Israel and the New Covenant
Some things Christians believe never fail to amaze me. One of them is what is named “the New Covenant.” Covenants have been and always will pertain to Israel, not the Church of God in Christ Jesus.
The Book of Hebrews will be a lot more familiar to a Hebrew than to a Gentile. The language and the words used will be much more understandable to them. Nevertheless, this “new” covenant mentioned in detail 14 times from 8:6 to 13:20 will leave even former Gentile, now Christian believers, with no doubt to whom this covenant applies.
8:6 tells us that Jesus will be the mediator of this new covenant. Verse 8 begins a quote of Jeremiah 31:31-34 which goes like this:
31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,……NASB
It is pretty clear “to whom” this new covenant applies. This prophecy is yet to come to be fulfilled.
8:10 and 10:16 says “After those days,”—-after what days? “Those days” aren’t just any days, but refer to the Day(s) of the LORD, the days of the vengeance of our God.
Matt 24:19
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in “those” days!
KJV
Matt 24:22
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake “those” days shall be shortened.
KJV
Matt 24:29-30
Immediately after the tribulation of “those” days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
KJV
Yes, after these days of the Great Tribulation, will this new covenant be enacted for the faithful of Israel who live through it and those who are raised from the dead at the First Resurrection, that of the Just.
Covenants apply to Jews, not Gentiles nor the Church of God. God Bless!
Fred S. Wolfe
72 Virgins or The Lake of Fire?
” Islamo Nazi’s are in for a big surprise!”
IMHO, I believe the biggest lie in practically all world religions is that there is “Life immediately after Death.” Muslims for example pattern much of what they believe after the Old Testament of the Bible and specifically the Torah. Christians and Jews each believe in the Resurrection of/from the Dead. What would be the point in believing in the resurrection of the dead if the dead were already alive in Heaven or as some believe in Paradise?
From what I have read Jesus Christ, the “monogenetic” son of God, is the only human being whose flesh was not allowed to rot in the grave, Sheol. Until the Administration of the Secret, all any believer had to look forward to after death was the resurrection of the Just; it was the Jews one, big hope. I think Martha said it best when speaking to Jesus of her dead husband Lazarus, “Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”–John 11:24–KJV
In John 11, Lazarus had been dead 4 days and stunk to high heaven! But, why wasn’t he already in heaven or Paradise? Heck, he was one of Jesus’ best friends. If one of the malefactors crucified with Jesus was going to be in Paradise immediately after his death, surely Lazarus would be too, right? If someone who robbed people by threatening their lives was going to be in Paradise immediately following their death, certainly a righteous believer whom the Lord Jesus loved would be. But, the fact of the matter is, neither of them were. And no one who has ever drawn breath on this earth besides Jesus is!
1 Cor 15:20-23–But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept (dead in the grave, Sheol). For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (When?) But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Aside from the Gathering Together, episunagoge, of the Church of God, the resurrection “at his coming” will be that of the Just. Luke 14:14–And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. KJV
Acts 24:14-15–But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. This means that someday everyone who has ever lived will raised from the dead, some to everlasting life and others to the 2nd death. Rev 20:5-6 says,
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection (the Just): on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. KJV
Islamic extremists who kill themselves while murdering others have nothing to look forward to but the second death. They will certainly be among those who are treated to a swim in a heated pool after the resurrection of the Unjust. Rev 20:12-14
And I saw the dead (not the living), small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell, sheol, delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Can you see where the dead are? They are not in heaven or paradise). The dead are in the sea or on land, in the grave, nowhere else.
Rev 21:8–But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. ESV
Death is an enemy and always will be. Death will not be destroyed until after the Millennial Kingdom as you see above. We were not created to die, but to live forever. When we make Jesus, Lord and believe God, YHWH, raised him from the dead we will receive eternal life. After death, we will all sleep with our father’s, just like everyone else, but Jesus! God bless!
Part IV of the Apocalupsis of John, the Book called Revelation
In the preceding 3 posts I have established beyond any doubt that the miscalled “churches” in The Apocalupsis of John are in reality assemblies or congregations of Jews, members of the Nation of Israel. To give you an example of how unsound some believers can be, a woman, whose blog I used to follow, said to me, “If Jesus called them churches, then that’s what they are!” Unfortunately Jesus has had nothing to do with how translators have chosen to translate most of the words in the Bible. Out of 17 Bible versions or translations in my PC Bible program only these 3 translate ecclesia properly:
Rev 1:4
John to the seven assemblies that [are] in Asia:
YLT- Young’s Literal Translation
Rev 1:4
4 John to the seven assemblies
Darby
Rev 1:4
4 John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia:
WEB- World English Bible
If you are a serious workman of the Word or want to be you must invest in some PC Bible program or buy a lot of Bibles! On my way home from NY last Sunday by way of Chicago I had the opportunity to sit next to a young Jewish girl who had recently become a Christian. She was very well versed in the “mainstream” doctrines of Christianity. She was surprised to hear many things I had to say about beliefs she held and took a copious amount of notes on her phone. I was able to show her from the Scriptures (on her phone) passages which substantiated what I had to say, but she could not find one Scripture to substantiate anything she believed! Everything she believed hear-say and much of that was heresy!
She was even astonished to see from 1 Corinthians 10:32 that the apostle Paul established that there are only 3 types of people in the world; Jews, Gentiles and the Church of God. She was equally surprised to see these verses:
Gal 3:28-29
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
KJV
She was insisting that she was a Jew for Jesus. What an absurd belief. I tried to explain to her that once a Jew or a Gentile became born again of the spirit of God by confessing Jesus as their Lord and believing God raised him from the dead, they became members of the Church of God. She could not let go of her ancestry and she could not understand how I could be of the seed of Abraham. She really imploded when I told her that Abraham was a Gentile and not a Jew!
Abram is first mentioned in Ge. 11:26; his name was changed to Abraham in Ge. 17:5. Jacob isn’t mentioned until Ge. 25:26 and his name was not changed to Israel until Ge. 32:28. The word Jew is not mentioned until the book of Esther and then it applied to a descendant of Judah. Abraham is called a Hebrew in Ge. 14:13 which means a descendant of Eber. Eber is first mentioned in Ge. 10:21. Eber lived 464 years; see Ge. 11:16.
I could go on and on, but the point you need to see is that the word Hebrew had nothing to do with Jews or Israel originally; that Israel did not exist in Ge. 11. Therefore Abraham could not have been a Jew, but rather a Gentile.
The most astonishing thing that this young Jew for Jesus had to say to me was that no one could be a Christian or a member of the Church of God without confessing and believing that Jesus was God incarnate. I asked where she got this from in the Scriptures and she did not know precisely. I showed her Romans 10:9 where it says to confess Jesus as Lord which she said means God, because God is the “Lord” God. I proceeded to show here in Acts 2:36 that God had bestowed His title as Lord upon Jesus. Jesus is my Lord, my master. Nowhere in the Pauline Epistles does it talk about the Lord God or the Lord our God. They show God as our Father and Jesus Christ as our Lord! Lord is used 241 times in the Epistles which are written directly to the Church of God and never is the title attached to God!
To the Jew God will always be the Lord; but to the Christian, Jesus is our Lord, not our God. Here is what Lord means, in case it is not clear yet:
NT:2962 kurios, kuriou, ho
he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has the power of deciding; master, lord
a. used universally, of the possessor and disposer of a thing, the owner Matt 20:8
b. kurios
is a title of honor, expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants salute their master, Matt 13:27; 25:20,22; Luke 13:8; 14:22, etc.;
c. this title is given:
to God, the ruler of the universe Matt 1:22 (OT, Gospels and Revelation)
to the Messiah; and that:
to the Messiah regarded universally: Luke 1:43
to Jesus as the Messiah, Acts 10:36
d. of Christ (In the Epistles)
(from Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2000, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Don’t be afraid to comment; I will not delete any comments but will publish all.
(More on Revelation in the next post).
Part I of the Kingdom of God and of Heaven
@ChristineCane posted a very interesting and challenging Tweet yesterday the 16th of September. (Her reputation precedes her in the Church as one of the most dynamic women dedicated to helping and empowering women to be all they can be for Christ). Here is the Tweet:
‘There’s no question: God is building His Kingdom on earth. The question you need to ask is, “How has He called me to help Him?”‘
The Kingdom of God, also known as the Kingdom of Heaven, is the Millennial Kingdom, when we (the born again believers since the Day of Pentecost). will reign with Christ Jesus, the King of kings, for 1,000 years. This is when the King from Heaven, the Lord Jesus, establishes his kingdom upon the earth in Jerusalem. This will not be accomplished until after the Battle of Armageddon. This is the theme Jesus preached about during his earthly ministry, but as yet has not come to fruition. 2 of Jesus’ disciples once posed a similar request:
Mark 10:35-37
And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.
36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you?
37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.
KJV
Then, when they didn’t get the answer they wanted, they brought their mother to propose it for them!
Matt 20:20-21
Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.
KJV
Then we have several Scriptures concerning who will be the greatest and who will be the least in the Kingdom:
Matt 5:19
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matt 18:1-4
At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
KJV
KJV
Matt 8:11
And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
KJV
Jesus believed this kingdom was imminent in Mark 1:15, saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Where are Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob? Are they with us? Are we sitting down with them?
Is there still no question that “God is building His Kingdom on earth, now?”
For more on this subject see: http://thelivingtruthfellowship.org/jtltf/bible-teachings/articles-by-topc/administrations/41-in-the-kingdom-now
Part V of Identifying the False Prophet; the Predecessor of the Antichrist
As you have seen from the previous four segments the end is not yet. It could be said and has been said by many that “we are definitely in the end times.” As I have said before, there will be things leading up to the apokalupto of the False Prophet, but what they will be no one knows for sure. And I don’t believe anyone can tell you with absolute certainty that we are in the end times. I have shown you what will happen after being Caught Up, harpazoo, of 1Thess. 4:17, but no one knows what will be going on prior to that.
There are no prophecies concerning this Age because none of the prophets before Paul knew anything about this age. This age was kept a secret by God:
Rom 16:25-27 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel (Paul’s) and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the secret which has been kept silent since the world began but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the (Christian) prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith;
Eph 3:5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy (Christian) apostles and prophets by spirit; (How many Old Testament apostles can you name?)
Since none of them, no one, had any knowledge of this Secret Age, they could not have prophesied anything about it, particularly what to expect before the Gathering Together of the saints! In other words no one has any idea when this will occur. There are no worldly events which will indicate when it will happen.
Now, if I am wrong about the Rapture and there is none as many believe, at least you know what to look for concerning the False Prophet.
So, when will “the end” come? Let’s see what 1 Cor 15:20-26 says:
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep (dead). 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the standing up from the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, (Remember the 5 parts of the Parousia, coming, in Part IV?) This is addressing the dead, those who are asleep.
24 then comes the end, when He, Jesus, hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death (death is not destroyed until Rev. 20:14, after the Millennial Kingdom.) NASU
When all of the “whens” have occurred, then comes the end!
Illustrations by Rev. Clarence Larkin who died 90 years ago, which represent Oikonemia in Scripture
This picture represents what the prophets (including Jesus Christ) could see and know from the Scriptures. As you can see here the Prophets could not know or understand anything about the Church Age because God kept it a Secret from everyone until it was revealed to Paul and the other Apostles by the ascended Christ.
Rom 16:25-27
And to Him who is able to establish you, according to my good news, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the secret, in the times of the ages having been kept silent,
26 and now having been made manifest, also, through prophetic (Christian) writings, according to a command of the age-during God, having been made known to all the nations for obedience of faith —
27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to him [be] glory to the ages. Amen.
YLT
Eph 3:3-5
3 that by revelation He made known to me the secret, according as I wrote before in few [words] —
4 in regard to which ye are able, reading [it], to understand my knowledge in the secret of the Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the spirit —
YLT
1 Cor 2:7-8
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a musterion, secret, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
KJV
This one represents the Church of the Body of Christ versus the Kingdom of God and Christ. The resulting affect of this hidden wisdom is that the coming Kingdom which Jesus and the apostles expected soon after his ascension, would be put on hold or held in abeyance. As you can see, the Kingdom most Christians speak about as if it existed today, will not exist until after the Great Tribulation. As for now, Jesus is our Lord, not our king.
2 Peter 3:14-18
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
NASU
This revelation is NOT to be ignored; you do so at your own destruction.
Will you be found blameless?
Are you among the untaught (unteachable) and unstable?
Are you being lead astray by the error of unprincipled men?
Are you growing in knowledge as well as grace?
The Last Week of Christ’s Life
One of the more important times of the Christian calendar is what we call Easter, yet for as much as we think we know about it, there is much to be learned. Approaching the subject seems as exhaustive as an hour of the suffering that the Lamb of God, Jesus the Messiah, experienced. It seems to me that such an important time, culminating in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, more time should be spent than a few hours in Sunday School when we were children. A key ingredient that has led to some misunderstanding, in general, of the Bible is that it is an Eastern Book, written from the mindset of an Easterner as opposed to a Westerner.
In the East a new day begins at Sunset and the pre-day at dusk. The weekly Sabbath of Saturday, for those who observe it, are in a hurry to get home on Friday, before sundown, so they can observe that holy day properly. In the West we chose 12 midnight to begin our days because it is probably a lot more consistent. 12 midnight is always 12 midnight; while sunset changes 365 days a year, not too consistent. This makes it real easy for those of us who read the Bible to lose 12 hours and sometimes even 24 of a timeline, from here and there.
Because the last week of Jesus’ life is such a detailed study I am going to pass it off to one of my Teachers, John Schoenheit, of Spirit and Truth Fellowship International.
http://www.truthortradition.com/articles/the-last-week-of-christs-life
Another related teaching of John’s is , “Did God Really Forsake Jesus Christ on the Cross?”
http://www.truthortradition.com/articles/did-god-really-forsake-jesus-christ-on-the-cross
Enjoy Holy Week, as never before!
God bless,
WHAT IS A PERSON?
This is a question that I never imagined would need answering in my Christian walk with God and my Lord, Jesus Christ.
First of all, how is “person” defined? In my “American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language” it is defined as:
- A living human being, especially as distinguished from an animal or thing.
- The composite of characteristics that make up an individual personality.
- An individual of some specified character.
- The living body of a human being
- (my addition) consists of flesh and bones, have a body and are called people
From here we need to define “individual:”
- a. Of or relating to a single human being. b. By or for one person
- Existing as a distinct entity; single; separate.
- Distinguished by particular attributes; distinctive.
- Indivisible as an entity; inseparable
The reason this question has arisen is because of the subject of the Holy Spirit. There is an overwhelming amount of misunderstanding on this subject. The primary reason for this misunderstanding is because of a three letter word that is called an article in English grammar. An “article” is defined as:
- Any of a class of words used to signal nouns and to specify their application. In English the articles are a and an (indefinite articles) and the (definite article).
Yes, you guessed it we are talking about the article “THE.” The misplacement of this little word has caused no end of confusion. Translators are responsible for this and they will one day answer for it. What the definite article “the” does when it comes to the subject of holy spirit, is determine the capitalization or not, of the words that follow it. Some people might say, “what’s the big deal, what difference does it make?” Well, in biblical circles it is a really big deal. For example, when there is no article “the” before the words pneuma hagion, spirit or ghost and holy, it should not be capitalized, distinguishing it from when the article does appear. The difference between the Holy Spirit and holy spirit, is the Giver and the gift. God is holy and God is spirit = the Holy Spirit and that which God gives to all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is holy spirit, his gift. God gives what “HE” is.
This brings us to defining spirit, what is it? In the Greek it is the word pneuma from which we get the word pneumatic. Pneuma is used 379 times in the New Testament and it means;
- NT:4151 from NT:4154; a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively, a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, demon, or (divine) God, Christ’s spirit, the Holy Spirit: (Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
Pneumatic tools are powered by compressed air. Air is everywhere and generally it is invisible, untouchable and unseen. Why is God called the Holy Spirit? Because there are a lot of Unholy spirits. All spirits are not holy, which is why God distinguishes “Himself” from them, with the use of Holy. You will notice how I have been putting male pronouns in reference to God in quote marks. The reason I am doing this is to note that these references are in fact figures of speech. God is spirit and spirit has not flesh and bones as people have: Jesus says in Luke 24:37-39:
37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
KJV
The figure of speech Anthroopatheia or Condescension, is ascribing to God what belongs to human and rational beings. Furthermore, Moses tells us that “God is not a man (‘iysh, a man as an individual or a male person), that he should lie; neither the son of man (‘adam, a human being), that he should repent.” Nu 23:19. Any and all human characteristics attributed to God or the Holy Spirit is a figure of speech and not literal.
Therefore there is no way in God’s creation that The Holy Spirit, The Giver, who is God Himself can be a Person, a living human being with flesh and bones. To believe that a spirit of any kind, holy or not, is a person, is foundational-less thinking. It is completely illogical and God is all about logic.
Okay, let us take a look at the first usage of the words “Holy Spirit or Ghost” used together, Matt 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. KJV You will notice that I italicized the words added by the translators. The article “the” before the words Holy Ghost was added, therefore it should read “she was found with child of holy spirit.”
Let’s look at the 2nd usage in Matt 1:20b “….for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” Here again “the” was added. It should read, “for that which is conceived in her is of holy spirit.”
Let’s look at the 3rd usage (you can see that I am not “cherry-picking” verses to support my position). Matt 3:11: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”It should read: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with holy spirit and fire:” If we were baptized by the Holy Spirit, we would be disintegrated! Instead we are baptized with a part of that which He is, not “He Himself.” (Note here another misunderstood concept, holy spirit and fire is the figure speech Hendiadys, which means Two for One; two words used but one thing meant).
Now let’s look at what we get from God who is the Holiest of the Spirits: Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? KJV There is no article “the” in the texts so it should read “give holy spirit,” the gift. Luke 1:15 says John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb. No article “the” there either. He was filled with the gift of holy spirit. The words “holy ghost” are used 90 times and it’s your job to figure out how many of these are the Giver and how many are the Gift.
You need a Greek Interlinear or a PC Bible program like mine from Biblesoft in order to see these fraudulent errors that Satan has perpetrated through translators of the Bible. Our Bibles today are not the Word of God as God originally moved holy men of God, who wrote it, but with Computer Bible software, we can get back to the original God-breathed Word. This is one reason why the Church needs Teachers like me who have a ministry to convey the truth. It is not my responsibility that you learn anything, that is up to you and God. I plant and I water, but it is God who gives the increase.
You can reject everything I say but once I have said it and once you have read it, you are responsible to God for it, just as I am. You can be rewarded at the Bema for believing it or suffer loss for rejecting it. The majority will not rule at the Judgment Seat of Christ as we will all stand alone. You will not be able to blame what you believed here on earth on your pastor, your spouse or anyone else.
To see more on Figures of speech in the Bible go to the link below to see that I am not the only good Teacher around:
http://www.ewbullingerbooks.com/Catalog/e-w-bullinger-figures-of-speech-used-in-the-bible.htm
GOD BLESS!
Home of the Rightly Divided Word 