Repentance Is the Key That Unlocks the Kingdom of Heaven

By Donald Werner

In Matthew 3:2 (NKJV) we hear John the Baptizer said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” And ‘repent’ was also the main theme of the Old Testament Prophets.

Then in Matthew 4:17 (NKJV) we read; “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And it must be noted that in the Greek, the imperative command to “repent” is in the present tense voice, meaning that we are commanded to repent, and repentance must be a continual ongoing activity, not a onetime event. And this verse also tells us that Jesus continually preached that message. Just like the Prophets of old, repentance was the main theme of Jesus’ teachings, and his parables.

John the Baptizer, the Old Testament Prophets, the Apostles and Jesus, each give us the same message. They were each telling us, or whoever would listen to them, that there is no entrance into the Kingdom of heaven apart from a righteous that is to fruit of ‘true’ repent lifestyle. Only that continual act of true repentance will unlock the gates of heaven so that we may enter.

Who needs to repent? True repentance is needed by all who have sinned. I don’t know who the holiest person on the face of the earth is, but I can assure you that he/she has sinned and needs true repentance to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And that is true for all of us, true repentance is needed to enter the kingdom of Heaven, because it’s our only means of obtaining the righteousness we need to enter God’s kingdom..

Unfortunately “true repentance” is not the repentance we hear about in our churches. The churches come to the wrong conclusion about repentance because they start with the wrong premise about sin and the need for repentance. But by the time you finish this book you will have a clear biblical understanding of what true repentance really is and you will know the process and the steps for true repentance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781329652170

Book preview

Copyright

Repentance Is the Key That Unlocks the Kingdom of Heaven

Copyright © 2021 Donald Werner. All rights reserved.

Published by Donald Werner

ISBN 978-1-329-65217-0

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

Young's Literal Translation (YLT) by Public Domain

All Scripture emphasis; such as bolding, underlining, highlighting, italic and parenthetical inserted comments are mine.

PREFACE

In Matthew 3:2 (NKJV) we hear John the Baptizer said, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" And ‘repent’ was also the main theme of the Old Testament Prophets.

Then in Matthew 4:17 (NKJV) we read; From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  And it must be noted that in the Greek, the imperative command to repent is in the present tense voice, meaning that we are commanded to repent, and repentance must be a continual ongoing activity, not a onetime event.  And this verse also tells us that Jesus continually preached that message.  Just like the Prophets of old, repentance was the main theme of Jesus’ teachings, and his parables.

John the Baptizer, the Old Testament Prophets, the Apostles and Jesus, each give us the same message.  They were each telling us, or whoever would listen to them, that there is no entrance into the Kingdom of heaven apart from a righteous that is to fruit of ‘true’ repent lifestyle.  Only that continual act of true repentance will unlock the gates of heaven so that we may enter.

Who needs to repent?  True repentance is needed by all who have sinned. I don’t know who the holiest person on the face of the earth is, but I can assure you that he/she has sinned and needs true repentance to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  And that is true for all of us, true repentance is needed to enter the kingdom of Heaven, because it’s our only means of obtaining the righteousness we need to enter God’s kingdom.. 

Unfortunately true repentance is not the repentance we hear about in our churches.  The churches come to the wrong conclusion about repentance because they start with the wrong premise about sin and the need for repentance. However, by the time you finish this book you will have a clear biblical understanding of what true repentance really is and you will know the process for true repentance.

INTRODUCTION

Who am I? I was born the middle of nine children in a good Catholic family on a little dairy farm in southern Minnesota.  As a good Catholic family we would attend Church every Sunday, come hell or high waters.  I spent my elementary school grades, 1 to 8, at a Catholic school taught by nuns.  We spent a lot time on the study of church teachings, catechism, and doctrines, and a very small amount of time on actual Bible study.  I remember my fourth grade the teacher was going to read the Bible to us, chapter a day. She did a good job, and even tested us on the Bible stories.  However, when we got to the part about Lot in the cave with his daughters, the red faced nun suddenly stopped reading.  That was the end of our reading through the Bible.  At that time, we really weren’t sure why she stopped reading.

I graduated from Public High School and went away from home to college.  In my first year of college I attended church once that year.  I found no interest in going, I found no reason to go, I felt no fulfillment in going, no spiritual nourishment, it satisfied no spiritual need I had, nor did it make me feel closer to God or to know God better.  I was only loosely connected to the Catholic Church for the next 15 years and I rarely went to Mass.

About at the age of 30 there was a book published about end of world events, and it was titled ‘The Late Great Planet Earth’.  My Protestant friends were talking about the book and how it related current events to the Book of the Revelation.  I was mostly silent during those conversations, I listened very intently and was very interested, but I knew nothing about the Book of the Revelation, and for that matter, not much about the rest of the Bible, other than the Garden of Eden and some New Testament stories.  After decades of the Catholic faith, church sermons, parochial school, Wednesday schools, Sunday schools, and lectures, I knew almost nothing about the Scriptures.  Seemingly that wasn’t important enough in the Catholic Church for us to be taught.

So shortly after the ‘The Later Great Planet Earth’ book was published, a local Lutheran Church was offering a two year through the Bible study, I was told that it would be a quite in depth study.  I decided to join.  The Bible study went from Genesis to Revelation and for the first time I understood the Bible, I saw the big picture of the Bible.  I understood Biblical history and how the Prophets fit in, their messages, and then how the New Testament fits in.  By the time I was done with that two year study, I knew that I couldn’t stay in the Catholic Church.  I found too much in the Bible that was contrary to what the Catholics taught, practiced and preached, such as: the seven holy sacrament each being a means of grace, confession to the priest, the priesthood, the papacy, the Mass, purgatory, holy water, indulgences, penance, icons, statues, worship of Mary and prayers to the Saints, the rosary, nuns, storehouse of grace, salvation being exclusively for Catholics, etc.

So I left the Catholic Church and join the Luther Church at the age of 35.  I was freed for those false Catholic teachings.  So I found a sense of freedom in Protestantism.  Yet, I continued to study the Bible, and even attended a Lutheran Seminary.  After 18 years in the Lutheran Church and 8 years as a part time student at a major Protestant Seminary, I was in my senior year, and I found that I couldn’t reconcile all of the basic Christian Church doctrines with Jesus’ words.  The big issues were the Sabbath, imputed righteousness, gaining God’s saving grace by eating a communion wafer, eternal torment in hell, rejection of God’s law and infant baptism.  So I left the Lutheran church and joined the Seventh day Adventist, around the age of 53.

The Seventh day Adventist, kept God’s Sabbath day, assigned no saving grace to communion, baptism of adults who chose to be baptized, and they showed me that the Scriptures do not support the eternal torment in hell.  This to me was a giant step forward.  However, I continued to study the Scripture. About the age of 65 I set out to list all the verses that supported the Trinity, it was a very short list of verses of ambiguous verse.  Those verses needed a pre-conceived idea of a Trinity, with some imagination, and even then they only inferred ideas compatible with a Trinity.  So, I started listing all of those verses that spoke contrary to such a doctrine.  Going through the Old Testament and New Testament, I found an amazingly long list of clear and unambiguous verses. The Scriptures tell us there is no Trinity.  The doctrine of the Trinity was conceived by the church, apart from the Scriptures.

I then began to study Jesus’ words alone, for he said he was to be our only teacher (Matthew 23:10).  Jesus told us to worship YHVH alone (Matthew 4:10) and to keep YHVH’s ‘law and the Prophets’ (Matthew 5:17-20), which would include keeping Passover and eating Biblical Kosher, however, here the Adventist church along with the rest of Christianity failed to abide by Jesus’ instructions.

Setting Paul aside, I re-discovered Jesus’ words commanding us to keep YHVH’s law and the Prophets until heaven earth pass away, and to worship YHVH God alone.  And this time I didn’t listen to the Catholic, Lutheran or Adventist theologians who effectively tell us to accept what Paul wrote and accept the Trinity regardless of what Jesus said.  Now I know better and I won’t let Paul’s lawless comments or any theologians derail my following Jesus’ instructions and teachings, for Jesus said his is to be our only teacher – so I must set Paul’s writings aside. 

If we are to keep the ‘law and the Prophets’ as Jesus commanded, that means that we are to eat Biblical kosher, observer Passover, and we are to worship YHVH alone, we are not to worship the Trinity nor Jesus.  And that means no Easter Sunday Ham Dinners.  But most people don’t listen to Jesus, or obey Jesus.

So at the age of 72 I can no longer attend a Christian Church, my conscience will not let me, for the Christian Church dishonors YHVH by worship other gods (i.e., the Trinity) contrary to what He commanded in Exodus 20:1-3 and contrary to what Jesus commanded. Christians dishonor Jesus by rejecting his command to worship YHVH alone in Matthew 4:10. How can I attend a church that dishonors YHVH God and Jesus?

You may be thinking that since I reject the today’s Christianity I don’t honor or respect Jesus.  The fact is, it’s those who practice