OLD TESTAMENT or NEW TESTAMENT – HOLINESS or WORLDLINESS

By
Bernard Cox

I was recently taken to task regarding a couple of issues upon which I posted, which are often the
cause for ardent debate. I consider the topics most relevant to this final age wherein we live, for
Satan has long been using them to deceive the masses. The points that were contested are these...
1. The contester claimed that the ‘Old Testament Law’ is no longer relative to this ‘New
Testament day under grace’.
2. That man cannot live a life of holiness and purity as did Jesus.
I believe it was needful to correct these two misconceptions for Satan has perpetually deceived
Christians into believing that they are at his mercy and that they cannot overcome his deceptions
and nor could they live honourable, holy lives. I felt it important to point out to my friend that, ‘All
things are possible with the Lord’... especially since He sent us the Holy Spirit, and His ‘Five-fold
Ministry’ for that very purpose; and more-so, because we are in the last moments of time on the
Earth and lest we shed that sinful life and strive to adopt a life of holiness, cleansing the temple
wherein the Holy Spirit wishes to dwell, (our bodies) He will never come in to seal our souls with
His eternal Life; and thereby vanquishing the ‘Mark of the Beast’ - with which we were born.
So! My reply to my friend’s contention was thus...
Thanks for your comment friend,
Let me correct you, the admonition regarding hair refers to New Testament doctrine, not Old
Testament law that was a foundational teachings... Read 1Corinthians chapter eleven
As for wearing garments pertaining to a man... that is Old Testament. Firstly, Jesus did not come to
do away with the Law; but to magnify it and secondly, the dispensation changed but God doesn’t
change His mind regarding His original statutes...
DEUTERONOMY 22:5 THE WOMAN SHALL NOT WEAR THAT WHICH PERTAINETH
UNTO A MAN, NEITHER SHALL A MAN PUT ON A WOMAN'S GARMENT: FOR ALL THAT
DO SO ARE ABOMINATION UNTO THE LORD THY GOD.
ISAIAH 42:21 The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; HE WILL MAGNIFY THE
LAW, AND MAKE IT HONOURABLE.
MATTHEW 5:17 THINK NOT THAT I AM COME TO DESTROY THE LAW, OR THE
PROPHETS: I AM NOT COME TO DESTROY, BUT TO FULFIL.
MATTHEW 5:18 FOR VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, TILL HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS, ONE
JOT OR ONE TITTLE SHALL IN NO WISE PASS FROM THE LAW, TILL ALL BE
FULFILLED.
LUKE 16:16-17 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is
preached, and every man presseth into it. AND IT IS EASIER FOR HEAVEN AND EARTH TO
PASS, THAN ONE TITTLE OF THE LAW TO FAIL.
MATTHEW 5:19 WHOSOEVER THEREFORE SHALL BREAK ONE OF THESE LEAST
COMMANDMENTS, AND SHALL TEACH MEN SO, HE SHALL BE CALLED THE LEAST IN
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: BUT WHOSOEVER SHALL DO AND TEACH THEM, THE
SAME SHALL BE CALLED GREAT IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 5:20 For I say unto you, That Except Your Righteousness Shall Exceed The
Righteousness Of The Scribes And Pharisees, ‘YE SHALL IN NO CASE ENTER INTO THE
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN’.

Friend, as far as the issue of ‘the Law’ being buried in the Old Testament and having no significance
to the New Testament wherein grace abides, I have to abide with what Paul taught in that regard...
for I cannot discard or reject a single Word of the Old or the New Testaments as a Bible believing
Christian. Try to grasp what Paul was teaching the Gentiles in Rome for they also squabbled over
the same issue. I always try to take the examples and types of the written Word.
Note how Jesus married the Law with faith by grace...
MATTHEW 5:27-28 YE HAVE HEARD THAT IT WAS SAID BY THEM OF OLD TIME, THOU
SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY: But I say unto you, THAT WHOSOEVER LOOKETH ON A
WOMAN TO LUST AFTER HER HATH COMMITTED ADULTERY WITH HER ALREADY IN
HIS HEART.
One either believes God’s Word or doesn’t... Keeping in mind that there are three kinds of believers.
1. The Believer; who believes every Word of the Bible.
2. The Make-believer; who only believes the bits they like.
3. The Un-believer; who is an atheist.
ROMANS 3:31 DO WE THEN MAKE VOID THE LAW THROUGH FAITH? GOD FORBID:
YEA, ‘WE ESTABLISH THE LAW’.
The word ‘establish’ in the Greek is interpreted/defined as, ‘to make firm, fix establish; to cause a
person or a thing to keep his or its place; to stand, be kept intact (of family, a kingdom); to establish
a thing, cause it to stand, i.e. to uphold or sustain the authority or force of anything.’
Paul continues to explain as would a lawyer to make clear the relationship of ‘Faith by Grace’ with
the ‘Law’.
ROMANS 4:14 FOR IF THEY WHICH ARE OF THE LAW BE HEIRS, FAITH IS MADE VOID,
AND THE PROMISE MADE OF NONE EFFECT:
ROMANS 4:15 BECAUSE THE LAW WORKETH WRATH: FOR WHERE NO LAW IS,
THERE IS NO TRANSGRESSION.
ROMANS 4:16 THEREFORE IT IS OF FAITH, THAT IT MIGHT BE BY GRACE; TO THE END
THE PROMISE MIGHT BE SURE TO ALL THE SEED; NOT TO THAT ONLY WHICH IS OF
THE LAW, BUT TO THAT ALSO WHICH IS OF THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM; WHO IS THE
FATHER OF US ALL.
ROMANS 6:14 FOR ‘SIN’, (unbelief; smoking, drinking, gambling fornication, etc, are attributes
of disbelief of God’s Word) SHALL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU: FOR YE ARE NOT
UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE.
ROMANS 6:15 WHAT THEN? SHALL WE SIN, BECAUSE WE ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW,
BUT UNDER GRACE? ‘GOD FORBID’.
ROMANS 6:16 KNOW YE NOT, THAT TO WHOM YE YIELD YOURSELVES SERVANTS TO
OBEY, HIS SERVANTS YE ARE TO WHOM YE OBEY; WHETHER OF SIN UNTO DEATH,
OR OF ‘‘OBEDIENCE’ UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS’?
ROMANS 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work
in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
ROMANS 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that
we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
ROMANS 7:7 WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN? IS THE LAW SIN? GOD FORBID. Nay, I had not
known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
ROMANS 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence, (a desire for sexual intimacy). For without the law sin was dead.
ROMANS 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived,
and I died.
ROMANS 7:10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
ROMANS 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
ROMANS 7:12 WHEREFORE THE LAW IS HOLY, AND THE COMMANDMENT HOLY, AND
JUST, AND GOOD.
ROMANS 7:13 WAS THEN THAT WHICH IS GOOD MADE DEATH UNTO ME? GOD
FORBID. BUT SIN, THAT IT MIGHT APPEAR SIN, WORKING DEATH IN ME BY THAT
WHICH IS GOOD; THAT SIN ‘BY THE COMMANDMENT’, ‘MIGHT BECOME EXCEEDING
SINFUL’.
ROMANS 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
ROMANS 7:15 For That Which I Do I Allow Not: For What I Would, That Do I Not; But What I
Hate, That Do I.
ROMANS 7:16 If Then I Do That Which I Would Not, I Consent Unto The Law That It Is Good.
ROMANS 7:17 Now Then It Is No More I That Do It, But Sin That Dwelleth In Me.
ROMANS 7:18 For I Know That In Me (that Is, In My Flesh,) Dwelleth No Good Thing: For To
Will Is Present With Me; But How To Perform That Which Is Good I Find Not.
ROMANS 7:19 For The Good That I Would I Do Not: But The Evil Which I Would Not, That I Do.
ROMANS 7:20 Now If I Do That I Would Not, It Is No More I That Do It, But Sin That Dwelleth
In Me.
ROMANS 7:21 I Find Then A Law, That, When I Would Do Good, Evil Is Present With Me.
ROMANS 7:22 FOR I DELIGHT IN THE LAW OF GOD AFTER THE INWARD MAN:
ROMANS 7:23 BUT I SEE ANOTHER LAW IN MY MEMBERS, WARRING AGAINST THE
LAW OF MY MIND, AND BRINGING ME INTO CAPTIVITY TO THE LAW OF SIN WHICH
IS IN MY MEMBERS.
ROMANS 7:24 O WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM! WHO SHALL DELIVER ME FROM THE
BODY OF THIS DEATH?
ROMANS 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, ‘WITH THE MIND I
MYSELF SERVE THE LAW OF GOD’; But With The Flesh, The Law Of Sin.

There are reasons why God differentiates men from women for obvious reasons.
This kind of thinking you have adopted is accepted by the majority... while the majority are void of
the baptism of the Holy Ghost, (Who cannot deny the Word of which, He is the Author...) sinful
man will; for his nature is sinful—except he be born again, and by that, I mean, baptised with the
Holy Spirit... not just accepting Jesus into one’s heart.
Friend, I know this is a hard thing, but though it is for everyone; very few will accept it... but that is
what God saw before the foundations of the word.
MATTHEW 24:24 For there shall arise false Christ’s, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs
and wonders; insomuch that, ‘IF IT WERE POSSIBLE’, they shall deceive the very elect.
Believers also draw a line at a point, and that is when we are asked to add to or take away from the
Word, or to apply a personal interpretation to the Word of God, especially when God has taken the
trouble of sending us His vindicated prophet, through whom, He delivered the restoration of the
original teachings exposing the dogmas and corrupt teachings of the Roman Catholic Church which
were infused into the orthodox teachings of the founding fathers, which we still find in the
denominational churches.
Every man on the earth believes the teachings of a man, or many men depending on his level of
confusion. William Branham is the man that the Holy Spirit led me to after twenty years of
searching... hence my lengthy investigation into his teachings.
As for William Branham living the life that he advocated... Yes he did! He was a well-respected
man among the greatest bible scholars the world has ever known... but be assured, just as is the case
with every prophet God sent to the world, so William Branham also had his critics; especially when
they were exposed at the revelation of the Seven Seals... those revealed mysteries separated the
sheep from the goats.
You surely know that the ‘loving’ God is also a wrathful God; and when you say, ["William
Branham doesn't seem to have enjoyed his fellowship with Christ unless he was doing the works of
the law and I know he could never accomplish keeping the whole law"]... you will have to spend
more time investigating his life, and the supernatural relationship he had with the Lord, before
making assessments on his life and teachings. If God vindicated the teachings that He revealed to
the prophet in the Bible, (with wondrous signs, miracles, visions and prophecies by the thousands,
none of which ever failed) then I recommend adhering to them ourselves.
What else can I do my friend, after scrutinizing nearly a thousand of his sermons, the events that
accompanied his life and ministry, and taking it all back to the Bible, and still can't find error after
37 years anywhere else... never having found anything the likes of this ministry, which was
prophesied of in the bible?
I'm not expecting hoards to follow this, only eight out of millions in Noah's day and three in Lot's
day accepted the message of their day; and Jesus said it would be the same in this last age too.
Let me just qualify that, in Noah's day, the eight was saved by going over the Tribulation while
Enoch was the elect of that day, and he alone was raptured... because he pleased God, which is the
criteria and the only way we can please God; which is by proving our faith, not by lip-service, but
by actions in obedience of 'all' His revealed Word.
In Lot's day, Abraham was the elect, while Lot's family, (except his wife who longed for the worldly
life and disbelieved the warnings of the angel messengers) traversed the tribulation of that day.
I CORINTHIANS 6:2-3 DO YE NOT KNOW THAT THE SAINTS SHALL JUDGE THE
WORLD? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
KNOW YE NOT THAT WE SHALL JUDGE ANGELS? HOW MUCH MORE THINGS THAT
PERTAIN TO THIS LIFE?
In this age, the Lord's Bride will adhere to every Word the proceeds from the mouth of God... she
judges herself here, so that she does not come into condemnation later; hence they strive to
overcome all things as they live in the world without being part of the world.
So! Let me assure you that there are millions of believers all over the world who are living lives, by
the help, leading and grace of the Holy Spirit, of near perfect obedience and holiness always
repenting immediately should they fail in any way. All things are possible with God. He did promise
that we wouldn't be tried beyond 'that', which we can endure.
I hope that helps you understand what it is that I am doing on FaceBook. Satan is served by
multitudes 24/7/365 by his servants while we find that the servants of the Lord are scarce. It
behooves all of His children to stand at the point of duty in service at all times; I mean, there is
nothing in this world that I have interest in anyway. The least I can do is explain the difference
between salvation and election.
EPHESIANS 1:3blessed Be The God And Father Of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who Hath Blessed Us
With All Spiritual Blessings In Heavenly Places In Christ:
EPHESIANS 1:4 ‘ACCORDING AS HE HATH CHOSEN US IN HIM BEFORE THE
FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD’, ‘THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME
BEFORE HIM IN LOVE’:
EPHESIANS 1:5 ‘HAVING PREDESTINATED US UNTO THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN BY
JESUS CHRIST TO HIMSELF’, ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL,
EPHESIANS 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved.
Anyway, ‘salvation’ versus ‘election’ is a subject for another day.
What must I do with this gift which He has given me? Should I share it or should I hide it under a
bush? Become a mute? I don’t think so! What should I then reply on Judgement day when the Lord
asks, “What did you do with the talent which I gave unto you?”
The Lord bless you my friend and your beloved!