KEYWORDS: god, world, sin, sex, grace, love

There's No Way Out But Up

David Berg

25/12/92DO 2837

1. The Devil's doctrines concerning sex, which have become the churches' doctrines, are totally contradictory to God's sex position & how God feels about sex! As I've outlined in many different Letters, when God created Man, He made the organs involved, & He made them to feel like they do! He made sex an absolute necessity for Man, otherwise, in selfishness‚ neither man nor woman would have ever wanted children. The Devil, however, branded sex as something evil & wicked & shameful from the very beginning—starting very cleverly with nudity, the exposure of the body & its sex organs.

2. We & most churches are worlds apart, the difference between Heaven & Earth, when it comes to the subject of sex of any kind! The gulf is so great it cannot be bridged, between God's opinion on sex & the Devil's opinion, which the World follows. (Dad gets a coughing & sneezing attack & he rebukes the Enemy.) Depart from me!—Leave me alone, you damned Devil‚ while I voice the Words of God!

3. To the great denominational churches & the Catholic Church, sex is sin. According to God's Own Word it is sin for them because they think it's sin. (Rom.14:23.) But to us‚ because we know it is not sin, therefore it is not sin! So on those two positions we are totally worlds apart—with a great gulf fixed between God's world & the Devil's world—& it's impossible to convince most churches, who follow the Devil's doctrine, that they're wrong, that sex is not a sin & that all things are lawful to us Christians if they're done in love. It's simply impossible for them to see that, because the carnal, natural mind cannot comprehend such great truths as true Love applied to sex. It's impossible for them to comprehend. So they have made doctrines & laws opposed to the Love of God, & have set up their mores & moral standards in opposition to the Laws of God.

4. (Maria: I think the only thing they concede is that sex within marriage is all right. They know they have to do it, so they figure they've got to justify & make that right.) Yes, they know it's obviously God's Will for the creation of children, but in their eyes all sex other than that within institutionalised, formalised marriage is wrong. As the old song goes,

"Love & marriage,

Love & marriage,

Go together like a baby & a carriage!"

That's what the Catholic Church has taught, & what the Protestant churches have followed, that the only really truly legal & moral sex is sex motivated by the desire to create children. Believe it or not, that's what their doctrine winds up insisting on.

5. In fact, that's why the Catholic Church teaches that the woman should not enjoy sex. They literally teach that it's wicked & sinful for women to enjoy sex. For men it's a sin that's sort of tolerated, because it's something that men have to have, therefore women must submit to it.—Although to be saintly, a woman must not enjoy it‚ but just have in mind that her motive in submission is to create children for the Will of God. Not only the Catholics‚ but also a lot of the Protestants follow that same line of logic.

6. So we are far out of range of their way of thinking! The Lord Himself said that His ways are as high above Man's ways as the Heavens are above the Earth! "So are My ways higher than your ways, & My thoughts than your thoughts."—Isa.55:8,9. So they can't even hope to understand, & we certainly can't hope for them to understand how we feel & how we think about sex as being pure, made by God, intended for us to enjoy in fellowship with each other, to become one flesh, the total fulfilment of physical love. It's impossible for them to understand! We can't expect them to grasp‚ much less receive‚ our attitude about sexual freedom!

7. They've pronounced us guilty of sin & there's nothing we can do to change their verdict, because it's utterly impossible for them to understand the Truth of God's Love Laws & feelings about sex! (Maria: "The carnal mind is enmity against God."—Rom.8:7.) It's impossible for the carnal mind to understand God!—Or to understand the spiritual, or understand His Word! (See 1Cor.2:12-14.) They'll never do it! In fact, they're so opposed to the Truth we preach that they'll even come to the point of killing you & thinking they are doing God's service! (John 16:2.)—And that's what we expect.

8. We don't ever expect them to receive it & believe it. We don't expect them to be able to accept it. Therefore we know they will judge us guilty‚ persecute us, crucify us, & probably even eventually kill us in defense of their own sexual attitudes. They have to. As the lawyer said to the hippies in "Easy Rider," "They have to kill you to defend themselves, because you prove that freedom exists!" We have proved in our Family & by our fruits & by our children that it's possible for such freedom to exist! But since they do not have such freedom, they have got to prove that we're wrong; otherwise they've got to admit that they are wrong. And if they can't prove somehow that we're wrong & stop us legally, if there's no other way to stop us, they will not fall short of killing us to prove they're right & we're wrong!

9. This has been the World's attitude since the very beginning, from the time of Cain & Abel. God told Cain he was wrong. Cain claimed to be right, & he was furious over being proven wrong, since God was thereby proving that Abel was right. So Cain‚ in his self-righteous defense of his own wrong, killed righteous Abel, & that was the beginning of this whole battle between grace & works, between the true church & the false church. (See Gen.4:8-16.)

To Him that Thinketh It a Sin‚ It Is Sin!

10. The Devil told Adam & Eve that they should be ashamed of being naked‚ ashamed of their sexual freedom, & that they should try to cover it up—that's obviously what he told them—& therefore sex must be evil, it must be wrong, it must be wicked!—Which is why they were ashamed. God said, "Why are you ashamed? Who told you you were naked?"—Gen.3:11. And this is exactly what the Devil is saying through his agents today! He's saying to us through our enemies, "You are naked! Your sex is evil & you are wrong! Therefore we are going to stop you & make you hide yourselves & cover your nudity & stop your sexual freedom‚ because you're wrong & your sexual freedom is evil!"

11. Adam & Eve—the dumb clucks that they were, having disobeyed God & no longer understanding God—believed the Devil's lies & ran & hid themselves & made themselves cover-ups for what they were now convinced was sin.—Just like the World is convinced of it, although they of course enjoy it greatly. And having enjoyed it & still enjoying it & thinking that it's against God, they therefore feel they can't be religious, they can't go to church, they can't accept Christianity & they can't accept the Bible because they're so convinced that they're hopeless sinners!

12. I knew a man once who had been given Seventh-day Adventist training, who thought it was a sin to work on Saturday. Therefore he said, "I can't go to church & I can't be a Christian because I have to work on Saturday." He was convinced it was a sin! I tried to show him it was no longer a sin to work on the Sabbath & that we were free from those old laws by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. But I don't think I ever convinced him, because he'd been trained & raised that way & taught that working on the Sabbath, on Saturday, was a sin, therefore he couldn't be a Christian because he had to work on Saturdays. And because he was convinced it was a sin, to him it was a sin! The Scripture plainly says so! "To him that thinketh it is a sin‚ it is a sin."—Rom.14:23.

13. So the Devil has convinced the World to believe his lies about sex, that sex is sinful—any kind of sex except married sex for the purpose of having children. How many people get married nowadays for the purpose of having children, because all they want sex for is to have children? That's totally ridiculous! What they want is legal sexual freedom! Then they turn around & kill the babies who are the result of it—a much worse sin! They'd rather murder their babies through abortion than limit their sexual freedom, even in marriage. Of course, they have the feeling that somehow it's sinful to enjoy sex anyway.

14. My Mother used to say about some food, "This is so good, it must be a sin!"—A common saying in her day. And that's exactly how the World feels about sex—it's so good & so enjoyable, it must be a sin! And that's exactly what some churches teach, that to enjoy anything so much has got to be a sin. (Maria: Because they say you need to suffer as a Christian.)

15. Their whole religion is a religion of works & suffering, therefore saints should suffer & not enjoy religion, & certainly not enjoy sex! Their whole religion is built on that false premise that because sex is enjoyable‚ it must be a sin.—"This is so good‚ it must be sinful!" That's their motto that they've been taught by the church!—Which is deluded by the Devil & has been from the beginning! The self-righteousness of the church is the self-righteousness of Cain‚ who, despite the fact that God told him that Abel was right & he was wrong, he insisted on trying to prove that he was right despite what God said! His brother had done the right thing & obeyed God, yet Cain didn't want to admit it. Therefore in the final analysis, to shut Abel up & to stop him, he felt he had to kill him!

The Devil's Tactic: If You Can't Stop'm, Kill'm!

16. This has been the Devil's tactic throughout all ages: "If you can't stop'm, kill'm!"—And that's what it will come to eventually in the coming Antichrist World dictatorship, where true faith & true worship & true love of God & belief in Jesus Christ will be absolutely forbidden, & worship of the Devil will be commanded, obligatory & enforced—or you're killed! (Rev.13:15.) This is what it's going to come to, & it won't be long. And if our enemies could, that's what they would like to do. They would like to kill us, because Satan would like to kill us to stop us, if he can't stop us any other way!

17. Right now they're trying to do it legally. They figure that if they can catch us on something that's illegal in the eyes of the World‚ in the eyes of the law, that they can criminalise us, put us in jail & coop us up & shut us up to where we cannot preach God's Truth & freedom any more. This is their purpose, because they belong to their father the Devil & they believe his lies, & they really think they're right! In the eyes of the law, they're legal & they're working hard to pass laws to make us & other Christians completely illegal! So what else can we expect from the law, Man's laws, but to be contrary to the laws of God! What else can we expect but persecution, incarceration & some day even death.

18. So there's no reconciliation, it's impossible! Some of our friends have even suggested that we modify our Scriptural belief in the freedom granted to us under the Law of Love, to come out & deny it or change it or admit that it was wrong. But how are we going to do that? There was a famous martyr in the days of the Reformation, a Catholic bishop I recall, who was forced by his peers to recant his position of faith which was in agreement with the Protestants. He was pressured by them to confess he was wrong & to sign a recantation, an admission that he'd been wrong in accepting Protestant teachings, on virtually the same subject they attack us for, on the freedom of Salvation by grace & faith rather than works.

19. But eventually he felt so bad about it that he came out openly again & denied his recantation & said he was wrong to recant & that he still believed in the Protestant doctrine of Salvation by grace through faith rather than by works. They threatened to burn him at the stake‚ but he wouldn't back down‚ so they did burn him at the stake! But as he was tied to the stake & the flames licked around his feet, he held forth the hand that had signed the recantation & he said he wanted that hand to burn first, because that hand had been wrong in signing his denial of faith! It had denied the grace of God, & he put that hand forth to burn first as the culprit! What are you going to do with faith like that? Well, the day will come, & has come & has not passed yet, when "he that killeth you will think that he doeth God service!"—Jn.16:2.

20. So what can we expect from the fiendish, Devilish, ungodly World who think they're righteous & think that they're without sin & think that we're the ones who are unrighteous, when we're so utterly, totally in opposition in our positions! What can we expect? The Devil, having prepared the way for centuries‚ even for millenniums‚ has convinced his wicked World that they are right & the true Christians are wrong, so that they have persecuted them from one end of history to the other, & have found countless excuses & justifications for persecuting Christians!—Creating laws against them & casting them into prison, torturing them, burning them at the stake, putting them through the Inquisition, searching for witches & all kinds of excuses throughout history!

21. And the coming Tribulation is going to be the most widespread persecution ever, the final persecution when the edict will go out to kill everybody who refuses to worship the Beast, the Antichrist & his Image!—The Devil, in other words.—Rev.13:15. The Devil is finally going to make it a law, it'll be illegal not to worship him!—Illegal to worship God & Jesus, illegal to be a Christian!—Or a Jew, or a Muslim, or anybody who believes in God or any other religion but the Devil's own religion of worshipping himself in the person of his Antichrist Superman, the Devil–possessed dictator of the World!

22. So what can we expect? We can expect nothing better from the World, since our doctrines are totally at sword's points & totally in disagreement & totally contradictory! We can never in this World expect the carnal mind of wicked Man‚ no matter how self-righteous he may think he is, to understand our position & the freedom we have in grace, the grace of God. There's no way to explain it to them, they couldn't possibly understand it! To them it's like Greek or Latin or even worse! They've been trained & persuaded by the Devil's own doctrines for thousands of years‚ that according to them & to Satan, certain things are wrong & sinful, which to God, the Creator Who made us, are not sin!

"Here I Stand, I Can Do No Other!"

23. So what can we do? I feel like Martin Luther before the Diet of Worms. They were asking him to recant his writings & say that his position of Salvation by grace was false, & that works would save, particularly on the point of the observance of the Eucharist, or as we Protestants call it, Communion. He was asked to deny his faith in Salvation by grace. He said, "Here I stand, I can do no other! Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the Pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred & contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted & my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot & I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise." And thank God‚ because of the kings & princes of Saxony & their protection, they saved him from certain death, execution by the Pope for his stand for grace instead of works. We are in the same position today! They want us to deny our position on the saving grace of God, that all things are lawful in Love because of God's grace.

24. God's only Law is Love!—As long as it's in Love & hurts nobody, then it's lawful! But this is totally contrary to the World & the morals of the public & the program they've been building up. They've been at this ever since Satan started it in the Garden of Eden, convincing them that what God had made right & righteous & perfectly sinless—nakedness & sex—was evil!—And it's been considered evil by not only the Devil & Adam & Eve, but by nearly all religions ever since!

25. We are standing up for a principle of freedom in God's grace where "all things are lawful," as the Apostle says (1Cor.6:12; 10:23), although they're not always the safe way to behave. Some might say, even our friends, that it was unwise for us to take such a public stand & to write it down, even if it's true, because the World will never accept it. This is what some of our friends are trying to tell us: "You've got to change your stand on that because it'll never be accepted by the World."

26. So we stand convicted in their minds already! We're already misjudged because by the World's standards they're convinced that we're wrong. The legal system has been made by worldly, carnal men, people who are totally ignorant of Salvation by grace. They do not understand the freedom of God's Love & the freedom He grants to us under His Law of Love, & because of this‚ they cannot judge us fairly.

27. How can I go back on the Truth of God & the Truth of God's Word, & the Truth of God's grace & the freedom of His Love? How can I now recant & deny it‚ when I can't recant because I know that what we stand for & what we have taught & what is according to God's Word & our faith in God's grace & His freedom in Love, genuine Love, is right! I cannot go back now & recant!

28. I've challenged them to give me one quotation in all my writings on sex that I have made that was wrong & unscriptural! I said, "Okay, show me according to the Word of God that it was wrong & according to the Bible that it was not right, & then I will certainly confess that I made a mistake." But I can't think of anything that I've taught‚ anything that I've said or anything that I've written that has contradicted the Bible, God's Word, Jesus' Word, the teaching of total grace & therefore total freedom in love‚ genuine love. So it's impossible for me to recant!

29. If I had to go to trial, they'd probably convict me the first day!—Because I would refuse to recant in anything that I have said, unless they can prove to me that what I said was wrong according to the Bible. So what are we to do? What can we do but stand there like Martin Luther & say, "That is the Word of God & I refuse to recant. Here I stand, I can do no other!" Whew! Those are dangerous words nowadays!

30. There are so many things in which we've taken a stand regarding the wickedness of this World—against Sodomy & baby murder & all of their much worse sins, real sins!—Not to speak of the truth about racial differences in the System, & the truth about the World Conspiracy. … Anti-Semitism today is supposed to mean anything anti-Jewish. But technically it would have to mean anti-Jews and Arabs, because they're all Semites, sons of Shem. Semites would also include the Indians of India & nearly all Orientals, because virtually the entire Mideast & Far East are descendants of Shem, with a certain amount of mixture of Canaanites or Blacks, the sons of Ham.

31. God cursed … the Canaanites [see ML # 2928, Vol.21], the Blacks of the land of Canaan … for the sin of Sodomy—sex between men, "men with men working that which is unseemly [shameful]!" (Gen.9:24-27; Rom.1:27.) He cursed them for it!—Because He knew what a curse it was going to become to the [Canaanites] themselves, indulging in this wicked‚ filthy, vile, stinking, anti–God sin of Sodomy! And yet now Sodomy is being legalised & defended & is brandishing itself all over the World & demanding recognition & demanding benefits of every kind, & demanding even the priesthood! Whereas the true Love of God in the most innocent freedom of God's grace & Love is being condemned as wickedness & sin, for which they're going to now attack "extremist" Christians like us. And we are extremists, because we're extremely radical in our faith & belief in God's grace & freedom in Love! They're going to convict us of crimes of their own making.

32. What can we do? Can we back down on the Truth? We can't expect any mercy from the World. Jesus said, "If you were of the World, the World would love his own‚ but because you are not of the World, but I have chosen you out of the World, therefore the World hateth you! If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you!"—John 15:19,20. The Devil's World hates Jesus, & therefore hates Christians‚ & there's no way out of it except Up! We'll only be delivered when the Lord comes, & just before that we will go through the worst persecution, the most widespread the World has ever known, Jesus Himself said so! (Mat.24:21.)

33. It's all a part of God's permissive Will to test us & try us. He says, "The trying of your faith is more precious than gold!"—1Pet.1:7—More precious, yea, than much fine gold! God loves to see the martyrs die for their faith because it is the final acid test of their true gold. (See Psa.116:15.) He doesn't enjoy their suffering, but He is thrilled with their sacrifice & willingness to stand up & die for the Truth!—And it is coming again just as sure as we are here today—persecution of the righteous for their faith & their stand of faith for the Truth!

34. So can we compromise? Can we hedge just a little? Can we deny that we really believe this & that? Can't we say we didn't really mean that? Can't we deny the grace of God & Salvation by faith just a little & qualify it just a little bit so we can save ourselves from the wrath of Satan & this World?—Not if we're going to please God! Because to God, having fellowship with the unfruitful works of unrighteousness & the wicked is sin! He says, "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers, & have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them!"—2Cor.6:14; Eph.5:11. To be in fellowship & in some way yoked & not rebuking & condemning their sins is a sin to us!

35. There's no way around it‚ there's no way we can get out of it, because to them our freedom in God's Love is sin, but to us it's all a part of the Grace of God, Salvation by Faith! Since the Snake in the Garden talking to Adam & Eve, they've been taught that sex is sinful & wicked‚ except in certain cases. How can I deny the Truth of God's Word just to save ourselves?

36. In some ways the quicker the better if they kill us! Jesus said, "Fear not them which can kill the body & after that have no more that they can do; but rather fear Him Who is able to cast both your soul & body into Hell!" Because that's what God will do to those who kill us, even though they think they're doing God service!—Mat.10:28; Luk.12:4,5.

37. We live in the most dangerous days for Christians the World has ever known! We're almost into the Tribulation, & some are already being tribulated. And of course true Christians of real faith have always been tribulated throughout thousands of years of Christian history! There have been many martyrs, many persecuted, many killed for their faith. So there's nothing new about it.

38. The World thinks it's so beautifully civilised nowadays, "Oh no, people wouldn't do things like that today!" Well, they're doing it right now in Yugoslavia, they're doing it right now in Somalia‚ they're doing it right now in almost every nation on the face of the Earth! They're killing the righteous & even killing people for their faith. I don't think that this day is going to be any better than it has been for millenniums. We are living in a dangerous time; we're in a dangerous occupation of preaching the Gospel, the Truth, Salvation by grace through faith, & living the Law of Love & freedom!

39. Of course some of our friends are worried‚ because they can see the possible outcome, that there's no way to save us except for us to deny our faith & our beliefs. They can see themselves not being able to defend us or protect us or work with us if we won't, because they can see us being accused of what the World calls sin, & even crimes, & they don't want to be connected with people who are going to be found guilty of what the World considers sin. The World's ideas of sin are totally contrary to the Laws of God. There's no way of escape, there's no way out! We have to stand up for our convictions of the Truth of God's Word, Salvation by grace & freedom by Love!

40. Sorry, there's no way out but Up! Just like all the other martyrs, we'll have to pay the price of standing up for the Truth. We'll probably be some of the first of this generation. There have always been martyrs throughout World history. Christians have continually been hounded & persecuted & reviled & falsely accused & tortured & jailed & slaughtered! Today's World is no different, they'll get around to that as soon as they can. The Devil's rage is great because he knoweth that his time is short.—Rev.12:12.—And there's no way out but Up!—To stand up for one thing, for our faith, & to be willing to leave this life & go Up to Heaven for our faith.

41. What else can we do? Like Martin Luther, all we can say is, "Here I stand by the grace of God, I can do no other!" All we can do is stand up, & go Up!—There's no way out but Up! Death is our only hope, because as Jesus said, "He that believeth on Me shall never die!"—John 11:26. When we're put to death, we don't die, we get released from the body of this death, as Paul says. (Rom.7:24.) We go Up‚ but they go down!

42. I don't know what to do, except do what I've been doing all the time, & say what I've been saying. There's no way out, but Up! As Martin Luther said‚ "Here I stand, I can do no other!" Stand up for Jesus, stand up for our faith, stand up for the Truth of God's Word! Stand up for our freedom & grace & Love! Stand up for Jesus! Stand up & die, stand up & go Up!—Because the only way out is Up! God help us! I really truly believe that we have been called to die for our faith at the hands of our enemies, "but great is our reward in Heaven!"—Mat.5:12. We're not doing it for reward, we're just doing it for the Love of Jesus & His Word & His Truth, His Bible. There's no end to it‚ except our end, which will be our Beginning!

43. I'll tell you, I can't even think about the future, I have to just live one day at a time, because if I dwell on the future‚ it'd scare the Heaven out of me! I don't have grace for that yet, but when the time comes I'll have dying grace. At least in my dreams He showed me that I'd have it when I need it, thank God! (See "Dying Grace!", ML #1775.) But right now it's extremely dangerous to hold such views. As we've experienced at the hands of anti-Christ authorities, they can lock you up or take your kids away!—Think of it!—Just because you hold views that are right & true according to God's Word. As Jesus said, "Man by his laws have made the Word of God of none effect!"—Mat.15:6; Mk.7:13.

44. They killed Him & they'll kill us too, especially in these Last Days when Man is so wicked as to extol & exalt some of the most wicked sins of Man—Sodomy & abortion, the murder of defenseless babies!—But accusing us of sin because of our righteousness & the Truth!—Condemning us when they're the guilty ones! And they have to kill us to try to prove it!—And they'll go to Hell!—Their only way out is down!—Ours is Up Forever! Hallelujah! TYJ! GBAKY till then—and He willForever! Death is your promotion!—You've passed the grade & can graduate!—Out of their reach Forever! TYJ! So the sooner the better!—Just make it count as a testimony against them!—Like righteous Abel! GBY!—In Jesus' name, amen!