My 3rd Letter to Ted Weiland.

From: John Hurt
1857 Brindley Hollow Rd
Buffalo Valley, TN 38548

To: Ted Weiland
Mission to Israel Ministries
PO Box 248
Scottsbluff, NE 69363

Ted,

I have listened to your lesson on 1st Timothy part 23 and 24. I appreciate that when you got to 1st Timothy 5:9, you only said that 3 score was 60 years. You said nothing about Paul’s views that a widow under 60 years old was not to be supported by the church. This opinion of Paul would repulse most Christians. Thanks for not teaching this.

When you got to 1st Timothy 5:17, you brought out that “double honour” meant that the elders could receive money for their services, but you neglected to say that “double honour” means twice the average work man’s pay. Thank you again for not teaching this doctrine, as most people do not believe that an “elder” should receive twice the income of the people that pay his salary. Paul’s opinion that we should withhold money from the widow under 60 while providing a “double salary” to the elder that “rules well” is a horrible idea.

I would like to ask you quit teaching the doctrines of Paul, and do a 30 part series on Matthew for the following reasons:

(1) You have never taught a detailed exposition of Matthew, or any of the other gospels of Christ. Your ministry has focused mainly on the doctrines of Paul, with some study of Ezra, Hosea, and the governments of men. Why not Christ?

(2). Christ clearly instructed us that we should teach only His doctrines, and no other, in the following passage:

Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;
(20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Ted, it is great that you teach baptism, but you have never taught, at least not in the level of detail of your other lessons, on how we should “observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded us”. That is a problem!

Also note that Christ does not authorize us to teach the doctrines of any other man, only His doctrines. We are not authorized by Christ to teach the doctrines of James, or Peter, or the Book of Revelation, or the writings of Paul. Christ did not authorize us to teach Ezra or Hosea, or even about the governments of men. In as much as the Doctrines of Christ are supported by these other writings, they can only be referenced to support Christ’s doctrines, but nothing else. These other writers should not our focus. Sharing the Message of Christ should be the most important task that Christ has asked us to do.

Please consider putting Christ first above all other teachers, as He said we should have only one teacher, even Christ. (Matthew 23:8-10)

Christ’s commandment to us that we should be “Teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you”, completely destroys the doctrine of dispensationalism. Christ made this statement in Matthew 28:20 after His Resurrection, and while He was under the “New Covenant”. By this commandment, Christ indicated that everything He said during His lifetime is still relevant to Christians today. The “dispensationalist” will argue that anything that Christ said that contradicts Paul was made while Christ was “under the Old Law”, or “Old Covenant”, and they dispense with Christ and replace His Doctrines with the opinions of Paul. Dispensationalism is the doctrine of the Adversary.

If you put Christ first in your studies, above Paul and all others, then you will find that the opinions of Paul contradicts Christ’s doctrines in at least two ways:

1. Salvation: Christ said that we will have eternal life by keeping the 10 Commandments (Matthew 19:16-19), by helping the poor (Matthew 25:31-46), and by working and using all of our talents for the kingdom. (Matthew 25:14-30). Christ taught salvation through obedience, that is, salvation by works.

Paul said that you are saved by “faith” through grace and not of works. (Eph 2:8-9) That is, if you keep “faith” as a “thought in your head”, then you are saved by faith. Paul bases his “faith only” doctrine from an incorrect translation of Habakkuk 2:4, “the just shall live by faith”.

In the flawed Septuagint translation, the word “faith” in Hab. 2:4 is “pistis”, but in the original Hebrew, it is Strongs 530 ‘emuwnah. Only in Hab 2:4 has ‘emuwnah been translated as “faith”, in all other instances it has been translated as “faithful”, “faithfully”, faithfulness”, and other words that indicate a steady or stable action of righteousness. No, the correct translation of Hab 2;4 is that “The just shall live by being faithful”, that is by works, the exact opposite of Paul’s flawed doctrines of “faith alone”. You are not saved by your faith, for as James said, even the “devils believe” or have “faith” in God (James 2:19) Jude said that men like Paul have turned the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and so have denied our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4)

If you consider the matter, you will find that Paul has established a completely different religion of salvation that is “about” Christ through “faith”, in direct contradiction to the salvation of Christ and His True Apostles, which is through obedience to God. Christ is superior to Paul, and Christ has a better understanding of salvation than Paul.

2. God’s Law: Christ said in Matthew 5:17-20 that He did not come to abolish the Law, and that not even the least bit of the Law would end as long as Heaven and Earth are here. Christ said you also must be more righteous than the Pharisees to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Paul, while under oath in a court of law, freely admitted to being a Pharisee (Acts 23:6) and so according to Christ, Paul could never enter the Kingdom. Paul teaches that righteousness does not come from God’s Law (Galatians 2:21, and others), even though the definition of righteousness is following God’s Law (Deut 6:25, Luke 1:6) Paul has said that at least part of God’s Law has been abolished. (Eph 2:15, Col, 2:14), if not all of it. Regardless, most “Pauline christians” believe God’s Law was abolished by Christ at His death, based on the writings of Paul, and not from Christ’s clear instructions.

Christ said that all of these followers of Paul who preach in Christ’s Name, even those who cast out devils, and do many good works – if they work iniquity, or the “lawlessness” that comes from teaching the doctrines of Paul, Christ will say to these “Pauline” preachers “I NEVER KNEW YOU”. (Matthew 7:21-23)

If all of these reasons, I would hope that you would start teaching the words of Christ, and not Paul. It should not hurt you, or your ministry, to teach Christ and His message only, at least for the rest of your career as a Christian pastor. You have spent many years teaching the doctrines of Paul, it is time to spend the same amount of time teaching the doctrines of Christ.

Thanks,

John Hurt

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My 4th Letter to Ted Weiland: June 5th, 2023