One of the Most Elaborate Manipulations of God’s Word

Incorrect Claims and Scriptural Answers to False Teachings

Christian Defense with Jim Carmichael | September 15, 2026

Lost Sheep of Israel or Savior of the World

A Word of Caution

This exchange provides a striking example of how Satan can manipulate God’s Word in a way that initially sounds reasonable—just as he did with Eve in the Garden. He takes portions of what God has said, removes them from their proper context, and rearranges them to serve a false conclusion.

I am not accusing Larry of intentionally deceiving anyone, nor am I judging his heart. My belief is that he has accepted a deceptive interpretation and is now sincerely passing that teaching on to others. Nevertheless, sincerity does not make false teaching true. Our responsibility is to examine every claim carefully, test it against the whole counsel of Scripture, and expose error with truth.

Purpose of This Record

This document preserves a public exchange concerning whether Jesus and His earthly teaching were intended only for Israel or whether His saving mission and teaching extend to the whole world. The substance of the original statements is retained, with spelling and punctuation cleaned for readability, so that the claims can be examined fairly. The scriptural answer distinguishes the historical priority of Israel from the universal reach of the gospel.

Main conclusion: Jesus came to Israel first in fulfillment of God’s promises, but He came as the Savior of the world. Jews and Gentiles are reconciled to God in one body through one gospel, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

The Original Exchange: 

Jim Carmichael’s Initial Response

Larry , I believe you are in error when it comes to the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus. Read it again a few times and you will clearly see that in the Gospel of John Nicodemus’s question was already answered before he and Jesus spoke. Not by the will of man, not by the water of the woman’s womb do we become children of God. So Nicodemus heard Jesus say born again by water and Spirit and automatically thought the woman’s womb. He thought you had to pass through that water, yet Jesus scolded him and said, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel and you don’t understand what I’m saying?’ Since it was too hard for Nicodemus to grasp what Jesus meant, Jesus had to show him what He meant by water and Spirit. What do you read in the Gospel of John in chapter 3:1–21? You see Jesus and His disciples go to the waters near where John the Baptist was baptizing people in the waters of the river, and then His disciples baptized more people than John did in the waters, yet Jesus did not physically baptize anyone. When Jesus saw that the Pharisees saw that this happened—and most likely Nicodemus saw this also—He and His disciples left for Samaria, where another meeting at some water had to happen.

Larry’s Reply

Jesus was not talking to you. You were not under the covenants of promise, were without God and had NO HOPE in the world. That’s Scripture. Jesus was not sent to you in His earthly ministry. Jesus said, ‘I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ Again, that AIN’T you. WHAT Jesus said in His earthly ministry had NOTHING to do with or about you. Do you think Jesus lied?

The Jews received REMISSION of sin by animal blood sacrifice when they did it in FAITH. The Jews also received remission of sin if they followed Peter in ACTS 2:38: Repent—which Peter meant for them to change their mind that Jesus, whom they had crucified, was their King raised from the dead—then get water baptized in Jesus’ name. Then again they would receive REMISSION of sins. Remission is not forgiveness. Notice those words are spelled differently.

Those Jews will, after Christ’s second coming, be raised from the dead by the Spirit, BORN AGAIN. Scripture says they then will confess their sins, and God will be faithful and just to FORGIVE THEM. They afterwards inherit the earth as promised to them. That is not you.

To be an organized religious organization, you know very little about much of the Bible. You do not study Scripture RIGHTLY DIVIDED—2 Timothy 2:15—and are blind and teach false doctrine. People go to seminaries to learn false doctrine taught by man and mislead others, when God puts everything one needs to learn in His Bible. It just needs to be rightly divided as to whom it is speaking and to whom it is sent.

Necessary Clarification Before Answering

The central conclusion is correct: Jesus came first to Israel in the historical order of His ministry, but He came as Savior of the entire world. One claim in the initial response should be qualified, however. John does not say that Nicodemus witnessed the baptisms described later in John 3. That is possible, but it cannot be presented as an established fact. The strongest answer rests on Jesus’ own words and the wider context of Scripture.

John 1:13 also does not use the expression ‘the water of the woman’s womb.’ It says that God’s children are born ‘not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.’ Therefore, the natural-birth interpretation of ‘water’ in John 3:5 should not be treated as though John explicitly stated it.

Scriptural Answer

Larry, this is one of the most elaborate manipulations of Scripture I have encountered, but it remains a manipulation. ‘Rightly dividing the word of truth’ does not mean dividing Scripture until most of Jesus’ teaching no longer applies to Christians.

Jesus did say that He was sent particularly ‘to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Matthew 15:24). That describes the initial order and focus of His earthly ministry—not the ultimate limit of His saving mission. In that very passage, Jesus answered the prayer of a Gentile woman and praised her great faith (Matthew 15:21–28).

John plainly says that Jesus came for the world: ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son’ (John 3:16). God sent His Son ‘that the world through Him might be saved’ (John 3:17). Jesus is ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29), and He declared, ‘I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself’ (John 12:32). He also spoke of ‘other sheep’ outside the Jewish fold who would become part of one flock under one Shepherd (John 10:16).

After His resurrection, Jesus commanded His apostles to ‘make disciples of all the nations,’ baptizing them and teaching them to observe everything He had commanded (Matthew 28:18–20). According to Larry’s position, Jesus’ earthly teaching was not for Gentiles. According to Jesus, however, that very teaching was to be carried to all nations.

Ephesians 2 does say that Gentiles were once ‘aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,’ ‘strangers from the covenants of promise,’ and ‘without hope and without God in the world.’ But Paul’s next words are decisive: ‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ’ (Ephesians 2:12–13). Gentile believers are therefore ‘no longer strangers and foreigners,’ but members of God’s household (Ephesians 2:19). Paul also says that Jews and Gentiles are ‘fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel’ (Ephesians 3:6).

The distinction between ‘remission’ and ‘forgiveness’ is based on English spelling, not Scripture or Greek. In Acts 2:38, ‘for the remission of sins’ translates the Greek phrase eis aphesin tōn hamartiōn. The noun aphesis means release or forgiveness. The same Greek word is translated ‘forgiveness’ in passages such as Ephesians 1:7 and Colossians 1:14. Different English translations may use ‘remission’ or ‘forgiveness,’ but they are translating the same Greek word. Peter was promising forgiveness of sins, not some separate condition unrelated to forgiveness.

Furthermore, animal blood did not provide the final basis for removing sin: ‘It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins’ (Hebrews 10:4). Those sacrifices pointed forward to Christ’s perfect sacrifice. God passed over previously committed sins because of the saving work Christ would accomplish (Romans 3:25–26).

First John 1:9 is not describing Jews being raised after Christ’s second coming. John includes himself and his Christian readers when he writes, ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.’ The surrounding passage addresses believers who presently walk in fellowship with God and are cleansed by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7–9).

Regarding John 3, Jesus told Nicodemus that one must be ‘born of water and the Spirit’ to enter God’s kingdom (John 3:5). Jesus did not identify the water as amniotic fluid or natural childbirth. The expression recalls God’s promise to cleanse His people with clean water and place His Spirit within them (Ezekiel 36:25–27). It is entirely consistent with the gospel response later proclaimed in Acts 2:38: repentance, baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. It also agrees with Titus 3:5, which speaks of ‘the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.’

The immediate audience must always be considered, but the gospel cannot be divided into one way of salvation for Jews and an unrelated way for Gentiles. There is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism (Ephesians 4:4–6). In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, and those who belong to Christ are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:28–29).

Jesus did not lie. He came to Israel first, fulfilled God’s promises to Israel, and through Israel brought salvation to all nations. Scripture says that the gospel ‘is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek’ (Romans 1:16). The words ‘first’ and ‘also’ establish the biblical order without excluding either group.

The gospel, the commands of Christ, and the offer of salvation are for all.

Further Errors in the Original Claim

Two additional statements from Larry’s original reply must also be addressed.

First, Larry claimed that “no one has been born again except Jesus.” Scripture never says that Jesus was born again. Jesus is called “the firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5), but that is not the same expression or teaching as being born again.

In John 3, “born again,” or “born from above,” translates the Greek expression gennēthē anōthen. “Firstborn from the dead” translates prōtotokos ek tōn nekrōn. These are different expressions describing different truths. “Firstborn from the dead” identifies Jesus’ supremacy and preeminence as the first to rise into immortal, never-ending life. It does not mean that Jesus underwent the new birth He commanded for sinners.

Scripture expressly describes Christians as having been born again. Peter wrote that God “has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). He later told Christians that they had “been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). John likewise says that those who receive Christ are “born…of God” (John 1:12–13), and that “whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5:1). Therefore, Larry’s claim that no one except Jesus has been born again is directly contradicted by Scripture.

Second, Larry interpreted John 3:8 as saying that someone born again should be able to appear and disappear physically like Jesus did after His resurrection. That is not what Jesus said:

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

Jesus did not say, “Everyone born of the Spirit can appear and disappear like the wind.” He compared the unseen movement of the wind with the unseen operation of the Spirit. We cannot see the wind itself, but we can recognize its effects. In the same way, the Spirit’s work produces recognizable results in the life of someone who has been born of the Spirit.

The Greek word pneuma can mean “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit,” allowing Jesus to make this comparison. Nothing in the verse promises that a born-again Christian can walk through closed doors, vanish, or materialize somewhere else.

Jesus’ appearances after His resurrection concerned His unique resurrected and glorified condition (John 20:19–29). They do not define the meaning of the new birth, nor do they establish a physical ability that every Christian must possess.

Therefore, neither “firstborn from the dead” nor Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances supports Larry’s interpretation of John 3. Christians are born again during this life through the working of God, and John 3:8 describes the Spirit’s unseen operation—not the ability of Christians to appear and disappear.

Summary of the Errors

• “Born again” was confused with “firstborn from the dead.”
• John 3:8 was misinterpreted as physical appearing and disappearing.
• Israel’s historical priority was changed into Gentile exclusion.
• Jesus’ earthly teaching was declared irrelevant to Gentiles.
• Ephesians 2:12 was quoted without Paul’s answer in verses 13 and 19.
• Remission and forgiveness were treated as different biblical acts.
• Animal blood was credited with ultimately removing sins.
• First John 1:9 was reassigned to Jews following the resurrection.
• “Rightly dividing” Scripture was made equivalent to separating Jews and Gentiles into different gospels.

Study and Discernment Note

Using research assistance does not mean surrendering the responsibility to study. It can gather passages, identify language questions, and organize an argument when time is limited, but it must never replace personal judgment or the testing of every conclusion against Scripture. Reading the work carefully, checking the cited passages in context, and challenging statements that appear incorrect are themselves acts of active study.

This method is especially reasonable when ministry, teaching, correspondence, and other duties make it impossible to conduct every stage of research alone. The final responsibility remains unchanged: ‘Test all things; hold fast what is good’ (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Key Passages for Further Study

• John 1:11–13, 29; 3:3–17, 22–26; 4:1–42; 10:16; 12:32
• Matthew 15:21–28; 28:18–20
• Luke 24:46–47
• Acts 2:38–39; 10:34–48; 15:7–11
• Romans 1:16; 3:21–26
• Galatians 3:26–29
• Ephesians 1:7; 2:11–22; 3:6; 4:4–6
• Colossians 1:13–14
• Hebrews 10:1–18
• 1 John 1:5–10
• Ezekiel 36:25–27; Titus 3:4–7