What Should Be #1 On Your Prayer List?
This will be my shortest Post ever. I am curious what you think we should be praying for more than anything else. One of the things I think should be a #1 concern is that the US Dollar remain the World Reserve Currency. If it ever loses that lofty position, it could lose 50-75% of its value overnight, if not more. When things lose value, it takes more of them to get less. What do you think is the most important thing to prayer for?
I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO DIE FOR CHRIST or Allah! (Conclusion)
(As you can see, it does not pay to take verses out of their context).
Paul was not saying, “hey let’s all go out and put ourselves in a dangerous place where we could to get killed, cuz, hey, then we will be with Christ!” What he was saying was that he himself was torn between wanting, desiring for the gathering together to be with Christ and continuing to do what he was doing, for their sake; not that he or us has any control over the return anyway. Paul goes on to say:
Phil 1:23 But I am pressed by both, having the desire for (the) departure and being with Christ, [for] [it is] very much better, Darby
More of the context of Philippians: Phil 2:16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. KJV
Paul goes on to say in Phil 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. KJV
Phil 3:10-11 That I may know him, and the power of his ability to raise the dead, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the rising from the dead. AT
Phil 3:20-21 for our commonwealth has its existence in [the] heavens, from which also we await the Lord Jesus Christ [as] Saviour, who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory, according to the working of [the] power which he has even to subdue all things to himself. Darby
2 Thess 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For it (the day of the Lord) will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, WEB
Death is an enemy and will be an enemy until it is destroyed: 1 Cor 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. KJV
Do you remember that Paul said in 1 Thess 4:13-17 that the dead are sleeping in Christ? Where are they sleeping? In Sheol, the grave. This is where the apostle Paul is now, and Peter and David and Moses as well as everyone who has ever lived and died, except Jesus Christ. Some are awaiting the Gathering Together of the Church of God, the Body of Christ; others are awaiting the Resurrection of the Just, some the Unjust and still others have no idea that they are waiting for anything. But, the fact remains, that they are dead and don’t even know it. Anyone who was ever any good for God, who are dead, are no longer. Death will find us all soon enough without us going out looking for it!
Eccl 9:10
Whatever your hand finds to do, verily, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going. NASB
I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO DIE FOR CHRIST or Allah! (Part II)
Part II of …..DYING FOR CHRIST or Allah
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
23 But I am pressed by both, having the desire for (the) departure and being with Christ, [for] [it is] very much better,
Darby
The following is taken from Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved:
[For I am in a strait betwixt two] Namely, the dying now, and being immediately (in a sense of time at the Rapture) with Jesus; or living longer to preach and spread the Gospel, and thus glorify Christ among men. ( if I died right now. the next thing I would be aware of is the Rapture!)
[Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ] Teen epithumian echoon eis to analusai. It appears to be a metaphor taken from the commander of a vessel, in a foreign port, who feels a strong desire analusai, to set sail, and get to his own country and family; but this desire is counterbalanced by a conviction that the general interests of the voyage may be best answered by his longer stay in the port where his vessel now rides; for he is not in dock, he is not aground, but rides at anchor in the port, and may any hour weigh and be gone. Such was the condition of the apostle: he was not at home, but although he was abroad it was on his employer’s business; he wishes to return, and is cleared out and ready to set sail, but he has not received his last orders from his owner, and whatever desire he may feel to be at home he will faithfully wait until his final orders arrive. (Nicely put, eh?)
The word depart, analusai, is only used in one other place in the Bible in Luke 12:36 in regards to Christ’s return, specifically his 2nd Coming for Israel:
36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
KJV
1 Thess 4:13-17 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep (dead), that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep (the dead). 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. NASB
God can’t bring anyone with Jesus back to heaven, if everyone is already there! Come on people, the Bible has to make sense. There is no life immediately after death; there is no transmigration of the soul. (I’m not sure this knowledge would make any difference to the Islamo-facists group called ISIS, but it should). When Jesus drew his last breath, BAM he was dead! His soul no longer existed anywhere; no breath = no life. Anyone teaching anything contrary to this is in error. Every mortal who has ever lived and died with the exception of Jesus Christ is Resting in Peace.
R.I.P.
(TBC)
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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