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)
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).
REVIVAL: ARE YOU REALLY READY FOR IT?
A lot of people have been talking about how much a Revival in the church is needed. I couldn’t agree more but think it is next to impossible, if not impossible.There are many reasons I think it is impossible since the church is so far removed from the precepts of the 1st Century Church. For example :
- The True Church is the Body of Christ, not the bride of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:27
- It was to be built upon the foundation of Paul, not the 4 Gospels, 1 Cor. 3:10-12
- Jesus was born, came into existence, as a descendant of David, Mt. 1:1
- He did not preexist his birth or live before he was born, not reincarnated Mt. 1:18
- God is not in control of the world, Satan is, 2 Cor. 4:4, Lk. 4:6
- the Holy Spirit is not something separate from God, but is God; Ps. 99:9, Jn. 4:24,
- God is the Holy Spirit while the devil is the unholy spirit
- the dead in Christ are dead, along with every other person who has lived and died, 1 Thess. 4:16, Job 14:12, Ps. 13:3, Acts 13:36, 1 Cor. 11:30
- water baptism serves no purpose other than an “emotional” high and was replaced by “spirit” baptism, Acts 1:8, 11:16
- The Secret, as revealed to Paul by the ascended Christ, is all but unknown to the church, let alone understood, Eph. 3:1-9, Ro. 16:25,26, Col. 1:25-29
- Jesus, before his ascension, was limited in knowledge, Mt. 16:28, 24:36, Mk. 9:1, 13:32, Lk. 9:27
- there is nothing written in the 4 Gospels about the Rapture, it is part of the Secret, first revealed to Paul, 2 Thess. 2:1-3
- what is written in the gospels that the church thinks is about the Rapture, is in reality the 2nd coming of Christ, when the Church comes with him to the earth, 2 Thess. 1:7b-10
- this is when Jesus returns as King of kings and Lord of lords, Rev 17:14, 19:16
- the Kingdom of God, when His Son Jesus will be King, will be set up after the battle of Armagedon, in Israel, for 1,000 years,
- the Kingdom of God and of His Son is still in the future, not on the earth today
- the 9 manifestations of the Spirit (miscalled gifts) are to be in operation in every church, all the time, that the Church may be edified, 1 Cor. 14:5,12,26
- the “equipping” ministries are to be in operation in the church for its edifying also, Eph. 4:12,16,29
- the Temple is the entire Body of Christ, not the individual, the individual is the tabernacle, 2 Cor. 5:1-4
These are but a few of the the things that today’s church have been mislead to believe or not to believe. How can there possibly any profitable revival when so much error is being practiced in the church? The word revival begins with “re” meaning to do again, do over. Here are a few definitions of revival:
- The act of reviving, or the state of being revived.
- Renewed attention to something, as to letters or literature.
- Renewed performance of, or interest in, something, as the drama and literature.
- Renewed interest in religion, after indifference and decline; a period of religious awakening; special religious interest.
The Church of the Body of Christ definitely needs a “do-over,” I will agree. But how many are willing to throw away 1700 years of error, steeped in tradition to do so? Our only hope is the gathering together of the saints, when Christ will settle it all at the Bema, where those who built upon the foundation Paul laid will be rewarded and those who did not will suffer loss. 1 Cor. 3
(see more on this subject at https://fredSwolfe.com)
REVIVAL? WHO ARE WE KIDDING?
A lot of people have been talking about how much a Revival in the church is needed. I couldn’t agree more but think it is next to impossible, if not impossible.There are many reasons I think it is impossible since the church is so far removed from the precepts of the 1st Century Church. For example :
- The True Church is the Body of Christ, not the bride of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:27
- It was to be built upon the foundation of Paul, not the 4 Gospels, 1 Cor. 3:10-12
- Jesus was born, came into existence, as a descendant of David, Mt. 1:1
- He did not preexist his birth or live before he was born, not reincarnated Mt. 1:18
- God is not in control of the world, Satan is, 2 Cor. 4:4, Lk. 4:6
- the Holy Spirit is not something separate from God, but is God; Ps. 99:9, Jn. 4:24,
- God is the Holy Spirit while the devil is the unholy spirit
- the dead in Christ are dead, along with every other person who has lived and died, 1 Thess. 4:16, Job 14:12, Ps. 13:3, Acts 13:36, 1 Cor. 11:30
- water baptism serves no purpose other than an “emotional” high and was replaced by “spirit” baptism, Acts 1:8, 11:16
- The Secret, as revealed to Paul by the ascended Christ, is all but unknown to the church, let alone understood, Eph. 3:1-9, Ro. 16:25,26, Col. 1:25-29
- Jesus, before his ascension, was limited in knowledge, Mt. 16:28, 24:36, Mk. 9:1, 13:32, Lk. 9:27
- there is nothing written in the 4 Gospels about the Rapture, it is part of the Secret, first revealed to Paul, 2 Thess. 2:1-3
- what is written in the gospels that the church thinks is about the Rapture, is in reality the 2nd coming of Christ, when the Church comes with him to the earth, 2 Thess. 1:7b-10
- this is when Jesus returns as King of kings and Lord of lords, Rev 17:14, 19:16
- the Kingdom of God, when His Son Jesus will be King, will be set up after the battle of Armagedon, in Israel, for 1,000 years,
- the Kingdom of God and of His Son is still in the future, not on the earth today
- the 9 manifestations of the Spirit (miscalled gifts) are to be in operation in every church, all the time, that the Church may be edified, 1 Cor. 14:5,12,26
- the “equipping” ministries are to be in operation in the church for its edifying also, Eph. 4:12,16,29
- the Temple is the entire Body of Christ, not the individual, the individual is the tabernacle, 2 Cor. 5:1-4
These are but a few of the the things that today’s church have been mislead to believe or not to believe. How can there possibly any profitable revival when so much error is being practiced in the church? The word revival begins with “re” meaning to do again, do over. Here are a few definitions of revival:
- The act of reviving, or the state of being revived.
- Renewed attention to something, as to letters or literature.
- Renewed performance of, or interest in, something, as the drama and literature.
- Renewed interest in religion, after indifference and decline; a period of religious awakening; special religious interest.
The Church of the Body of Christ definitely needs a “do-over,” I will agree. But how many are willing to throw away 1700 years of error, steeped in tradition to do so? Our only hope is the gathering together of the saints, when Christ will settle it all at the Bema, where those who built upon the foundation Paul laid will be rewarded and those who did not will suffer loss. 1 Cor. 3
(see more on this subject at https://fredSwolfe.com)
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)
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