I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO DIE FOR CHRIST or Allah! (PART I)
In light of the many recent be-headings and murders of Christians by radicalized Muslims or Islamic Extremists, some in the Church are teaching that if you are in the place God wants you to be and this happens to you, then it is “gain,” because even Paul said it was better to be with Christ than to be ministering here on earth or so it is taught. Who really benefits when a Christian dies? Both Muslims and Christians hold the erroneous belief in life immediately after death. I think there would far fewer suicide bombers if they knew the truth.
Paul said in Phil 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” When we look at this verse as it stands alone it leaves us with the impression that death is something to be gained, yet we know that death is and always will be an enemy; the greatest enemy of life. No one gains anything by being dead; not God, not Jesus and certainly not you. In order to “gain” a proper understanding of the preceding verse it must be seen in its context. In its context we must go back and read from the beginning of the chapter to the end of the Epistle. In verse 6 we read:
Phil 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Phil 1:10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Phil 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
We can see that the context preceding verse 21 is “the day of Jesus Christ” when he returns to gather us together to heaven. This was Paul’s earnest expectation and hope and should be ours as well. The words “earnest expectation,” is the Greek word apokaradokia, to watch with intense anticipation, and is used in one other place in regards to the creation:
Rom 8:18-19 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. NKJV
When are the sons of God revealed? When they/we return with Jesus for the Battle of Armageddon.
The second word Paul uses in conjunction with earnest expectation is his “hope,” elpis. Hope is often associated with the return of Jesus Christ:
Col 1:5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, NASB
1 Thess 2:19-20 For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy. NASB
Phil 1:23
For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
Webster
(TBC, see Part II)
Making Merchandise
Some interesting facts.
ISIS Today and Nineveh 2800 Years Ago
Great teaching from my sister.
When I studied and wrote about Jonah the other day, the Lord jolted me with two instructions. The first was to look up the location of Jonah’s Nineveh and see if it is the same as where ISIS is murdering people today. It is. And the demons are just as viscous now as they were over 2800 years ago in Jonah’s time.
I read this in Holman’s Bible Dictionary about Nineveh in Jonah’s time: “They fought with the Israelites continually, their brutality renowned. They impaled their enemies on stakes in front of their towns, hung their heads from trees and covered city walls with the skins of their victims. And when they took prisoners they tortured them—men, women and children—by hacking off body parts, gouging out their eyes or tearing off their lips or hands.” Horrendous inhumane deeds, then and now: same evil brought about by the same demons.
Now…
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The 2nd Coming of Christ is NOT the Rapture
The 2nd Coming of Christ
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JESUS CHRIST, OUR PASSOVER
As you all know, this is the holiest week on the Christian Calendar. Even though approximately 1/3 of the 4 Gospels combined is about this week, many do not understand much of it. The following is something I wrote many years ago on the subject. I hope you enjoy it.
JESUS CHRIST, OUR PASSOVER
Why is Passover relevant to the Christian? Glad you asked. We all know Jesus Christ was considered the Lamb of God, but why? If you have studied the Word of God at all, you will know that Jesus and his disciples “prepared” for the Passover, a Jewish time of commemoration. The beginning of Passover always started on the 14th on Nisan, with the slaying of the Passover Lamb some time before sunset. Even though Jesus “prepared” to eat the Passover with the disciples, he did not eat it with them. Instead he, figuratively, became the Passover Lamb, which was sacrificed for us.
1 Co 5:7……..For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: KJV
(The Last Supper was the last time the disciples had a meal together with Christ before him being crucified on a tree and raised from the dead. IT WAS NOT THE PASSOVER MEAL. Besides the timeline, the type of bread eaten at the Last Supper was forbidden during the Passover and the the ensuing 7 day period of the Feast of Unleavened bread.)
Furthermore, Jesus was dead in the grave with no consciousness for 3 full days and 3 full nights = 72 hours. There is no way to fit 3 full days and 3 full nights between Sunset Friday and Sunrise Sunday. Therefore, there is no such thing as Good Friday! Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb, was sacrificed for us and was buried on a Wednesday around sunset beginning the 1st night (Thursday). At dawn Thursday began the first day. At sunset Thurs. began the 2nd night of Friday, then Friday day; then Fri at sunset began the 3rd night, Saturday; then Saturday at sunset completed the 3 days and 3 nights. Sunset Sat. began Sunday night, the 1st day of the week:
Jn 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. KJV
Jesus was already gone. Mary was 10-11 hours late, depending on Daylight Savings Tim. (By the time she got there he had already been to Tartarus, showing himself alive to those angels in chains who left their original state to cohabitate with the daughters of humans on the earth.)
One of the biggest points of misunderstanding is not understanding this verse:
John 19:31 “Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”
You see, the day Jesus was crucified was not the day before the weekly Sabbath but it was the day of Preparation, when they “PREPARED” for the “high day,” a special Sabbath before the weekly Sabbath. That Day of Preparation was the day they prepared to sacrifice the Passover Lamb, which that year coincided with the Feast of Unleavened Bread! The bread the disciples ate at the last supper was leavened, not unleavened!
Another support for Jesus being dead 3 days and 3 nights, is Jonah:
Matthew 12:40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
In case some of you are still not convinced, maybe Jesus can convince you:
John 11:9
[9]Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. Since days are 12 hours it stands to reason that nights are as well. 3 days = 36 hours; 3 nights the same.
I am happy to sit down with any of you to discuss this further if you so desire.
God bless,
What a Fool I have Been!
The believers of Hitler’s time must have thought Hitler was the Antichrist; surely they believed Christ would return before he was able to do so many horrible things. The point is, there are no signs to indicate his return for the believers of this day and age. The Rapture of the Church is a part of the Sacred Secret, that was kept a secret by God until He revealed unto the apostle Paul, through Jesus Christ.
No one, including Jesus Christ, before his ascension, knew anything about the time in which we now live. It stands to reason that there can be no signs in the Bible as to when this Age will end, since no one knew when it would begin. All this and more is in my book at www.fredswolfe.com. If you did not read it this past year, you owe it to yourself, your children and your grandchildren to do so. Since there are no signs announcing the Rapture (Part 1 of the Parousia) there will be no time to prepare for it. If you are not ready now, you could very well be left behind.
If you are left behind, my book will tell you what to expect and how to make it through the Great Tribulation into the Millennial Kingdom where Christ will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. It will be a thousand years that you will not want to miss. God bless you and happy new year.
Thank God for The Fiscal Cliff and ………….
English: Peter Schiff speaking (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
………the men and women we have elected who are willing to go over it! I recently heard Peter Schiff* speak on the subject and his sentiments were exactly ours. The Fiscal Cliff is the ominous name given to the opportunity we have to put us back on our economic axis. I thank God for the Republicans who are standing on the principle of not increasing the tax rates for anyone. Today they are being demonized, but far down the road they will be viewed as true Statesman.
Going over the cliff is a bullet we need to bite. We have all heard of “kicking the can down the road” many times. This is the expression that has been coined for not standing up to the fiscal responsibility we have been faced with since the collapse of Lehman Brothers and Bear-Stearns. They were allowed to fail and so should have all those who came after them, who were instead “bailed out” by the Federal Reserve. Since our monetary policy was taken off the gold standard, the only thing valuing our currency was and is our and others’ faith in our government and its credibility.
Every time the Federal Reserve prints more greenbacks, the purchasing power of them drops. When we hear announcements of near zero interest rates until 2015 and a commitment to invest = spend = print $40 billion per month ad infinitum it should make us cringe. The mother of all train wrecks is on its way and it is called inflation. The Federal Reserve has even been able to manipulate this monster, but a day is coming when even it will reign uncontrollably at our expense and possible demise.
Satan is the “god” of this Age. Israel and the U.S. of A. are the only 2 vestiges of Hope left in the world today and we are on our way out. Who do you see having more influence in our government and society today than anyone/thing else, the One True God or the One False god? Satan’s single three-fold desire is to steal, kill and destroy.
To steal is to stealthfully take away.
To kill primarily denotes “to offer firstfruits to a god”; then (a) “to sacrifice by slaying a victim,” Ac 14:13,18, to do sacrifice; 1 Co 10:20, to sacrifice; to pay homage, offer sacrifices to a god, and becoming the sacrifice itself.**
To destroy is a strengthened form of ollumi, signifies “to destroy utterly”; in middle voice, “to perish.” The idea is not extinction but ruin, loss, not of being, but of wellbeing. **
This is exactly what has been occurring to the American People under the leadership of several of our past Presidents. it was very subtle at first and gradually became more and more brazen culminating with our current President, Barack Hussein Obama, in the guise of “equality,” making everything fair, leveling the playing field.
The speaker of the House recently buckled under the pressure and offered to increase taxes on those making over a million dollars a year. On the surface it looked conciliatory to me, but some in his own party rebuked him and rejected the compromise. Why? Because the fight is not about more taxes (stealing) but less spending, less inflation, preserving the shaky value of the dollar.
We need to hope and pray that Obama and Democrats, by and large, do not get their way in the next 4 days. God bless you and God bless America!
*http://www.europac.net/commentaries/republican_sellout_invites_stagflation
**(from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
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