean slate, are self-concepts but worthy of discussion.  The argument of nature vs nurture needs more debate.  What is innate vs what is learned must be thought out if we are to gain.  Was Aristotle right in suggesting that the mind in its genesis is "like a clean tablet on which nothing is written"?  Or should we polish the ideas of Plato and Descartes and paraphrase that God or whoever/whatever placed innate somethings--the likes of knowledge, belief, and principles--in the human mind?

The intention of the New Covenant Group is to serve you small portions of FAQs on a weekly basis. The answers will have typos and all that. Since it's real communication, mistakes need to be included. Some are intentional! If you are looking for inerrancy, read the Word of God. It's awesome! We desire for you to know the Word of God A to Z. Since the Bible is not a self-help book, then we really need the protocol that God established. That's why we are here. Enjoy!

"Personal Faith" Salvation?

New Covenant Cooking

Celebrating the Gospel

Join us in celebrating "It's All Good". When people realize that Christ saved us 2,000 years ago...it's time to celebrate. "His divine power has already given us everything we need" to celebrate life more abundantly. Atonement is behind us, life is in us, and God has gone before us. You can't beat that! "It's All Good" when you know that He took away all of our sins and made all things new. Learn to enjoy your new life! 850.549.3677

Michael and Rhonda