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!
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)
A LEGACY OF ERROR, Part I
What is it you want to be remembered for? What do you want your legacy to be? Do you want to be remembered like Hymenaeus and Philetus? (2Ti 2:17) Or Ananias and Sapphira? (Acts 5:1) Of course not, right? Better yet, do you want to get to the Judgment Seat of Christ only to find out that what you believed your entire Christian life and taught others as well, was wrong? No, you don’t want that either. But, this is in fact the legacy a great many Christians will leave, including some of the most notable names there are.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Mt 6:10 ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.’
This prayer has gone unanswered to this day. The Kingdom has not come and God’s will is not being done on earth as it is in heaven, yet most Christians behave, act and teach as if it it is here already. There are many reasons for this, but one of the most obvious is the division of Bibles into the Old and New Testament, or Old and New Covenants. Since to Old Covenant is still in place, there can’t be a new one, yet.
Heb 8:8-12
8 For finding fault with them, He says,
“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,
When I WILL effect a new covenant
With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers
On the day when I took them by the hand
To lead them out of the land of Egypt;
For they did not continue in My covenant,
And I did not care for them, says the Lord.
10 “For this is the covenant that I WILL make with the house of Israel
After those days (THE DAYS OF VENGEANCE), says the Lord:
I will put My laws into their minds,
And I will write them upon their hearts.
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.
11 “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen,
And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
For all shall know Me,
From the least to the greatest of them.
12 “For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
And I will remember their sins no more.”
NASB
All these “I WILL’s” are future and they are with Israel and Judah, not the Church of the Body of Christ. Now let’s look at Hebrews 8:13: When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. NASB Becoming, growing and ready are active, ongoing; they are not something of the past.
Just like capitalization and punctuation are not “written in stone,” neither is how the Word of God is divided. The Book of Acts should serve as the Fulcrum between the Hebrew Prophets and the Christian Prophets. Jesus verily preached the the Kingdom was at hand, because he didn’t know about the Secret God kept hidden from the Hebrew Prophets (Ro. 16:25, Eph. 3:3).
placement of the gospels of Mt, Mk, Lk and Jn in the New Testament, when they should have been placed in the Old.
Here are some examples of what Jesus did not know about the coming kingdom::
Matt 16:28
“Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Matt 26:64
Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Mark 14:61-62
But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Even though Jesus, the monogenetic Son of God, said these things, all the people to whom he said it, died, without them seeing what he said they would see. How can this be? How can you not have questions about it?
Preterists believe and teach that it did come to pass, just as Jesus said it would, but that Jesus’ return in the clouds was spiritual, not physical (hence no one really saw it). They also believe that all the prophecies in the Book of Revelation came to pass around 70 A.D. with the destruction of the temple; that that book is merely historical. I’ve only met one person who believed that and they are currently teaching it in England. Preterists also believe that the 1,000 year reign of Christ is not literal, but means a very long time. If that were the case, which it is not, then we very well could be living in the kingdom of God.
Everyone who says and believes that they are “kingdom” builders or that what it is they do, is for the “kingdom,” is in error. Jesus is not currently the king in the kingdom of God, because the kingdom does not yet exist. Jesus is currently our Lord, kurios, the owner of a thing, Master. We are also Jesus’s brothers and sisters.
Rom 8:16-17
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
KJV
Don’t think or believe for a minute that we are living in the kingdom of God and that our Lord Jesus, the coming and future king, has anything to do with the mess the world is in today. Laying the condition of this age at the feet of Jesus, is not something I would want to be a part of; nor should you.
(In Part II we will be looking at “If you believe_____________then you must also believe__________.)
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!
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,
Sleeping
In the Old Testament when a believer died he was referred to as being asleep. This concept of death carried over to the new as well. Here it refers to those who sleep in Christ. Death is such a harsh reality that it is no wonder it is referred to throughout the Bible as being asleep; it is so much gentler and peaceful.
I don’t know about you, but I love to sleep! Yet, to those of us still living, sleep can be sort of a curse. We can’t get a lot done while we are sleeping; if we are lucky, we might wake up with a new idea, a new way to approach something we were thinking about the day before. But, with the dead there is not even that. Ecclesiastes tells us there is no reasoning or consciousness of the fact we are dead.
What we do know from the Bible is that when we, as born again believers, wake up, it will be to meet the Lord Jesus in the air with other living believers. This will be the 1st thing we will be cognizant of after we die. It may be days, weeks, years or even centuries; but we know that whenever it does occur, we will be there. This is our Hope as believers.
As far as the Old Testament saints are concerned, they will not realize this awareness until seven years later at the resurrection of the Just. A major difference between their awakening and ours is that they will go directly to the land they were promised, as their inheritance. Those involved in this event, will only be those who never had the opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ.
With the exception of the 144,000 of the twelve tribes of Israel who are sealed during the Tribulation, the only chance of having eternal life is by becoming a Christian, in accordance with Romans chapter 10. If I were not all ready a part of the first group, there would be nothing standing in my way to procure eternal life. Sweet dreams.
What is holding you back?
Home of the Rightly Divided Word 