Posted on 05/08/2020 4:37:58 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:4-6)
The famous “Faith Chapter” in the book of Hebrews, begins with two Saints, Abel and Enoch as examples of faith which we are to imitate. Faith is the point, for faith is the only way to please God.
I once asked the LORD, ‘Why Faith? Why is that what you require?” I believe I received several answers in the form of scripture and impressions, from the LORD. God requires faith, because we simply cannot save ourselves. Only God can save our souls, no one can redeem themselves, therefore Faith is required, because faith glorifies God and not man.
Another reason for the requirement of faith that came to me, is that our problems began when we quit believing in the goodness of God. Adam and Eve were willing to entertain a false and degraded notion of God, that He was holding something back that would be good for the first couple. The Serpent bore false witness about the LORD, and they believed it.
The way back? It has to be faith. We must repent and believe again in the goodness of God.
The “hall of faith” begins with Abel and Enoch. One Saint who was murdered for his faith, and for bearing witness to God in a hostile world. There would be literally millions upon millions who would follow in his footsteps, being willing to let go of their life rather than deny the truth of God.
The other Saint, Enoch, was a man who lived in a kind of “end times scenario” living in the time leading up to the flood. It was a day of Apostasy, but Enoch walked with God, until God took Him home. He didn’t die , He was raptured. God took him home, to be with himself.
Faith was required of each of them.
I believe that we also live in an end-time. I have no doubt that Jesus is coming, and in our lifetime. What makes us unique is the re-emergence of the nation of Israel, in 1948, in fulfillment of the prophecies about the last of the last days. All of the prophets pre-supposed that there would be a national Israel, and a Jewish occupied city of Jerusalem, as well as a controversy over Judea, (The West bank) which would engulf the whole world.
The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:1-3)
Which brings us back to our two Saints at the beginning of Hebrews 11. One died, He was martyred for his witness to God. The other one did not die. He was Raptured. Both of these Saints lived by Faith and Pleased God.
I believe that this speaks to us in our generation.
No doubt. many of us will end up dying. Perhaps some of us will be given an opportunity to be martyred. We are Saints and love God, but all things being equal, unless the LORD returns, we will die, one way or another.
(Of course, Christians don’t really die, they “go to sleep”) but the real point is that Faith is the only way to please God.
But according to the scriptures, there is a unique end-times event, coming, as I hope I have pointed out in this series, called the Rapture, or “Our gathering together unto Him”, “the Episynagogue” and Jesus coming to “take us where (He)…is, unto himself”. The LORD is coming to snatch us off the earth with a swift and irresistable power”.
To participate in such an event is a rare honor among the countless Millions of Saints who believed in Jesus before us.
But whether we die, or are martyred, o whether we are raptured, the real point is that we must live our lives by Faith,which is the only way to please God.
This is why I do not enter into the countless discussions as to the timing of the Rapture. “Will The Rapture be pre- ,mid , or post Tribulation”?
Honesty, the only things I am sure about the Rapture at all are that it is:
* For God’s Saints only, and the prospect of it is a comfort.
* A Mystery revealed in the New Testament era.
* It occurs before the actual “Wrath ” of God.
* It involves the “dead in Christ” as well as “We who are alive, until the coming of the LORD”.
As far as I know, all else can only be speculation. God doesn’t want us to know the exact timing otherwise it would be clearer. I am glad there is a Rapture, and my prayer has always been that I be involved in it, while alive. But I cannot say with certainty what the timing of it is, so I don’t.
What counts is Faith in Jesus. Not dead works, but a living, vital, infectious faith. Let us have a faith which still moves us to confess and forsake our sins, to Love and seek God. To forgive and love our brothers, and a faith which moves us to share with others what God has shown to us. Is your faith alive? Do you have oil in your lamp? Are you current with God?
We Overcome the World by our faith. “This is the victory that overcometh the World…our faith”. We overcome the Spirit of antiChrist also, by our faith. So also we overcome the sins that so easily beset us, and the Coldness and soul deadening effect of this world, by our Faith.
Of course we want out of here, we can increasingly see that there is nothing in this World for we who believe, but rejection and opposition.I want Jesus to come, and Long for the Rapture. I am either going up in it, or I am gong to die, but one way or another we are leaving.
Either way, the point is Faith. So I will leave the timing of the Rapture to God, and just strive to be counted worthy to attain it, whether ded or alive.
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21:35)
It is God Who is in the born agains, both to will and do of His great pleasure for them. Faithful is He that calleth you for He will also do it. The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, able to separate soul and spirit. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. For it is God Who is IN THE Spirit of the born agains, where He avides unto the coming day of gathering us unto Himself.
T^he soul is not the spirit. The soul is the seat of sin in you. God did not fo to that Cross to redeem your behavior mechanism, your soul. He Went to that Cross and died for the spirit that is in all descendants from Adam. When He returns in the first Heaven to gather ALL of His He will place our Alive spirit in a new body and new behavior mechanism fit for eternal Life with Him.
Don't take the Mark when commanded to you. Just don't take it.
Read some of my other posts where I post texts from the KJV. It was just convenient for me as I looked online. Easy explanation for you. I would agree with you that the KJV is the truest of all of them. That is usually my go to.
You are so wrong. Those who are alive at the end of the Tribulation will ve sorted sheep and goats and the sheep will go into the Millenium to repopulate the planet as humans but with life spans that are extraordinary. You haven’t gotten much out of the Revelation, which is expected of those who are reading it without spiritual eyes to see.
You are so wrong it is almost amusing. A boat floats on top of the flood. Leaving the cities which were THEN destroyed is not going through the annihilation. You have missed what the Angel told Lot: ‘I cannot act until you are out of there.’ You are a false teacher. Don’t take the Mark when commanded to you. Just don’t do it!
The point is that both Noah and Lot were taken to safety and protected by angels. Noah rode it out in the ark, protected by angles, and Lot was walked out by angels. BTW, he was also protected IN THE CITY by angels just before the city was destroyed. Did you ever think about that?
Suppose Lot refused to leave? Would God spare the city? I think not. Same with Noah. If he refused to build the ark and said he would take his chances would God have spared the world with a flood? I THINK NOT.
Then you should go to it for 2 Tim. 2:15.
One of the most important Scriptures from God through Paul to us.
KHV does NOT say “Handle carefully the word of truth”.
It says “RIGHTLY DIVIDING the word of truth”.
Read the Greek for that: it means TO CUT SHARPLY, AS IN A SWORD.
Does that sound like “Handle carefully” to you? It’s not even close. And because it’s not even close, the WHOLE MEANING of the verse is lost, downplayed and hidden. And THE TRUTH becomes A LIE
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Tim 2:15 KJV
The version changes NOTHING that I posted earlier. You have the wrong “truth”. In other words, you are still wrong.
What does “RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH” mean to you? What does your spirit tell you it means?
Rev 3:10 Because you have obeyed my command to endure, I will keep you from the hour of testing that is coming to the whole world to test those living on the earth. ...4:1 After these things, I saw a door standing open in heaven. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.”
2 Timothy 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Do yourself a favor and click on to this website. It’s run by a Jewish Christian.
https://www.whitehorsemedia.com/7-years-of-tribulation-part-1/
Read to the end of each page, then look to the bottom right where there is a double arrow for the next topic and keep going. Here’s what you will see:
7 Years of tribulation? Part 1
7 Years of tribulation? Part 2
Saved from wrath?
caught up when?
in the twinkling of an eye?
one taken, one left
Revelation 3:10 and the rapture
All Israel shall be saved?
He who blesses Israel shall be blessed?
Israel and armageddon: Facts vs Fiction
I will agree with everything this guy says.
what is the mark of the beast?
What does it matter what I think about this hypothetical, imaginary guy? I'm not God, I can't see within someone's heart. I can only look at the outward, God sees the inward man. What I can do, however, is examine myself to see if I am in the faith.
Just walking down an aisle during a church service, saying I believe in Jesus as my Savior, even getting baptized and joining a church is not what determines my chances of salvation. It is whether or not these outward acts and professions are from the heart, whether they are from genuine repentance, trust, faith and surrender to God to redeem me. HE alone knows the answer and no one who diligently seeks Him, who searches for Him with all their heart, who fall upon His mercy and grace will be turned away.
Can someone claim salvation and live a lawless, sinful life? Sure, people do that and have done that all the time. But I would seriously question their sincerity. A true born again child of God is indwelt with the Holy Spirit - the earnest of our inheritance - and will discover that sin brings chastisement, discipline and correction (uncomfortable kinds) from a loving Heavenly Father who desires that we live in holiness and not cause shame upon the name of Christ and other Christians. BUT that is far different from insisting we must merit our salvation by our works and outward actions. We are saved by the grace of God through faith and not by works lest any man should boast. If you are trusting in your good works to make you worthy of heaven, you aren't truly trusting in Jesus Christ to save you. You cannot have any assurance of salvation if you are depending on your own merit or sinlessness. But God wants us to KNOW we have eternal life:
Revelation 3:10 & The Rapture?
Rapture Revelations
https://www.whitehorsemedia.com/revelation-310-the-rapture/
Jesus Christ said, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10).
Many sincere prophecy teachers (and their followers) are now applying these words to the Rapture and to the sudden removal of the Church from this earth prior to Earth’s final hour of temptation. on the surface, it may appear this way, yet a closer look is needed.
Jesus spoke these words to “the church in Philadelphia” (3:7), which was #6 out of seven churches receiving messages. It is obvious that Christ’s words do not apply only to the literal church of Philadelphia which existed almost 2000 years ago in Asia minor, for if they did, then they have no relevance to any Christian today. Most scholars correctly realize that those “seven churches” (1:20) represent seven periods in the history of Christianity, yet each letter also contains practical lessons for Christians of all time.
With this in mind, we must realize again that Revelation 3:10 was given to Philadelphia, which is then followed by “lukewarm” Laodicea (3:14 – 22). Even if Revelation 3:10 does depict a secret Rapture, this would not mean the church would be gone during the Tribulation. Why? Because the Laodicean church comes after Philadelphia, and thus its Christians would still be left on earth. And lukewarm or not, Jesus still refers to them as “the Church”!
The truth is, Revelation 3:10 does not speak of a Rapture. It simply says the faithful in the church of Philadelphia, who have “kept the word,” will be kept from the hour of trial. once we understand that Philadelphia is followed by the church of Laodicea, which represents the final period of Christianity, then we can easily see that the reason why Jesus told the Philadelphians He would keep them from the hour of trial is not because they would be raptured, but because they simply would not be living on earth during the final time of trial.
We are living during the time of Laodicea, when the majority of Christians are lukewarm and half-hearted. Soon the final “hour of temptation” will burst upon us. only those who are truly faithful to Jesus Christ and to the Word of God will “stand in the evil day” (Ephesians 6:13). The Master said, “He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13). Through
Christ’s love and the power of the cross, may we each be among those who “overcome” (Revelation 3:12, 21).
What does “RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH” mean to you? What does your spirit tell you it means?
Rightly dividing. Literally, “cutting straight.” The truths of the Bible must be rightly interpreted so that no part of the
Scriptures will be set in opposition to the picture
presented by the Bible as a whole. Each passage of Scripture must be
given its true
meaning even as every brick in the wall of a building must be in its proper place, or the
whole wall suffers.
In v. 14 Paul warns against “word battles,” an example of the
Improper use of Scripture. To cut the Bible straight suggests
that every phase of truth must receive its proper emphasis. Irrelevancies and secondary issues are to be
subordinated to the
principles that actually prepare men to conquer sin and enable them to live triumphantly in Christ.
Word of truth. That is, the word that constitutes truth—the Scriptures (see on Eph 1:13)
No more literal Jewish nation, you say??? Tell that to the Jews who live in the nation of Israel today who dwell in the land of their forefathers! Do you cut out the book of Jeremiah from your Bible? Do you think God has forever forsaken the Jews? Does God not keep His promises anymore? Who do you think He was talking about/to when He spoke through His prophets the following:
Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. (Zechariah 12:10)
Of course there are many, many more prophecies concerning the people of Israel in the end times. God is not done with them. He is faithful to ALL His promises. The church is NOT Israel.
Galatians 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.…
All Israel Shall Be Saved?
Israel Issues
https://www.whitehorsemedia.com/all-israel-shall-be-saved/
Romans 11:26 says, “And so all Israel will be saved.” What does this mean?
Obviously, it doesn’t mean every Jew will be saved. In fact, the same chapter says God hopes to “save some of them” (vs. 14). Judas was a Jew, yet we know he will be lost for betraying Christ. Jesus called him, “the son of perdition” (John 17:12). Jesus told many Jews, “If you do not believe I am He [the Messiah], you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). Not every Jew believes in Jesus Christ, thus many will “die in their sins” and be lost.
Many Christians today interpret Romans 11:26 as applying to the end of the seven-year tribulation when Jesus appears in the clouds at His Second Coming. In other words, they don’t apply the verse to all Jews throughout history, but only to “all Jews” who are alive at the end. Supposedly, at the end of the tribulation, all remaining Jews in Israel will look up, see Christ coming in the clouds, realize He is the true Messiah, believe in Him, and thus “All Israel will be saved.”
This is a false teaching, as I will attempt to show.
First, the context of Romans 11 is not the Second Coming.[su_spacer]
“There is no partiality with God” (Romans 2:5-11). It would be an act of partiality to save “all Jews” at the end, but not “all Jews” in history. The idea is, “When all final Jews see Christ coming in the clouds, then they will believe.” But this would give those final Jews a supposedly irresistible opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ which past Jews have not had. Nor would this be fair to “all Gentiles” living at the end. Why would God save all Jews at the end but not all Gentiles? All Gentiles will see Jesus coming just like all Jews.[su_spacer]
When Christ finally appears in the clouds, IT’S TOO LATE TO BELIEVE IN HIM. Rev. 22:11,12 says that before He comes in the clouds, all decisions have already been made. Jesus said it will be like Noah’s day (Mat. 24:37-39). In Noah’s day the door of the ark closed before the flood came (Gen. 7:16). When the flood came, it was too late. To save all Jews AT THE SECOND COMING would be like saving all those outside the ark WHEN THE RAIN STARTED FALLING.[su_spacer]
When Jesus comes in the clouds, this is the time of judgment upon ALL unbelievers who don’t know God nor obey the gospel (2 Thess. 1:7-10; Jude 14,15).
So what does this mean, “All Israel shall be saved”? First of all, Romans 9:6 says there are two Israels. one is an Israel according to the flesh (Romans 9:3,4) and the other is the Israel of God (Galatians 6:14-16). The Israel of God is composed of both Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:29). Gentiles who believe are grafted in. They become part of the “same body” with believing Jews (Eph. 3:6). Paul calls this unity of believing Jews and Gentiles, “the mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:4).
The immediate context of Romans 11:26 is vs. 25. When “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,” then “all Israel will be saved.” Or, to be exact, “And so all Israel will be saved.” In other words, the coming in of the fullness of the Gentiles results in “all Israel” being saved. Paul’s idea seems to be that when the Gentiles have come in, that is, have been grafted into the Vine, they, uniting with the Jews who have become believers, will form the total number of the saved. Paul also reveals that when Gentiles come in, God can use this to motivate some Jews to believe (verses 11 & 14). Vs. 25 calls this whole thing, “this mystery,” which we have already proven to be the “mystery” of both Jews and Gentiles being united in one body through Christ (Eph. 3:4,6). Vs. 27 says all are saved because Christ takes away their sins through His covenant, which must be the New Covenant, which applies to all believers, Jew and Gentile. Thus the “all Israel” that is saved is the total group of believing Gentiles and Jews combined.
The “all Israel that is saved” does not apply to all Jews throughout history, nor can it apply to a select favored group who become instant believers when Jesus Christ comes crashing down through the sky. By that time, it is too late to believe.
Romans 11:25 “ For I would not,brethren, that he should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that BLINDNESS in part is happened to Israel, UNTIL the FULNESS of the GENTILES BE COME IN”.
And BTW, Romans 11:25 is a perfect example of the important need to rightly divide the word of truth.
ISRAEL IS THE CHURCH (excellent reading)
http://www.wor.org/book/3931/israel-is-the-church
Taken from the above article
The new covenant. The new covenant cannot be made with a Gentile. In order to partake of the new covenant a Gentile must become an integral part of Israel.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law [Torah] in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:31-33)
The new covenant is made only “with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.”
For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: (Hebrews 8:8-10)
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