Question 3: How many persons are there in God?

There are three persons in the one true and living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

2 Corinthians 13:14:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Commentary

Richard Baxter

The great mystery of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, being one God, is made necessary to us to be believed, not only as to the eternal unsearchable Inexistence, but especially for the knowledge of God’s three great sorts of works on man: that is, as our Creator, and the God of nature; as our Redeemer, and the God of governing and reconciling grace; and as our Sanctifier, and the Applier and Perfecter of all to fit us to glory. . . .

God is one infinite, undivided Spirit; and yet that he is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, must be believed. . . .

How is it to be proved that the Holy Ghost is God? We are to be baptized into the belief of him as of the Father and the Son, and in that he doth the works proper to God, and hath the attributes of God in Scripture.

Kevin DeYoung

The doctrine of the Trinity is the most important Christian doctrine that most people never think about. It’s absolutely essential to our faith, and yet for many Christians it just seems like a very confusing math problem. And even if we can figure out what Trinity means, it doesn’t feel like it has much bearing on our lives, much relevance to us.

The word Trinity, famously, is not found in the Bible, but the word does very well at capturing a number of biblical truths. There are actually seven statements that go into the doctrine of the Trinity:

God is one. There’s only one God.
The Father is God.
The Son is God.
The Holy Spirit is God.
The Father is not the Son.
The Son is not the Spirit.
The Spirit is not the Father.

If you get those seven statements, then you’ve captured the doctrine of the Trinity—what it means when we say there is one God and three persons.

Christians are monotheists. We don’t believe in many gods or a pantheon of gods but just one God, and this God expresses himself and exists as three persons. That language of persons is very important. The early church wrestled with the appropriate language, and persons aptly speaks to the personality of the three members of the Trinity and also their relationship with each other; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit coinhere as one essence, and yet there are distinctions. One is not the other, but they’re equal in rank, equal in power, equal in glory, equal in majesty. Just as Jesus sends out the disciples to go baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we see this doctrine of the Holy Trinity woven throughout the Scriptures.

Even more confusing to people is the question “Why does this even matter? Okay, I understand I got three in one, one in three. What difference does this make for anything in my Christian life?” In good Trinitarian fashion, I think there are three important things that the doctrine means for us.

First, the Trinity helps us to understand how there can be unity in diversity. This is one of the most pressing questions in our world. Some folks focus almost exclusively on diversity, on the fact that people are so different. They don’t see any common ground. Others want to press for complete uniformity in thought, in government, and in expression. The Trinity shows us that you can have a profound, real, organic unity with diversity, so that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are working in complete union in our salvation. The Father appoints. The Son accomplished. The Spirit applies. We encounter God as fully God in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. And yet, their divine work is neither interchangeable nor redundant.

Second, when you have a triune God, you have the eternality of love. Love has existed from all time. If you have a god who is not three persons, he has to create a being to love, to be an expression of his love. But Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existing in eternity have always had this relationship of love. So love is not a created thing. God didn’t have to go outside of himself to love. Love is eternal. And when you have a triune God, you have fully this God who is love.

Finally, and most importantly, the doctrine of the Trinity is crucial for the Christian because there is nothing more important in all the world than knowing God. If God exists as one God in three persons, if the one divine essence subsists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, if we are baptized into this triune name, then no Christian should want to be ignorant of these Trinitarian realities. In the end, the Trinity matters because God matters.

Prayer

Father, Son, and Spirit, you are beyond our understanding. Thank you for bringing us into your love, a love that existed before the world in your three perfect persons. Amen.

Question 2: What is God?

God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.

Psalm 86:8–10, 15:

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God. . . .
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Commentary

Jonathan Edwards

The Creator of the world is doubtless also the Governor of it. He that had power to give being to the world, and set all the parts of it in order, has doubtless power to dispose of the world, to continue the order he has constituted, or to alter it. He that first gave the laws of nature, must have all nature in his hands; so that it is evident God has the world in his hands, to dispose of as he pleases. . . .

And it is manifest, in fact, that God is not careless how the affairs and concerns of the world he has made proceed, because he was not careless of this matter in the creation itself; as it is apparent, by the manner and order in which things were created, that God, in creating, took care of the future progress and state of things in the world.

D. A. Carson

It is spectacularly wonderful to talk about God, to think about him. There cannot be any higher subject. But the word God itself is not an empty cipher. Just because somebody uses the word God and then somebody else uses the word God, it does not follow that they mean the same thing. God, for some, is an inexpressible feeling, or it’s the unmoved cause at the beginning of the universe, or it’s a being full of transcendence. But we’re talking about the God of the Bible, and the God of the Bible is self-defined. He talks about himself as being eternal and righteous. He’s the God of love. He’s the God of transcendence; that is, he’s above space and time and history. Yet he is the immanent God; that is, he is so much with us that we cannot possibly escape from him. He is everywhere. He is unchangeable. He is truthful. He is reliable. He’s personal.

What’s really important to see and understand, as God has disclosed himself not only in words but in the whole storyline of the Bible’s narrative, is that we are not permitted to take one attribute of God and make everything of it. We cannot, let’s say, take his sovereignty and forget his goodness. Or take his goodness and forget his holiness (his holiness is what makes him the God of judgment). Or take his judgment, even the severity of his judgment, and forget that he’s the God of love, the God who has so much loved even his rebellious creatures that ultimately he sent his Son to bear their sin in his own body on the tree.

In other words, to get to the heart of who God is and to bow before him in some small measure of genuine understanding, it’s important to think through what the Bible says again and again and integrate the whole with the same balance and proportion that Scripture itself gives. That calls us to worship. And if we put anything else in the place of God, that is the very definition of idolatry.

Prayer

Our Creator and Sustainer, everything holds together in you. The smallest creature is known to you, and the mightiest army is at your command. You rule with justice. Help us to trust your goodness in all that you will. Amen.

Question 1: What is our only hope in life and death?

That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Romans 14:7–8:

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

Commentary

John Calvin

If we, then, are not our own but the Lord’s, it is clear what error we must flee, and whither we must direct all the acts of our life. We are not our own: let not our reason nor our will, therefore, sway our plans and deeds. We are not our own: let us therefore not set it as our goal to seek what is expedient for us. . . . We are not our own: in so far as we can, let us forget ourselves and all that is ours. Conversely, we are God’s: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God’s: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God’s: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal. O, how much has that man profited who, having been taught that he is not his own, has taken away dominion and rule from his own reason that he may yield it to God! For, as consulting our self-interest is the pestilence that most effectively leads to our destruction, so the sole haven of salvation is to be wise in nothing and to will nothing through ourselves but to follow the leading of the Lord alone.

Timothy Keller

At one point in his writings John Calvin lays out the essence of what it means to live the Christian life. He says that he could make us a list of the commandments we should be keeping or a list of all the character traits we should be exhibiting. But instead, he wants to boil it down to the basic motive and the basic principle of what it means to live the Christian life.

The basic motive is that God sent his Son to save us by grace and to adopt us into his family. So now, because of that grace, in our gratitude, we want to resemble our Father. We want the family resemblance. We want to look like our Savior. We want to please our Father.

The basic principle then is this: that we are not to live to please ourselves. We’re not to live as if we belong to ourselves. And that means several things. It means, first of all, we are not to determine for ourselves what is right or wrong. We give up the right to determine that, and we rely wholly on God’s Word. We also give up the operating principle that we usually use in day-to-day life; we stop putting ourselves first, and we always put first what pleases God and what loves our neighbor. It also means that we are to have no part of our lives that is immune from self-giving. We’re supposed to give ourselves wholly to him—body and soul. And it means we trust God through thick and thin, through the good and the bad times, in life and in death.

And how do the motive and the principle relate? Because we’re saved by grace, we’re not our own. A woman once said to me, “If I knew I was saved because of what I did, if I contributed to my salvation, then God couldn’t ask anything of me because I’d made a contribution. But if I’m saved by grace, sheer grace, then there’s nothing he cannot ask of me.” And that’s right. You’re not your own. You were bought with a price.

Some years ago I heard a Christian speaker say, “How can you come to grips with someone who has given himself utterly for you without you giving yourself utterly for him?”

Jesus gave himself wholly for us. So now, we must give ourselves wholly to him.

Prayer

Christ Our Hope, in life and in death, we cast ourselves on your merciful, fatherly care. You love us because we are your own. We have no good apart from you, and we could ask for no greater gift than to belong to you. Amen.

Part 1: God, Creation & Fall, Law

Questions 1 to 20

The New City Catechism: Introduction

by Timothy Keller

Question 1. What is the chief end of man?
Answer. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

Question 2. What is your only comfort in life and death?
Answer. That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

These words, the opening of the Westminster and Heidelberg catechisms, find echoes in many of our creeds and statements of faith. They are familiar to us from sermons and books, and yet most people do not know their source and have certainly never memorized them as part of the catechisms from which they derive.

Today many churches and Christian organizations publish “statements of faith” that outline their beliefs. But in the past it was expected that documents of this nature would be so biblically rich and carefully crafted that they would be memorized and used for Christian growth and training. They were written in the form of questions and answers, and were called catechisms (from the Greek katechein, which means “to teach orally or to instruct by word of mouth”). The Heidelberg Catechism of 1563 and Westminster Shorter and Larger catechisms of 1648 are among the best known, and they serve as the doctrinal standards of many churches in the world today.

The Lost Practice of Catechesis

At present, the practice of catechesis, particularly among adults, has been almost completely lost. Modern discipleship programs concentrate on practices such as Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and evangelism and can at times be superficial when it comes to doctrine. In contrast, the classic catechisms take students through the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer—a perfect balance of biblical theology, practical ethics, and spiritual experience. Also, the catechetical discipline of memorization drives concepts deeper into the heart and naturally holds students more accountable to master the material than do typical discipleship courses. Finally, the practice of question-answer recitation brings instructors and students into a naturally interactive, dialogical process of learning.

In short, catechetical instruction is less individualistic and more communal. Parents can catechize their children. Church leaders can catechize new members with shorter catechisms and new leaders with more extensive ones. Because of the richness of the material, catechetical questions and answers may be integrated into corporate worship itself, where the church as a body can confess their faith and respond to God with praise.

Because we have lost the practice of catechesis today, “superficial smatterings of truth, blurry notions about God and godliness, and thoughtlessness about the issues of living—career-wise, community-wise, family-wise, and church-wise—are all too often the marks of evangelical congregations today.”[1]

Why Write New Catechisms?

There are many ancient, excellent, and time-tested catechisms. Why expend the effort to write new ones? In fact, some people might suspect the motives of anyone who would want to do so. However, most people today do not realize that it was once seen as normal, important, and necessary for churches to continually produce new catechisms for their own use. The original Anglican Book of Common Prayer included a catechism. The Lutheran churches had Luther's Large Catechism and Small Catechism of 1529. The early Scottish churches, though they had Calvin’s Geneva Catechism of 1541 and the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563, went on to produce and use Craig’s Catechism of 1581, Duncan’s Latin Catechism of 1595, and the New Catechism of 1644, before eventually adopting the Westminster Catechism.

Puritan pastor Richard Baxter, who ministered in the seventeenth-century town of Kidderminster, wanted to systematically train heads of families to instruct their households in the faith. To do so he wrote his own Family Catechism that was adapted to the capacities of his people and that brought the Bible to bear on many of the issues and questions his people were facing at that time.

Catechisms were written with at least three purposes. The first was to set forth a comprehensive exposition of the gospel—not only in order to explain clearly what the gospel is, but also to lay out the building blocks on which the gospel is based, such as the biblical doctrines of God, of human nature, of sin, and so forth. The second purpose was to do this exposition in such a way that the heresies, errors, and false beliefs of the time and culture were addressed and counteracted. The third and more pastoral purpose was to form a distinct people, a counterculture that reflected the likeness of Christ not only in individual character but also in the church’s communal life.

When looked at together, these three purposes explain why new catechisms must be written. While our exposition of gospel doctrine must be in line with older catechisms that are true to the Word, culture changes, and so do the errors, temptations, and challenges to the unchanging gospel that people must be equipped to face and answer.

Structure of The New City Catechism

The New City Catechism comprises only 52 questions and answers (as opposed to Heidelberg’s 129 or Westminster Shorter’s 107). There is therefore only one question and answer for each week of the year, making it simple to fit into church calendars and achievable for people with demanding schedules.

The New City Catechism is based on and adapted from Calvin’s Geneva Catechism, the Westminster Shorter and Larger catechisms, and especially the Heidelberg Catechism. This gives good exposure to some of the riches and insights across the spectrum of the great Reformation-era catechisms, the hope being that it will encourage people to delve into the historic catechisms and continue the catechetical process throughout their lives.

It is divided into three parts to make it easier to learn in sections and to include some helpful divisions:

Part 1: God, creation and fall, law (twenty questions) 

Part 2: Christ, redemption, grace (fifteen questions) 

Part 3: Spirit, restoration, growing in grace (seventeen questions)

As with most traditional catechisms, a Bible verse accompanies each question and answer. In addition, each question and answer is followed by a short commentary taken from the writings or sayings of a past preacher as well as a commentary from a contemporary preacher to help students meditate on and think about the topic being explored. Each question ends with a short, original prayer.

The Use of Archaic Language

Although it may make the content seem less accessible at first glance, the language of the original texts has been retained as much as possible throughout the historical commentaries. When people complained to J. R. R. Tolkien about the archaic language he sometimes used, he answered that language carries cultural values, and therefore his use of older forms was not nostalgia—it was principled. He believed that older ways of speaking conveyed older ways of understanding life that modern forms cannot convey, because modern language is enmeshed with modern views of life.

For this reason, except in cases where the words are no longer in common use and are therefore incomprehensible (in which instances they often have been replaced with ellipses), the language and spelling of the original authors has been retained throughout the historic commentaries. Occasionally this language is also reflected in the questions and answers where the more poetic forms aid memorization.

How to Use The New City Catechism

The easiest way to use The New City Catechism is to memorize one question and answer each week of the year. Because it is intended to be dialogical, it is best to learn it in pairs, in families, or as study groups, enabling you to drill one another on the answers not only one at a time but once you have learned ten of them, then twenty of them, and so on.

The Bible verse, written commentary, and prayer that are attached to each question and answer can be used as your devotion on a chosen day of the week to help you think through and meditate on the issues and applications that arise from the question and answer.

Groups may decide to spend the first five to ten minutes of their study time looking together at only one question and answer, thus completing the catechism in a year, or they may prefer to study and learn the questions and answers over a contracted length of time, for example by memorizing five or six questions a week and meeting together to quiz one another and discuss them, as well as read the accompanying commentaries.

Memorization Tips

There are a variety of ways to commit texts to memory, and some techniques suit certain learning styles better than others. A few examples include:

• Read the question and answer out loud, and repeat, repeat, repeat.
• Read the question and answer out loud, then try to repeat them without looking. Repeat.
• Record yourself saying all part 1 questions and answers (then part 2, then part 3) and listen to them during everyday activities such as workouts, chores, and so on.
• Write the questions and answers on cards and tape them in a conspicuous area. Read them aloud every time you see them.
• Make flash cards with the question on one side and the answer on the other, and test yourself.
• Write out the question and answer. Repeat. The process of writing helps a person’s ability to recall text.
• Drill the questions and answers with another person as often as possible.

A Biblical Practice

In his letter to the Galatians Paul writes, “Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches” (Gal. 6:6). The Greek word for “the one who is taught” is katechoumenos, one who is catechized. In other words, Paul is talking about a body of Christian doctrine (catechism) that was taught to them by an instructor (here the word catechizer). The words “all good things” probably mean financial support as well. In this light, the word koinoneo—which means “to share” or “to have fellowship”—becomes even richer. The salary of a Christian teacher is not to be seen simply as a payment but a “fellowship.” Catechesis is not just one more service to be paid for, but is a rich fellowship and mutual sharing of the gifts of God.

If we re-engage in this biblical practice in our churches, we will find again God’s Word “dwelling in us richly” (see Col. 3:16), because the practice of catechesis takes truth deep into our hearts, so we think in biblical categories as soon as we can reason.

When my son Jonathan was a young child, my wife, Kathy, and I started teaching him a children’s catechism. In the beginning we worked on just the first three questions:

Question 1. Who made you?
Answer. God

Question 2. What else did God make?
Answer. God made all things.

Question 3. Why did God make you and all things?
Answer. For his own glory.

One day Kathy dropped Jonathan off at a babysitter’s. At one point the babysitter discovered Jonathan looking out the window. “What are you thinking about?” she asked him. “God,” he said. Surprised, she responded, “What are you thinking about God?” He looked at her and replied, “How he made all things for his own glory.” She thought she had a spiritual giant on her hands! A little boy looking out the window, contemplating the glory of God in creation!

What had actually happened, obviously, was that her question had triggered the question/answer response in him. He answered with the catechism. He certainly did not have the slightest idea what the “glory of God” meant. But the concept was in his mind and heart, waiting to be connected with new insights, teaching, and experiences.

Such instruction, Princeton theologian Archibald Alexander said, is like firewood in a fireplace. Without the fire—the Spirit of God—firewood will not in itself produce a warming flame. But without fuel there can be no fire either, and that is what catechetical instruction is.

Notes

1. Gary Parrett and J. I. Packer, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2010), 16.

The Spirit Of Whoredom

by MARANDIA WRIGHT

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 

“My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.” – Hosea‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭

We all know what whoredom is in the physical since, but what exactly is “the spirit of whoredom“? In the physical since, whoredom is when someone has no chastity, no faithfulness to abstain from the lust of the flesh, and no heart for the pain they cause to others in pleasing their own lust nor care for the breaking of the heart of the one they are suppose to be faithful too. In the spiritual since, it means the same. One who has cheated on God through idolatry, which is placing anything before God, time with God, or obedience to God’s will and word. One who has not been faithful to abstain from fulfilling the lust of the flesh. One who cares not that their selfish actions break the heart of God, their first love, even Christ who gave all for us, His bride.

“I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one (spiritual) husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” – 2 Corinthians‬ ‭11:2

The spirit of whoredom is when the bride of Christ (believers) choose to leave their first love to indulge the lust of the flesh, even if only for a temporary rendezvous. The entire book of Hosea is a similitude that expresses this sad truth and the anguish it causes God’s heart. Once we are saved we become the bride of Christ, yet Satan is ever tempting the bride to indulge in acts of spiritual whoredom. From tempting you with food while fasting, to entertainment when God calls you to prayer, to seeking attention from people rather then from God, to immoral and sinful acts that please the flesh while causing you to turn away from obeying the will and voice of Christ. Anything that causes you to make a self-pleasing, flesh pleasing decision that opposes the will and word of your Spiritual husband (Christ) is the spirit of whoredom. In essence it can be broken down to self rule with no regard for the heart of God whom we hurt every time we choose a lust of the flesh over Him. Just like whoredom in the physical since breaks the heart of our earthly spouse, in the spiritual since it shows that we truly love ourselves and thusly care about pleasing ourselves more then we love and care to please God. That is a very hurtful place to be, and though God is merciful and patient in His cries for us to repent, if we refuse to do so He will not choose to stay in that hurtful place indefinitely.

“I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” – Revelation‬ ‭2:2-5‬ ‭

It is so hurtful a situation to God that He would rather forget that He ever knew you then to continue having you call Him your own while pleasing the will of another. We serve a merciful but powerful and just God. In the end, if you choose to forget your other lovers, idols, sins, and selfish desires and put your full faith in Him, He will choose to forget your sins and welcome you with open arms. Yet if you will not turn away from loving the world and the things thereof, He will choose to forget He ever knew you even if you call yourself by His name. In the like manner that an adulterous wife might still carry the name of her husband in her own mouth, yet through the abundance of her adulteries and refusal to submit to His will, she has lost his heart.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” – 1 John‬ ‭2:15-17‬ ‭

“I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” – Isaiah‬ ‭42:8‬ ‭

“Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts. For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?” – Jeremiah‬ ‭2:19-21‬ ‭

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:” – Matthew‬ ‭7:21-28‬ ‭

“Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” – Psalms‬ ‭80:3‬ ‭

The Spirit of Whoredom

by Green Light Ministry (2007)

“Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.” (Lev 19:29)  

The above scripture tells us that prostitution of a woman makes her a whore, which causes the land to fall into whoredom and thus becomes full of wickedness. The question is what exactly is whoredom and how does it lead the land to become wicked?; which is what we call the spirit of whoredom.  

In the above scripture the word “prostitute” is the Hebrew word chalal, which means “to profane, to defile, to desecrate, to pollute”. Thus the understanding we should get from prostitution is “that which makes one unclean”. The word “whore” is the Hebrew word zanah, which means “to commit fornication, to commit adultery, to be unfaithful”. Interestingly, the word for “whoredom” is the same Hebrew word (zanah) as “whore”, thus whoredom is really the activity of whores. However, the activity of whoredom requires both a whore and a whoremonger, who is a person who seeks out the services of whores. In most cases a woman is a whore and a man is a whoremonger, yet they both practice whoredom. We will look at the root of a whore and of a whoremonger.  

The activity of a prostitute makes people unclean because she (or he) is a whore; for a whore commits fornication. So the act of fornication makes people unclean. A prostitute sells fornication (uncleanness) into a population. However, a person does not have to be a prostitute to be a whore; a prostitute simply makes her activity a business transaction. Thus, a person who abides in fornication is a whore, but not necessarily a prostitute. (Keep in mind that a whoremonger also abides in fornication, which is uncleanness).  

The dictionary meaning of the word fornication is (source: www.dictionary.com):  

1. voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other. 
2. Bible: idolatry  

The origin of the word (from same source):  

fornication 

c.1300, from O.Fr. fornication, from L.L. fornicationem (nom. fornicatio ), from fornicari "fornicate," from L. fornix (gen. fornicis ) "brothel," originally "arch, vaulted chamber" (Roman prostitutes commonly solicited from under the arches of certain buildings), from fornus "oven of arched or domed shape." Strictly, "voluntary sex between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman;" extended in the Bible to adultery.  

The dictionary definition relates fornication to sexual intercourse outside of marriage. However, in the Bible fornication is also related to idolatry. Why? In order for us to understand the relationship between fornication and idolatry we must look at marriage.  

The foundation of marriage is from God; He yokes two people together to complete a work in Him. We see this in the beginning where the Lord created woman to work (help meet) beside her husband. God made woman from the rib of her man and they become one flesh again in marriage.

“And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (Gen 2:22-25)  

The cleaving (joining) of the man to his wife is accomplished in sexual intercourse, which makes them one flesh. Notice the order of God:  

1. The Lord brings the woman to the man. 
2. The man accepts the woman.
3. The man separates himself from his father and mother (this separation is not  necessarily literal, that is, he does not have to leave his parents household, however, he must step out from under his parents covering).
4. The man joins his woman (becomes one) through sexual intercourse and she is now is wife.
5. They now operate as one flesh (unified in the work that the Lord gives them).
6. They openly communicate; for they are one and can speak openly to each other. Sexual intercourse plays a key role in this communication; for during sex we are totally naked before our spouse.  

In God’s order from the beginning there was no wedding per se, the marriage was and still is accomplished via sexual intercourse. Of course a wedding is important and it must not be done away with, because it is the revelation of the covenant of the couple before God and man. The covenant is to do the work of the marriage; for the purpose of God’s marriages is to perform His good works. In the covenant, authority and power is given to do the work (from God to the man, from the man to his wife). If sexual intercourse happens before the covenant (wedding) then the couple have sinned because they violated God’s order, even for a marriage created by God. Nonetheless, we do not want to create any law around the timing of sexual intimacy (not intercourse) a union created by God; for only the Lord knows what is necessary to lead the couple into the covenant of the wedding.  

[Within the Church the man must be led by the Lord to his wife, and the woman must accept based on her trust in the Lord. In an ideal world all people are virgins until after the wedding day. This is the world we must seek after, in God; not through the imposition of rules and laws that create guilt and shame around sex.]  

Marriage in the eyes of God is who He joins together to become one, which is accomplished in sexual intercourse. Sex creates marriage and marriage is revealed in who you have sex with. This means that the dictionary definition of fornication (sex outside of marriage) is flawed in that it does not equate sex with marriage. The world sees marriage in relationship to the wedding, because it operates in the flesh. However, in the spirit when a man has sex with a woman she becomes his wife.  

“And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.” (Ex. 22:16-17)  

The above scripture is essentially saying that a man who entices a woman who is not engaged to another man and has sex with her must make her his wife or pay the price of her dowry if her father refuses to give her to him. The key thing about the woman is that she is not engaged to another man; for if she was the man would have received a death sentence and her only escape of death is if the man had raped her. Biblically, when a man is engaged to a woman, she is his wife even before the wedding day; any act of adultery carries a death sentence from the Lord.  

The reason for these laws is God is essentially putting away the spirit of whoredom from the land. If people have sex without the regard for marriage then they practice fornication, which is uncleanness. A better definition of fornication is sexual intercourse without taking on the roles and responsibility that comes with marriage. A woman who has sex with a man is his wife and a man who has sex with a woman is her husband. Any other expression of sex outside of marriage is taking from the other person for your own personal gain (power & pleasure).  

Whores and Whoremongers  

“But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.” (Matt 5:32)  

In the above scripture the Lord is dealing with divorce, which by the Law can be done, but cannot be done in who God has joined together. Jesus is making a distinction between those who come together via the flesh and those who God brings together in marriage. The law gives provision for divorce to those who marry via the flesh; however, God established marriages have no provision for divorce except fornication. If a man/woman tries to divorce his/her spouse then you must judge if they married under the law or under God. (In all cases we must seek the Lord diligently because people can marry outside of the Church to the correct person; even though they are operating their marriage in the flesh. Though we must be clear that a person who is have sex with multiple people is fornicating; he/she is not interested in marriage. God is no respecter of persons, there is not one rule in the Church and another rule outside the Church; if a couple has sex and they bind themselves to marriage in that intimacy, then they are married, but they still need to have the wedding to fulfill the covenant. Indeed, in Biblical times and beyond marriage occurred when a man took a woman and made her his wife. There were no formal procedures in some cultures other than an acknowledgement of the arrangement.).  

The law gives people various options for divorce, but God has only one; fornication. Fornication, as we stated above is sexual intercourse without regard for marriage in order to extract power (whore) or pleasure (whoremonger) from the other person. When a person operates like this then they have essentially ended the marriage by joining to another person, which is the act of adultery. Fornication leads to adultery.  

Thus the act of fornication makes a person unclean, and prostitution results in the spreading of uncleanness, which corrupts the land through wickedness. Uncleanness is accomplished through unclean spirits, which are at the root of fornication, and these spirits are spread among the people through sexually intercourse. This is the same way a virus is spread through the land, such as the HIV/AIDS virus. The diseases we see manifesting through fornication are a physical manifestation of the unclean spirits that are being spread in a population.

When I was in the world, I was a whoremonger, literally. I went to strip clubs exchanging money (power) for pleasure. The women I went to were those who I was led to believe were able create the most pleasure in my flesh. These women were whores in that they were only interested in the power (money) involved in the exchange. When a woman uses a man for money, she is a whore; when a man uses a woman for pleasure, he is a whoremonger.  

What I did not know then is that the power I was giving up was literally spiritual power to unclean spirits operating in the whore. I was being drained of power while the kingdom of satan was being fed through me. The devil was killing me off through these encounters, and it physically manifested in the loss of money and sickness (I was diagnosed with the beginnings of type 2 diabetes at a young age, at least 20 years before most people develop it.). As my bank account was being drained my body was also being drained.  

The devil drains the whoremonger, but what does he do to the whore? A whore receives money (power) for her/his services. The money of the world is deceitful; it is not real; for the money of the world is debt. When debt has worked its way through you it leads to death. Almost every woman desires marriage because this is what she was created for. When a woman looks to money as her covering she practices idolatry and will work witchcraft in order to get money. This is why fornication is related to idolatry; for money is the god of the whore. A woman who has played an harlot all the days of her life ends disappointed and bitter because money is no substitution for love or purpose.  

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt 16:26)  

The whoremonger ends up dead broke; while the whore ends up diseased, unhappy, (due to the multitude of unclean spirits in her), and in some cases broke (e.g. Delilah was crushed with her 1100 pieces of silver in the collapse of the house when Samson brought the house down).  

“For by means of a whorish woman [a man is brought] to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.” (Prov 6:26)  

Both the whore and whoremonger, who die outside of the Lord, end up in the same place; hell.  

“Marriage [is] honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” (Hebrew 13:4)  

“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” (Rev 21:8)  

Thank the Lord Jesus for salvation; He paid the price of death and hell, so we who surrender our life to Him do not have to suffer hell; including the whore and whoremonger.  

Wickedness

Prostitution results in the spreading of unclean spirits throughout the land, which defiles the land and manifests in evil behaviour, including theft, murder, adultery, idolatry, and every manner of evil.  

When a land is consumed by evil, according to the stench that reaches the Lord’s nose, then the evil must be destroyed by flood and or fire. In the today’s world the Lord must destroy the source of fornication, which is personified in the messages that are sent out via music, TV, movies, and books. We see this quite clearly in the Spirit of Hollywood, which is the Spirit of Whoredom.  

Hollywood creates whores (male and female) who are pimped out by the entertainment industry to feed the fantasies of the adoring whoremongering public.  

The Lord has revealed through a series of videos the nature of the entertainment industry. According to the video, the people who run the entertainment industry worship a demonic representation of the devil. Many people within the music industry, such as Beyonce, Jayz, Rihanna, and others are alleged to belong to Freemason groups and have sold their souls to make money. We can see this from the sexual exploitation of the woman, and the whoremongering of the men. The principal they use is the whoremonger proposal that satan tempted the Lord Jesus with.  

“Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Matt 4:8-10)  

The Lord had revealed and we shared this in our articles before that satan will reward people who surrender their lives and worship him the kingdoms and glory of the world. The devil does this by transferring money and rulership to the wicked by taking it from the poor and needy. The people who are most affected by the messages of Hollywood are the poor and needy; for they try to mirror the lifestyles of their “idols” by worshipping them and the money that they have. The messages of the music industry are meant to teach the people wickedness; especially fornication and idolatry (money worship).  

[Indeed, the music industry does not hide that it is creating idols; for music stars are called idols, and divas (both words relate to so-called demon gods and goddesses).]  

The Lord also revealed to me something that while I knew I was not aware of. In the video that reveals the demonic activity of Beyonce, a movie called Metropolis was mentioned. I knew the movie but did not know what it was about. You can read about the movie in Wikipedia.org. The part of the film that caught my attention is the creation of this possessed woman, whose name changes to Maria after a demonic transference. The movie actually uses demonic symbols to illustrate the transference. Maria then becomes an exotic dancer (stripper) whose dance hypnotizes men and causes them to lose their senses.  

My interest came because in my whoremonger days I met a beautiful Spanish stripper by the name of Maria (her stage name was Cleo, short for Cleopatra) who told me she practiced “white” witchcraft, even though she was catholic. I liked Maria enough to want to be with her and it was during this time that I also wanted to live a life of purpose (purpose entered my awareness after the 911 attack on the Twin Towers in New York). Maria loved me but she was full of pride and wanted to justify her whoredom because she was doing it to pay her school fee. The Lord took away my desire for sex, which resulted in the dissolution of our relationship, because she was still a whore and I was a whoremonger. I also knew that the Lord used the relationship to draw me closer to Him; for at that time I also came out of a destructive marriage.  

The similarity of the stripper Maria that I knew and the stripper Maria in the movie was amazing to me because Maria told me she once had a dream where she was running to save her life. In the movie the real Maria, who was good, had to run to save her life after saving some children. During that period of time I was working in the banking industry in Canada and I came up with an idea to create a system to monitor for and weed out money laundering. I called the system MARIA.  

One of Maria’s idols was the now deceased Anna Nicole Smith; who she said started out as a stripper and became a star. We all know how Anna died and the trouble she had in her life, which is the life of all whores. She collapsed and died on February 8, 2007 at the Hard Rock Café Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Interestingly, I am close to this location right now (December 13, 2010) and was recently introduced to someone who worked at this casino. By the way, hard rock music is associated with devil worship, such as the rock group KISS. I do not know what the fullness of what this means but what is clear is that a collapse of great proportions is on the way (as we have revealed before).  

The spirit of whoredom has spread wickedness throughout the world, making the poor poorer through music and gambling. Idolatry has increased through the worship of celebrities, leading to cancer and disease among the poor and needy. However, the thief has been caught and he shall repay 7 fold; he shall give all the substance of his house.  

“[Men] do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But [if] he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.” (Prov 6:30-31)  

The devil is the thief (personified in the Jebusite evil spirit) and he is not hungry, he is greedy. He must now restore sevenfold everything he has stolen to the sons of God and they shall do justice and judgement to the poor and needy.  

In our article Hollywood Curse we wrote on March 2, 2008 this word:  

Howl and cry for Hollywood, for the Eternal God has declared that she is waste. Her filth has been spread throughout the world and those who are within her abide in death. Sudden destruction shall come upon her; her date is 11/22. The terrible Judge shall judge the land and Hollywood land shall be revealed as the wasteland that she is. Her day shall be filled with mourning for the walking dead shall be revealed when the Lord has His way with the whore Hollywood. Death shall multiply and sin exposed. We say this in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.  

This word stands and it shall never fall to the ground; for Hollywood and all that it stands for shall be exposed and brought down in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.