Misconceptions About the Coming of Christ
The reason there is so much misunderstanding about the Return of Christ, is that he does not just return once. The actual aspects of his Return are rolled up in the word Parousia, Coming. Jesus’ ministry was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Jews.
The 2nd Coming of Christ will be for the sake of Jews as well. But, there is another aspect of the Parousia that is not recorded in the Gospels of Mt, Mk, Lk, or Jn. The reason it is not recorded there is because no one knew anything about it, including Jesus.
No one knew anything about this aspect of the Parousia until it was revealed to Paul the apostle, by the ascended Christ. Jesus and the apostles expected him to come back 7 years after his ascension. The time that has lapsed between then and now is that of the Sacred Secret, which was hidden in God from the foundation of the world.
The event that serves as the end of this time period is Christ’s Coming for his Saints, those of us who have believed without first seeing. This aspect of the Coming of Christ is commonly known as The Rapture of the Church. There is nothing written about it in the gospels or the Book of Revelation.
1 Th 4:16-17
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 will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. NASU
At the Rapture, Jesus does not set a foot on the earth; he is not on a white horse; he is not prepared for battle; and no one else sees him at all; he comes part way from Heaven to meet us and we return with him. No fanfare, no earthquakes, no fire from Heaven, etc. Additionally there will be no sign to prepare you if you are not all ready now.
What you read about in the gospels, Revelation and a few places in the epistles is when he returns 7 years later “with” us.
1 Th 3:13
so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. NASU
See in my book at http://www.fredswolfe.com
God bless,
Was Newtown Really a Movie Set?
My son sent me a You tube video yesterday (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx9GxXYKx_8&feature=youtube_gdata_player) which portrayed the school in Newtown, CT as a movie set, alleging that the entire shootings there were all fabricated. He wanted my opinion about it. Here is what I told him:
I don’t have a difficult time believing stuff like this. Fast and Furious failed and everyone knows what the government tried to do with that: to make the public cry out for gun control. If this doesn’t succeed, watch for more and pray we are never a victim.
Are You Willing to be Criticized?
Happy New Year Everyone!
We are 2 weeks into 2013. Has it taken you by storm? Do you feel more in control of things in your life than you did last year? Or do you feel like you are being swept out to sea by the wave of public opinion?
Those of us who stood for truth during the last election were bitterly demonized for our positions. We were called divisive, unpatriotic, trouble-makers, fabricators, spoil sports, poor losers, etc. Even members of our own families said such things.
As you all know life is a spiritual battle. If you did not personally experience anything like this, then I would say that you need to get in the fight and quit watching the parade of life pass you by. In Real Estate we call the silent majority “Looky Lews;” people who come to an Open House just to see it, with no interest at all in making an offer, getting involved. Are you just a “stander-by?”
I recently watched a video posted on Facebook by David Wells about the spiritual forces grinding down Americans. Throughout the video I am thinking ahead about what one person can do to rebuttal. Suggestions were given at the end of just that. One of them was “to be willing to be criticized.” Most people I know would shudder at the thought. Criticism, whether giving it or receiving it, has been completely vilified in our society. Being able to be criticized for what you believe takes integrity. Knowing what you believe to be true and truthful makes being criticized a badge of courage rather than one of disgrace.
Did you know that the biggest Critic in life is God and His Word, the Bible. All the great believers throughout the ages were severely criticized for their words and deeds. Most of them were accused of heresy, including our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The political leaders of his time were out to murder him from the get go, just because some Persian men said they were looking for him who was born to be the King of the Jews. He hadn’t even done anything to deserve death and didn’t when they finally succeeded thirty years later! Are you willing to die for what you believe? Is what you believe willing to die for?
One of my fellow-labourers in the Word, John Lynn, has done a few teachings on “Words—Words Have Meaning.” People live and die by words everyday. In order for words to have any affect on anyone, they have to be written or spoken. If you are not into writing, then you need to be into speaking. People need to know what you believe; your neighbors need to know what you stand for. What are you afraid of? Criticism, Embarrassment? Being afraid to be who you are is the worst.
We see this in the pre-resurrection Peter. He actually denied Jesus six times, but 3 will suffice. Many of the men who followed Jesus before his murder were in hiding afterwards for four days. They were scared to death. They were probably wondering what they got themselves into, why they didn’t just leave well enough alone and keep doing what they were doing before they met that troublemaker, Jesus. Now they were all in the stew. What had they done?
What they did, is what we need to do: stick our necks out for what we believe. Be willing to be criticized and if need be be willing to have our necks chopped off for doing so. The husband being the head of the wife, is just that: we stick our necks out for our wives just as Christ stuck/sticks his neck out for us. Don’t feel helpless, it is God in Christ in You. You are a majority wherever you go, whatever you do and whatever you say. If God be for us (and He is) who can be against us?
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.
SALVATION: get it now, while supplies last!
The Biblical Tetragrammaton, the Hebrew Name for God the Father. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Jesus once said, “Salvation is of the Jews.” Prior to Christianity, only Jews had the promise of Salvation. Their Salvation (as well as ours) was not only something in the future, beyond the grave, but something here and now as well. The word alone is used three times as much in the Old Testament as it is in the New. To the Jews it meant Deliverance, Victory, Rescue or Safety.
For anyone who has read even a little of the OT one can see how often Israel prayed for deliverance from their enemies and how many times YHWH delivered them. (Might not be a bad idea today as well.) I have read that Salvation in this day and age has relatively no value for one’s current circumstances, but, nothing could be further from the truth. Whatever it meant for Israel it certainly means for us who are born again, as well.
In Moses day, salvation could be seen: “But Moses said to the people, Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord (YHWH) which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord (YHWH) will fight for you while you keep silent.” NASU
The same was true of David: “And David spoke the words of this song to the Lord (YHWH) in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; 3 My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; My savior, You save me from violence. 4 “I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies. 2 Sa 22:1-4 NASU
WOW! Just look at these verses and realize the relevance of salvation for us today! In those days these words were used to describe everything attributed to God, Yahweh (YHWH). For us, they are also now attributable to Jesus, whom YHWH made both Lord and Christ. (I cannot help but explain something here for those who may not know: LORD in all capital letters in the OT is the proper name of God, YHWH. Some translation say Jehovah, but the most accurate is YHWH. There is a difference between Lord and LORD. Jesus is our Lord. His and our Father is our LORD.)
Jesus Christ was YHWH’s plan for Salvation to Gentiles who would be grafted in to fully share in the promises of God to Israel and their inheritance! This is exactly what it says in the gospel of Luke. This is what Simeon declared when Jesus was brought to the Temple some forty days after his birth: Lk 2:30-32, for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” ESV
All these aspects of salvation are available are available, now, today, to all who positively affirm what Romans 10:9 and 10 says, which is part of Paul the apostles prayer to God for Israel! Salvation is not something currently out of reach; it is readily obtainable. Get it now, while supplies last!
(See Chapter IV, page 19 of my new book at http://www.fredswolfe.com)
God is Not in the Business of Picking Leaders
I can hardly begin to tell you how tired I am of hearing “God allowed it” as if it is somehow equal to “it” being God’s will. God gives us free will to do whatever we do. He gave us His Word to guide us in making the decisions we make. There is nothing He does not allow, since the Flood.
One could say He allowed Hitler to come to power, who is responsible for killing millions of people. The same can be said for Muhammed, Stalin, Mao, Ho, Kim II Sung and many others. Does that mean that God somehow put them in their positions? Not at all!
God is no more responsible for putting men in positions of power than he is for what men do with that power. Here, in the United States of America, the people decide who will fill the positions of authority according to how our government is set up. The citizens of this great nation just re-elected the previous President. I am sure that each of us who voted were praying for their candidate to win, just as many sports fan may pray for their team to win. But, God has nothing to do with who wins or who loses.
Should we then blame God if our team or candidate loses? Why didn’t He answer our prayers? If He were truly “in control” as so many people believe wouldn’t He have answered the prayers of the majority? This way of thinking is just plain absurd!
People say that God can do anything He wants to do. If this were true why didn’t He stop any of the previously mentioned leaders from killing so many people? Did He want to intercede? I can’t imagine Him not wanting to, but it should be obvious to anyone that He could not. Why couldn’t He or why didn’t He?
As I have said in many other posts, due to Lucifer‘s rebellion against God Almighty, he was cast out of Heaven and became God’s archenemy, Satan. When Satan successfully deceived Adam and Eve, he received that which Adam had, namely dominion over the world. He essentially became the “god” of the ages. Just as the true God endeavors to persuade us with His words, Satan does the same. And he is obviously pretty good at it.
Once God set everything up, like gravity, He was/is bound by His own rules. What He can do is keep giving us ideas by way of His spirit (inspiration) and His Word to direct our steps. We have the ball; it is up to us to run with it. If anyone is responsible for putting people in power I would have to say that Satan has more ability to do it, since he is bound by nothing but to steal, kill and destroy. After all, he is in control and has no problem overstepping people’s freedom of will.
God bless,
Blaspheme in Islam; Just what is it?
Muslims have accused some American filmmakers of blaspheme lately. Blaspheme seems to be an arbitrary thing to them. In footnote [1] of the NOBLE QUR’AN (v.2.22) it says that the greatest sin in consideration with Allah is setting up a rival to Allah. The Narrator Abdullah then asked the Prophet what was next. He said, “To kill your son lest he should share your food with you.” He then asked what was next and he said, “To commit illegal sexual intercourse with the wife of your neighbor.” Oddly enough “blaspheme” is not mentioned in the Qur’an, but if it was it would it not be logical for it to be acting contrary to one of these 3 sins?
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_blasphemy to see all the things that are considered blasphemous according to Sharia Law. There are way too many to begin to list here.
If Allah existed he would be on the same level as YHWH (who is The Holy Spirit) the God of Jews and Christians. If Muhammed were living he would be on the same plane as Jesus Christ. Even Muslims know and believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, but this fact still does not make Jesus Christ any different from the rest of the prophets. Somewhat illogical don’t you think?
In the Bible, blaspheme against “the Son of Man” who is Jesus Christ is a forgivable offense. Blaspheme against God, YHWH, who is The Holy Spirit is not forgivable.
Lk 12:10: And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. KJV
The Bible lays out a very clear distinction here between the Father and the Son. In our Christian world there are no penalties here and now for blaspheme. Our laws, based upon the Constitution have nothing comparable to Sharia Law. What we see in the above verse is that unforgivable blaspheme can only be committed against God.
If you look up blaspheme in regards to Islam you will see that there are many, many ways commit it, most of which concern Muhammed, who according to Muslims is no different or better than Jesus Christ. Yet it is blaspheme to convert from Islam to Christianity or even try to convert someone from Islam. Practicing yoga, drinking alcohol, being alone with the opposite sex who are not blood relatives are some examples.
Blasphemy against God
Islamic law makes a distinction between a blasphemer who insults God and a blasphemer who finds fault with Muhammad. The distinction is based on the notions of the “right of God” and the “right of Man.” Reviling God violates the “right of God,” who has the power to avenge the insult. Reviling Muhammad violates the “right of Man,” who, in the case of Muhammad, does not have the power to avenge the insult. A blasphemer who violates the “right of God” can seek forgiveness through repentance.[2] (This is not an option in Judeo-Christian beliefs).
The Qur’an speaks of punishment in relation to those who make mischief in opposition to God and Muhammad:
The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;So, what is the Unforgivable Sin against The Holy Spirit, God? Can you see how much Grace we have in Christianity?
A Few Reviews of my New Book on Understanding the Bible.
From the minute I opened the book I felt TRUTH pouring through the pages. I was astonished at the number of scriptures I have repeated over and over in my life, and lived by that were not translated correctly – this book has changed my foundation. It is eye opening. It has made me responsible to question and reprove my core beliefs and walk in truth of the word and not to be mislead. Thank you so much Fred for this message, my only hope is that you continue in this quest and write more books on rightly dividing the word! This is a MUST READ for all Christians and all those who want to know truth!!
I just finished reading Fred’s book. It was sometimes a challenge with quoted passages that could get long before Fred explained them, but staying with it increased my biblical fortitude! Fred helps by explaining translations and errors in translations that are important to understanding intent. I am frankly stunned by the happy, “Sesame Street” rendition of Christianity that I received through life by churches that were too often focused on pleasing and increasing their flock, than on properly explaining the message of the Bible, including its dark and gritty context. I deem Fred’s book to be a very worthwhile read from front cover to final page. Do it for the sake of your soul. I intend to reread it in the future as a reference in comparison to other books and to the Bible itself.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Reviewing ‘Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth“, September 29, 2012
This review is from: Rightly Dividing The Word Of Truth: A Fresh Perspective To Understanding The Bible. (Paperback)
To every Readers benefit, author Fred Wolfe has dug deep into historical linguistics; carefully examining the many descriptions, and developments in language over the centuries to present us with a remarkably transparent presentation of scripture. |
Is Your Faith based on “Another” Gospel?
When Paul spoke about another gospel he was speaking about anything other than his own gospel which he was preaching:
Gal 1:11-12
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. KJV
Paul did not receive the revelation of Matthew, Mark Luke and John. He received the gospel of Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians. These epistles are in the exact same order in every Greek Manuscript.
Romans, Ephesians and Thessalonians are Doctrinal
Corinthians and Philippians are Reproof
Galatians and Colossians are Correctional.
The revelation Paul received from our Lord Jesus in these letters supersedes everything else, as these are written directly to the church of God which is the body of Christ. These represent the Sacred Secret that God kept from everyone until Paul.
To confirm that Jesus did not know about this secret, he told his disciples that some of them would not die until they saw him returning in the clouds. Yet, they all died. Jesus and the disciples believed that the Great Tribulation described in the book of Revelation and Daniel would begin immediately after his ascension. They all expected Jesus to return within 7 years.
But, God threw them all a curve ball for the sake of the Gentiles. Thank Him He did! We are now living in that time period, the Age of the Secret, the Administration of Grace. Essentially the book of Revelation has been held in abeyance for about 2,000 yrs now.
See Romans 2:16, 16:25; 2Ti 2:8 concerning Paul’s gospel. See also the word “doctrine” in 1st and 2nd Timothy. God bless!
Home of the Rightly Divided Word 