Sharing the Gospel is about the proclamation of what Christ did for the whole world. The Gospel is not the presentation of a deal that “if you believe then Christ will save you, or then you will be saved”. Most of the time when people talk about being “saved” it is pre-supposed this means not going to hell (or the lake of fire depending on their eschatology) but go to heaven after the life of a person here on earth has ended. So then the matrix of this paradigm presumes that without faith in Christ people will be eternally lost, or rather kept in a place of eternal torment as punishment for not believing in Christ or rejecting Him as Lord. Not because of their individual sins, but because of the sin of unbelief, i.e. rejecting Christ. Most Christian theologians will confirm that we are saved by His grace, not our so called “righteous” works. But they also say if a person does not believe they will be lost. So they must first believe and then God will save them. So even though they will say we are saved by grace we can only be saved when faith is applied, huh? Now which is it? God’s Grace or our faith? Well, then it is explained that through our faith we receive His grace for salvation. Still, by saying that you contradict yourself. Because if people must believe first they will still be lost if they don’t believe. If they don’t believe and they will be lost as a consequence, what good would God’s grace for salvation be to them? Well, that’s the point, they will be saved if they believe but lost if they don’t. That’s their choice, not God’s. The contradiction lies in the fact that Grace is an undeserved gift, but to place the condition of the undeserved gift which can only become effective when one believes is in itself the contradiction. The Grace preacher will say people are already forgiven, but they must still be believe to be saved. If they don’t accept Christ they will still be lost even though they are forgiven. So there will be millions, if not billions of people with their sins forgiven will still split hell wide open because they did not believe in Christ and therefore remain lost. If we follow that line of thought it looks like it is all down to our believing or not believing. This seems as though we are become the initiator using our faith and then God responds. A “word of Faith” preacher will say, “yes, faith is what moves the hand of God”. A grace preacher will say; “no faith does not move the hand of God, we believe because God’s hand already moved (2000 years ago in that the work of Christ was finished and salvation/redemption made available to all) we just believe it and therefore receive that salvation”. Sounds all good and well. What if they are both right and both wrong? Now what if God’s grace for salvation was obtained by Jesus’ faith on behalf of all of humanity?
Ephesians 2
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
The Apostle Paul here states that being “saved” is the gift of God. The grace part is God’s work and the Faith part is what Jesus did. He did what the modern day Christian tries to impose upon all “unbelievers” in the world today. As the Christian will say that Salvation is available to all because of what Christ did the sinner must repent and by faith appropriate this gift of salvation.
Nevertheless the subject Paul refers to when he stated “through faith” he was referring to Jesus’ faith. That’s why Jesus came to earth. That’s why He gave His life and did what He did, because He believed. He believed all the scriptures of the Torah and the Prophets. He believed they spoke of Him. And so He believed on behalf of everyone to secure Redemption for all. As a consequence humanity is redeemed and all will end up in heaven. Whether they believe it or not. However, knowing and believing this truth will have the potential to enrich and powerfully transform your life on earth in every way.
When I state that eternal salvation or redemption was secured by the finished work of Christ, I mean the whole work of Christ. His birth, life, ministry, and death followed by His resurrection, His ascension, His coming on the clouds of judgment between 67 and 70 A.D., and consequently the setting up of the Kingdom of God on Earth. In short Christ came to secure our eternity with Him. This is the simple but most powerful reality communicated in the message of the Gospel. The Gospel reveals the amazing reality that Jesus as High Priest and legal advocate represented all of humanity before God, in the Courts of Heaven before the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7). Jesus was only able to represent humanity, every man, woman and child of all generations since Adam and all who are still be born into this world and secure redemption for everyone because He believed the truth about His life and gave His life for this mission even unto His death on the cross.
When I refer to His finished work, I do not mean to say that Jesus completely ended every phase of His total mission when He was crucified and said “it is finished”. Yes, on that cross He finished that part of His mission, but He then entered into the next phase of His mission.
Revelation 21
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
The NIV translates the words “it is done” from the Greek word “Ginomai” into English as “it is finished”. However, this is not from the same Greek word “Teleo” or “Tetelestai” as in John 19:30 when Jesus hung on that cross when He shouted “it is finished”. Teleo means: to bring to an end, complete and fulfil. And yet the statements in both verses of John 19:30 and Revelation 21:6 confirm the ending of a phase in the totality of the work of Christ. But there is something remarkable about those words “it is done” of Revelation 21:6. That word Ginomai really has a unique usage as listed here: properly, to emerge, become, transitioning from one point (realm, condition) to another, and fundamentally means “become”. It means a change of condition, state or place, to come into being/manifestation, to be done, executed, come to pas, and yes it also means accomplished.
Lets use an analogy to further explain this. Consider a pregnant woman who carried the child for nine months and comes to the end of her pregnancy. She gives birth to the child. The labour is intense, but then as the child is born, her work of carrying the baby inside her womb has ended. The mother would not say “it is done”, but truly that 9-month phase is now accomplished, only to bring in the start of a completely new phase for both mother and child.
Revelation 12
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
So what happened in that time when the prophetic messages of Revelation were being fulfilled during that first century? The desolation and sacking of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was the execution of judgment according to the Torah in Deuteronomy 28 and the Prophets as per the Sinaitic Covenant. Jesus came back as King of Kings, and at His Parousia (presence, visitation of a King) completed the final phase of His mission. When the Temple was left destroyed the Kingdom of God was confirmed and established on Earth and everything Jesus set out to do was done. This was the “it is done” which then ushered in the birth of a new age. Not an esoteric age, but the Messianic eternal age of Grace and the Restitution and Reformation of all things.
Acts 3
21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
And
Hebrews 9
10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
As much as our contemporary Christians of today believe that we are currently living in the last days, the fact remains that the days leading up to the destruction of Judea and Jerusalem between 67 – 70 A.D. were the last days of the closure of that old Sinaitic Covenant Age. The countdown of the last days really began at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost 37 years earlier when according to Acts 2:17 Peter quoted Joel’s Prophecy. When none of the Temple buildings were left standing the Sinaitic Covenant with the Law of Moses had finally ended and Christ’s mission was finally completed. Since then, the age of Grace went into full throttle. That was over 2000 years ago now, and so we are not living in the last days, we are living at the beginning of this new age of Grace and Peace. Peace between God and man, and grace received by people on earth to express the Kingdom of Yahweh on earth.
Oh, I’m well aware of Christians, even some of my good old friends who have been quick to jump on the wagon proclaiming how I preach a select mixture of all sorts of heresy. Admittedly heresy according to their doctrines. It is sad though that not one of them have actually taken the time and personally invited me to sit around the table and discus the different theological viewpoints. Yet I remain as determined as ever to follow the scriptural evidence to get to the conclusions this evidence sets forth. It’s surprising what you come up with when you follow the evidence and not the dogmas of modern Christianity. Not for the purpose of being contrary. I mean where scripture confirms the doctrine of any Christian group that’s great, but where it doesn’t, we continue on this ride of discovery irrespective of the many Christian groups who claim their version is orthodox Christian faith.
I recently listened to a podcast called “what is wrong with Preterism”. The speaker was eloquent and knowledgeable, clearly an accomplished academic Theologian. But in general, he could not discount some of the fundamental truths of Preterism, or of full Preterism for that matter. What he did do was give repeated warnings that we as believers should beware of heresy. Especially Preterism, because from partial Preterism it is only a matter of time before one will fall into the heresy of full Preterism. He then stated we should stay with “orthodox Christianity”. So that is it? A hazard Signal of “do not enter” for Heresy, and Green for “go” for Orthodox Christianity. Yet no exhaustive material presented to evidence what exactly the heresy is or what the orthodox Christianity should be. It was more a case of “we, the experts, will tell you what heresy is and what orthodox Christianity is.” He made a few attempts to debunk Preterism, but he clearly did not understand the context or meaning of the time-text’s he quoted. It’s very much like my experience of the time during the pandemic, where main stream media, colleagues at work, people in general said “follow the science”, but never presenting the science. “it’s for the greater good” (which basically meant, agree with the narrative, just shut up and consent), and silenced and censored thousands of Doctors and scientists who didn’t agree as they presented evidence to the contrary of their elaborate claims.
Let me state here that I genuinely want to avoid heresy, but what is considered heresy is often so determined by many Christians leaders who themselves hold to serious questionable doctrines and ministry practices.
I believe many of our modern Evangelical beliefs, which are now more or less established as accepted “doctrines” are not actually Orthodox. In many cases they appear to be only several hundred years old. That means these ideas appeared in a fairly recent part of Church history and came about because an idea became accepted by the general consensus of Christians. The Cambridge Dictionary defines the word “Orthodox” as: beliefs, ideas, or activities considered traditional, normal, and acceptable by most people. Now then, if a doctrine only developed in the last 200 years or so and doesn’t date back to the convictions of the first century Christians then it is not Orthodoxy, it is just a set of commonly accepted beliefs expressed and affirmed by a set of narratives repeated over and over again. This goes hand in hand with the principles of the etymology of words. When words which carry an original meaning, change their meaning over time it’s because later generations attached different association to those words. The newly evolved association eventually becomes the accepted meaning of a word. Try and tell those who are only familiar with the evolved meaning of a word that this word originally means something completely different, they will hardly accept it. This phenomenon also works when whole narratives are pushed on to the general public via media. This same dynamic works in any community, including religious and Church communities. A narrative is a story or a description of a series of events whether fictional or non-fictional, true or untrue.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” This is a sobering statement called the “Big lie,” often attributed to the II World War Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels of the then Nazi Germany.
When it comes to interpretation of scripture there are many verses commonly familiar to modern day Christians who hold a generic conceptualized meaning or constructed paradigm of what kind of message certain verses allegedly convey. Before we continue lets first set some fundamental presuppositions.
- Much of what Jesus taught was first addressed to the Jews of His day.
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. - When Jesus referred to being saved He was not primarily referring to ongoing eternity after life here on earth. In fact eternal life is a quality of life which is infused into mankind. (even though the majority of people have no clue of the treasure that is currently deep within their spirit) The words eternal, or everlasting literally mean: Age enduring. Eternity or everlasting therefore will last as long as the relevant Age endures, until that Age comes to an end. When Jesus spoke of entering eternal life it meant entering in and receiving life (Life is the Greek word Zoe, meaning God’s own life, the quality of life He has) which will endure for as long as the Age last. This Age of the New Covenant of Grace in which we have become partakers of the nature and life of God will never end. In spirit we already possess eternal life now.
John 17: 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
To know God’s never ending quality of life, means to experience His life in you. The word “know” is a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse. That word Ginosko in this context is correctly explained as experiencing God and communing with God. You as a believer do experience God in your life everyday. That’s eternal life, and so we are already expriencing a foretaste of heaven. - Many of the stern warning Jesus presented to His people were exhortations to be saved from the coming wrath that was upon them by believing on Him. Saved meant to be rescued from destruction, specifically the destruction that came upon Jerusalem during that generation and ended that old world of the Sinaitic Age.
- Although Jesus also speaks of heaven and promised to take the believers home (John 14:2-3) to be with Him, Jesus imposes the condition to believe on Him upon the Jews as the means by which they could be saved and enter eternal life. Christians in our day do not generally understand the eschatological factors in what and why Jesus did what He did. That’s why Christian wrongly assumed Jesus was presenting His address to all of us even many generations later and that the condition to believe is imposed upon the world today so they can be saved from hell or the lake of fire. What a confusion!
- Only Jesus could legally impose the condition to believe. He was complying with the Torah and acting on the prohpecies of the Old Testament because He was a teacher of the Law, and the Law itself implied faith as a condition of obedience to Yahweh. This was well foreshadowed in the story of Abraham. By their indignant unwillingness to trust God and receive Christ they sealed their fate and broke the Sinaitic Covenant to the point they were destined to down with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
Deuteronomy 18
15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; - Since the abolishing of the Sinaitic Covenant and the establishing of the New Covenant and the Kingdom of God on earth, we are not supposed to present a Gospel of conditional grace that must be believed first in order to have access to heaven. Paradoxically, faith for us now is how we appropriate that which is already within us. Not just so we can be sure to enter heaven after life here on earth, but so that we can begin to experience eternal life (as just explained) now. We are to proclaim the truth and when people believe it they can begin to truly experience God in their life right now. You know this means they can experience much improvement, change, healing, deliverance and many wonderful things which God can do for them whilst they live out their life’s here on earth. But it is not a condition for entering heaven. People go their whole life’s without knowing the real Gospel. They even believe that they would never get to heaven and that they deserve hell, and for that they are miserable. But they will get to heaven and learn then that they could have began that journey of experiencing God whilst they were still on earth.
- The Gospel of John as with the book of Revelation was predominantly written for the Jews of that day. These books emphasized the need for the Jew to believe on Christ as their Messiah and promised King and the only way to escape the desolation that was determined upon apostate Israel. If you read these books with that in mind so many these scriptures, including John 3:16 will take on a whole new light.
One set of scriptures which most Christians are familiar with are aimed at those Jews of that first century who listened to the teachings of Jesus. In those days there was a hardened group belligerent elders, and religious leaders who were indignant towards Christ and His message. Some of them were the direct descendants of secret alliances who still worshiped baal and moloch shrouded in secrecy full of dark occult practices. Judaism was their cloak and cover, but they worshiped lucifer as their morning star, the bringer of light, intellectualism and enlightenment. In Revelation 2:9 Jesus called them the synagogue of satan, who say they are Jews and are not. They were the ones in the higher echelons of the ranks of religious elders right up the High Priest who despised Christ. They were the ones who hijacked the Jewish religion but behind used secret manipulative dark practices to maintain control. Their end goal was to maintain power in their land of Israel but ultimately find a way to set up their own kingdom with their own selected king despot. These people used fear tactics in their religious indoctrination to keep the people under their heavy yoke. They were thieving the people of the truth of the Word of God and their Messiah.
John 10
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Even though context here is clear. I pointed this out to so many Christians who claim the thief in this verse is a reference to satan. However, the thief is not a reference to satan. One can deduce that the message of self-righteousness the religious leaders taught is satanically inspired. And it is, but Jesus here clarifies that the thief is a symbolical illustration of the teachers of self-righteousness and their doctrine. In context He was referring to the dishonest religious leadership. The consequence of their doctrine was and still is that people are robbed, it causes them to lose their life, and be destroyed.
This is what religion (doctrines of self-righteousness) will do to people. It uses condemnation to induce guilt, fear and shame, to get people to conform to whatever system of ceremonial observances are required of them. This type of ministry of death addresses the conscience of the human psychology and activates the central nervous reward system in the structures found along the primary dopamine pathways of the brain. When we perform the endless list of religious expectations which we perceive as required by God for acceptance with Him, we feel good about ourselves. It works only temporarily though. The moment we do something we judge as wrong all the good feelings are replaced by guilt, fear and shame again. The doctrine and mindset of self-righteousness is deceptive by nature and a manipulative in-fluence in our life’s which effectively operates to condition the mind to the point it cannot perceive unconditional love anymore. The conditioning becomes a sub-conscious program which was in essence illegally installed. The doctrines of self-righteousness do not open the heart they only address the conscience where we determine our values of right and wrongs. Only unconditional love will eventually open a person’s heart.
When we have revelation of the finished work of Jesus, and that as a result of His work we are forgiven our conscience is cleared from guilt, fear and shame and it is then that the heart can truly open up.
Therefore, the porter here in this next set of scriptures is the conscience. If the conscience is satisfied that we are clear of guilt because of the one-time sacrifice of Jesus, the conscience no longer accuses us and accepts that in Christ all righteousness is satisfied. Our critical analytical mind will step aside, and the conscience will open the door to unconditional love.
John 10
1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Who is the porter then? The mind, more specifically our conscience.
If the thief is reference to the teachers of self-righteousness, who do not enter in by the door but climb up some other way, then it makes sense that their teaching is in fact indoctrination. A hijacking of fundamental spiritual principles which deceptively seeks to entice people, robs them, sucks the life out of them and ultimately destroys them.
It is important to notice here that in this first part of the parable verses 1 through 5 Jesus refers to Himself as the shepherd, not the door. So consider that Jesus represents God’s unconditional love, who comes as the shepherd, to whom the porter opens up. In this first parable then Jesus leads the sheep out of their sheepfold to take them to other pastures. A sheepfold is an enclosure to keep sheep. Were these sheep kept in the enclosure by those thief’s, and Jesus came to set them free and take them to lush green pastures? In the second parable Jesus changed roles, because in the next set of verses Jesus refers to Himself as “the door” by whom if any man enter in he shall be saved (there is that word “saved” again) and shall go in and out and find pasture.
John10
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
This second parable clearly indicates that the decision to enter in the the pasture is the choice of each individual sheep. How this is commonly understood today is that we make the decision to believe in Jesus, invited Him into our hearts, and He is the door by which we then enter in and have access to God the Father through prayer and ultimately get into heaven. So in analysis of both parables the first one emphasizes how the people had been deceptively indoctrinated by thief’s, religious teachers of self-righteousness and to consequently reject Christ. Christ representing the truth of God’s love is what will open the hearts and minds of those sheep and to then follow Him, in the face of the oppressive religious establishment. Remember that this is completely in harmony with John 9 which tells the story of the blind man who received his sight and had to stand up to the Pharisees who threatened to put him and his parents out of the synagogue if they confessed that Jesus was the Christ.
John 9
22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.
The second parable emphasizes the condition of faith. Jesus presents Himself as a doorway. The means or route rather to be saved and find pasture (symbolic for eternal life). The “saved” here is not primarily a saving from perpetual torment in hell. It was a promise to be rescued from the siege by the Roman armies which was going to destroy their known world (heaven and earth) in 70 A.D., in that generation. Those who trusted and believed the Lord Jesus followed him out of the old religious system of the Sinaitic Covenant into the green pasture of the New Covenant, and so they were saved, and rescued from the thieves, the religious leaders who were completely anti-Christ and perish with them as the Roman armies desolated the Temple and the City.
But the above address by means of those two parables do not have a direct application to today’s generations. God does not impose the requirement on us to believe on Christ as a condition to receive eternal life. Yes, it was a conditions on the Jews in the days of Jesus for as long as they were still under the law, and the Temple was still standing. In our time people should hear the Good News of what Jesus has done for the whole world and of how much God loves us. Faith will likely be automatic response of many who hear and comprehend this truth.
The big one I want to bring into this theological study is John 14:6 where the Christian community seems to have developed their own modern-day association again. This verse is often quoted in Evangelistic preaching.
How this verse is explained in our time has it’s idea in a framework that is in fact contrary to what much scriptural evidence, both of Old and New Testament reveal to us. Let’s take a look at this verse.
John 14
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The common explanation is of course that we must go through Jesus to get to the Father. The emphasis is on the initiative which must first come from the individual by confessing Jesus as their Lord. By doing so anyone can pray to the Father, but only by going through Jesus who made it possible for anyone believing on that basis. The concept of going through Jesus describes a direction of travel towards the Father and Heaven initiated by the confessing Christian. They must use the name of Jesus, or nowadays for the ancient Hebrew language aware Christians some refer to Yehoshuach or Yeshuah, and supposedly not praying in the name of Jesus means prayers are not answered. Acts 4
12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
I get it, I also say “in the name of Jesus” at the closing of my prayers, but we must look at this from the angle of the advocate. An advocate is a person who pleads a case in court on someone else’s behalf. Lets just picture a criminal court case. The defense solicitor represents his client the defendant. To represent means; to act as an agent for another. But the court would hear the case presented by the defense in the abcense of the defendant. The defense solicitor representation pleads the case of his client as though he is present. This is exactly what Jesus did as advocate for the whole world.
1 John 2
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
He entered the the holy of holies in Heaven as High Priest and then stood before the Ancient of Days and plead our case representing us as our advocate. Jesus died on the cross, was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven and poured out the Holy Spirit, but He could not complete His work as High Priest and Advocate, as long as the Old Temple of the Sinaitic Covenant was still standing.
Even though in His death on the cross forgiveness of sin, the birth of the new creation in His resurrection was confirmed, the resurrection of all the dead and rapture of believers who were alive at His coming could not take place until the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stood in the holy place. Matthew 24:15
Redemption with our eternal home in heaven became completed and secured immediately after the Temple was destroyed, and the old covenant of law was abolished.
Hebrews 9
8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
The result of the biggest court case conducted in Heaven happened more than two thousand years ago when Christ obtained eternal redemption for us. This universal redemption was recorded in the books, and a decree went out from Heaven enforced by the holy angelic armies of heaven and must be honored by all creatures in heaven and earth. Just because people don’t know or don’t believe this reality doesn’t make it not so. John 14:6 is in this context not a condition imposed upon mankind to take initiative to seek God by going through Jesus. It emphasizes the initiative of Jesus to appear before the Judge of Heaven and Earth and make representations on our behalf as our advocate, as though we were there in person, and so secure our redemption. It has nothing to do with us practicing a mental imaginary journey traveling through Jesus to get to God. No! It’s the other way round. Jesus as High Priest made it possible for God to get to all of us. Every man, woman and child, no one excluded, all included. Now the Holy Spirit of grace and truth wants to reveal to them what great work Christ has done for them. As we share this truth, the Holy Spirit will bear witness with the truth within their hearts, and minds. As a result of this amazing revelation people will become free from the witchcraft, all occult spells, the evil hypnotic inductions, programming and conditioning by this world and be able to hear what God is saying to them, to discern what is of God and what is not, and to distinguish truth from falsehood.
Hebrews 12
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
I thought a lot about how Jesus could be the author and finisher of our faith, until I discovered that the word “our” is not in the original Greek. So it makes much more sense that this is talking about His own faith. He the author, composer, of His faith, and finisher, the one who completed His faith. How did He complete his faith? By the obedience that came of His faith.
2 Corinthians 10
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; Philippians 2
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
You see people all across the world who may have their beliefs and hold to their political views, and ideologies. They may have all kinds of strongholds, thoughts and ideas and imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge, the reality and truth that is in Christ, but all those strongholds, thought, beliefs and ideas are all taken captive in the obedience of the faith of Christ.
There is not one evil thought, imagination or high thing and stronghold, for which Jesus not already provided forgiveness, deliverance, healing, and saving.
However, people must hear the truth, the real Gospel.