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"New Age" Doctrinal Heresy
A Reader Writes:
Answer: Hello. Be careful of those New Age people, it is the religion of Lucifer. To them, Lucifer is their god, their star, their morning star, their light-bearer. And "what" is "on" them can rub off on others if they're not careful. New Agers do not believe in God, though they will claim that they do. But the god that they believe in is nothing like the Lord God of the Bible. Now, there are as many New Age doctrines as there are New Age people; for, they have no set doctrine. So that makes it difficult to convert one, because they all believe a little differently. But there are core tenants illustrated in all their doctrines. The main being this: A New Ager does not believe in God and Jesus Christ―not like we do. They believe that, sure, these entities exist, but that they are not what our Bible says they are. They believe that our Bible was a forgery. To the New Ager, Jesus Christ was not any different that we are, save that he reached the mystical enlightenment. They believe that we too shall progress spiritually into this supernatural, all knowing, everlasting state on our own. By what we learn. That is the danger to some SCN students and many other deeper Bible students. If one is not careful, and does not stay grounded on solid Biblically-documentable doctrine, he/she can be seduce by the esoteric (hidden 'wisdom'). Esoteric doctrine is deep complicated false doctrine that supposedly (so they are told) can only be grasped by those ready to make the leap to a form of early godhood. From there they presume to make the final cross-over into the realm of the gods. They presume to become a god, and thus, they shall be like Him. This is perverted doctrine and a great sin and blasphemy. This is exactly at the point at which Lance Knight and the other teachers of the "Manifest Sons of God" and "Manchild" and "Tabernacle" doctrines (see our: Anatomy of a False Doctrine , and, The Overnight fall of Pastor Lance Knight and his Flock (with audio excerpts of Lance's heretical 'teachings'), etc.). They are all false doctrines, which while bearing many different names, and which each having a little different spin, are all the age old lie, "and ye shall be as gods", spawn in the Garden of Eden six-thousand years ago by one serpent (satan) to Eve. Eve was destroyed, and so too shall all who fall prey today:
Regarding the star: The Scriptures are clear that the star was of Christ, it was to announce Him. Satan had nothing to do with the star (And if he had tried to do anything, I would think that he would have tried to extinguish it!):
Regarding the New Agers quest to become gods, to become equal to the Lord God and Jesus Christ, God had a word for them:
In Heaven, we are not gods, we are not equals of God , we are still Children, and He is still, FATHER:
Some wonder how these Bible students could become so off-track (to put it mildly), and they fear that if these Bible students, many of whom were once quite able Bible students, and very advanced, could fall; then how can we stand, since they were once as us, since they were once one of us? Honey, they never were one of us. Oh, they came out from us, all right; but, they were not really one of us:
Peace to you in Christ Jesus.
________________________________________________________________________
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| Back To Top | "Eight Things" About mainstream Christian Doctrine
A Reader Writes:
Hello; I am in substantial agreement with you, except for your doubt of the immortality of the soul. The soul is immortal since when it was first created―till it is extinguished in the Lake of Fire, the SECOND death. Also, I don't see any problem celebrating Christmas, as long as it is done to Christ Jesus, not Santa Clause. Easter is fine if you do it to Jesus Christ and not to Easter Bunnies and grove orgies. For us, Heaven is a time, not a place. The Jews, those who try wholly to be Jews, are the enemy of God and Christ, not the chosen people of God. But any Jewish person can come to believe upon Jesus Christ and be saved from the fires that await his fellows and all unbelievers. Whence this occurs (conversion) I do not even consider them Jews, no more than I would consider an Atheist to be an Atheist after conversion to Christ Jesus. The people running around the world here calling themselves "Jews" are a mixed people; and therefore, there is no such thing, technically, as the Jewish race. Not by blood, anyway. Being a Jew is a club that you get into for denying Jesus Christ and following the antichrist Talmud. Most "Jews" are not even religious. The term, or classification, "Jew," is much misunderstood. The Trinity is one God with one Spirit who came to Earth as one man―Jesus Christ. What people see in the Rapture doctrine is actually miss-timed Second Advent events. They mess up on the timing. They shall meet Christ in the air, but not until the Second Advent. There is much work here on Earth for us few real Christians to do―before Christ does any returning. There is only one more reappearing of Jesus Christ; and when He does come at this last (Second) Advent, EVERY EYE shall see Him. No secret rendezvous for the Baptists and Pentecostals, etc.. Sorry, they will just have to wait like the rest of us common Christians. And yes, they shall endure the Tribulation along with every other creature on God's good Earth who is alive at the time of Jacob's trouble. The only problem, for them, is that they shall be wholly unprepared; and, at that critical time, begin to doubt all that they know of the Scriptures and the may well feel that God has betrayed them. When antichrist and his Judaics are running this world, moving people to worship their image under threat of death―this is the absolute worst time for a Christian to be doubting their God and Savior Jesus Christ. That, my friend, is the true danger of all the various Rapture dogmas. Hell is not the end, for in Rev 20:14, we see Hell itself cast into the Lake of Fire. Therefore, the Lake of Fire is after Hell; so, Hell cannot be the final destination of the lost and the damned. The end-stop for the non-overcomers is the Lake of Fire, which is the SECOND death―the death of a soul. Thee is nothing left to punish or kill after God extinguishes an eternal soul in the lake of Fire. It is complete perdition―a complete perishing; i.e., no more―for ever. And yes it is eternal, and yes it is agony to not-be when you could have-been for ever. But they won't know it because they won't-be anymore.
Once saved, always saved is true, but not the way that we see it. If you truly are a Christian, then you shall not perish. We use the term "saved" in that phrase (once saved always saved), but what we really should be saying is once Christian always Christians―for salvation is synonymous with Christianity. The term "saved" is more of a man's term than of a Scriptural statement. You become "saved" by becoming a Christian. Today, there is no such thing as an unsaved Christian, and no such thing as a saved non-Christian. And how can one who truly believes in Jesus Christ, turn around and stop believing that Truth? He cannot. But maybe he never really believed it in the first place? Would it surprise you to know that there are "Christian" clergy who do not believe? Hey, it's a good job, you never go hungry, don't have to work hard; all your sermons are pre-printed by the governing church body, great pension, travel, prestige, power, access to women and children (for the perverted ones); the church can be a draw to a non-believer and a pedophile and a womanizer, etc. Just because a man wears a certain garment does not mean that he works for God in his heart. But don't judge which is which―God shall judge them, both the good and the bad ones. Some to glory, some to perdition. But what of this doctrine that you speak of: "once saved always saved?" The problem is that many who say they are saved are not. Many who say that they are Christians are not. Many make that "Altar call" in some church, but don't really mean it; they just got carried away with the moment, wanted their life to be fixed, or just wanted to be part of the group. Many people are in card-clubs, not because they love to play cards, but because they enjoy the fellowship. So it is in the churches, at times, as well. Many claim to be Christians, but their heart is far from Christ. We are not to judge who is, and who isn't, a true Christian; God shall do that; but just because you call yourself a Christian by classification does not mean that you are a Christian in your heart. Did not Jesus even say that many who claim to be Christians (and we could add: many who claim to be saved), are not:
This could only be aligned with the below Scripture by saying that, many who say they are Christians, are not:
So; who's who? Let God judge. Peace to you in Christ Jesus.
________________________________________________________________________ The Writer replies:
Hello. After reading your below statement I can no longer say that I am in substantial agreement with you, as I had said earlier. You stated:
Ummm....Sorry, but I do not think that the Holy Trinity is a heresy! And I feel that referring to it as such, is nigh unto blasphemy. I cannot agree with you. And you like to use made-up words with endings of "ism", and use them as pejoratives. I could call your view that there are three Gods in Heaven: "Polytheism", if I wanted to play the "ism" game.
The definition of your word "Modalism" is not in the dictionary; not in the above American Heritage Dictionary, nor in AOL's on-line Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Hank Hanegraaff made it famous when he used it to slander pastor Arnold Murray [Hank says that what Pastor Murray teaches is called "Modalism", which I stand now before you so accused]. Then Internet "copy & paste'rs" spread it far and wide. Hank Hanegraaff is the guy that they call "The Bible Answer man" on the radio. His ministry was not originally his; he stole it from the founder's widow, after the founder died. That's Bad fruit in anybody's book! Quit being used by the dark side to slander Christian ministers, Christian teachers, and Christian Scripture; and most of all: The Holy Trinity/Triune Godhead, or whatever else you wish to term it. We have a study on the matter of the nature of our Lord, at: The Holy Spirit & The Holy Trinity Peace.
________________________________________________________________________
Ok. Perhaps we are both letting emotions cloud our discussion. Have you read my work on the Godhead? If not, then how can you understand my position? Take an hour and read it, won't you? Or, just skim it if you like―but it does explain my position―with the Scriptures. Judge my doctrine by what I write, not by what others say I write, or by your perceptions about what I write, when you haven't read it. I am a very busy person, but I devote time to you; the least that you can do is devote an hour to this study and see just what exactly it is that I believe on the matter: Peace.
________________________________________________________________________ The Writer Replies Again:
And that is not meant to be a flippant answer to your question. Actually, it is the only accurate answer. The problem is, is that you are trying to understand Heavenly matters by reasoning them within the bounds of this flesh world. Heaven is different than here. God is more than we. And I understand your quandary, it is the one that stumbles most―that being: how can Jesus Christ be God and yet be sent from God. How can Jesus Christ be here on the Earth and yet speak to Himself in Heaven. What is confusing to people is that they do not perceive that Heaven is here, in another dimension. There is no rock fortress flying around in space with a sign-post reading: "Heaven." Heaven is wherever God is, and when Jesus came to Earth, He was "God with us": The Prophecy:
The Fulfillment:
Therefore, Heaven had descended upon man, but they knew it not: "But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you." (Luke 11:20). Everybody knows what "the Kingdom of God" is; it's what we call Heaven. And to go to the Kingdom of God at the last day, IS to, as we say: "go to Heaven." And when Christ returned to His place, Heaven departed. But the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell all Christians everywhere; so that a part of God, His very Spirit even, remained with good men of faith everywhere who believe upon Jesus Christ. This what Jesus meant by: "behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21b). He meant that a part of God, the Holy Spirit, indwelled the faithful. This is that which you the Christian feel inside when you pray.
Now the above Pharisees never saw that Kingdom, for, they rather rejected The Kingdom, killed The King, and put the final prophecies in abeyance (not yet) until the time of the end. But from since the time of Christ, when that Holy Spirit of God was sent to men of faith everywhere, the Kingdom is awaiting manifestation. An urgent point must desperately me made here. There are "groups" that misinterpret this (see our expositions on their doctrines: Anatomy of a False Doctrine , and, The Overnight fall of Pastor Lance Knight and his Flock (with audio excerpts of Lance's heretical 'teachings'), etc.) They conceive in their own little seduced minds that since a part of God (the Holy Spirit) resides in the hearts of the faithful―that the faithful, become a part of God; in effect―become gods! This is err, and it is great blasphemy! And it is a seductive doctrine, the same one that overthrew Eve then Adam. We are never to be as God so much that we become an equal to Him; but rather, we are conformed to His image, but not perfectly. He is The Ever-Living SPIRIT, but we are only created spirits. Created by God. And many of those spirits that are us humans on this Earth shall go on to be de-created; i.e., destroyed forever in the Lake of Fire. But God (and Jesus, as he Himself so states in Rev 1:8 ) are Eternal. Jesus states: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." (Rev 1:8). [That's pretty compelling, friend!] We are always to be His children, and He is/was/shall be always to be our God. And never the twain shall mix. He is God, we are His children; He created us, He shall destroy many; but, He is more, and we are less. For, how can the made thing be as the Maker of the the thing? They CANNOT! What these poor misguided and overthrown souls (those who believe as the errant ones do spoken of in the above paragraph) do not understand [Pray for them now―before it is too late for them], is that the "manifestation of the sons of God", spoken of below; do not happen until the New Heaven and New Earth of Revelation chapter 21 (saved for those of the First Resurrection of Rev 20:4-5):
Are revealed here, in Heaven, at the end:
And it is in that Heaven, at that time, where this "manifestation of the sons of God" are to be come about. And when this occurs, when this eternity begins, we see that He is forevermore the Lord God, Yehovah is His name; and that He is still the Father, still the God; and we (of both genders when on Earth), who make it into the eternity, are still and forever, the children, the sons of God; and, as God has declared, at that time: "I will be his God, and he shall be my son" (Rev 21:7b). And not a moment sooner; Certainly not today! Simply and perfectly stated: The sons of God are the angels. period. Now there were (and are today) bad angels and good angels, but all are the sons of God. In Gen 6 we see the bad angels, commonly referred to as "the fallen angels"; but they were still the sons of God. In the eternity these bad angels will no longer be―they shall have been utterly destroyed in the Lake of Fire. But today there are still good and bad sons of God (angels). But these sons of God are in the Heavenly realm, they do not walk about upon the Earth. Earth is for flesh man, Heaven for the sons of God (angels). But God does send good angels to do his bidding―these are always called in Scripture "the angel of the Lord." Now, these bad angels did come here to the Earth long ago, That was their sin; the spiritual beings were not to ever have contact with flesh man. Much less to seduce flesh women sexually, as they did:
And in the end, in the Tribulation, these evil sons of God, these bad angels, shall once again visit man on the Earth―then God help us―more so, may I pray: God help our women! But it isn't the same bad angels from Gen 6 that shall come, but rather their fellows; for, the ones from Gen 6 are incarcerated awaiting Lake of Fire time in Rev 20.
In closing, before we were born out of our mother's belly―we were all, both males and females today, the sons of God in Heaven. That is why the sons of God in Heaven are forbade to have contact with their fellows (us) whilst we are in this limited flesh body and mind. Here they can overpower and outwit us (as they did the women in Gen 6), but when we were in Heaven, before being born here, we were equal in power with them. What the fallen angels (sons of God [the bad ones]) in Genesis chapter six really did when they took the human women sexually, was to defile them in ways that a human mind cannot now fathom! Surely Heaven was rocked to her very foundations! Evidenced by God's great wrath, both here and in Heaven. Those angels that fell, those sons of God, are unredeemable; they are the damned. And they know it―that is the horror that they currently abode in.
And no! Us pre-existing and coming from Heaven into our mother's wombs is not reincarnation. Reincarnation is a lie from satan to make people think that they can live as they wish on this Earth, not obeying God's edicts, and not following God's only path to salvation―Jesus Christ; and then after they die, come back and "do it better" next time. There is no more next time, once we die, we have sealed our books. These are among the books that God opens in Rev 20:12 & 15 on Judgement Day. Every son of God (angel [us!]) comes through this flesh world only one time (save for those miracles where Christ and select others in the Scriptures raised the dead―but this was for our benefit to show the power of God over death). But you do know that we were in Heaven with God before He sent us here; don't you? If not, then where did you come from? the Bible knows where you came from:
Now maybe we can understand better why it was that on several occasions, God pre-named a child (Jesus, John the Baptist, etc.) and told of what a person would do beforehand―God did this because HE KNEW the person (soul) that He was sending into that particular womb at that particular time. Notice also in the below Scripture that God speaks of Samson before he was born, and that God knew what manner of man Samson was:
Many more examples like this can be found in the Scriptures. And these people that God foreknew, and whom He had chosen, were not robots; they had their own personalities and made many mistakes along the way; which they would not have made had God been using them like a robot. My point is that God did not just "possess" these people (for want of a better term), but rather that He foreknew them, and knew that they were the right man for the job. We existed before we were born; and those of us who believe upon Christ and attain to everlasting life, shall once again be with him, once again calling Him: Father. And He shall once again call us each, both males and females of today, My son. The sons of God. One final note: As do many on nature of God, so too did not Nicodemus also wrestle with trying to understand Heavenly things by the rules of Earthly things:
Peace to you in Christ Jesus.
________________________________________________________________________ The Writer Replies:
I agree that we are to all think for ourselves. And I would not respect you as a serious Bible student if you did not. But with the thinking for one's self, we must also be willing to be convinced by clear Scriptural documentation when we encounter it. I will address your question tomorrow; Ok? I have to do some things right now. PS: And I know that you don't believe in multiple Gods, nor even in three Gods. But when one takes a critical look at your present perception of the Holy Trinity (or Godhead, or whatever name man places upon it), one can only come to the conclusion that there is three Gods [or two]. That is the ultimate outcome of the doctrine as you now see it. Though I know that you are not well pleased when this is observed. But think about it: What other conclusion can be arrived at by viewing the Godhead in the manner that you do? Reconsider. Search the Scriptures with no pre-conceived notions, with no other teachings in your mind―just act like you are opening the book for the first time and are trying to determine the nature of God and the meaning of the Holy Trinity/Godhead. You will be refreshed. Peace to you in Christ Jesus.
________________________________________________________________________ (To be continued.) But the writer was wrong about his summation of the meaning of the word "one". "One" means "one," not two that are like one, but two that are the same one. below is the word "in question":
But the most compelling proof that Jesus was calling Himself God comes from the context of the surrounding Scripture. Below, we see our verse (Jn 10:30) in context within the entirety of the thought―within the context of what Jesus was trying to teach. Often times when we pull a verse out of context, and analyze it as it stands alone―we end up misinterpreting the true meaning. This is the case in this present debate. The writer has pulled John 10:30 out of the Scripture, out of context; and standing alone, it has been made to mean something that it does not mean; or, rather, has been made not to mean something that it does mean; i.e., that Jesus was in fact God. The writer did this in error, and I am sure that right about now he is nodding in agreement. And if not yet now, he will be nodding in agreement in about one minute as he hears the below explanation. In the whole below exchange between Jesus and the Jews you see that,
It might also be helpful to know that the word "my" in our verse 30 is not actually in the manuscripts; it was added, well-intentioned, by the Translators to make a more complete readable English sentence. Often, words must be added when translating from one language to another. This is normal and acceptable; and does not constitute the sin of "adding to the Scriptures" (Rev 22:18-19) But as we see, sometimes they complicate the reading by their choice of words. In the below diagram, we see in the top row, the English words in the KJV Bible. The row below that is the transliteration of the Greek words from the manuscripts that the KJV Translators used to make our English Bible. Below that are the actual Greek characters from that manuscript. And below that are the Strong's Concordance numbers. The things below that are unimportant to our present topic, but are just parsings and alternative manuscript readings, which in this case are the same.
One thing that you should notice is that there in no Strong's number under the word "my" (the "9999" indicates a non-number) I have show it highlighted with a black background in the above with my mouse curser. So, the verse:
Would better read:
Notice also the definite article (ho #3588) preceding "Father", for it means, THE Father; not a father. I cannot now have the time to prepare a defense for the Oneness of God, but the below should set one on their own study. Below is the concordance search for the word ("one" Greek #1520). There are 282 occurrences of that Greek word in the KJV Bible (New Testament). I have scrolled the list down so that the verse of John 10:30 is at the top. There are many other verses shown in the below picture whish illustrate that "one" means ONE. The yellow highlighting indicates the word(s) in English that came from the Greek word for "one":
PS: As you can see, the BibleSoft program that I utilize here is invaluable for faster, deeper study. You may read about this program and follow a click-through link to purchase it from Amazon. com if you so desire: SOFTWARE: PC Study Bible Version 4 Reference Library Plus Yes, I get credit if someone buys through a click-through link from my Website. (I just want to be up-front with that.) I think that I get 3% to 5% on certain products. Not much, but it adds up to about a hundred or so dollars a year that I roll back into the Website for related costs, infrastructure, and research materials. In closing, may we say along with Thomas:
Peace to you in Christ Jesus. Back to list of questions at top of page
| Back To Top | Follow-up Questions on the, "The State Of The Dead", Bible Study
Hello. Several points were brought up after the above study (The State Of The Dead) was posted that called for more clarification. This is fine and this is good―I want that readers write in and ask for more clarification if they feel that I have left some point undone, or if I have not supplied enough documentation to make any point, or if they just plain don't agree with me. I have no problem with someone disagreeing with me―I only ask that they disagree with me by supplying Scriptures that they feel contradict a point that I may have made. After all, for me, the word on any matter is the written Word. Once we stray from that we have no foundation, no absolutes. I will post these below, with answers, so that those who had the same question, but did not ask, may also be presented with the evidence for their discernment.
Answer: Hello. As to your last point, may I simply present Christ's words: "But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead , but of the living." (Matt 22:31-32). I think perhaps the problem that you and I are having here is with the definition of "immortality." Immortality simply means "not liable to die" (a flesh death). You notice the word "mortal" is in "immortality." Many confuse "immortality" with saved-forever-in-Heaven. This is not so; for, is not satan even immortal, yet he too shall perish in the Lake of Fire. The three Hebrews in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:19-28) were transformed for a moment into their immortal spiritual bodies; thus, the flames could not harm them. But they at that time were not yet judged; for, Judgement Day for all is in the end of Revelation chapter twenty. Do not confuse the different bodies with eternal salvation. They are apples and oranges. Right church, wrong pew. They are different parts of the same plan. But they are different subjects with different objects.
Mortals are flesh men, immortals are spiritual entities. When we die, our flesh dies, our mortal part perishes―but we go into an immortal state (until Judgement Day), or rather that part of us that is immortal continues on. Then, at Judgement Day comes the second death for some. This second death is not a death of any flesh, for all flesh has by then perished―but rather, the second death is the death of a soul, the death of that part of you that continued-on after you died your mortal death. Immortality is not everlasting life, it is the state of not being able to die any more (in the flesh); for, you are then spirit, not flesh. This is where the second death comes in, and it is why that God provided for a second death. This second death is eternal perdition, the blotting out of a soul in the Lake of Fire. Between the first death and the second death there necessarily has to be some sort of resurrection. If "the dead" were dead and gone, there would be no need for a second death. The resurrect into their angelic bodies and then go to Judgement Day. These bodies apparently look similar to our flesh ones; for, the angels seen by men in the Bible are all described as young men, and there is no indication that there was anything remarkable about their appearance. The only difference is that there is not a female form in an angelic body. Females today will have a body as the other (male) angels when they resurrect. Observe in the below all the references to flesh mortality as opposed to the spiritual immortality that comes after. The below is not speaking of eternal salvation yet, for none (save for satan and select of his evil angels) had yet at that time been judged, nor have they yet been judged today. And many who rise shall rise to eternal damnation, the second death. As Daniel explaines:
Resurrection is not the prize, for even a serial-murderer shall resurrect for Judgement. The "prize" is eternal life with God. In verse three above, these "stars" are the sons of God that we spoke of in the original study. We see them mentioned below, where satan had tried to overthrow God in the world that was:
Job speaks of these "stars of God." And to the writers comment: "but you put up one heck of an argument for the immortal soul teaching" I would add the below Scripture to that "one heck of an argument" regarding that we were with God before we were born through our mother's womb (which what the writer means by "immortality of the soul." Others call it "pre-existence" of the soul). For, these stars of God/sons of God were with God BEFORE He laid the foundations of the Earth; as a careful read of the entire chapter shall declare. Below we excerpt that chapter:
Moving on. Paul offers hope to the Christians in the below, but these two forms are common to all men, both good and bad. And the bad shall go on to the Lake of Fire second death, and the good (and/or forgiven) to eternal life in a resurrected spiritual body―as the angels who overcome.
If I haven't made my point, here, perhaps it will be clearer in the below questions. Bear with me please.
New Question (Different Writer):
Hello. Thank you for the blessings at the end of your letter. May our Lord bless you as well. I think I know what you are asking/are concerned over. (If I've missed your point, please write back.) I think that a lot of what you asked was kind of like the "apples & oranges" of the previous question. And also, please understand that we may well be at the very threshold of what God will reveal of this matter, As I stated in the original study, Paul went to Heaven and saw things that were unlawful for a (flesh) man to know. We can only grasp what God gives us; and admittedly, He has left a hole here in this matter. We aren't to understand all things. I cannot take it past the Scriptures. What God has given us, God has given us, what He has withheld, we cannot now know. For all that we know, our flesh minds may not be able to handle it. And if He told us now, perhaps we'd go insane. We just can't understand spiritual matters perfectly while we are within the bounds of the flesh. We flesh men use 10% of our brains; in the spiritual realm we shall have 100%. Well, maybe dumping that other 90% on a flesh mind would burn it out. Who knows? God knows. Look at how many women have trouble accepting the simple fact that there is no female form in angels, and they will not have their present gender in the eternity (but their soul shall be there, they will be there with their own present personality). But how much more hard to accept things greater than this? And I hope that this isn't sounding like a cop-out; for, it is not. But if Paul, who was taken to Heaven, and who saw all these things, could not (or would not) speak perfectly on this matter―how can you and I?
In other words, Paul couldn't tell us certain things―he was forbade. It's just like as with the overthrow in the world that was. There is enough evidence in Scripture to document that it indeed occurred; but, not enough to speak perfectly on the matter, knowing all things of it. And did not Paul even state:
I will pull your questions out of your letter. But I think that what you are seeing as contradictions in what I wrote, are really your misinterpretation of what I was saying. Perhaps that is my fault for not being clearer. Your below questions shall help me to more perfectly explain what I was trying to say. You asked:
No, to the first question, "DO WE OR DON'T WE GET RESURRECTED AT TIME OF DEATH??"; and yes to the second. When we die, we change. Our soul leaves the flesh body and ascends to God. This is not a resurrection, but merely a laying down of the flesh, a change of form and substance, but the same entity. We continue on. Once again, man's terminology clouds the issue. You cannot equate "resurrection" with "eternal salvation life." And that is what I think that you are doing, and that which is causing you confusion. When defining Scriptural usages of words, we must use Scripture to define them; we cannot use a Webster's Dictionary to understand Scripture. Perhaps that is why wise scholars have so much trouble understanding and believing Scripture; but the common man, the average Joe, the "babes" understand that which confounds the professors and doctors.
Paul also speaks of this concept:
Regarding the resurrection and when it occurs: Scripture is clear as to when the first resurrection occurs. First, as you know, means that there are none before it:
The above Scripture clearly occurs chronologically AFTER the below Scripture; therefore, the "dead in Christ" in the below Scripture are not the first resurrection (nor can they yet have been, at that time, in any resurrection); for they did their rising BEFORE the first resurrection:
Also adding confusion to this matter is that "rising" is not necessarily "resurrecting"; it may be in our present English, but not in the Bible. Now, to add further confusion here, admittedly; the people that are alive at His coming (at the 2nd Advent) are resurrected into their final spiritual bodies (sons of God) because we see them in the above Revelation 20:2 Scripture; they are the ones below (which I have embolden and underlined):
Now, these which "and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;" (Rev 20:4b) are those who: "are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord" (1 Thes 4:15) AND had not been killed, nor had they taken the mark of the beast. Some will say that the above, who didn't take the mark, are the same ones who were killed. But the killed ones were killed because they didn't take the mark; it was not necessary to repeat saying that. All shall be required to take this mark, and those who don't, shall be killed (these are the martyrs of Rev 20:4 above): "...and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." (Rev 13:15b). Therefore, the qualifier in Rev 20:4 above, "and which had not worshipped..." is added information to explain the presence of those in the Millennium who hadn't been killed. God doesn't waste words; if there is something interjected into a Scripture―it has purpose and meaning. Let me explain it like this: It would be like me saying: "Those killed in the car crash were put into an ambulance and those who survived the crash were put into an ambulance." Question: If everyone died in the car crash, would it have been necessary for me to add: "and those who lived in the crash were put into an ambulance"? No, it would not; for, since all died we know that all were put into an ambulance. I was inserting further information into the sentence to show you that not everyone died in the car crash, but they all ended up in the ambulance. It was only necessary that I write the second sentence to show that not all died who were in the ambulance. The same goes for the Millennium Scripture above (Rev 20:4), and answers quite nicely as to what becomes of those at the Second Advent who had remained faithful, and had not died, but rather "are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord" (1 Thes 4:15). That there are Christians who survive the Tribulation unmarked by satan should be comforting to many Christians who fear being killed in the Tribulation; or worse, fear being deceived by antichrist to their own peril. Not all Christians shall die during the Tribulation; however, as we saw in our study (Scriptural Evidences That Christians Shall Die In The Great Tribulation), Scripture in the book of Revelation speaks of many Christian martyrs. Oh! how Christians hate that study (Christians...Die..), and take that hate out upon myself! Never minding the clear and concise Scriptures which speak of the faithful that die during the Tribulation, they rather are in effect saying: "Give me a teacher that will sooth me and tell me sweet things; and away with that fellow who tells me hard things backup-up by Scripture. I will follow whims and words of peace and safety from man, not God's hard words in unbreakable foreordained prophecy". Well, sticking your head in the sand doesn't stop the wolf from ravaging you. Better to be prepared and to stand and fight, instead of giving your back to the enemy. But in all things: trust the Lord; for, He does protect many of the weaker of the flock―like a true Shepherd always does. "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (Jesus Christ; John 10:11). Will you be a martyred? Only if you choose to be. God will not put on you more than you can bear:
Though many Christians cannot fathom this, they might be surprised to know that God actually has a surplus of willing martyrs. I have heard from many of them in letters. Many would consider it an honor to die for our Lord and in defense of the Great Kingdom which never ceases. Perhaps they were chosen for it in the world that was; we cannot now know. But that is why they are to be so well rewarded above all other of the faithful from all times, as also shall those Christians who weather the storm and remain faithful till the Second Advent:
Don't these deserve greater glory that those Christians who didn't give the ultimate sacrifice (their life) or too endure the challenges of the Tribulation and overcome? I would say that they do. It's easy to be a Christian when it costs you nothing, when you do all the taking and are not required to give any more than your faith. Many throughout history have endured tortures unimaginable for their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and for the defense of the Gospel. And many shall be killed for that faith in the Great Tribulation. And I dare say that they deserve a seat much higher than I, should I die peacefully in my sleep tonight. Don't you? What does it cost me to be a Christian today, a few snickers from the dead souls? That is not much of a price to pay for eternal glory. But consider this: What shall you do if you are one who is seized and made to choose as Scripture declares many shall be. It seems that Christians close their eyes when they read the below Scripture. They love to have pastors and priests and teachers prophesy to them smooth things. Peace and safety, that's the dish of their day. They like to be coddled and given a "false" (I use that word here carefully, please allow me) sense of security. Had not the below been a problem that many Christians would face, then God wouldn't have bothered to warn us of it in the Christian Bible. But He did warn us. You had better open your eyes to this now; for, I assure you, your eyes shall be quite widely opened at the below time, even if you aren't the one being persecuted; for, you shall know of it happening, and no doubt will lose friends and loves ones to it:
Ergo, if you don't want to be a martyr, and don't want to betray Christ, then don't let antichrist's minions on the Earth catch you (which are alive today, I might add―but many in great error call them "God's chosen people"). Or, pray that you are in one of the two below groups who God miraculously helps and hides; the first group being hidden from the first beast of Rev 13 (for 42 months), and the second group being hidden from the second beast of Rev 13 (for a time, times, and half time [5 months?]); i.e., both parts of the Tribulation, but not necessarily the same people in both: Protection For Certain Christians In First Part of Tribulation:
Protection For Certain Christians In Second Part of Tribulation:
Will all Christians be in the above two protected groups? No! Remember:
I take it that my point is not missed that these later martyrs are killed squarely in the midst of the Tribulation, between the fifth seal and sixth seal. There shall be others; see our: Scriptural Evidences That Christians Shall Die In The Great Tribulation I am not trying to scare you, I am trying to prepare you. Who am I? Nobody, just a Bible student who likes to write Bible studies documented with Scripture. Prove me wrong with the Scriptures and I shall repent of my position, and change my mind―the right of every fallible human being―and one which I reserve to myself. And did not the above, regarding the second group of protected in the Tribulation, even go on to say, if we had continued the verse further:
The above remnant "and went to make war with the remnant of her seed" (Rev 12:17b) are seen in Daniel's prophecy as well: "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them" (Dan 7:21). You who object to the teaching (and those who dare teach it) that Christians shall be killed in the Tribulation, I ask you this: what will you do with the above Scripture (Rev 12:17 & Dan 7:21)? Throw them out too? Spiritualize it away as you have been doing with much (if not all) of the book of Revelation? Why is it that Christians always feel that they cannot be wrong? I've seen many promises in the Bible, but I haven't seen that one. Some Christians Shall Die In The Great Tribulation. Moving on.... I still feel as though I haven't made my point clearly. Suffice it to say that, when we die, we don't go into a spiritual body, our soul leaves this flesh body. When we resurrect, our soul goes into a spiritual body. Perhaps a crude diagram may help to put a picture in the place of a thousand words. Below at the top left of the diagram, we see that we were in Heaven in our angelic bodies before this world began. We were the sons of God (no gender implied). It was here and then that there was a rebellion in Heaven (touched on briefly in Rev 12:1-4, and scant other places in the Bible), the particulars of we are not well told. Then moving strait down on the diagram, we see that our souls and spirit were placed into a flesh body birthed from a womb. (A soul is us, whether in flesh or angelic bodies; a spirit is the life of us whether in flesh or angelic bodies) Then at some point we die. Some go to one side of the holding place in Heaven (illustrated in Luke 16), some go to the other side; but we ALL return to the Father. Then by and by we are resurrected. Then, after the final events of Rev 20 we go to Judgement Day. Some of us are judged to eternal life, some are judged to eternal death (the second death) in the Lake of Fire. Then the "Lake of Fire souls" are gone forever, and the overcoming souls spend the eternity with God as the sons of God (in those angelic bodies):
Regarding "spiritual bodies", I am as guilty as the next person for confusing this in my writings. Many do the same, because to stop and explain the particular form (it's not always a "body") every time one mentions an entity, would make an unreadable for clutter Bible study. But I shall try to be cognizant of this in future writings. And I often use the term "spiritual body" to describe what we become after we die. This is also confusing, but is also done by most all who know the difference. Usually, it is not relevant to the point. But here today it is, so I shall explain myself as clearly and unambiguously as I possibly can on the matter. Technically, It is not correct to use the term spiritual body EVER; for, a spirit has no body, as our Lord so stated:
The natural inclination is to then further confuse this by saying that Jesus had a "spiritual body" not made of flesh and bones. That is not correct, and further confuses the matter. And here's where it becomes even more confusing. A spirit is just that, an invisible un-touchable, un-seeable "thing." Even the Strong's definition describes a spirit as such:
Even Jesus described to Nicodemus that a spirit was such. In the below, we are not going to be going into the "born again" thing, we are visiting the below solely for Jesus' definition of a spirit:
Not one time was a spirit seen in the Bible. Every spirit was within a person. The evil spirits possessed the demoniacs (possessed people), and the Holy Spirit is always called the Spirit of God. Our spirits are within these our flesh bodies. A spirit has no form, has no mass; a spirit is in another realm, another dimension. Many saw Jesus Christ, Moses saw the "back parts" of God, but none has seen the Holy Spirit; for it is not a separate entity from God, it is the Spirit of God, and yes, it is Most Holy. Our study, The Holy Spirit & The Holy Trinity, may help at this point. So, while spirits cannot be seen, and were not seen in the bible; angels were seen and can be seen. Angels are not spirits―they have spirits. Evil spirits are not angels, they are spirits without form, or mass, or body. An evil angel is an evil spirit in an angelic body. A good angel is a good spirit in an angelic body. That is why to been seen, touched, heard, etc., the spirit must possesses a living creature (unless it is in angelic form). When Christ cast out Legion (the multiple evil spirits), they were not seen; they had to enter the swine; then the people saw the swine run into the sea. You can't see air, and you can't see spirits, for a spirit is as Strong's stated above, like "a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze". So, while you cannot see spirits, you can discern spirits; that's one of the spiritual gifts in Corinthians: "To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues" (1 Cor 12:10). Surely many of you have looked at a person and just got the "willies." What you sensed was an evil spirit, though you could not see it. Some Christians are better gifted to sense the spirits in people. Most Christians can discern the strong ones, but miss the weak or hidden ones. It is a gift from God. We all have different gifts, as the above Corinthians Scripture lays out. There are no spirits drifting around, they must be in a body (someone else's, for they have no body of their own; as we won't have a body when we die―until we resurrect, that is.) to manifest in this realm (our flesh world). Even the sons of God (the fallen angels in this case), who came to Earth in Genesis chapter six and mated with fallen women (which shall happen again at the end, I might add), had bodies. They were not "spirits," they were evil spirits in angelic bodies who had come to Earth in direct opposition to God's command, and they impregnated human females. Children were born of this abominable union, and God sent a flood (of Noah) to destroy these giants. The point is, whenever an angel, both good or bad, comes to Earth and is seen by man―it is in a body, an angelic body, which is far different that a spirit. A possessed person is infected by an evil spirit; the fallen angels were evil spirits in their angelic bodies; a good angel is a good spirit in it's angelic body; the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God which dwells within every Christian to help, guide, and protect us; our spirit is the spirit of our soul (our soul IS us whether in flesh body, angelic body, or no body) that is within our flesh bodies. When we die, that spirit of that soul (us) goes to a holding place in Heaven. If we be a Christian then we are on the good side of that place; if we were evil and unbelieving then we are on the bad side of that place―but we have no body there. Then we are resurrected into our angelic bodies to go on to Rev 20 and Judgement Day. The bad ones perish completely in the Lake of Fire. The good ones spend eternity in their angelic bodies with God. The serpent in the Garden of Eden was no snake, nor was he a spirit; the serpent in the Garden of Eden was satan's spirit in an angelic body. And as many of you know, but most other Christians do not; satan, as the serpent, impregnated Eve and she bore Cain. See our: What was the Real sin in the garden of Eden? Even when Jesus returned to the Apostles after that He had resurrected―He was in a body. Now, Jesus' body that He returned in we cannot know what manner it was; for, Jesus' flesh body did not stay on the Earth to rot (corrupt) in the tomb:
So we have to be careful to understand that Jesus may well have been a one-time occurrence for the purpose of teaching that he defeated death. And that the body that Jesus returned in may well not be the body that we resurrect in. Jesus was different than us, He was God in the flesh; we are the sons of God in the flesh. For, He resurrected way back in the first century A.D., but none of us can resurrect until the first resurrection of Rev 20:2, and then others later in Rev 20. Paul spoke on fact that Christ's body was not left to corrupt (rot) back into dust:
But this same Jesus ate food with those Apostles when He returned:
And in other places in Scripture, angels have eaten food on the Earth before men:
So, in conclusion; when we die, our spirit goes back to God.
We are kept with Him in our place: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:2). Then sometime later we resurrect, some in the first resurrection and some in the second, depending on our individual cases:
That is the difference between the first resurrection and the "second" resurrection (though Scripture never terms it the second resurrection, so neither perhaps should we, to avoid confusion). But those of the first resurrection do not stand on Judgement Day, they are already judged to eternal life; for with these, "the second death hath no power". Later, after the thousand years and satan's last gasp, we see all souls stand before God to be judged either for good or for bad. (The term "the dead" in the below is not a bad thing, it is just all that have died in the flesh; for we see that some of these "the dead" are in the book of life.):
But the overcommers are judged to eternal life:
________________________________________________________________________ [The millennium question that was here, with the Audio-Bites regarding a
second chance has been expanded and moved to: Is
there a second chance for the unsaved in the Millennium (the 1000 years
of Rev 20)?) Back to list of questions at top of page
| Back To Top | Another Follow-up Question on the "The State Of The Dead" Study (i.e., The two Births)
A (female) Reader Writes:
Answer: Hello Xxxxxx; I hope that all is well with you. You said:
By all means. I never expect everyone to agree with me. And I like when people write in with Scriptural "arguments" to something that I wrote. So, if you think that I was off-target on something, I WOULD want to hear about it. That way I can further document my points in follow-up. I also am glad that you are enjoying the study. The Follow-up Questions on the, "The State Of The Dead", Bible Study may also be helpful. I had wondered if I wouldn't hit a wall with pastor Xxxxxxx students because I disagreed with him [this is taboo in certain circles]. You said:
But you aren't in agreement with pastor Xxxxx, you are quite far apart from his interpretation, as well as from mine. Yours constitutes a third interpretation. Pastor Xxxxx does not teach three births, he teaches two births like I outlined that he did. I have listened long and hard to pastor Xxxxx regarding this doctrine because I have for a very long time had a problem with his interpretation on this matter. So, you may say that you disagree with me; but, you cannot say that you are in agreement with pastor Xxxxx, for you are not. Let's look at your doctrine. You said:
Agreed. This is the first birth and the first death.
The "Born into new life through Jesus Christ" IS the "born again". This is the second birth that Jesus told Nicodemus about. Regarding the second half of your above statement: You referenced Rom 6:6-8, presumably to identify the "second of the three deaths" of your doctrine. But if you follow the thought down a couple verses, you see that this was not a literal death, but a death to sin. In other words: "be good, don't sin anymore."
Your third point:
This part agrees with pastor Xxxxx's doctrine; however, in pastor Xxxxx's doctrine this "leaves heaven to this flesh age" is the first birth, and the birth from the womb is the second birth. Pastor Xxxxx has no third birth. pastor Xxxxx even reinforces what I just said about his doctrine in that he almost always follows the above up with a statement to the effect that this is what the fallen angels did wrong in Genesis chapter six. He says that they refused to be born of woman (the first birth). A main point that you state, and which you hung your doctrine on, was the below:
But Xxxxxxx, there are not three births in John chapter three, there are only two. You are getting three out of two. What you are doing is failing to understand that "born of the Spirit" IS "born again"; Jesus was describing this second birth to be of the (Holy) Spirit, not adding it to make a third. Christ clearly identifies only two births. In the Scripture (supplied below) that you are referencing, in verse three Jesus introduces the subject "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God". Then in verse five, Jesus defines both births: the one is the water from the womb "Except a man be born of water" and the second is the Holy Spirit indwelling of every Christian at conversion "and of the Spirit" (notice the capitalization). Then in verse six He goes into even further detain on these two births: The first birth is of the flesh body through the womb of woman, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh"; the second "birth" is the union of God's Holy Spirit with the spirit of every Christian "and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (once again observe the capitalization; the first occurrence of the word "Spirit" in the last above clause, has the definite article and indicates the Holy Spirit, the second occurrence of the word "spirit" has no article, is not capitalized, and means yours and mine spirit. Remember, He was speaking to Nicodemus, who at that time was an unbeliever and thus had not yet been "born again" of the Holy Spirit through Christ Jesus (though none were born again until after Christ was glorified [see John 7:37-39]):
This indwelling of Christians by the Holy Spirit is not a foreign concept in the Scriptures. In the below, Christ tells us that after He leaves this world, that God shall send another Comforter (the Holy Spirit). In verse 17 below, we see this indwelling which I spoke of. This is the second birth for all converted Christians after that Christ left this world to sit in Heaven awaiting the time of His return at the Second Advent:
Below is that second birth; we are adopted to God through Christ:
Compare the above:
with your John chapter three Scripture:
And see that then we are: "that we are the children of God" (Rom 8:16), and no longer only: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" [children of man] (Jn 3:6). And then observing the statement of Christ to Nicodemus: "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (Jn 3:7). Peter concurs with Christ that there are two births. He also explains what that second birth is:
Two births, Xxxxxxx. Peace to you in Christ Jesus; and please feel free to offer rebuttal.
________________________________________________________________________
Back to list of questions at top of page
| Back To Top | How do you know when you've found the mate meant by God for you?
A (Female) Reader Writes:
Hi. That is a tough one. I guess you know it is His will―when it works. Last year I had become broken-up with a girlfriend that I had really thought was the right one from God. But we are broke-up, and she's with another; so, I must have misread the cues. Maybe I wanted her to be the one so bad that I made it up in my mind that she was; turning a blind eye to all the warning signs along the way. That's called "getting in front of God." We are supposed to follow God, follow His leading; we are not supposed to go beyond what He has shown or given us. To presume, regarding God's will, is to set yourself up for a fall. I fell hard. But I meant well. All I can say is to do what I do: Pray that God sends the right one and that He blesses that union. For a true Christian man or woman there is no other way to find a good helpmeet. It is so hard nowadays to find a good Christian man or woman! I get many letters from Christians (men and women) who just can't find a good mate (and so many that are stuck with a bad one). So you and I are not the only ones out there. Peace to you in Christ Jesus; and may He send you your mate chosen by Him, or confirm in your heart whether or not you have found him now. That's all we can do, Xxxxxx: pray and trust Him.
________________________________________________________________________
Back to list of questions at top of page
| Back To Top |
Is there a second chance for the
unsaved in the
A Reader Writes:
Hello. You asked:
Yes. Scripture is quite clear:
I think that what happens is that people spiritualize the term "rest of the dead" to mean 'rest the dead who are damned to the fires.' This is not the case, for as we saw in the above segment, some of these "the dead" are found in the book of life and go on to the eternity as overcomers. Don't let the word "dead" mean something that it does not; for, at this time ALL FLESH is dead, all are "the dead", until they are resurrected. And by saying "the rest of the dead" in verse 5 above, it naturally includes that even those who were martyrs, but took part in the first resurrection, were once among "the dead", because it says: "the REST of the dead." Also, had they not died, why need they resurrect? So they did die, but are not yet resurrected; but they still exist, they just have no form or body and are contained in their mansion in Heaven, on whichever side they may be on individually. The second group of Millennium priests who reign with Christ are those Christians who weathered the Great Tribulation and survived faithful until the Second Advent. These need no resurrection, for they never died. But they are resurrected at the time of their life when Christ returns―they are resurrected into their angelic bodies; for, "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 15:50b). They just changed into their glorified angelic bodies at the Second Advent and left their flesh fall to the ground. That is a special reward for them. Not to mention they also serve Christ for the 1000 years along with the faithful martyrs.
You said:
I know where you have gotten this from; for, I once learned it from him as well (a good pastor from Ark.). And in some of my older writings I have agreed with the good pastor on this matter. But that was because I hadn't fully searched it out myself, I had just parroted what I had learned of another. I no longer do that―I check out everything for myself―which is why people can find some little disagreements between what I teach on certain matters, and what the good pastor teaches. And I truly do understand the appeal of the doctrine when it is taught that way, as you state: "teach the truth to those who had been deceived or who had not heard during the flesh age". It makes us think that we can alter the fate of our passed-away loved ones who died as non-Christians. It makes one think that he can go back and teach a deceased loved one to believe upon Jesus Christ after they have died not believing in Him. In other words, it makes one think that they can save a lost mother, child, spouse, and friend, in-between the time that they die in an unsaved state, and before Judgement Day. That is why I think that people need to believe this doctrine taught that way, they want it so bad that they will believe it even though it flies in the face of scores of Scriptures which speak to the contrary. But we can not change God's Word to suit our own desires. Every person has their own soul to account for; and none, save for Jesus Christ, can interfere in the affairs of another's soul. Sorry.
And I am quite sure that this will make me a very unpopular fellow in certain circles. Many good Christian's have pinned their hope on the fact that they can go back to the dead and preach Christ Jesus to them, and that they can take an unsaved loved-one and get them saved before Judgement Day. People don't like their security-blankets taken away, so they will bite anyone who tries to take it away from them. But if it isn't in the Scriptures, then why, pray tell, would you want to believe it anyway? The time is now to help your loved ones into Christ, there is urgency to teach them of the Lord now before they die.
Regarding the whole "teaching in the Tribulation" thing: I see that it is incorrect. Let me state my case, then you must decide how the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit lead you to believe on the matter. And I am truly sorry if this hurts you. But should I lie to you by omission, and not point out the truth of the matter, to save you pain regarding your unsaved deceased loved-ones? If I did that, what would that make me? I am sorry, but I cannot be that for you, I will not be that for you; I cannot teach what I believe to be a errant doctrine just to be your pal.
But first I must say this. The pastor from Arkansas that I speak of is the best out there; head and shoulders above the pack. I don't want this Website to be misconstrued as an against-that-pastor site. It is not. I have great respect for him and his teaching ability. And the fact that he may be wrong on a few matters does not make him bad. All men shall be somewhat wrong. It was not possible that he could have taught some things that others who came after him would not find to be in error. And is it not even that pastor who tells you daily to "check [him] out, because no man is perfect"? Yes, you know that he does, I just pray that his enemies, and they are many, do not seize upon this and use it against him. But the truth is the truth and apologizes to no man. And no man is perfect. Do we not even see some error in the great E.W. Bullinger's work (the Rapture theory, no separate two Creation events, seven literal 24 hour days of Creation, his accepting the newer corrupt New Testament manuscripts as valid, etc.)? Of course we do. But Bullinger was peerless. At this point I would like to post something that E.W. Bullinger wrote of humility and imperfection. Bullinger is my all-time favorite; and if I may be permitted to humbly claim his below words for myself, I would be honored. I supply the below from elsewhere on our Website:
First of all, there is no Scripture that says that anyone shall be taught anything by anyone in the Millennium (the Millennium is the thousand years of Revelation chapter 20). To say that, as some reason: "Well, there are priests in the Millennium, therefore they must be teaching somebody something, because priests teach," is tantamount to saying that "since there are priests in the Millennium, there must be marriages, because priests marry people." It's a leap. Sorry, but it is an assumption based on supposition and little fact and half-facts. On top of that, many suppose that the last chapters of Ezekiel speak of the Millennium (as I once did, because that is what I was taught). But they do not. They represent what was to be―had Christ been accepted. It was to be Heaven on Earth in the flesh, which is why in those chapters you see animal sacrifices to God. This cannot be once that Christ was offered. See our: What Christ's First Advent changed: Why Ezekiel chapters 40-48 won't happen. But they did not accept Christ, they murdered Him and put the Kingdom in abeyance. The book of Revelation overrides what was to have happened in the end of Ezekiel had man accepted God's Messiah. Let's face it, there is no way to reckon the endtime scenario of Ezekiel with the endtime scenario of the book of Revelation. But both are correct, for the Scriptures cannot err; the one
(Ezekiel) was offered and rejected, and thus withdrawn; the other
(Revelation) is to come to pass. Notice also that the one in Ezekiel
is written as future tense, but the one in Revelation is written as
past
tense; in other words, Revelation shall come to pass; Ezekiel might have,
had man fulfilled the conditions of God's covenant with them (but they did
not, and it will not). In
Ezekiel we see future-tense wording like, "they
shall", and, "ye
shall" (Ezek
44:11 & 45:6, etc.), but in Revelation we see past-tense wording
like, "And I
saw", and "when
he had", (Rev 6:1 & 8:1, etc.). This is consistent
throughout both prophesies; Ezekiel was to be, but man didn't keep his end
of the promise and responsibility; Revelation will be,
regardless of the ways of man. Ezekiel was a conditional covenant, a
promise; Revelation is a finality, the final will of God. Revelation
shall happen regardless of man's will or actions. Once again I refer to our:
What Christ's First Advent changed: Why Ezekiel chapters 40-48 won't
happen.
There cannot be; no matter how bad we wish it. But then, many who we think died unsaved may have been saved at the last moment by God before they died―we just cannot know. And we aren't supposed to judge other's souls, anyway. God knows what He is doing, and if one wasn't supposed to perish in the fires―there is no way that they will. But whence comes this "second chance" teaching? I find it not in the Scriptures! What I see in the Scriptures is no such second chance after one dies:
And the above aren't the only Scriptures that indicates that we are judged upon what we do on this Earth; yet, I can find none that speak of second chances after we die and leave this world. Below are a handful that speak to the finality of our actions while alive:
If men are given a second chance in the millennium, then has not God failed (God forbid!). For, Jesus says that God gives to Him all that are to be saved:
Who then are these then, that some speak of, that supposedly denied Christ while living, but then get some presumed "second chance" after they die (in the millennium)? We see no evangelization in the millennium chapter of Revelation (Rev 20). The time for salvation, or for losing it, is now whilst we are alive on the Earth.
And let's not forget this Scripture:
Now, those who infer that souls are given a second chance after they die, object to the term "second chance," for obvious reasons. They don't like how it smacks, it smacks of error, and goes against all the urgency that Christ taught of overcoming now before it is too late. But listen to these two sound-bites from the good pastor in Ark. and tell me how what the man is saying on the tape can be construed as anything other than a second chance: Click for 2˝ minute Audio-Bite (SCN television broadcast Feb 17, 2006) And again: Click for 57 second Audio-Bite (SCN television broadcast Jan 24, 2006) And again: Click for 2 minute Audio-Bite (SCN television broadcast Feb 3, 2006) And if there is a second chance, then what was this whole "world thing" about anyway? A dry run? Don't you believe it! You (we all) shall be judged upon the things that we do before we die. After that, we are set for the Judgement. the books have been closed, only to be opened on Judgement Day, where we shall be judged out of the things that are contained within them:
Some shall be judged to eternal life, and some to eternal death. But those in Christ are promised eternal life. Isn't that fortunate for the Christians in this world! For, through faith in Christ Jesus, we can be forgiven of our sins, and they are then blotted out of the books by which our lives are to be judged upon.
But what of aborted fetuses and stillborns? And the mentally handicapped? And those children who die before the age of accountability? They are innocent, and shall be judged so. They have not willingly sinned. Even Paul was forgiven for persecuting Christians, NOT because he became a Christian and repented, BUT because he did it ignorantly (didn't know it was wrong). Paul thought that he was delivering blasphemers up to be killed as God's Law declared should be done. Notice Paul's exact reason for being forgiven; for, in understanding that, many of us may be relieved of shame and guilt:
So any soul who dies before reaching the age of reason, and all mentally handicapped who do things that they don't fully understand to be wrong―have not the sin on their souls. They breeze through Judgement Day on into the eternity. It's just like if you looked down to tune the radio in your car, and then without knowing it you edged out into traffic, and a bus full of children hit you, and many of the children died―you are not guilty before God of murder―it was an accident, you didn't know what you were doing. So it is with the unwitting, or those incapable of being aware of their actions. Aborted children are in the bosom of Heaven, where they spend the eternity. I hope that that is a comfort to the women who have ignorantly, not fully knowing that a fetus is a soul, aborted their babies. Women today are lied to, they are told that what is in their belly is a blob of flesh and blood. So, many women, in having their abortions, did it ignorantly; and as with Paul: "obtained mercy, because I [they] did it ignorantly in unbelief." (1 Tim 1:13b). But, what about those who "didn't have a chance" to learn of Christ on this Earth, one might ask? God is fair, let Him do the judging. But also remember that it was He who placed whichever soul into whichever womb. And it is He that has foreknowledge. We cannot know what manner of soul we were in the world that was, but God does. Perchance some alive today were worthy of damnation in the world that was? God is wise and God is fair. Don't worry about "people washed ashore as a child on deserted islands" or other such scenarios; worry about those that you can reach with the Gospel. Don't you just love the what-if'ers. :o) No innocent soul shall perish on the last day. Trust God, even though you can't always understand all of His ways. He is fair.
Peace to you in Christ Jesus.
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Is It "Hate" To Tell Women What The Bible Expects Of Them? A (Female) Reader Writes:
Hello. Sorry to take so long getting back to you, but I've been very busy getting the Website in order. And I am sorry for your miscarriages―I can't begin to understand how devastating that must be for a woman to lose a child that she carried and felt grow. The silver lining to that dark cloud is that the soul of that child has a strait shot into Heaven--they have no sin on their record for Judgement Day. It is difficult for me that some women feel that I hate them. But some women (mostly the Feminist-minded ones―which constitute most women today) will never accept that I do not hate them. They are mad at me for daring to point out that they are far from where God wanted them. So, as the old saying goes: they "kill" the messenger because they don't like the message. I do not hate them, I FEAR for them. I know what satan has done to them in these modern-day times. But you were born on the 1950's, before the Feminist Movement, before the Free-Sex Movement of the 60's, before Abortion was legalized in 1973―how could it be that you feel hatred for women in my writings??? Wouldn't I "hate" them more to lie to them? You once knew better, you can remember from personal experience that the women of the 1950's were entirely different than the women of today. Do you know that without the Christian forgiveness that comes only through Jesus Christ that there are more female murderers than male? And that by age forty-five, 43% of all Western women will have had at least their first Abortion, many of them having serial Abortions (multiples)? The world taught them to do this to erase the consequences of their whorish lifestyles. And that lifestyle is also a capital offense in the Bible. How outdated the below must seem to today's worldly women:
And yes, I know, Jesus didn't condemn the Adulteress in the Gospels. But so many wanton women today take that to mean that they can commit adultery. They fail to realize that Jesus told the Adulteress: "go, and sin no more".
Regarding Adam being a Hermaphrodite [both male and female], as your interpretation implies―sorry, but he just wasn't one. Jesus Christ was the second Adam. When Eve was made from Adam, he LOST NOTHING. I know what certain women want, they want me to lie to them about what the Scriptures plainly state. They are disobedient to their Biblical roles and want to be "little men." I can't do that for them, I can't lie to them to appease them and to sooth their consciences regarding how far they have fallen from what God ordained them to be. Many Bible teachers will dilute the Scriptures to keep the women in their congregations happy. But what good does that do these women when on Judgement Day God asks them why they acted like today's women act, and didn't act like He told them to act in the Bible? What will they say, "pastor so-and-so taught me this?" Perhaps the below from our site may help you: Peace to you in Christ Jesus.
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Asking Questions The below is a reply to a reader's couple of e-mails. It covers some further explanations from the The State Of The Dead study, and at the end it has a word for all those who had a question, but were afraid to ask it:
Hello again Xxxxxxxx. You asked:
I believe so. But there may be several resurrections right before the
end. For, while the Scriptures say "FIRST
resurrection, they never exactly say SECOND
resurrection. Scripture is quite silent on this, and then too perhaps
should we be. But all must be resurrected for Judgement Day, the saved and
the lost.
You said:
It sure does get tricky, because we are entering into an area reserved for
God. God Judges and God chooses.
John 3:16 is intact. For, all who believe upon Jesus shall be saved.
The "tricky" part is why do some believe, while others, seeing the same information and evidence, do not believe?
You said:
Well, the word "judge" in your above is problematic; though I know what
you were trying to say. You mean that "how could He place one on the bad
side if He hadn't judged them worthy of that place?" Consider it like
this: Today, when you steal something from the store and get caught, they
put you in jail. Then you bond-out and go on to your trial some weeks or
months later. Now, at that trial you may be justified, or, you may be found
guilty and sentenced. So, were you judged at the first when they put you in
jail awaiting bond? No. You were charged with a crime, and you have the
right to fair trial later on. So too is it with us when we die, and then on
Judgement Day.
You said:
Oh, I pray that I never come-off sounding haughty! If I ever do, I will
be so embarrassed for myself; and hereby ask God to knock me back down to
size―if I EVER get like that. I feel
humble, and I pray that I act so. It is scary answering Bible questions
when one fully grasps the consequences for answering foolishly. You become
accountable for what another person believes to be true. I am nothing,
there is so much that I do not know, but He teaches us all when we seek in
faith and trust. And please never, ever, ever, feel intimidated to write in
with any question. And please just let it just
come out naturally, from your heart―ask
your question as it appears in your mind. That way you can be sure that
what is being answered is exactly what you asked.
You said:
Nigh, even at the doors. Which, of course, in God's time could be a hundred
years. :o)
Peace to you in Christ Jesus.
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God bless the study of His Word, in Jesus Christ's name! Nick Goggin
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The Older Version of the Strong's Concordance on: Kenite = Sons of Cain
A reader Writes:
Answer:
Hello again. No, your memory isn't going. There have been
some changes in the newer editions of the Strong's Concordance.
And the so-called "Strongest Strong's" is an absolute impostor of
Dr. Strong's Concordance!!!!
Here is from my BibleSoft Strong's:
We see in the first definition the word "patronymic."
Below is quick definition of that word. Thus we see that it means
the same thing as
"Posterity
of Cain" in the older Strong's definition:
So we see the Kenites ever busy hiding themselves, do we not? Any mention nowadays of any seedline of Cain (much less his father satan) is treated as hate speech, AntiSemitism, and just plain insanity. Many of these sons of Cain are revered by the world as the Chosen of God people [NOT all so-called Jews, I hasten to add!]. And you haven't seen anything yet! Just wait to see their high position during the Tribulation! The world is so ripe for conversion to antichrist. The truth truly has become the lie, and the lie the truth, in this darkening world. Be good to each other, there really are so few of us.
All true Christians, men and women, are those fellow-laborers. Peace to you in Christ Jesus.
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God bless the study of His Word, in Jesus Christ's name! Nick Goggin Back to list of questions at top of page
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