Then the Laity will become more noble in character as were the Bereans, and with maturity, combine their faith with the Word allowing them to recognize when the leaders teach in ignorance of the Word. (acts 17:11, Heb. 4:2). Our Lord's Beacon: The Elementary Teachings of Christ Jesus digs into the fundamental teachings of the doctrine of Christ Jesus. Many writings about the basics of Christianity have been published but without full knowledge of these six elementary truths, while using the meat of God's Word, full maturity un a Christian's life will never be attained. If we as Christians are stuck in the milk, in God's eyes we are still yet infants since we are not yet acquainted with the teachings of the righteous. Furthermore, solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. One cannot use/digest solid food until one can fully digest the milk, and only if God permits it. (Heb. 5:13-14). Is today's church truly mature? Can today's church possibly be conducting itself and understanding good and evil as an infant, using only the milk of God's Word? Is the world influencing the church more than the church is influencing the world? Can everything in today's church be traced back to The Elementary Teachings of Christ Jesus?

Our Lord's Beacon

The Elementary Teachings of Christ JesusBy William T. Atkinson Mario P. Bruno

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 William T. Atkinson and Mario P. Bruno
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-6072-3

Contents

About the Authors / Introduction...........................xiWalk Toward Maturity.......................................1Repentance From Dead Works.................................14Faith Towards God..........................................28Predestination.............................................40Instruction About Baptisms.................................63Shed Blood Baptism.........................................64Water Baptism..............................................69Holy Spirit Baptism........................................76Laying on of Hands.........................................81Resurrection Of The Dead...................................87Eternal Judgment...........................................102The Great White Throne Judgment of God.....................103Bema Seat Judgment of Christ...............................111Conclusion.................................................115

Chapter One

Walk Toward Maturity

It is of the greatest importance for every child of God to thoroughly learn the fundamental teachings of Jesus Christ, and not only learn them, but to live their lives according to these teachings. The fundamental or elementary teachings of Jesus Christ are these:

• Repentance from dead works

• Faith towards God

• Instructions about baptisms

• Laying on of hands

• Resurrection of the dead

• Eternal judgment

(Heb.6:1-2)

The sole purpose of the fundamentals are to help you obtain more of what God has to offer you and prepare you to go further into the depth of His Word and dig into the meat of His word.

In the pages and chapters that follow, you will not only be lead through the elementary teachings listed above in great detail, but also touch on some of the areas in which today's Christian church is having problems within those teachings. These problems are producing results in which many Christians miss out on experiencing the power and protection promised to them by God. Identifying these areas of difficulty will also explain why the Christian church is experiencing so many worldly struggles. As you will soon see, there is a tremendous amount of scripture referenced throughout, so we encourage you to have your Bible next to you as you read and let God help you walk toward maturity.

In different translations of the Bible, the words used in Heb.6:1 to define the elementary teachings are; beginning, fundamental, elementary and principle. However, the Greek word used in the original text is "arche", which literally translated means "chief", archaically defined as: "the most valuable".

It is a life and death decision whether or not Christians walk their earthly lives in conjunction with these very teachings! Why life and death? Because the choice they make will determine whether God will allow them to learn beyond these fundamental teachings, or not. (Heb.6:1-3) For beyond these fundamental teachings lies the greatest danger of ones ability to reject the Way of God!

If you learn these teachings, and begin to walk out your earthly lives in accordance to them, God will not only allow you to learn the meat of His Word, but He will actually lead you through them. Be Warned! If you choose to learn the meat of His Word before having a good grasp on the milk, you will be doing this on your own and He will not lead you. Taking on His meat before you are ready, before He allows it, opens a door that brings forth dangers of possible spiritual death, which hold a much higher rate of percentage than if you fully know and understand the milk first. (Heb.5:11—6:3)

To understand this concept is to compare it to a child. From the moment of conception, an infant is fed with what their digestive system is capable of handling. If the correct type of food is received it can be properly used to nourish the rest of the body. This begins with milk of the mother, or a formulated combination of ingredients. Later, some solids, such as cereals, can be safely added to the milk. If the solids are added too early, the infant will reject this addition, mainly because their digestive system is not able to handle the mixture of solids as of yet. Would you ever give an infant meat and potatoes before they were able to fully digest them harmlessly and properly? The same meat and potatoes, which can some day be used to strengthen their body, and continue their growth, could at this early time in life cause them great bodily harm simply because their little mouths, throats and digestive systems are not yet mature enough to properly handle solid foods. (I-Cor.3:1-2, I-Peter.2:2)

This is why parents who truly love and cherish their children would never do such a thing. They would never intentionally place their child in danger! This is important to understand, because God loves and cherishes His children and He would never intentionally place a child of His in danger! Yet, so many of His children, who believe they are living their lives according to His Word, find themselves in dangerous places and they cannot understand why.

If you think about it though, God's people, His children were always in danger. John the Baptist was beheaded, Jesus (His only begotten son) was whipped and crucified, Peter was crucified upside down, Paul was in prison, John boiled in oil ... the list goes on. So to say that God would never intentionally place a child of His in danger is sure ignorance ... isn't it? Keep in mind; it is spiritual danger that is being spoken of here, not physical. For our concern is no longer to be focused on our physical well being, but our spiritual. (I-Tim.4:8, Eph.6:12, Luke 12:4-5)

Many people find themselves in a place of both physical and spiritual dangers simply because, in their ignorance, they want to add to their "I'm a good Christian" list and dive into something that God did not call them to do. Why does this take place? It certainly is not because God intentionally places them in this danger. It happens because of outright disobedience and hypocrisy. It happens out of ignorance, when those with good intentions are taught in error and do not know any better simply because they took the pastor, teacher or leader at his word when they shouldn't. (Acts 17:11)

Likewise, it happens when they are fed, or feed upon themselves, the meat of His Word before they are able to properly digest it, which is doing so before God allows it. (Heb.6:3, II-Peter.3:14-17) The Word of God, His God-breathed Scriptures (II-Tim.3:16-17), speak clearly of the warning unto those who go beyond what they are able to digest in a healthy manner, and this warning should be taken very seriously. Just what warnings do the Scriptures give? To name a few:

• Only God allows us to go further. (Heb.6:3) What more warning do we need?

• The distortion of Scripture and the destruction of those who do so. (II-Peter 3:16)

• The carrying away of both laity and leader, to the point where they fall away because they think they stand firm, but do not. (II-Peter 3:17, I-Cor.10:11-12)

Seriously.... do any of you want to go before the Lord our God with any of those points weighing negatively on your back? Scripture is filled with examples of these things and what happens to those guilty of such things.

It starts from the very beginning. God did not allow Adam and Eve to eat the fruit, but they...