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NOTE: This article or series has not been updated recently. As such, it may possibly contain some outdated information, and/or ideas and beliefs which I no longer embrace, or which have changed to some degree.



As I explain in such articles as "Not Everyone is a Child of God" and "Child of the Lamb, or Child of the Goat?", God's Word makes a clear distinction between the Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. It is a black and white issue. There is no ambiguous gray area in between. In other words, there are no neutrals. Even in the Gospels, Jesus makes it clear that we are either on one side, or else we are on the other side. We are either for Him, or else we are against Him. Either we are a Child of God, or else we are a child of the Devil. We are either His sheep, or else we are Satan's goats. We are either good wheat, or else we are tares which are only fit for destruction. Consider the following verses which verify these points:

"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."


"He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad."


"Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."


"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."


As we learn in the previous verses, there are actual two harvests which are to take place.This double harvest consists of the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats, and the Children of God and the children of the Devil. It is likewise symbolically mentioned in the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation. In the following verses, we are told that one "like unto the Son of man" who wears a golden crown -- who is more than likely Jesus -- reaps the Earth. I believe that this represents the harvest of the good wheat; that is, the sheep who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Consider:

"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs."


As you can see, after Jesus rescues His children -- that is, the saved sheep or good wheat -- from the Earth during the first harvest, we are next told that another Angel comes out of the Temple in Heaven in order to reap the Earth a second time. Whereas the first event represents the harvest of God's Grace and Mercy, this second event symbolizes the harvest of His Wrath. This harvest reaps the grapes of wrath, which are synonymous with the tares and the goats. In his Epistles, the Apostle Paul refers to these people as the children of wrath and the children of disobedience. They are, of course, the unbelieving children of the Devil who have not believed in or accepted the Gospel and Testimony of Jesus Christ. Consider the following verses:

"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."


"Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience."


"For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:"


Generally speaking, we can say that the previous verses are referring to the nonbelievers of all ages who have rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As a result of their stubborn disobedience to God's Will, they do in fact make themselves subject to God's Wrath. Exactly what is God's Will for all of humanity? As Jesus Himself informs us in the following verses, it is that we accept Christ as the only recognized Mediator between God and man, who died for the sins of the world in accordance with His Father's Will, that we might inherit Everlasting Life. This is the highest Will of God. By rejecting this truth, the exact opposite happens. people invite God's Wrath upon themselves:

"Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."


"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent . . . All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."


"Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."


"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."


"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."


"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."


"For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."


"And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."


"For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."


"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."


In his Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul mentions this very same Divine Wrath which is meted out against all ungodly and rebellious men who reject Christ -- and thus ignore the Will of God -- when he writes the following:

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;"


Thus, in the previous verse set, Paul reminds us that prior to our coming to Christ, we were in danger of experiencing God's Wrath when he writes "we all . . . were by nature the children of wrath".

However, as I explain in the series "The Great Tribulation and the Rapture", as well as in "Not Everyone is a Child of God", it is my personal belief that in both a historical and a Biblical sense, the previous verses actually refer to one specific group of people. As some of you will already know, Jesus had a number of very negative things to say regarding these people, as did some of the other writers of the New Testament, such as the Apostles John and Paul. Who were and are these children of wrath and children of disobedience? I am convinced that they are in fact the unbelieving Jews who Jesus Himself informs us have lost the Kingdom, due to their stubborn unbelief and sound rejection of their one true Messiah.

If you doubt that this is so, then please consider the harsh truth concerning the unbelieving Jews that is revealed in the following verses. Jesus, John and Paul are all talking to and writing about their very own Jewish brethren, whom they had to deal with day after day, and year after year. They were constantly hounded by these antichrists:

"And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom [the Jews who falsely claim to be God's children] shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."


"Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you [from the unbelieving Jews], and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."


"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."


". . . Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it . . . He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."


"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."


"Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."


"In whom the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them [the Jews] which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."


"I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan."


"Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee."


"Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son."


"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."


"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist."


Please carefully notice Jesus' clear-cut responses in the previous verses. In one place He states "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity"; and in another He outright says to the unbelieving Jews "Ye are not of God". The Lord also indirectly implies that they are not really the children of Abraham, and that neither Abraham or God is their true father. He in fact tells them directly that the Devil is their real father, that they are the children of hell, and that their synagogue is the synagogue of Satan.

The Apostle Paul -- who informs us in his Epistle that he learned from no man, but directly from Jesus Himself -- is of the same opinion. As a former self-righteous, legalistic Pharisee who prided himself in his obedience to the Law, he knew his Jewish brethren quite well. Yet look at what Paul writes in the previous verse set. He says "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children . . . They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." Seven chapters earlier Paul likewise gives his "he is not a Jew" message.

In short, Paul is preaching the very same message that Jesus gave the unbelieving Jews in the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John. He is saying "Just because you are of the physical seed of Abraham, and just because you live in Israel, does not make you a true child of Abraham, or a true Jew." Paul tells his unbelieving Jewish brethren that they are in fact the children of disobedience, and the children of wrath. In his Epistle to the Galatians, Paul makes it even more clear that the true children of Abraham are those people who are in Christ. Just as Jesus taught, Paul writes that we are the true seed of Abraham and "heirs according to the promise". Just as Abraham believed by faith -- and thus fathered his son Isaac in his old age -- we Christians are likewise the seed of faith. That is what Jesus taught, and that is what Paul taught. Consider these verses:

"Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham . . . That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith . . . And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."


So you see, this is what God really meant when He told the Patriarch Abraham thousands of years ago that "In thee shall all nations be blessed." He was referring to the fact that from Abraham's seed of faith -- that is, Isaac -- would arise the Messiah who would one day shed His innocent Blood so that the world might be saved from the Wrath of God to come. But, when the Messiah finally did arrive on Earth, and fulfilled His Divine Mission here, it was His very own Jewish brethren who rejected Him for the most part. As we learned earlier, to reject the Son is to incur the Wrath of God.

As I explain in a number of other articles such as "Psalm 83 War False Doctrine Exposed" and "Hell, the Lake of Fire and Universalism", the stubborn Jews -- both the Jewish religious leadership, as well as the common Jews, who rejected Christ -- felt God's full Wrath in 70 AD, when Roman General Titus and his legions, along with local allies which included the armies of King Herod Agrippa II, destroyed Jerusalem, burned down the Temple, and deported the Jews to different parts of the Roman Empire. These events occurred in the midst of the First Jewish-Roman War, which began in 66 AD, and ended seven years later in 73 AD.

Different historical sources state that somewhere between six hundred thousand to about one million Jews died from disease, famine, crucifixion and other causes, as a result of the war. Many of these deaths could have been avoided, had it not been for the stubbornness of the Zealots and the Sicarii who took over the Temple Compound, locked down Jerusalem, and defied the Romans. The fact that the Romans had built a siege wall all around Jerusalem, and laid siege to the city for months on end, only aggravated the situation, and doomed the Jews who were trapped inside. However, as Jesus had warned them in the Gospels, this is the price that they would pay as a result of their rejection and murder of their own Messiah.

In light of the truth concerning the unbelieving Jews which is so clearly revealed in the previous verses, I honestly do not understand how any Bible-knowledgeable Christian can continue to insist that they are God's "Chosen People". To do so, in my opinion, is to intentionally ignore the truth of God's Word, to put on spiritual blinders, and to deceive oneself. In fact, it is to outright contradict what Jesus Himself says regarding His unbelieving Jewish brethren; not only in the Gospels, but in the Book of Revelation as well. For any Christian to do this is simply baffling.

As we learned earlier, there are no neutrals. A person simply cannot be a Child of God and a child of the Devil at the same time. We are either one or the other. If we embrace Christ, we are the Children of God. If we do not embrace Christ after we have been given an opportunity to do so, then we are the children of the Devil by our own conscious choice. Jesus could not have said it any more clearly than that. Despite the long centuries which have passed since 70 AD when God's Wrath was felt by the Jews in such a very powerful way, the attitude of the vast majority of the Jews towards Jesus has not changed much at all.

As the Apostle John wrote in his Epistles almost two thousand years ago, the Jews remain as antichrist as ever, and continue to deny their Messiah for the most part. Perhaps this is why in his Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul reminds us that despite their numbers, only a remnant will be saved according to the Prophet Isaiah, as we see here:

"Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:"


As I explain in my 1998 three-part series entitled "The Woman in the Wilderness and the 144,000", if we accept the belief that the 144,000 sealed servants of God who are mentioned in the Book of Revelation refers to our modern times, and to the total number of Jews who will accept Jesus Christ during this present time, this means that based upon an estimated maximum worldwide Jewish population of fourteen million -- most of whom live in the United States and Israel -- barely one per cent of the entire worldwide Jewish population will be saved.

On the other hand, if the 144,000 sealed servants of God refers to the total number of Jews who will accept Jesus Christ within the State of Israel alone, then based on the current estimated population of just under eight million Jews, the figure rises to 1.8 per cent who will eventually be saved. In other words, if we embrace this interpretation, it means that 98-99% of the Jews who are alive today will never accept Jesus Christ. They will remain as stubborn and as adamant in their rejection of Jesus Christ, as they have always been, and that is truly sad. God has been so merciful to them, and yet they continue to rebel against Him. They defy the Will of God.

Some pro-Israel Christians may argue "Wait a minute! Didn't the Apostle Paul write 'all Israel shall be saved'? How then can you claim that only one to two per cent will accept Jesus while the rest will remain against Christ?" Yes indeed. Paul did in fact say this in his Epistle to the Romans. Here are the verses:

"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all."


Stop and think about this. Paul is not going to quote from the Prophet Isaiah and inform his readers that a remnant of Israel will be saved, and then turn around two chapters later and contradict himself by saying that "all Israel shall be saved". Therefore, when he uses the word "all" he must mean something other than what appears on the surface. The key to understanding this issue is to realize that we cannot just choose to ignore the other things that Paul wrote regarding this issue in this very same Epistle. If we take everything as a whole, what we really end up with is the following:

"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh . . . for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel . . . though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved . . . and so all Israel shall be saved."

If you are confused by the previous quotes from Paul's letter to the Romans, allow me to explain to you how I personally have come to understand them. As we have already seen, just because a Jew claims to be a Jew, is circumcised, lives in the State of Israel, and follows Halachic law, does not mean that he is really a Jew, or a part of the real Israel. If he chooses to reject Jesus Christ, then he is in fact a false Jew, and not a part of the true seed of Abraham, which is the seed of faith. Furthermore, he is an antichrist to boot. This covers the first two parts of the previous excerpts above.

The Apostle Paul then informs us that a remnant shall be saved. Obviously, this cannot mean the entire population, as otherwise, it would not be a remnant. If we accept the above interpretation regarding the 144,000, this suggests that this remnant will consist of about 1.8 per cent of the current population of the State of Israel. These people represent the true Jews, and the true Israel. All of the rest of Israel's Jewish population -- the other 98% -- are false Jews who will never come to accept Jesus Christ. So when this remnant which consists of just under two per cent of the State of Israel's Jewish population is finally saved, all Israel will be saved, because they are the only real Israel who God recognizes, and not the other ninety-eight per cent who are false Jews, of the synagogue of Satan, and lying usurpers.

This is my current understanding of these verses. Whether or not you agree with it, I will leave up to you to decide. But I will say, that as far as I am concerned, this understanding is in perfect agreement with what Jesus said in the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Consider these verses:

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."


Please go to part two for the continuation of this series.

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