tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20820898501740966292024-03-12T20:04:24.449-07:00fathernowiseeTrust The Finished Work of Christ Jesus
and Not The Traditions of Men That Make
Void The Word of God.....Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-33527942787442126912014-09-08T14:26:00.001-07:002014-09-08T14:26:36.395-07:00A Letter a From Grampy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4pAEbsXUJ0I/T5snM_r56NI/AAAAAAAAA0M/Q_cxHbGpSTU/s1600/willing%2Bto%2Blearn%2Bwisdom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4pAEbsXUJ0I/T5snM_r56NI/AAAAAAAAA0M/Q_cxHbGpSTU/s1600/willing%2Bto%2Blearn%2Bwisdom.jpg" /></a></div>
A letter from Grampy,<br />
When I was a child, I thought like a child. As a child, I went about life care free. I played and<br />
looked around me in ignorant bliss, without a care in the world. My brother and I<br />
were adopted, but I can still remember, clear as day, my great Aunt Gaga lifting me up on her knee and reading to me out of the Bible. She read to me the story of Noah and the flood.<br />
That stuck with me and God was real to me, even as a small child. As for Gaga reading to me From the Bible, I am so grateful.<br />
When we were children, we took much for granted in life. We just sort of went with the FLOW in life around us. At the time, we did not have much choice, did we? Most, sort of stick with what ever lot life gives us. If ones family is Catholic, or Mormon or of little faith at all, or even Muslim, most sort of just get busy going through life and accept what ever they see in religion around them as right. Sadly, one grows up and most likely decides to go on doing the same as their family did in the area of TRADITION and RELIGION.<br />
Without our knowing it, God has a plan for each of us to discover Him. This process is on going, and may take longer for some then it does for others. For most people, they appear to be quite happy going with the FLOW of TRADITIONS around them. They may look around them a bit and begin to WONDER about things. Maybe, after a while, begin to ask a few questions when they see something weird or strange to them. Most of the time they do not get clear and straight answers to those questions, either from their parents or from the pastors later on.<br />
As for me, two things were stamped by God into my being that have helped me move more and more into the direction God was CALLING me into. Number one, that He EXISTED and number two, that the Bible was the INSTRUCTION book for me to learn about Him.<br />
Early on, thankfully, that was a gift to me from God, that has more and more directed my paths around me. The Scripture formed the basis for me as to what I believe and believed in the past.<br />
As a young adult, having finished my first college degree, and starting out in life with a young family, I was very hungry for TRUTH about God. As an adult, I really wanted to know the answer to many things about the traditions I saw around me in life. My wife and I went to<br />
church together in a Lutheran assembly. We both served as youth leaders in the church<br />
for several years. As I received teaching from this church and looked around at some of its teachings, many things just did not seem RIGHT to me. In fact, many things were strange to me and just did not add up right to me. I would soon learn from other relatives, that there were different ways of thinking about what TRADITIONS we should follow. I would even get in the mail all sorts of things that I wondered about. So many traditions and so many different ways of thinking about those traditions. It seemed like I was not getting any real answers that made good since to me.<br />
Finally one day, I sort of through up my hands and I asked God in the most sincere prayer to Him up to that point in my life.....<br />
I asked God to REVEAL TRUTH to me about Him. If He was really real, I asked Him to show me.<br />
I asked Him to give me TRUE WISDOM about Him.<br />
At that point in my life, God began to answer that prayer. It was not answered right a way.<br />
God started me on a wonderful journey that I discovered will last me a life time.....<br />
and beyond into the AGES a head.<br />
I soon discovered that to be true to what God was revealing to me, I would have to buck the systems around me. I discovered that I would have to make hard choices about traditions around me that were not always pleasing to those around me in my family or job areas.<br />
God has continued to lead me on into His WORD, sorting out and answering more and more about God and what is TRUTH.<br />
I soon discovered that, for the most part, most people around me were quite happy with<br />
just going with the FLOW. They were not really interested in learning about any wonderful nuggets of truth I might discover along the path of life. I was given a great hunger to discover TRUTH.<br />
Since most people around me were not interested in talking about traditions around them and the things about God, in 2008, I decided to reach out in the COSMOS to who ever would be INTERESTED in listening on the World Wide Web. I started a blog to pass on nuggets of knowledge about God I would be growing in.<br />
I first began to post information about the RAPTURE that I was discovering on my journey<br />
to UNDERSTAND that topic. I had just finished reading all the novels called "LEFT BHIND".<br />
I discovered to my surprise, that this topic was quite controversial to most BELIEVERS.<br />
Over time, and looking at all sides of the issue, I have finally sorted out the THINGS THAT<br />
DIFFER in Scripture about that issue and now KNOW when and just whom the RAPTURE<br />
Is for.<br />
I have discovered a great truth, also. Hind sight is twenty twenty.<br />
My first blog was called "growandknow.blogspot.com"<br />
It takes much time and tireless EFFORT, much prayer, and hard work to DISCOVER TRUTH!<br />
If one was to start with my first post and read on through all my posts in order,<br />
one will discover great information on my journey that were pieces of a puzzle leading to truth. The knowledge God is revealing in SCRIPTURE is vast and it is deep.<br />
It is so vast and takes so much time to cover, that we soon discover that as we develop<br />
KNOWLEDGE about a topic at certain points, we are (not always far enough along)<br />
on our quest at any given time, to see enough pieces of the puzzle to get a clear view of the truth on that topic. There is nothing wrong with saying that we are not yet sure about certain areas or topics of study. We are learning to sort out in Scripture, THINGS THAT DIFFER. We are learning that if we really want to know the truth about any given area of study in SCRIPTURE, we must do as the Scripture says as we dig and seek out its nuggets of truth.<br />
1. Prove all things.<br />
2. Get all the facts before giving an answer.<br />
3. Learn to find the context of any given Scripture .<br />
All scripture is for us to grow in knowledge, but not all Scripture is ADDRESSED to us<br />
directly. Example..... Scripture might say to go out and sacrifice an animal to God.<br />
But, that does not mean God is telling you in this AGE OF GRACE to go out and<br />
do the same.<br />
The above being said, you will discover that my blog posts are a record of my incomplete<br />
journeys on discovering the truth on any given topic, rather it be on the RAPTURE,<br />
on The second Coming Parousia, life and death, immortal life, eternity, ages, the APPEARING, RIGHT DIVISION, churches, Israel,God, Salvation, etc, etc......<br />
That is why what I posted in my first month of posting articles in 2008, may or not<br />
be what I feel is more complete truth on an area I posted yesterday.<br />
In my quest for TRUTH, I soon discovered I needed to start a new blog.<br />
My second blog is called<br />
"fathernowisee.blogspot.com"<br />
At the time I started my second blog, through hindsight, I did not yet know<br />
I did not yet see ALL....<br />
And now I know it will take a life time of continually searching out, proving all things,<br />
looking at both sides of an issue, all sides of an issue, searching the deep depths of Scripture, learning the more you know, maybe even the less you know as yet.<br />
My third blog I started was after I went through and out of MID-ACTS, after discovering<br />
Paul and his wonderful revelations directly from God, after Christ being raised to heaven<br />
AT THE RIGHT HAND of God. I discovering a vital part of knowing TRUTH in Scripture,<br />
that being RIGHTLY DIVIDING Scripture.<br />
My third blog on my lifetime journey in discovering TRUTH is called....<br />
"appearinglorytimeline.blogspot.com"<br />
May I suggest a few wonderful topics that are vitally important on a journey to seeking out<br />
TRUTH in Scripture:<br />
Study Replacement Theology, RIGHT DIVISION, the two ministries of Paul before and after the book of Acts, Grace, Salvation, life and death, resurrection as apposed to perishing.<br />
Number one thing to do is STRIVE not only to BELIEVE in God,<br />
but to most of all, BELIEVE GOD...! The TRADITIONS of MEN will lead you away from truth, not to IT! Grace and peace to you and God Bless you.<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Your brother Mark<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-76653371334133659302012-07-22T15:48:00.001-07:002012-07-22T15:48:49.191-07:00The Church Which Is His Body Did Not Begin in Acts<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9ZhBr9M6yc8?fs=1" width="459"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-71376498455896107772012-06-08T14:04:00.001-07:002012-06-08T14:04:26.601-07:00One new man body not same as body of Christ today<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XMTPVTLaSjA?fs=1" width="459"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-79408837436148883142012-04-29T10:12:00.001-07:002012-04-29T10:12:00.370-07:00It's Over Satan<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Wy1YrSuzwKE?fs=1" width="459"></iframe><br />
<br />
It is time to appreciate all my brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter of what measure of faith you<br />
have been given right at this present time. I certainly am not going to be "dogmatic" about my measure of faith....as It changes all the time and God continues to reveal more and more to me via God's spirit through His living Word of God. I know this...MY REDEEMER LIVES....AND IS IN CHARGE OF ALL THINGS...IN MY LIFE AND YOURS. God is not going around having to put fires out that Satan has messed up God's plans in any way....This is certainly not so. Is anything impossible for God?<br />
I love those in the body of christ who so wonderfully have studied God's word and passed their understanding that they in turn have learned for others in the body of Christ before them.....Like I just said, I am not dogmatic about anything other then God is going to work things out as He has planned before the foundation of the world.....Even Satan has to go with the flow in God's plan for us ALL and His WILL FOR US ALL... Do yourself a great favor and look to the likes of Marin Zender and Dan Sheridan......and others like them who not only believe in God, but "BELIEVE HIM"Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-77880570597536424542012-04-27T16:09:00.000-07:002012-04-27T16:09:57.271-07:00The Blessed Hope of "The One New Man"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4pAEbsXUJ0I/T5snM_r56NI/AAAAAAAAA0M/Q_cxHbGpSTU/s1600/willing+to+learn+wisdom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4pAEbsXUJ0I/T5snM_r56NI/AAAAAAAAA0M/Q_cxHbGpSTU/s1600/willing+to+learn+wisdom.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr"><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 596px;"><tbody>
<tr><td height="163" valign="top"><h1 style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 20pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; page-break-after: avoid;">ONE NEW MAN</h1><div class="MsoNormal"><b> Eph.2: 13-17</b></div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal">In this article when using the term "One New Man" I will be referring to the Church or Body over which Christ is the Head as described in Paul's prison epistles. According to Eph. 2:15 God made or created the One New Man when He broke down the middle wall of partition and abolished the Law after the close of the Acts period. I am firmly convinced by the Scriptures that the One New Man is not the same Church or Body that Paul describes in his Acts epistles. If they were the same, their description would be identical. But by comparing them with one another, I see that they are totally different and things that are different are not the same.<br />
<br />
The mistake that many people make today is assuming that whenever Paul mentions "The Body" in his Acts epistles and prison epistles, he is writing about the same Body. This is like the same mistake people make when they read the word "Church" in the Bible. They read about a church in Matthew and a church in Ephesians and they assume that they are the same church just because the word "Church" is used in both places. But even though the word "Church" is used in both places they are not the same church because their descriptions are totally different. In the same way, just because the word "Body" is used in Paul's Acts epistles and his prison epistles that doesn't mean that they are the same Body. It's my firm conviction that THEY ARE NOT THE SAME BODY, for what is said about one is not true of the other. And as far as I am concerned it is spiritual dishonesty to say they are the same, when it is so apparent that they are different.<br />
<br />
The main purpose of this article is not only to show the difference between the One New Man and the Acts Body, but also to show how far greater and glorious this Body is to any previous Body or church in the Bible. God has given the One New Man blessings, an inheritance, a Hope, a position, and many other things that are FAR BETTER than what He gave to the Acts Body, or to any other Body of believers in the Bible. It is my prayer that you the reader will see the differences and rejoice in the many advantages given to a member of the Body that God calls "One New Man".<br />
<br />
As you read this article please do the following 3 things.<br />
<br />
(l.) Forget what "the preachers" say about the subject of this article, no matter how fundamental or dispensational they claim to be.<br />
<br />
(2.) Compare every verse with your Bible and be willing to believe the verses mean what they say and say what they mean.<br />
<br />
(3.) Don't try to "explain away" things that are obviously different. The following is a scriptural description of the One New Man.<br />
<br />
<br />
(I.) THIS BODY IS CALLED A MAN, NOT A WOMAN<br />
<br />
In Eph.2:15 Paul said "having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the Law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain ONE NEW MAN, so making peace."<br />
<br />
The Body of the prison epistles is called ONE NEW MAN whereas, the Acts Body is called a "CHASTE VIRGIN ESPOUSED TO A HUSBAND"(IICor.11:2) The fact that one is called a MAN and the other a WOMAN should be enough in itself to convince a real Bible believer that they are not the same Body.<br />
<br />
(II.) THIS BODY IS UNRELATED TO ABRAHAM AND ISRAEL<br />
<br />
In Eph. 2:12 Paul said that the Body in the prison epistles were "Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel". An alien of Israel is unrelated to Israel and Abraham, whereas the Acts Body is made up of the children and seed of Abraham (see Gal. 3:29 and Rom. 4:9-16). This is why Paul said in Eph. 4:6 that the Body in the prison epistles has only ONE, God and FATHER. The Acts Body had TWO fathers, God and Abraham. I think it is also significant to note that Abraham's name appears 19 times in the Acts epistles, but not even ONCE in the prison epistles.<br />
<br />
(III.) IT'S MOTHER IS NOT THE HEAVENLY CITY NEW JERUSALEM<br />
<br />
In Gal. 4:26 the Acts Body called New Jerusalem it's mother because they were partakers of the New Covenant being the seed of Abraham (Heb.11:8-10). The Body over which Christ is the Head is unrelated to Abraham, strangers from the covenants of promise (Eph.2:12). Consequently, it has no hope in the Heavenly City New Jerusalem. It's hope is far better, for it is in Glory far above all Heavens and far above New Jerusalem (Col.3:4, ITim.3:6, Eph.2:6; Phil. 3:20).<br />
<br />
(IV.) THIS BODY IS NOT GRAFTED INTO ISRAEL<br />
<br />
In the Acts period, members of the Acts Body were grafted into Israel, the Good Olive Tree (Rom.11:17). But at the close of the Acts period Israel, the Good Olive Tree, was completely cut down, cast away, and became Lo-Ammi (see Hosea 1:9). Consequently when God created the One New Man after the close of the Acts period there was no Good Olive Tree left to be grafted into. Instead the One New Man was grafted into or made members of Christ's Body, Flesh and Bones-Eph.5:30.<br />
<br />
(V.) THIS BODY DOES NOT PARTAKE OF ISRAEL'S SPIRITUAL THINGS<br />
<br />
The Acts Body was blessed with the "Blessings of Abraham" and Israel's "spiritual things" (Rom.15:27, Gal. 3:14). But the Body in the prison epistles is said to be BLESSED WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST (Eph.1:3). These blessings are found exclusively in the prison epistles of Paul, especially the Book of Ephesians.<br />
<br />
(VI.) THIS BODY DOES NOT PARTAKE OF THE NEW COVENANT, BUT OF THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE<br />
<br />
The New Covenant was made with the House of Israel according to Heb. 8:8. Only those related and allied with Israel partook of the New Covenant and it's blessings and hope, such as the Acts Body in IICor. 3:6. But the 'Body' of the prison epistles is unrelated to Israel being "Aliens from the commonwealth" (Eph. 2:12) and does not partake of the New Covenant being "STRANGERS from the covenants of promise"(Eph. 2:12). Instead, God has given this Body something much better than the New Covenant. He gave the "One New Man "the Dispensation of Grace (Eph.3:l-2). Just as the New Covenant is far better than the Old Covenant (Heb. 8:6-10), the Dispensation of Grace is far better than both the New and Old Covenants.<br />
<br />
<br />
(VII.) THIS BODY HAS AN INHERITANCE IN A HEAVENLY KINGDOM, NOT AN EARTHLY ONE<br />
<br />
The "Acts Body" had an inheritance in the Kingdom of God (IIThess.1:4-5, ICor.15:50, Acts 14:21-22) which was an earthly kingdom promised and offered to Israel and those allied with Israel (Dan.2:44, Lk.8:1, Acts 1:3-6). But the "One New Man" of the prison epistles is given a better inheritance in a better kingdom. His inheritance is in the "KINGDOM OF HIS DEAR SON" according to Col.1:12-13. This Kingdom is located in Heavenly places where Christ sits at the right hand of God (CoI. 3:1-3, IITim.4:18, Phil.3:20). The One New Man has already been translated into this Kingdom according to Col.1:13, and now sits together with Christ as citizens of this kingdom according to Eph. 2:6.<br />
<br />
(VIII.) ITS HOPE IS NOT ISRAEL'S HOPE, BUT THE BLESSED HOPE<br />
<br />
Throughout the Acts period members of the Acts Body were grafted into Israel the Good Olive Tree and became partakers of her spiritual things including her Hope of resurrection (Acts28:20). Her Hope was the Second Coming of Christ at the Last Trump immediately after the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:29-31, I Thess. 4:14-18, I Cor. 15: 50-54). Paul preached this Hope, wrote about it, and was imprisoned for it according to Acts 28:20. But after the close of the Acts period a radical change took place. Israel the Good Olive Tree was cut down and became Lo-Ammi.<br />
<br />
The Law was abolished and the Dispensation of Grace began. At the same time the creation of the One New Man took place and a BETTER HOPE dispensed to its members. it's Hope is Christ's APPEARING IN GLORY far above all Heavens, not His COMING IN THE AIR to the Earth (Col.3:1-4, Phil. 3:20, ITim. 3:16). This Hope is far better than any hope previously offered to'' anyone in times past, that's why it's called the "Blessed Hope" in Titus 2:13. (I think it's significant to note that the word "COMING" referring to, Christ's Second Coming, DOES NOT appear one time in the prison epistles, whereas, the word "APPEARING" referring to Christ's Appearing in Glory DOES NOT appear one time in the Acts epistles.)<br />
<br />
(IX.) IT'S SALVATION DOES NOT PROVOKE ISRAEL TO JEALOUSY<br />
<br />
Throughout the Acts period the salvation of the Gentiles in the "Acts Body" provoked Israel to jealousy according to Rom.11:11. Paul also used his office as the Apostle of the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy and salvation according to Rom.11:13-14. This of course was consistent with his heart's desire in Rom.10:1 - that Israel might be saved.<br />
<br />
But the salvation of the One New Man has no effect or bearing whatsoever upon Israel in anyway. God saved the One New Man by His Grace, not to provoke Israel to jealousy, "But that in the Ages to Come He might shew the exceeding riches of His Grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. - Eph.2:5,-7.<br />
<br />
(X.) IN THIS BODY NO MEMBER HAS ANY ADVANTAGE OVER THE OTHER<br />
<br />
In the Acts Body Jews and Abraham's seed clearly had the advantage over the Gentiles (Rom.1). But in the "One New Man" all advantages are erased and all members are placed on an equal footing and standing before God. Paul said in Eph. 2:14 "For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." With the breaking down of the "middle wall of partition" Israel lost all of her advantages and the preeminence she once had over the Gentiles in times past including the Acts period. The One New Man is FITLY FRAMED TOGETHER and SITS TOGETHER in heavenly aces in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6, 22).<br />
<br />
(XI.) GENTILES IN THE ONE NEW MAN ARE NOT ACCOUNTED AS JEWS OR ABRAHAM'S SEED<br />
<br />
Throughout the Acts period Gentiles in the Acts Body were accounted as Jews and Abraham's seed (Rom.2:26-29, Rom.4:11,Gal.3:29). The previous verses clearly show the advantage that Abraham's seed had in the Acts Body. But in the One New Man both Jews and Gentiles alike lose their identity and take Christ's identity in its place. In Col. 3:11 Paul said that in the New Man there is neither Greek, nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Sythian, bond nor free: BUT CHRIST IS ALL, AND IN ALL. In the One New Man CHRIST IS ALL, in other words, Christ's identity is the ONE AND ONLY identity that believers have whereas the Acts Body had both Christ's and Abraham's (Gal. 3:28-29).<br />
<br />
(XII.) THE ONE NEW MAN IS NOT OBLIGATED TO AID OR ASSIST ISRAEL<br />
<br />
The Acts Body had an obligation and a duty to minister unto Israel in "carnal things" according to Rom.15:27. Paul commanded the Acts Body to take up offerings for Israel in ICor.16:1-3.<br />
<br />
But the One New Man does not partake of Israel's "Spiritual things" and has no duty or obligation to minister unto her in "carnal things" or to take up collections for her on the first day of the week. Instead the One New Man "works and labors with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth" (Eph.4:28) and supports those who follow the ministry of Paul as the prisoner of Jesus Christ for us Gentiles (IITim.1:8, Phil.3:1,3).<br />
<br />
(XIII.) THE ONE NEW MAN'S DESIRE IS NOT THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL<br />
<br />
Throughout the Acts period Paul's heart's desire was the salvation of Israel (Rom.10:1) and the Acts Body was commanded to have this same desire in ICor.11:1. But the One New Man's desire is totally different. His desire is "To preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the Mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God (Eph.3:8-9).<br />
<br />
(XIV.) THE ONE NEW MAN'S DOCTRINE IS A MYSTERY, NOT PROPHECY<br />
<br />
Throughout the Acts period most of the doctrines that Paul preached and wrote about to the Acts Body were based upon the Old Testament Scriptures. In Acts 26:22 Paul stood before Agrippa and gave an account of his Acts ministry when he said, "I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets, and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles." And when you read Paul's Acts epistles you see that he CONTINUALLY quotes the Old Testament Scriptures as the basis of his doctrine. (Take a couple of hours and read the book of Romans and count the verses in this one Acts epistle: where Paul quotes and refers to the Old Testament as the basis of the doctrines he writes about in this epistle. Keep in mind also that Romans is the last Acts Epistle Paul wrote. But when you come to the prison epistles where you find the creation and description of the One New Man, you will suddenly realize that you are on different ground. The doctrine in these books is based upon the Mystery that was hid in God before the foundation of the world (Eph.1:4 , Col.1:26). In these books written exclusively to the One New Man, Paul does not quote the Old Testament scriptures as the basis of his doctrine. THERE IS ALMOST A COMPLETE ABSENCE OF ANY REFERENCE TO THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE PRISON EPISTLES. Examine Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians and see this fact for yourself. In these Books every verse and chapter is something new and different from anything written before them, (Ephesians chapters 1-2 takes my breath away everytime I read them). The doctrine of these books is based upon the secret that God revealed to Paul as a prisoner in Rome after the Acts period.<br />
<br />
XV.) THE HOPE OF THE ONE NEW MAN IS AT HAND<br />
<br />
In Phil. 3:20 Paul writes about the resurrection and glorification of the One New Man and five verses later in Phil. 4:5 he says "Let your moderation be known unto all men. THE LORD IS AT HAND." A text is always interpreted by the context, and in the context Paul is talking about the Lord's appearing and the One New Man's glorification. Therefore, when Paul says the Lord is at hand, he is in effect saying the Lord's appearing for the One New Man is at hand. But in writing to the Acts Body concerning the Coming of the Lord and their gathering together unto Him, he said in IIThess.2:1-4 "That they be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: FOR THAT DAY SHALL NOT COME. EXCEPT THERE COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST. AND THAT MAN OF SIN BE REVEALED, THE SON OF PERDITION." This reveals that certain things had to happen first before Christ came and gathered them unto Himself. But the Hope of the One New Man is at hand, which means Christ can appear at any moment for the One New Man.<br />
<br />
(XVI.) THE ONE 'NEW MAN HAS CHRIST AS IT'S HEAD<br />
<br />
In Col.1:18 Paul said that He (Christ) is THE HEAD OF THE BODY THE CHURCH: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead: that in all things He might have the preeminence." I think it is very significant to note that the only place where Christ is called the Head of any Body or Church is in Paul's PRISON EPISTLES, (Eph.1:22, 4:1,5,Col.1:18, 2:19). Christ is never called the Head of the Acts Body in the Acts epistles (search the Acts epistles and see for yourself). And if He is never called the Head of the Acts Body, then no one has the right to say He was. That would be reading something into the scriptures that is not there. The way the word "Body is used in the Acts epistles is much the way we use the word "student body" or the "body politic" today. It is a collective mass of individuals united by a common tie (Webster's 1828 dictionary), but the Body of the prison epistles is a LIVING ORGANISM being members of Christ's Body, Flesh and Bones (Eph.5:30), and He is their Head' (Co1.1:18).<br />
<br />
(XVII.) THE ONE NEW MAN HAS ONLY ONE BAPTISM<br />
<br />
In Eph.4: -6 Paul said that the One Body of the prison epistles has one Spirit, One Hope, One God and Father, One Lord, One Faith and ONE BAPTISM. Paul describes this Baptism in Col. 2:11-12 as "an operation of God made without hands in putting off the Body of the sins of the flesh." God Himself performs this baptism without the use of any human agent. It is therefore spiritual and invisible. On the other hand, the Acts Body had more than one Baptism. They were baptised with the Holy Ghost (Acts 9:17,19:6), by the Spirit (ICor.12:13), and with water (Acts16:15, 16:33,19:5,22:16). If the "Body" in the Acts epistles is the same Body of Eph.4:4, why does it have 3 Baptisms, whereas, the One Body of Eph.4:4. has only one Baptism? The fact that the Acts Body had 3 Baptisms, whereas, the One New Man has only One Baptism should in itself be enough to convince any honest person that they are not the same body.<br />
<br />
<br />
XVIII.) THE ONE NEW MAN IS NOT ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED TO CHRIST AS A BRIDE<br />
<br />
In IICor.11:2 Paul said that the Acts Body was a chaste virgin espoused (same as engaged) to Christ her husband. That verse clearly shows that the Acts Body was a part of the Bride of Christ. What else would you call a woman engaged to be married to a husband, but a Bride? But the Body in the prison epistles is a man, not a woman. Therefore, it is never said to be espoused to or engaged to a husband. Instead, the one New Man is said to be members of Christ's Body, Flesh and Bones (Eph.5:30).<br />
<br />
(XIX.) THE ONE NEW MAN HAS THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST, NOT THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT<br />
<br />
<br />
Throughout the Acts period, the Acts Body received the gifts of the Spirit. These gifts are listed in ICor.12: 1-13. They were such things as healing, working miracles, speaking in tongues, prophecy and many others. The Acts Body was a tongue speaking, healing, miracle working church. You might say the Acts Body was a "Charismatic Church" for it possessed all of the gifts of the Spirit.<br />
<br />
But the One New Man does not possess the gifts of the Spirit. Does that mean that the Acts Body was more blessed and rich than the One New Man? Quite the contrary, God gave the One New Man something FAR BETTER than the gifts of the Spirit. He gave them the UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST according to Eph. 3:8.<br />
<br />
The unsearchable riches of Christ overshadow the gifts of the Spirit, and are far more glorious. And anyone who seeks after the gifts of the Spirit today when they could enjoy the unsearchable riches of Christ is taking a step backward, not forward spiritually.<br />
<br />
(XX.)THE ONE NEW MAN'S GLORIFICATION IS SECURED UPON BELIEVING<br />
In Phil. 3:21 Paul said that "The Lord Jesus Christ shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned LIKE UNTO HIS GLORIOUS BODY, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself." When Paul said that Christ would fashion our vile bodies like unto His glorious Body, he placed no conditions upon the One New Man's glorification. It is a free, unmerited promise with no works attached. THIS IS NOT TRUE OF THE ACTS BODY.<br />
<br />
In Rom. 8:17 Paul said to the Acts Body "And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; IF SO BE THAT WE SUFFER WITH HIM, 'THAT WE MAY BE ALSO GLORIFIED TOGETHER. The glorification of the members of the Acts Body was CONDITIONAL upon them suffering for Christ's sake. And the suffering was PHYSICAL for the sake of the truth (read 'the next verse). I realize that a statement like this may cause a lot of people to get "up-tight", but there it is in black and white in Rom. 8:17. Keep in mind that it was GOD WHO SAID IT, NOT ME. It's like I said at the beginning, compare every verse with your Bible and BE WILLING TO BELIEVE THE VERSES MEAN WHAT THEY SAY AND SAY WHAT THEY MEAN. And if you do that, then you've done the right thing and the thing that pleases God according to Heb.11:6.<br />
<br />
(XXI.) THE ONE NEW MAN SITS IN HEAVENLY PLACES<br />
<br />
In Eph.2:6 Paul said that God raised up the ONE NEW MAN and made Him to "SIT TOGETHER IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS". The seat that the One New Man occupies represents the position of Glory and Honour that God has exalted him to. In the Bible different groups of believers occupied different seats or positions of Glory and Honour. In Matt.8:11 Abraham and his seed have a seat in the Kingdom of Heaven. In Matt.19:28 the Twelve Apostles each have a seat upon one of the twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. In Gal.4:26 the Acts Body must have had a seat in the Heavenly City New Jerusalem, for it is called their "Mother" and they were her "Children". And whatever position of Glory and Honour the mother has, her children have also. But God has given the One New Man the most exalted seat or position of Glory and honour in all the Bible. He raised Him up far above all Heavens to sit at His own Right Hand in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus. This is never said of any one else in the Bible, but the One New Man in the Prison Epistles. The Acts Body died with Christ, was buried and raised with Christ, But the One New Man goes one step further. He ascended up on High with Christ to sit with Him in Heavenly Places at the Right Hand of God. (To say the Acts Body was also seated in Heavenly Places is to read something into the Acts epistles that is not there. That's reading present truth into past truth, which is wrongly dividing the Word of Truth).<br />
<br />
(XXII.) THE ONE NEW MAN'S CONVERSATION IS IN HEAVEN<br />
<br />
In Phil. 3:20 Paul said "For our conversation is in HEAVEN; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ." The word "Conversation" has more than one meaning in the Bible. It can refer to a person's "SPEECH" as in IIPet.2:7; their "CONDUCT" as in Eph.2:3 or their "RESIDENCE OR DWELLING PLACE" as in Eph.2:6 (The One New Man has a residence in Heavenly Places, for His seat is there.) The point that I want to emphasize here is that everything the One New Man has now and in the future is in Heavenly Places. Everything about the One New Man is Heavenly. (Please read these verses).<br />
<br />
His BLESSINGS are in Heavenly Places -Eph.1:3<br />
<br />
His SEAT is in Heavenly Places - Eph.2:6<br />
<br />
His HEAD is in Heavenly Places -Eph.1:20-23<br />
<br />
His DESTINATION is in Heavenly Places - Eph.2:7<br />
<br />
His MINISTRY is in Heavenly Places - Eph.3:10<br />
<br />
His WARFARE is in Heavenly Places -Eph.6:12<br />
<br />
His HOPE is in Heavenly Places - Col-1:5<br />
<br />
His AFFECTION is in Heavenly Places- Col-3:2<br />
<br />
His LIFE is in Heavenly Places - Col-3:3<br />
<br />
His APPEARING is in Heavenly Places -Col-3:4<br />
<br />
His INHERITANCE is in Heavenly Places - Col.l:12-13<br />
<br />
His CROWN is in Heavenly Places - IITim.4:8<br />
<br />
His KINGDOM is in Heavenly Places -IITim.4:18<br />
<br />
The One New Man is a Heavenly Body with no relationship to Israel, the world, or New Jerusalem. His conversation is TOTALLY in Heavenly Places. This is not true of the Acts Body. Their conversation was not in Heaven, for they were "HEIRS OF THE WORLD" being Abraham's seed according to Rom. 4:13-16. Their inheritance was in the KINGDOM OF GOD, AN EARTHLY KINGDOM according to I Cor. 6:9-11,15:50. They partook of ISRAEL'S SPIRITUAL THINGS, which pertain mainly to the EARTH(Rom.15). Their Hope was in NEW JERUSALEM their mother, which will eventually be located on the NEW EARTH according to Gal. 4:26, Rev. 21:1-2. If the Acts Body were heirs of the World whose hope was to enter an Earthly Kingdom to dwell in the New Jerusalem, on the New Earth, how could their conversation be in Heaven? God never gave the Acts Body the Heavenly things that He gave to the One New Man, therefore, their conversation was not in Heaven. Their conversation was in things that God offered them in the Acts epistles. Their speech and conduct were in accord with their inheritance and hope in the Kingdom of God and the New Jerusalem.<br />
<br />
(XXIII.) THE ONE NEW MAN IS FREE FROM THE ORDINANCES THAT WERE BINDING ON THE ACTS BODY<br />
<br />
In Acts 15, Paul along with the other apostles wrote out a list of ordinances for the Gentiles to observe during the Acts period, and delivered these ordinances to the members of the Acts Body.<br />
<br />
In Acts 15:19-21 James (along with Paul and Barnabas) said "Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day." Paul also elaborates upon these ordinances in his Acts epistles. In Rom.14:2-3 He said "For one believeth that he may eat all things; another, who is weak, eateth herbs, Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him". In Rom.14:5 he said "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." And further down in verse 21 he said "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended, or is made weak. In other words, there were people in the Acts period that abstained from eating meat and drinking wine for religious purposes and they also observed holy days. The Acts Body was commanded not to eat any meat or drink wine, or condemn any "holy day" that would offend these people. Those people were of course Israelites, who kept the Law of Moses according to Acts 15:21. Paul also warns the Acts Body that if they ate or drank anything that would offend Israel that they would "Destroy the work of God" (Rom.14:20)and could "Damn themselves" if they ate without faith (Rom. 14:23). Also read 1Cor. 8:10-11.<br />
<br />
But there are no such Laws and Ordinances binding on the One New Man. In Col.2:14-17 Paul said, "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the Body is of Christ." In the prison epistles of Paul, the Law is abolished for the One New Man in Eph.2:15-16 and all the handwriting of ordinances (including those of Acts 15, Rom.14, ICor.8) are blotted out and taken out of the way. Those Laws and Ordinances are not binding on the One New Man and Paul rebukes anyone who places themselves under subjection to them in Col. 2:20-22. To observe those ordinances of touch not, taste not, handle not today is an abomination in the sight of God.<br />
<br />
XXIV.) THE ONE NEW MAN WAS ELECTED OR CHOSEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD<br />
<br />
In Eph.1:4 Paul said "According as he hath CHOSEN US IN HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love."<br />
<br />
This is a tremendous verse of Scripture for many reasons and one of the main reasons is because this is only said about the One New Man in the prison epistles. He is the only Body or Church that God chose or elected BEFORE the Foundation of the World. All other bodies or churches were chosen after, since, or from the foundation or beginning of the world, including the Acts Body.<br />
<br />
In II Thess. 2:13 Paul said concerning the Acts Body "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because GOD HATH "FROM" THE BEGINNING CHOSEN YOU TO SALVATION through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:"<br />
<br />
How could anything be any clearer than this? The Acts Body was elected FROM the beginning of the world, whereas, the One New Man elected BEFORE the Foundation of the World.<br />
<br />
CHOSEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD<br />
THE EARTH<br />
GEN.1:1<br />
CHOSEN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD<br />
<br />
THE ONE NEW MAN<br />
EPH.1:4<br />
THE FOUNDATION<br />
THE ACTS BODY<br />
2 THESS. 2:13<br />
<br />
<br />
If they were elected at two different times, how could they possibly be the same Body? If they were the same Body they would both be elected before Gen. l:l, or both elected after Gen. l:l. But they are not, which again leads me to the conclusion that they are not the same Body. For anyone to say they are the same body, when it is so apparent that they are not, to me is wrongly dividing the Word of Truth. Those who RIGHTLY divide the Word of Truth do not make things that are different the same.<br />
<br />
In conclusion, I'm reminded of an event that took place in Israel's past history that typifies what I'd like to say here at the end of this article.<br />
<br />
In times past God brought Israel out of Egypt, across the Red Sea to a place called Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran, which was located at the edge of the Land of Caanan. In Num.13 God instructed Moses to send 12 men to "spy out" the Land of Caanan and to bring back word of what they saw. When they returned, two of the "spies", Joshua and Caleb brought back with them figs, pomegranates, and a huge cluster of grapes that took two men to carry upon a staff, to show Israel the fruits of the land. They also gave a "good report" of the land calling it a land "flowing with milk and honey". And in Num.13:30 Caleb stood before Moses and Israel and said "Let us go up at once, and possess it; (the land) for we are well able to overcome it." But the other ten spies gave an "evil report" of the land, they said the land had giants in it, and the people that possessed it were strong and lived in walled cities and they said they were as "grasshoppers" in their sight. The story goes on to say that Israel believed the evil report of the 10 spies and rejected the good report that Joshua and Caleb gave. And instead of Israel going in to enjoy the fruits of the land flowing with milk and honey, God caused them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years till that whole generation died and was wasted in the wilderness (Num.14:33). The only ones who went in were Joshua and Caleb because they believed God and gave a good report of the land.<br />
<br />
In this story I see analogy that is related to the subject of this article. In this Dispensation of Grace God has delivered us out of bondage (type of Egypt) baptised us into Christ (type of Red Sea) and set before us a "land flowing with Grace and Truth". That land is the prison epistles of Paul, which are flowing with the "Unsearchable Riches of Christ" and "All Spiritual blessings in Heavenly Places."<br />
<br />
In that "Land" you will find the One New Man, the Body over which Christ is the Head that God created when He broke down the middle wall of partition after the close of the Acts period. In that "Land" God has planted the grandest blessings, inheritance, hope, promises, riches, position, salvation, destination, etc...in all of the entire Bible. And as there was only a small minority of men who gave a good report of the Land of Caanan (2 out of 12), there is only a very small minority of men who give a "good report" of the "Land" of Paul's Prison Epistles.<br />
<br />
And as the majority were turned away by the evil report of the 10 spies in times past, the majority are turned away by the evil report that most preachers give concerning Paul's Prison Epistles today. They call them "hogwash and baloney" and label those that that claim the Prison Epistles as their "Land" as "stupid", "Nincompoops", Hyper-Dispensationalists" or "Bullingerites".<br />
<br />
My prayer is that you won't be turned away by the evil report that men give today concerning Paul's Prison Epistles. Look at what happened to the men who gave the evil report in times past (Num.14:37), and look what happened to those that believed them (Num.14:33).<br />
<br />
I would encourage you as Caleb encouraged Israel; "Go up at once to possess the riches and blessings of Paul's Prison Epistles, which are the books written exclusively to, for, and about the One New Man. Don't stay in the bondage of Matt.- John, don't wander in the wilderness of the Acts period, go on up and possess the Prison Epistles, the Land flowing with Grace, Truth, and Freedom.</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-52086541978971059082012-03-17T12:57:00.002-07:002012-03-17T12:57:17.784-07:00Future Snatching Away For Body of Christ JesusDonald G Hayter<br />
<br />
<br />
SNATCHED AWAY<br />
<br />
(2 Thessalonians 4:17)<br />
<br />
by Donald G Hayter<br />
<br />
It is a help sometimes when seeking to understand why a certain word is used in a particular context to substitute another. It highlights the significance of the word that is used. Not that we can replace any word in the Scriptures, for they stand supreme among all literature in that the words are used with the utmost discrimination and exactitude. Seven times are they refined. <br />
<br />
Consider this phrase in 1 Thessalonians 4. We might have read instead of snatched away, that we are taken up or that we ascend or go up. But each of these latter words conveys a different thought which was not intended by the holy Spirit. We are snatched up. That is, our departure is an urgent, swift, sudden plucking up, which thoughts the other words do not convey. The word "snatched" is used elsewhere in the Scriptures and its sense can be intensified in our minds by considering some of these other contexts. <br />
<br />
Philip was snatched away from the eunuch (Acts 8:39). It was a sudden, abrupt departure. When Paul's safety was threatened by the throng (Acts 23:10) the captain ordered the troop to descend and snatch him out of their midst. There was an urgency in the circumstances surrounding Paul. On another occasion in one of the most miraculous and amazing events of Paul's life, he was snatched away to the third heaven and into paradise (2 Cor.12:4). He had then an experience similar, in this one respect, to that which will occur again to him when, with us, he will be snatched up into the air. These examples if we consider them will help us grasp the significance of the word "snatch" when it is used of our introduction into the presence of the Lord at His coming. <br />
<br />
When the Lord comes He will snatch us all up to Him with urgency and speed. We shall not rise of our own volition, though we shall be fully capable of doing so. Perhaps we hesitate, not realizing our new power, or perhaps awed by the presence of the Lord, fearful to approach Him. But we are not left a moment longer.<br />
<br />
SIMULTANEOUSLY, TOGETHER IN CLOUDS<br />
<br />
The dead in Christ (who have been raised from the dead) and the living will be snatched up in clouds simultaneously, together. These two words are not synonymous. One refers to the time of the snatching, the other to the proximity in space of the two parties. The snatching upward will occur at the same moment for all in Christ. Wherever they may have died, in whatever region of the world, their swift transfer from the earth to the air will happen at precisely the same moment. There will not be some who will approach the Lord more slowly. With speed and urgency the Lord will snatch us to Himself. <br />
<br />
Also the movement upwards will be together. We shall not be spread over the expanse of the skies singly or in scattered groups, according to where we were located in life or in death. We shall be assembled and rise as one company to meet the Lord. It will not however be a massed throng, that is a single assembly, for we are snatched up in clouds. Now this does not mean that we shall ascend in the clouds of the sky, but that we shall be assembled like clouds and so ascend to the Lord. This is not an unusual figure of speech, for a massed assembly is often referred to as a cloud. We read of a vast cloud of witnesses. In Ezekiel 38:16 Gog goes up against Israel a great assembly, as a cloud to cover the land. Again in Isaiah 60:8 those who bring the sons of Israel from afar to their land as a thick cloud are flying. There are other examples. A very apt example of its use is by astronomers who refer to large groups of stars as star clouds. The photographic plate shows this most distinctly. <br />
<br />
Just how the saints will be grouped we are not told. It may be according to the generation in which we have lived, or according to our place and function in the body of Christ. It is enough to know that the vast assemblage of saints will cover the sky as clouds in the vault of heaven. And thus we shall always be together with the Lord.<br />
<br />
TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR<br />
<br />
The contrasts between the coming of the Lord for the ecclesia with a celestial destiny and His coming for Israel are great. <br />
<br />
To the earth He comes as Son of Mankind. For us He returns as Lord and Chief Messenger. When coming to Israel His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives; for us He descends no further than the air. He travels alone from heaven's height for us, but for His earthly people He is accompanied by His holy messengers. These may be the vast array seen in the throne scene of the Unveiling, numbering two great groups of a hundred million and one million. The glory of His presence will differ on each occasion. For Israel He will appear as He was on the mount of transformation, His face shining as the sun. The brilliance of His glory will not be greater than His terrestrial saints can endure. For us He will come as the Celestial One with a different glory, one exceeding in brilliance the brightness of the noonday sun. But we shall be able to look and live, for we too shall be celestials, changed into beings with a glory similar to the Lord's. He Himself assembles us with His own voice and His own trumpeting and His personal snatching upward. Israel will be gathered by His messengers. We shall meet the Lord, a personal face-to-face encounter. Israel is assembled to Him; the intimacy indicated in the word meet is absent from the record of that assembly. <br />
<br />
The grace shown to us transcends anything that Israel has. <br />
<br />
Where then is the air in which we meet the Lord? In this context it is the same as we understand it in general conversation. It is that part of the atmosphere which contains the mixture of gases essential to life on earth. It stretches upward for a few miles. Even at the top of the highest mountains the air is very thin. At ten miles up we could not live without artificial aids, for the air is almost absent. So it is certain that we shall meet the Lord in the blue expanse above, within a few miles of the earth's surface, within sight of our erstwhile home. <br />
<br />
One most important feature of this meeting place is that it is the territory of the Adversary, Satan, for he is the chief of the jurisdiction of the air. It is from the air that he controls earth's affairs. To him have been given all the kingdoms of the earth, and the affairs of mankind are under his sway, political and religious. He is a spirit making his headquarters in the air above us. And it is here that we shall meet the Lord, in the heart of the enemy's kingdom. But this is for a purpose, for it will be the role of the ecclesia to display to the archenemy of God and His truth, the power and glory of the sons of God. Then will be fulfilled the words, "The God of peace will be crushing Satan under your feet swiftly." It will not be by battle but by the power of the presence of Christ and His ecclesia.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-11025491627683804402012-01-06T13:04:00.000-08:002012-01-06T13:04:15.654-08:00Many Errors In KJV and Most Bibles....Know What Scripture Really Says<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="6332" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><tbody>
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" height="6453" width="55"><div align="center"></div></td><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" valign="top" width="618"><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center"><b><span class="title" style="color: #777777; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;">THE CONCORDANT METHOD</span></b><br />
<span style="color: grey;">A.E. Knoch</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
As an earnest Bible student, desiring to understand the word of God, I discovered that practically all solid progress in the recovery of truth during the last century had come through the use of the concordance. I found that those of my friends who based their study on a concordance made the surest and speediest advance in their knowledge of God. Hence I also began to test and correct my ideas as to the meaning of Bible words by tracing them through all their occurrences. The immense profit and pleasure of this plan awoke in me a strong desire to do all in my power to assist others in this safe and satisfactory method of assuring themselves of the real revelation which God has given.<br />
But I found that even keen students of exceptional intelligence were not able to derive much benefit from concordances based on English translations. Only those who used concordances based on the original languages received real help. And even they were harassed by using a version which continually counteracted the benefits of their concordant study. So it gradually dawned on me that it was foolish to fill my mind with a discordant version if I hoped to advance in the knowledge of God. It would be just as save to tangle up a ball of twine before trying to use it.<br />
Thus it was that the idea of a concordant version suggested itself to my mind. Instead of correcting current translations occasionally by a concordance, why not make a version which is already concordant, so that the simple reading of it will give all the benefits otherwise won by prolonged and arduous study? Indeed, such a version might do far more to bring the unschooled reader into accord with the truth than would be possible by the patient and prolonged study of a concordance. For instance, it would be easy to explain what the <i>soul</i> is if our translators had never rendered it <i>life</i>. It would be an impossible task to correct all the mistranslatings in the minds of Bible readers. Why not make a version in which <i>psuchê</i> is always soul, and <i>zôê life</i>?</div><div align="center"><span><b>A REVERENT METHOD</b></span></div><div align="justify"> No one could honestly object to this method, for it is not based on human scholarship but on a worshipful recognition of the divine Author's ability to make Himself understood. Most versions always render <i>zôê life</i>, so that no one is at a loss to know the significance of the word. But how few know what<i>soul</i> means! That is because it is not uniformly translated. In the Hebrew Scriptures it is rendered by over forty different expressions, such as <i>appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, ghost, heart, lust, man, mind, pleasure</i>, but especially by <i>life</i>. The Greek word is rendered <i>mind</i>, <i>heart</i>, and <i>life</i> (more than thirty times) besides <i>soul</i>.</div><div align="center"><span><b>A SANE PRINCIPLE</b></span></div><div align="justify"> I appeal to the sanctified common sense of the saints, "the spirit of a sound mind" (2Ti.1:7). If the holy spirit intended us to understand life in so many places where the original has soul, why was not the word for life used? I came to the definite conclusion, which has been strengthened by tests extending over a quarter century of study, that wherever possible, <i>each word in the original should be represented in translation by only one English word</i>. Then the English reader, seeing this English word in all of the correct contexts, subconsciously acquires its exact signification and force and color.<br />
Another principle I found to be of just as great importance. The same illustration will serve. Even the word life has lost its distinct meaning by being used for soul. No one would tolerate such a translation as : The first man Adam was made a living life." Why, then translate "Take no thought for your life"? (Lu. 12:22). Why not "Do not worry about the soul"? <i>No English word should do duty for more than one word of the original</i>. This is quite as necessary as using only one English word for each Greek or Hebrew expression. Between the two we have the best possible safety device for insuring purity, clarity, and accuracy in the translation of God's holy word.</div><div align="center"><b><span>A SIMPLE SHORT CUT</span></b></div><div align="justify"> The C<span class="smCap" style="font-size: 0.8em;">ONCORDANT </span>V<span class="smCap" style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERSION</span> is not another burden for the student to bear, but an easy, simple, short cut to knowledge which would cost him more than a lifetime of study by any other method. Instead of giving him a puzzle to solve, it gives him the solution. He does not need to study a concordance of the original to find out the exact meaning of any word. First, he is assured that he has the nearest English equivalent. Second, he knows that when he sees it he may depend upon it that the light of the context is true and not a false beacon to lead him astray.<br />
The greatest benefit will come, not to the student as such, but to the humble reader who will simply<i>use </i>the version and allow the contexts to color each word and define its force for him. He will be a constant attendant in the school of God, quite independent of human learning or scholarship.</div><div align="center"><b><span>NOT A MODERN VERSION</span></b></div><div align="justify"> The C<span class="smCap" style="font-size: 0.8em;">ONCORDANT</span> is not a "modern" version. Neither is it archaic. The method is such that little regard could be paid to the outward embellishment of thought. All appearances are subordinated to <i>truth</i>. Yet truth is itself so desirable and beautiful that only the superficial and unbelieving will prefer error because it is arrayed in robes rich and venerable. The living Word was not clothed in sumptuous garb to entice the eye. He had no form or comeliness. There was no beauty, that they should desire Him. So is the written word. The desire to dress it up is of the world and not of God. Those who despise its meanness ally themselves with the throng who crucified the Lord of glory.<br />
We are warned that, in the latter eras, religious men will want their ears tickled rather than their hearts aroused (2Ti.4:3). They will prefer the musical to the true. Familiar, finely phrased error will appeal to their ears rather than inspired facts to their minds. But truth has a spiritual harmony and sweet accord which no dissonance can mar, and which is unutterably more pleasing to the anointed ear than all the music of mere sound.</div><div align="center"><b><span>BASED ON THE ORIGINAL</span></b></div><div align="justify"> The concordant method of studying the scriptures uses a concordance to discover the meaning of a word, not in any version, but in the original. It is based on its occurrences in the Hebrew, Chaldee, or Greek, however it may be translated into English. The aim is to discover the usage and fix its signification by its inspired associations. It is in line with the linguistic law that the meaning of a word is decided by its usage. In this version the efficiency and value of this method has been greatly multiplied by extending it to the elements of which words are composed and by combining with it the vocabulary method, which deals with each word as a definite province of the realm of thought which must be carefully kept within its own boundaries.</div><div align="center"><b><span>WORD ANALYSIS</span></b></div><div align="justify"> The evidence for the exact force of a given expression is multiplied many times if we separate it into its elements. Take one of the two words which are usually rendered "foundation". Its elements are<span>DOWN-CAST</span>, and the Greek has found its way into English in the word <i>catabolism</i>. The element <span>DOWN</span>brings in two hundred witnesses, while <span>CAST</span> commands over fifty, These we may call its near relatives. They arouse a suspicion in our minds that <span>DOWN-CAST</span>ing is a strange and unlikely word for "foundation". It does not suggest building <i>up</i> but casting <i>down</i>. By testing this new thought in all the contexts we discover that <span>DOWN-CAST</span>ing means <i>disruption</i>, not foundation.</div><div align="center"><b><span>THE ENGLISH-GREEK SUBLINEAR</span></b></div><div align="justify"> Not only does the separation of the Greek vocabulary into its elements help in fixing its true meaning, but it enables us to build up an artificial English-Greek for use in the Sublinear which brings the two languages together in a most interesting and profitable way. The reader who knows no Greek is easily able to follow and grasp the idiom of the original, and to enjoy God's revelation in the very mold in which He cast it. There is the same relation between His thoughts and words, and between the words themselves that exists in the inspired autographs.<br />
Such an English-Greek translation is by far the best instrument for making a version in which the thoughts, rather than the identical symbols of thought, must be used. The human mind at its best is limited. The keenest intellect needs this assistance. The mathematician might be able to count without the use of figures. But how far could the science of mathematics go if it had no numerals? So the Elements used in this version help to convey the precise values of the Greek into the English. Such a word as <i>repentance</i> in far more colorful when we find that, in Greek, it is called "after-<span>MIND</span>".</div><div align="center"><span><b>GRAMMATICAL STANDARDS</b></span></div><div align="justify"> Still greater is the gain in the grammatical elements. Take the word usually rendered <i>Who hath abolished</i> (2Ti. 1:10). Now we know that death has not been abolished yet. From the ending of the word we see that its grammatical elements associate it with <i>indefinite</i> verbals, which do not state the time of the action. Hundreds of other passages, where this form is used, focus their light on this, and we are practically compelled to render it <i>Who abolishes</i>. The great value of this change is instantly evident, for we can literally believe it, though we could not believe that death <i>has been</i> abolished.<br />
We unhesitatingly make two tremendous claims for concordant uniformity in transferring the grammatical elements into English. The probability of such renderings being correct is increased many fold, for all the evidence is continually before us, and subject to scrutiny. Moreover, even if a standard should be wrong, or, what is more likely, is not a perfect equivalent, the very fact that it occurs in all the divine contexts will tend to modify and correct it. Uniformity in rendering Greek grammatical elements into English is even more important than present exactness, for it is the only way to eventual exactitude.<br />
We have taken the Greek grammatical elements and given to each a corresponding English form. Any one can see what confusion will result if we should not always translate a past by a past, a future by a future, and a present by a present. We <i>must</i> fort out our equivalents in this way or truth is turned into pious error. The very fact that there is a special form of the past proves that the indefinite is not a past. If the past can be rendered <i>I wrote</i>, the indefinite must be different. The existence of the present incomplete form, <i>I am writing</i>, bars the indefinite from this rendering. If we assign all available English forms except the Greek indefinite and have nothing but the English indefinite left, that alone goes far to prove the correctness of <i>I write</i>. No other method can be so save of satisfactory.</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center"><b><a href="" name="a2" style="color: #0000cc; text-decoration: underline;"></a></b></div><div align="center"><b>THE VOCABULARY METHOD</b></div><div align="justify"> The concordant method has been used in a fragmentary way for a century. So far as we know, the C<span>ONCORDANT </span>V<span>ERSION</span> is the first attempt to employ it systematically and exhaustively by applying it to the complete vocabulary of the sacred text. From this has sprung the complementary "vocabulary" method. It insists, not on uniformity, but the opposite. <span>If PLACE-CARE</span> means <i>foundation</i>, and its elements and contexts clearly agree with that meaning, then <span>DOWN-CAST</span>ing, which our versions so translate, does not mean <i>foundation</i>. In some languages we may not always have enough words to cover all cases, but English certainly ought to furnish sufficient. In this extreme example, the words are totally unlike in elements, association and contexts. One means <i>foundation</i>, the other <i>disruption</i>.<br />
The meaning or usage of one word is necessarily distinct from that of all other words. If we have placed all the words in the vocabulary of the Greek scriptures but one, we have a vast fund of information as to what it does not mean. This, of course, is not necessary with many words, but it is of the utmost value in dealing with words of similar or related meaning. Let any on study a passage in our accepted versions in which a number of synonyms are used together and he will find that our translators were forced to better work by the presence of words of nearly the same signification. What a pity they did not use such renderings elsewhere!<br />
Let us take an example from the so called Authorized Version. It translates twenty-one words <i>depart</i>. We will give the <span>CONCORDANT</span> standard of each and a passage, if possible, where they agree:</div><div align="left"><span>UP-LEAD</span> they render <i>led up</i> (Mt.4:1) and <i>departed</i> (Ac.28:10).</div><div align="left"><span>UP-LOOSE</span> is both <i>return</i> (Lu.12:36) and <i>depart</i> (Phil.1:23).</div><div align="left"><span>UP-SPACE</span>, meaning <i>retire</i>, they render <i>departed</i> (Mt.2:12).</div><div align="left"><span>FROM-CHANGE</span>, meaning <i>clear</i>, is <i>departed</i> (Ac.19:12).</div><div align="left"><span>FROM-COME</span>, meaning <i>pass away</i> (Re.21:4) is <i>depart</i> (Mt.8:18).</div><div align="left"><span>FROM-LOOSE</span>, meaning <i>release</i> (Mt.27:26) or <i>dismiss</i> (Ac.15:30) is sometimes <i>depart</i> (Ac.28:25).</div><div align="left"><span>FROM-SPACE</span> is always correctly <i>depart</i> (Mt.7:23 Lu.9:39 Ac.13:13) as also in the C<span>ONCORDANT </span>V<span>ERSION</span>.</div><div align="left"><span>FROM-SPACE</span>ize they have tried to distinguish on one occasion by adding <i>asunder</i> (Ac.15:39), but in its other occurrences <i>departed</i> (Re.6:14). It means <i>recoil</i>.</div><div align="left"><span>FROM-STAND</span>, <i>withdraw</i> (1Ti.6:5) is usually rendered <i>departed</i> (Lu.2:37)</div><div align="left"><span>THRU-SPACE</span>ize<i>, sever</i>, they make <i>depart</i> also (Lu.9:33)</div><div align="left"><span>THRU-COME</span>, p<i>ass through</i> (Lu.4:30) is once <i>depart</i> (Ac.13:14).</div><div align="left"><span>OUT-BE</span>, <i>be off</i>, is twice <i>depart</i> (Ac.17:15).</div><div align="left"><span>OUT-COME</span>, <i>come out</i>, (Mt.5:26) is <i>depart</i> (Mt.9:31) a few times.</div><div align="left"><span>OUT-GO</span>, <i>go out</i>, is <i>depart</i> (Mt. 20:29).</div><div align="left"><span>DOWN-COME</span>, <i>come down</i> (Lu.4:31) is once <i>depart</i> (Ac.13:4).</div><div align="left"><span>WITH</span>-(after)-<span>GO</span>, <i>proceed</i>, is usually <i>depart</i>.</div><div align="left"><span>WITH-LIFT</span>, <i>withdraw</i>, is also <i>depart</i> (Mt.13:53).</div><div align="left"><span>BESIDE-LEAD</span>, <i>pass by</i> (Mk.2:14) is once <i>departed</i> (Mt.9:27).</div><div align="left"><span>GO</span> (Mt.2:8) is occasionally varied to <i>depart</i> (Mt.2:9).</div><div align="left"><span>UNDER-LEAD</span>, <i>go away</i> (Jn.14:28) is rendered <i>depart</i> (Mk.6:33).</div><div align="left"><span>SPACE</span>ize, <i>separate</i> (Ro.8:35) they have, on good grounds, rendered <i>depart</i> when it refers to a place (Ac.1:4; 18:1,2), and the English seems to have no nearer term, and the Greek word differs but slightly from <span>FROM-SPACE</span>.</div><div align="justify"> Is it not very evident that the translation of twenty words depart, when English has an abundant supply of synonyms, is in itself a departure from the dictates of reason and real reverence? How is it possible for the English reader to grasp twenty-one different ideas through the medium of one word? But the confusion is worse confounded by the fact that twenty different sets of contexts are throwing a false flood of light upon the word, and the light is darkness.<br />
The vocabulary method, used in the C<span>ONCORDANT </span>V<span>ERSION</span>, insists that each of these distinct ideas be distinguished from each other by a special symbol, if that is possible. It will be seen that, in most cases, the Authorized Version itself uses the proper word on some occasions. No plea for pious or venerable diction will convince the honest truth seeker that their erratic renderings are justified.<br />
In the trying task of transcribing the thoughts of another mind, which far transcends that of the translator, the ordinary methods of turning a human composition from one language into another are entirely inadequate. What a man has written a man can comprehend. The most effective course is to seize the foreign author's thought and express it afresh in a different tongue.<br />
But once we acknowledge that God, and not man, is the Author of the revelation which we will call the Sacred Scriptures, we are face to face with a spiritual problem akin to that which the scientist encounters in the sphere of nature. He can apprehend some, but never comprehend all.<b> </b>It has been demonstrated mathematically that the distance from one branch to another of a very common weed cannot be measured by any human scale. It is in a ratio whose solution demands a square root which is incommensurable. Now if a mere weed baffles the human intellect, what shall we say of His highest and greatest work? The Scriptures are for our apprehension, but very far beyond our comprehension.<br />
The ideal way of producing a perfect translation would be to find a man who could understand it all, fully and perfectly, and then have him turn it into English. But where is he? The staff of the C<span>ONCORDANT </span>V<span>ERSION</span> makes no claim whatever to such necessary knowledge and spiritual skill. On the contrary, the method employed is an admission on their part that such a task is entirely beyond the sphere of human attainment. The vital differences between the greatest of theologians make manifest the fact that no man or company of men can fully grasp divine revelation.<br />
During the past decade an average of one new translation has appeared annually, yet all differ in numberless details. That there can be such variety in results shows that the translations partake largely of the mind which acted as a medium. The differences are not in the text.<br />
Unless science had reduced its scattered facts into a system so that the human intellect could deal with its phenomena as the expression of law, it would still be groping in the dark domains of medieval philosophy. It would still be teaching that the heavier a stone, the faster it will fall. One single experiment would have demolished that dogma, but, in those days, "truth" rested on tradition and authority, not on fact. Science has made enormous strides ever since, despite the hindrance offered by unfounded theories. It resorts to experiment and founds truth on the regular recurrence of facts, that is, on law.<br />
But theology is still largely dominated by tradition and dependent on authority. The extent to which translations agree with such tradition and authority rather than with the inspired autographs is the measure of infidelity to fact and distance from truth.<br />
A true transcript of a divine revelation must be based on the laws of language rather than on the bias of theologians. What are these laws? How can they be applied? We will briefly consider them in this connection. We must remember, however, that English is not a pure language. It is a conglomeration of fragments from several languages. Sacred Greek, on the contrary, is one of the most perfect and law-abiding of all tongues. In English the same letters and sounds have a dozen distinct meanings. Each thought has a variety of close synonyms. Such difficulties are practically absent from the first century Greek.<br />
Everything in nature and revelation is known to us by its relation to other objects. We know nothing absolutely, only relatively. The same is true of the symbols, spoken or written, which we use to represent ideas. Hence, in studying words and their meanings, we are not so much concerned with the sign for a word, as with the relation this sustains to other signs. The meaning of a word depends on its<i>usage</i>, that is the other words with which it is used; on its <i>etymology</i>, that is, the family from which it springs; and on the whole <i>vocabulary</i> of which it forms a part.<br />
Certain simple and common-sense laws have been discovered and confirmed which are of the greatest help to the linguist, the infraction of which is fraught with the most confusing consequences. One is,</div><div align="center"><i><b>No word is the exact equivalent of any other word.</b></i></div><div align="justify"> If a language, like English, is made up of several tongues, this rule seems to be contradicted. But such is the vitality of this law that such a condition refuses to be permanent. Many words once exactly alike, from the French and Anglo-Saxon, have gradually drifted apart, so that now no good writer will confuse them.<br />
Pork en pig were once the very same. Now the pig is in the pen and the pork is on the table. One is a living animal, the other, the flesh of a dead one.<br />
In the languages of inspiration such confusion is practically unknown. The few foreign words fill a vacant place. Each word stands for a definite idea. When, for instance, the divine Author wished to speak of <i>life</i>, what valid reason could be given if, occasionally, He should substitute the word <i>soul</i>? If He meant <i>soul</i>, why did He not use the symbols that expressed it? We are satisfied that He did <i>not</i> mean <i>life</i>when He used the symbols for <i>soul</i>.</div><div align="center"><span><b>THE LAW OF LOCATION</b></span><br />
<i><b>Every word in the original should have its own English equivalent.</b></i></div><div align="justify"> If no two words are precisely alike in meaning in the original, it should not be necessary to prove that accuracy demands that each Greek word be supplied with a distinct English equivalent. This, however, cannot be successfully done without a comprehensive system. It is not sufficient that we have the same number of different words in each vocabulary. Each English word should be the one which comes nearest to covering the same domain of thought as the original, and, more particularly, sustains the same relation to the other words of the language.<br />
To make this clearer, we will compare the world of thought to the surface of the earth, and the words to the geographical and political divisions. There is, indeed, a signal instance - the ancient province of Asia - which shows how confusing its is to use geographical names in English which do not correspond with those in the Greek. Asia now includes a vast continent, and the English reader, unless warned, must get the idea that the entire territory of Asiatic Russia, China, Japan, Korea, Siam, India, Persia, Arabia, Palestine, and Asia Minor are included. So we have translated it "the province of Asia", for only a small part of the present Asia Minor is meant. In precisely the same way it is misleading to translate a general term for one that is specific.<br />
Carrying out our figure, we will call this the<i> Law of Location</i>. If the geographer must not confound England with New Zealand, the lexicographer should not confuse <i>yea</i> and <i>nay</i> (A.V., 1Co.4:3;6:8), or<i>pour out</i> and <i>fill</i> (A.V., Rev 14:10;18:6).<br />
But such accidents are rare and easily avoided. It is when two words are similar in meaning that the danger is greatest. Great Britain covers three countries but there are times when it is most important to distinguish between England, Scotland and Wales. Similarly, though all are sin, it is of the highest value to discriminate between <i>injustice</i> and <i>transgression</i> and <i>offense</i>.<br />
This is practically impossible when one of them, <i>offense</i>, is rendered sin (Eph.1:7), <i>trespass</i> (Eph.2:1), which is practically the same as <i>transgression</i>, as well as the usual word <i>offense</i>. The translators were restrained from rendering it <i>sin</i> in the first verse of the second of Ephesians by the immediate presence of the real word sin. In the vocabulary method of the C<span>ONCORDANT </span>V<span>ERSION</span> this restraint is always present, and debars it from following their example and lapse in to sin in the fifth verse.<br />
The only practical safeguard in apportioning to each Greek expression its most fitting English equivalent is to arrange the whole vocabulary in alphabetical order, so that any duplicates will immediately become apparent. If, for instance, we wish to translate <span>FROM-LOOS</span>ing <i>redemption</i>, as it is ordinarily rendered, we will be confronted by the fact that this term is already appropriated by <span>LOOS</span>ing. We then find that we need, not merely another word, but one which will register the difference indicated by the prefix <span>FROM</span>-. The word <i>deliverance</i> admirably performs this function.<br />
The vocabulary used by a translator should be such that, when superimposed on the vocabulary of the original, it will not only coincide as far as possible, but clearly define the boundaries between the words and their relation to one another. Such a task is necessarily imperfect in its results, due to radical differences in the idioms of language and also to the usage of words. The question arises whether these imperfections can be removed and, if so, how it is to be done.<br />
It is not enough, that each word should harmonize with its contexts. If a single English word seems to suit different sets of contexts, in which the original uses two expressions, that is evidence that we have failed to grasp the finer phases of concord. The difference is there, though we may not be aware of it. The vocabulary method is the only means of discovering what our dull senses otherwise overlook. We must find a word for each set of contexts which will fit that and no other. We must compare it with the whole vocabulary and so prove that there is not a better word for the place it fills.<br />
This leads us to consider the greatest and most powerful of all the laws of language.</div><div align="center"><b><span>THE LAW OF RECIPROCATION</span></b><b><br />
<i>Every thought symbol, the moment that it is placed is connection with others, both influences the meaning of its neighbors and is itself modified by them.</i></b></div><div align="justify"> Words antagonistic to each other will not associate. We never read of <i>hot ice</i>. If we did the word <i>hot</i>would gradually become chilled and lose its present meaning. If we did not know the meaning of <i>cold</i>, its close company with <i>ice</i> would soon assure us of its signification.<br />
Words get their color from their contexts. Without any dictionary whatever, it is possible to determine the meaning of almost any word if it is seen in a dozen sentences. From this we may deduce the notable conclusion that the actual and understood meaning of an English word in the Bible is not necessarily its current of dictionary meaning, but that which it absorbs from the passages in which it is found. A dictionary simply records the usage of words as employed by careful writers.<br />
We find, then, that we have discovered a law which will practically adjust the minor differences which exist between Greek and English equivalents. An English word will expand or contract, color or blanch, become purified or tainted, to conform to the thought environments which surround it in the Scriptures. If an English word is not an exact counterpart of the Greek, the contexts in which it consistently occurs will correct its inaccuracies. It will take on a special scriptural signification. This is why the uniform renderings of the C<span>ONCORDANT </span>V<span>ERSION</span> are the most valuable yet simple means of transferring the truth into English.</div><div align="center"><b><span>THE PENALTY OF LAWLESSNESS</span></b></div><div align="justify"> But like all law, its benefits depend on its unvarying observance, and a penalty follows its infringement. If we inject into one English word all the virus of five false contexts, it will not only fail to furnish us with the truth, but it will reflect a false light when used in its proper place. A version which mixes its renderings subconsciously confuses its readers.<br />
One example will suffice. The ecclesiastical meaning of "ordinance" is a religious <i>rite</i> or <i>ceremony</i>.<br />
Five different Greek words are translated <i>ordinance</i> in the Authorized Version.<br />
One of them means <i>decree</i> (Lu.2:1 Ac.16:4;17:7 Eph. 2:15 Col.2:14). In the first three passages they so render it. Why not in the last two?<br />
Another is <i>mandate</i> (Ac.7:53 Ro.13:2). In the first they translate it <i>disposition</i>.<br />
Another is <i>statute</i> (Heb.9:1,10).<br />
Another is always translated <i>creation</i> or <i>creature</i> elsewhere (1Pt.2:13)<br />
Another is uniformity <i>tradition</i> except in 1Co.11:2.</div><div align="justify"> In no case does it mean a religious rite. Yet it injects this meaning into almost every passage. If the translators had used some of their own renderings consistently, or even a synonym, we should have been saved untold confusion. It is a flagrant violation of the laws of language to render five different words by one word, and, in each case, to translate these words by other terms as well. The truth is lost in such a maze.<br />
So valuable and vital is the law of reciprocation that we believe its observance puts the C<span>ONCORDANT</span>V<span>ERSION</span> in a class by itself. We urge all who are sincerely desirous of knowing God to test this matter fully. The continuous use of a version which obeys this law bridges the gulf between God's thoughts and human apprehension; the constant use of a lawless version puts an impassable chasm between us and God. One is clear concord; the other is subconscious confusion.</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">from C<span>ONCORDANT</span> G<span>REEK</span> T<span>EXT</span> © 1975 <a href="http://www.concordant.org/" style="color: #0000cc; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Concordant Publishing Concern</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VPuIROD6oMk/TwdhytB85DI/AAAAAAAAAxY/fGwjcMO1Fjk/s1600/biblelight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VPuIROD6oMk/TwdhytB85DI/AAAAAAAAAxY/fGwjcMO1Fjk/s1600/biblelight.jpg" /></a></div><div><br />
</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-35307862482313341372012-01-01T11:51:00.000-08:002012-01-01T11:53:45.951-08:00Rightly Dividing The Word of Truth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"></span><br />
<div id="header" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="masthead" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="branding" role="banner" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 940px;"><div id="site-title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 36px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 700px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/" rel="home" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Sheridan Voice">Sheridan Voice</a></span></div><div id="site-description" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: right; float: right; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 220px;">The Voice Talents of Daniel Sheridan</div><img alt="" height="198" src="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/wp-content/themes/twentyten/images/headers/path.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 4px; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="940" /></div><div id="access" role="navigation" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 940px;"><div class="skip-link screen-reader-text" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; left: -9000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/2012/01/the-key-to-the-bible/#content" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #aaaaaa; display: block; line-height: 38px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Skip to content">Skip to content</a></div><div class="menu" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 12px; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 928px;"><ul style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #aaaaaa; display: block; line-height: 38px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Home">Home</a></li>
<li class="page_item page-item-2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/about/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #aaaaaa; display: block; line-height: 38px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="About">About</a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div><div id="main" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 40px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 940px;"><div id="container" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -240px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 940px;"><div id="content" role="main" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 36px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 280px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="navigation" id="nav-above" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; display: block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="nav-previous" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 320px;"><a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/2011/10/becky-sheridans-radio-demo/" rel="prev" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="meta-nav" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">←</span> Becky Sheridan’s Radio Demo</a></div><div class="nav-next" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline; width: 320px;"></div></div><div class="post-482 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-on-air-jock category-writings tag-acts-2828 tag-the-key tag-the-last-trump" id="post-482" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 36px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 21px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Key to the Bible</h1><div class="entry-meta" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on</span> <a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/2012/01/the-key-to-the-bible/" rel="bookmark" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="3:32 pm"><span class="entry-date" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">January 1, 2012</span></a> <span class="meta-sep" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">by</span> <span class="author vcard" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/author/dsheridan/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by dsheridan">dsheridan</a></span></div><div class="entry-content" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 12px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I was a Christian a long time before I knew what my hope was; Confusion; Why was the Church of today so different from the Church in Acts; The last trump or “being manifested with Christ in glory;” I was stealing from the Jew; Modifying Scripture; I needed to be ashamed; How can you believe God if you don’t know what He said?; Paul completed the Scriptures.<br />
****TO LISTEN, CLICK ONTO ( 001TheKey) in blue letters below:<br />
<a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/001TheKey.mp3" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0066cc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">001TheKey</a></div><div class="audioplayer_container" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><object data="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/audio-player/assets/player.swf?ver=2.0.4.1" height="24" id="audioplayer_1" name="audioplayer_1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="350"></object></div></div><div class="entry-utility" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #888888; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This entry was posted in <a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/category/on-air-jock/" rel="category tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts in On Air Jock">On Air Jock</a>, <a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/category/writings/" rel="category tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts in Writings">Writings</a> and tagged <a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/tag/acts-2828/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Acts 28:28</a>, <a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/tag/the-key/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Key</a>, <a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/tag/the-last-trump/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The last trump</a>. Bookmark the <a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/2012/01/the-key-to-the-bible/" rel="bookmark" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Permalink to The Key to the Bible">permalink</a>.</div></div><div class="navigation" id="nav-below" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -18px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="nav-previous" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 320px;"><a href="http://sheridanvoice.com/blog/2011/10/becky-sheridans-radio-demo/" rel="prev" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="meta-nav" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">←</span> Becky Sheridan’s Radio Demo</a></div><div class="nav-next" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline; width: 320px;"></div></div><div id="comments" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O1iOb9LlKmE/TwC5N_Gr8zI/AAAAAAAAAxI/_s8hURbEyxk/s1600/biblelight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O1iOb9LlKmE/TwC5N_Gr8zI/AAAAAAAAAxI/_s8hURbEyxk/s1600/biblelight.jpg" /></a></div><div id="respond" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 24px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div></div></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-34363685467032047872011-12-27T19:25:00.001-08:002011-12-27T19:25:57.284-08:00The Lake of Fire and God's Will for ManThe purpose of the Lake of Fire<br />
The Lake of Fire is mentioned only in the book of Revelation. Ask any Christian and their imaginations will come alive with ideas about the Lake of Fire. But what exactly is this Lake of Fire or more importantly what is it's purpose? Consider:<br />
<br />
Revelation 19:20<br />
20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.<br />
<br />
Okay, we see here that the Beast and false prophet are cast into this lake of fire. What else do we know:<br />
<br />
Revelation 20:10<br />
10 and the Devil, who is leading them astray, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where [are] the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night -- to the ages of the ages.<br />
<br />
Here we see that the devil will be thrown into this lake of fire. What else:<br />
<br />
Revelation 21:8<br />
8 But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”<br />
<br />
Revelation 20:15<br />
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.<br />
<br />
From these two verses we can see that ANYONE (HUMANS) not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. What else:<br />
<br />
Revelation 20:14<br />
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.<br />
<br />
There you have it; ALL the verses that mention the Lake of Fire. I left Revelation 20:14 until last because it gives us a link to understanding what this lake of fire is and its purpose. John saw where DEATH was cast into the lake of fire. This is important to know because another writer talks about death as well. Consider:<br />
<br />
1 Corinthians 15:25-26<br />
25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.<br />
<br />
Paul tells us that Christ must reign until God has put ALL his enemies under his feet. Paul then goes on to say that the LAST enemy will be death. Paul makes sure to say the 'LAST' enemy because there are other enemies that will be abolished. Who are the other enemies? John lists them in Revelation 19:20, 20:10, 21:8 and 21:15 (see above). Altogether the enemies of God are those who REMAIN disobedient in this age. These enemies of God are all to be abolished as Paul says. So how does God abolish death? John tells us how; God abolishes death by casting it into the Lake of Fire. Now here is where the purpose of Lake of Fire is revealed.<br />
<br />
John says that Death along with the enemies of God will be cast into the Lake of Fire, Paul says that death and the enemies of God will be abolished. But what does abolish mean?<br />
<br />
1 Corinthians 15:25-27<br />
25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 27 For HE has put all things in SUBJECTION under His feet.<br />
<br />
Paul tells us that the enemies of God will be abolished BY being SUBJECTED under the feet of Christ. Okay, let's look at this:<br />
<br />
John says ALL the enemies of God will be cast into the Lake of Fire.<br />
<br />
Paul says ALL the enemies of God will be put in subjection under Christ's feet.<br />
<br />
Therefore, we MUST conclude that the 'Lake of Fire' and 'Subjection under the feet of Christ' has to be the SAME thing. So how do we find out what is the purpose of the Lake of Fire? We discover its purpose when we understand the meaning of the word 'SUBJECT'. The word subject in this passage is the Greek word 'hupotasso', and this word means, 'TO BRING UNDER CONTROL AND TO MAKE OBEDIENT'. Now we can see the purpose of the lake of fire:<br />
<br />
The Lake of Fire is a process used by God to bring ALL His enemies under control thus MAKING them obedient to Christ.<br />
<br />
It is AT this point when ALL the enemies of God, that is, everyone not written into the book of life because of DISOBEDIENCE will be MADE OBEDIENT. <br />
<br />
Those chosen by God are made obedient NOW, but later ALL will be made obedient. (See post 'Everyone will be salted by Fire')<br />
Posted by Bertram Mills at 1:10 PM <br />
Email This<br />
BlogThis!<br />
Share to Twitter<br />
Share to Facebook<br />
Labels: Afterlife, Death, Savior of AllAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-15158739822712770972011-12-26T17:51:00.000-08:002011-12-26T17:51:06.135-08:00One God and ALSO One Lord and Savior His Son<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top" width="60%"><span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td width="60%"><div align="center"><strong><img alt="dotred08.gif (215 bytes)" height="9" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/dotred08.gif" width="149" /></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="color: black;">1 CORINTHIANS 8:6</span></strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><img alt="indent.gif (54 bytes)" height="15" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/indent.gif" width="15" />Yes, to us there is one God, and one God only, the Father, out of Whom all is. This One is quite separate and distinct from the Lord Jesus Christ, though, of course, there is a close relationship between them. The One is the Father, the other is the Son. The One is Supreme, the other is termed Sovereign (Col.1:18). But let us note this; the Lord Jesus Christ is Sovereign only because God, the Supreme One, has made Him so. Peter explained this to Israel when he stated most emphatically, as recorded in Acts 2:36, “Let all the house of Israel know certainly, then, that God makes Him Lord as well as Christ—this Jesus Whom you crucify.” Paul also tells us this (in Phil.2:9), “wherefore, also, God highly exalts Him, and graces Him with the name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should be bowing, celestial and terrestrial and subterranean, and every tongue should be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God, the Father.”</strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><img alt="indent.gif (54 bytes)" height="15" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/indent.gif" width="15" />What room is there here for the conception of the Trinity— three gods in one and one three, and all co-eternal and co-equal? (In none of the passages we have quoted is God’s holy Spirit even mentioned.)</strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><img alt="indent.gif (54 bytes)" height="15" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/indent.gif" width="15" />The doctrine of the Trinity, as generally understood, is a most pernicious one, and is yet another attempt by the Adversary to undermine the deity of God. The words Father and Son lose their meaning if the Father does not precede the Son, and if the Father is not greater than the Son. Jesus Himself said, “The Father is greater than I” (John 14:28), and spoke of the Father as His God (John 20:17).</strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><img alt="indent.gif (54 bytes)" height="15" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/indent.gif" width="15" />It is surprising how widespread this undermining doctrine has become, and how many believers it has deceived. We get into real difficulties whenever we use terms that are not in the Scriptures to describe scriptural matters. “Trinity” is a term invented by theologians; it has its origin in their creeds and finds expression in their hymns. We should be very wary of using terms which are unscriptural, and even more wary of building doctrines upon them. It is true that there is a Father and there is a Son and there is a holy Spirit, but they are not three Beings in one, still less are they one in three.</strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><img alt="indent.gif (54 bytes)" height="15" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/indent.gif" width="15" />The Father is God in absolute right; He was, is, and always will be, the Supreme. As such, He is entitled to the worship and adoration and affection of all.</strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><img alt="indent.gif (54 bytes)" height="15" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/indent.gif" width="15" />The Son is God in a relative sense only. He is “the only-begotten God” (John 1:18). As the Original of God’s creation (Rev.3:14), the Firstborn of every creature (Col.1:15), He appeared before creation “in the form of God” (Phil.2:6) so that He might reveal to creation the God Whose true Image He is. But invariably the Son is pointing to the Father, and directing that glory be given to Him. It is the Father, Who (subsequent to obedience of His Son on the cross) ordains that acclamation be given to Christ, when He highly exalts Him, and gives Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. It is clearly stated that this acclamation is “for the glory of God, the Father.”</strong></div><div align="center"><strong><img alt="dotred08.gif (215 bytes)" height="9" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/dotred08.gif" width="149" /></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="color: black;">GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT</span></strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><img alt="indent.gif (54 bytes)" height="15" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/indent.gif" width="15" />The holy Spirit is not a god at all, but simply the power of God as manifested in His invisible, intangible operations. For example, it operated invisibly in order to bring about the conception of the babe Jesus (Matt.1:18). It operated, too, on the minds of the various ones chosen by God to write down His Word (2 Peter 1:21). Now it dwells in the hearts of God’s saints (1 Cor.3:16). It is never, in itself, an object of worship, but directs praise and acclamation to God and to His Son.</strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><img alt="indent.gif (54 bytes)" height="15" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/indent.gif" width="15" />The beautiful relationship which exists between the Father and the Son was most aptly expressed by Jesus, when He said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), but this can by no means be used to support the theory of the Trinity, for later Jesus prayed that His disciples may also “be one, according as We are” (John 17:11), and later in the same chapter, “that they may all be one, according as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us” (v.21).</strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><img alt="indent.gif (54 bytes)" height="15" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/indent.gif" width="15" />Jesus always recognized the deity of His Father, and will always do so, for at the consummation He gives up the kingdom to His God and Father, and Himself is subject to the One Who has subjected all to Him, that God may be All in all (1 Cor.15:24-28).</strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><img alt="indent.gif (54 bytes)" height="15" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/indent.gif" width="15" />Let this disposition, which is in Christ Jesus, be in us also, and let us give all honor and glory to God, realizing and acknowledging that we can do nothing of ourselves. Thus may we subject ourselves to Him, that He may be All in us now.</strong></div><div align="right"><strong><small><small>John H. Essex</small></small></strong></div><div align="center"><center><table border="1"><tbody>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="16%"><strong><a href="http://www.concordant.org/expohtml/GodAndChrist/TheDeityOfGod1.html">Part 1</a></strong></td><td align="center" valign="top" width="20%"><strong>Part 2<br />
<small>YOU ARE HERE</small></strong></td><td align="center" valign="top" width="16%"><strong><a href="http://www.concordant.org/expohtml/GodAndChrist/TheDeityOfGod3.html">Part 3</a></strong></td><td align="center" valign="top" width="16%"><strong><a href="http://www.concordant.org/expohtml/GodAndChrist/TheDeityOfGod4.html">Part 4</a></strong></td><td align="center" valign="top" width="16%"><strong><a href="http://www.concordant.org/expohtml/GodAndChrist/TheDeityOfGod5.html">Part 5</a></strong></td><td align="center" valign="top" width="16%"><strong><a href="http://www.concordant.org/expohtml/GodAndChrist/TheDeityOfGod6.html">Part 6</a></strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table></center></div></td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top" width="60%"><div align="center"><br />
<img alt="DOTRED12.gif (273 bytes)" height="9" src="http://www.concordant.org/images/dotred12.gif" width="228" /><span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2gKaqreLz90/TvkkfydIJvI/AAAAAAAAAw8/yKxmU6pMvi4/s1600/thy+Word.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2gKaqreLz90/TvkkfydIJvI/AAAAAAAAAw8/yKxmU6pMvi4/s1600/thy+Word.jpg" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-17475804247361125582011-09-20T18:13:00.000-07:002011-09-20T18:15:09.765-07:00What & Where Will Body of Christ Be Doing Soon, And WITH WHO ?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><div class="post-22 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-colossians category-ecclesia category-prophecy" id="post-22" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 40px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><h2 style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.6em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none; margin-top: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://goedbericht.nl/english/?p=22" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to With Him appearing in glory" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none; ">With Him appearing in glory</a></h2><small style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); ">September 14th, 2011</small><div class="entry" style="line-height: 1.4em; "><p><strong><span style="font-size: medium; "><img class="alignnone" title="in clouds" src="http://goedbericht.nl/blog2/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/image3.png" alt="" width="152" height="115" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; max-width: 100%; " /></span></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p>In <a href="http://goedbericht.nl/english/?p=5" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; ">my first blog</a>, I pointed out that the future of the ecclesia is celestial. Is her position,<em> presently,</em> together with that of her Head, Christ Jesus, hidden from sight for the world, on several places mention is made of the fact that she,<em> in due time, </em>together with Christ, will be manifested in glory. When Christ appears in glory, then automatically, also the people, who are inseparably united with Him. From the moment of the snatching away, she shall be with Him always (1Thes.4:17).</p><blockquote dir="ltr" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; padding-left: 20px; border-left-width: 5px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); "><p>“for … your life is hid together with Christ in God. Whenever Christ, our Life, should be manifested, <strong>then you also shall be manifested together with Him in glory</strong>.” (Col. 3:3-4)</p></blockquote><p>Years earlier, Paul had written about this to the Thessalonians:</p><p><strong></strong></p><blockquote dir="ltr" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; padding-left: 20px; border-left-width: 5px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); "><p><strong></strong><strong>“whenever He may be coming (<em>in that day</em>) </strong>to be glorified in His saints and<strong> to be marveled at IN ALL who believe …”</strong>(2Thes.1:10)</p></blockquote><p>Christ Jesus will then be seen, but not by Himself, alone. He will be seen, with amazement, “in all who believe”. People will see Christ… in the believers! Already, in his first letter to the <em>ecclesia</em> in Thessalonica, Paul wrote about this:</p><blockquote dir="ltr" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; padding-left: 20px; border-left-width: 5px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); "><p>“… in the presence of our Lord Jesus <strong>with all His saints</strong>.” (1Thes.3:13).</p></blockquote><p><em></em></p><p>About the identity of these saints, we are not in doubt. It concerns the people who are united with their head in celestial glory. Even the prophet Zechariah already refers to them, though cryptically. When Israel shall find itself in utmost danger, shall Yahweh appear on the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem …</p><blockquote dir="ltr" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; padding-left: 20px; border-left-width: 5px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); "><p>“And Yahweh, my Elohim, shall come, and all the saints with Him.” (Zech. 14:5).</p></blockquote><p>The Lord comes not alone, by Himself: all the saints with Him. Who those saints are is not explained in Zachariah. It is hidden… which by itself is a hint. For it refers to the <em>ecclesia</em> which was a secret in the Hebrew Bible (Eph.3:6), but has been revealed by Paul.</p><p>In due time, when the Messiah in glory will appear before the eyes of Israel and the nations, He will be seen united in heavenly glory with a set-apart people (= saints).</p><p>———————————</p><p>first published (in Dutch): <a href="http://goedbericht.nl/blog2/?p=2171" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; ">3 september 2011</a><br />translation: Peter Feddema</p></div><p class="postmetadata" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); clear: both; text-align: center; padding-top: 5px; ">Posted in <a href="http://goedbericht.nl/english/?cat=7" title="View all posts in Colossians" rel="category" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; ">Colossians</a>, <a href="http://goedbericht.nl/english/?cat=4" title="View all posts in ecclesia" rel="category" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; ">ecclesia</a>, <a href="http://goedbericht.nl/english/?cat=3" title="View all posts in prophecy" rel="category" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; ">prophecy</a> | <span>Comments Closed</span></p><div><span><br /></span></div></div><div class="post-15 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-ecclesia category-prophecy category-revelation" id="post-15" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 40px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "></div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-55876952568316805092011-08-25T17:54:00.000-07:002011-08-25T17:54:00.376-07:00Joe Satriani - Just look up<iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0ZI81uc1HBE?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><div>
<br /></div><div>LOOKING FOR THE UPPER TAKER...NOT THE UNDER TAKER !!!!</div><div>
<br /></div><div>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWewQIrLUvM&feature=uploademail</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-14110522414674343962011-05-22T16:21:00.000-07:002011-05-22T16:21:36.747-07:00"Sinners" Saved by Grace? (Growing in Grace #292)<iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1H1KF5MonOM?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"><b>I am now a NEW CREATURE in CHRIST JESUS.</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"><b>Check out the new identity for the body of Christ.</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"><b>The body of Christ is now in Christ.....</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"><b>Eph 2:4-5 We were dead, but now He has made us alive.</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"><b><br /></b></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-25937115836519415332011-05-18T15:20:00.001-07:002011-05-18T15:20:39.401-07:00Thank Him For IT.....<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(46, 49, 51); line-height: 21px; "><a href="http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(148, 15, 4); text-decoration: none; "><img border="0" src="http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/images/gifs/gift.gif" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; " /></a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-2484111286489626002011-04-29T19:00:00.000-07:002011-04-29T19:40:57.851-07:00Just Believe and Loose THE FAT NOW !myfatcurein2011.blogspot.com<br />I am no longer over weight and at such a high rate for heart attacks and strokes!<br />I lost 41 pounds and 41 inches in just 43 DAYS! Do a Google search on Kevin Trudeau's book<br />THE WEIGHT LOSS CURE. I read this book about 4 years ago and then put it out of my mind, because I did not think it would be possible for me to do all that was required at the time.<br />Things have CHANGED DRASTICALLY, and I was going no where, in my efforts to become healthy and loose the weight. I was going to Med-Fit and burning 600 cals. a day and lifting weights and using exercise equipment, but could not loose any more then 5 pounds that came right back!<br />I read about the HCG diet on the internet recently. I kept searching, until I found what appeared to be the best bet for me. It consisted of taking a simple spray in the mouth 2 times a day and 12 hours apart, that tricks the body into releasing the STORED FAT that will not leave the body any other way.<br /><br /> If you will just go back to my FIRST POST, you will see that I had no idea that this would work<br />or not. It just seemed very possible that it could work, after reading the book "POUNDS AND INCHES", by Dr. A.T.W Simeons, who came up with a CURE FOR OBESITY in the 50's.......<br /><br />Here are my results:<br />Weighed at start of diet, before loading at 228..........After loosing 41 -pounds in 43 days<br /> My current weight is 188 as of 4-30-2011, as I believe I will have lost a pound by morning!<br /> There is NO REASON YOU CANNOT LOOSE BETWEEN 40 AND 20 POUNDS IN THE NEXT 50 DAYS. Men tend to loose on average 40 and women 20. <br /> <br />Inches before: Inches after:<br />neck 18 neck 15.5<br />shoulders 50 shoulders 48<br />chest 48 chest 42 <br />stomach 43 AAAAAAHHHHH ! stomach 36<br />waist 38 waist 34.5<br />butt 41 butt 38.25 <br />bicepts 17.5 rt bicept 14.5<br />" 17 lft bicept 14.5<br />thighs 24.5 rt thigh 21.25<br />" 23.5 lft thigh 21<br />calf 15.5 rt calf 14<br />" 15 lft calf 13<br />forearms 13.5 rt forearm 12.5<br />" 13.5 lft forearm 12<br />__________________ _____________________<br /> <br /> 378 inches 336.5 *LOST 41.5 INCHESAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-61397281583315298892011-04-01T06:37:00.001-07:002011-04-01T06:38:16.842-07:00A Refreshing Study of the RESURRECTION<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vnZI1rJYfvU/TZXVQYBEELI/AAAAAAAAAoE/Qkf3LBOQND8/s1600/pretty%2Bsky.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 188px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vnZI1rJYfvU/TZXVQYBEELI/AAAAAAAAAoE/Qkf3LBOQND8/s400/pretty%2Bsky.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5590608989751873714" /></a><br /><h1 align="center" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span ><br />A REFRESHING STUDY</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span >ON THE RESURRECTION</span></h1><h4 align="center" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span >by E. W. Bullinger</span></h4><hr size="5" width="90%" color="#0000FF" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><blockquote style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><p> Scripture shuts us up to the blessed hope of being reunited in resurrection. That is why the death of believers is so often called "sleep"; and dying is called "falling asleep"; because of the assured hope of awakening in resurrection. It's language is, "David fell on sleep" (Acts 13:36), not David's body, or David's soul. "Stephen ... fell asleep" (Acts 7:60). "Lazarus sleepeth" (John 11:11), which is explained, when the Lord afterward speaks "plainly", as meaning "Lazarus is dead" (v. 14).<br /><br /> Now, when the Holy Spirit uses one thing to describe or explain another, He does not choose the opposite word or expression. If He speaks of night, He does not use the word light. If He speaks of daylight, He does not use the word night. He does not put "sweet for bitter, and bitter for sweet" (Isa. 5:20). He uses adultery to illustrate Idolatry; He does not use virtue. And so, if He uses the word "sleep" of death, it is because sleep illustrates to us what the condition of death is like. If Tradition be the truth, He ought to have used the word awake, or wakefulness. But the Lord first uses a Figure, and says "Lazarus sleepeth"; and afterwards, when He speaks "plainly" He says "Lazarus is dead". Why? Because sleep expresses and describes the condition of the "unclothed" state. In normal sleep, there is no consciousness. For the Lord, therefore, to have used this word "sleep" to represent the very opposite condition of conscious wakefulness, would have been indeed to mislead us. But all His words are perfect; and are used for the purpose of teaching us, and not for leading us astray.<br /><br /> So effectually has Satan's lie, "thou shalt not surely die", succeeded and accomplished its purpose that, though the Lord Jesus said "I will come again and receive you unto Myself", Christendom says, with one voice, "No! Lord. Thou needest not come for me: I will die and come to Thee". Thus the blessed hope of resurrection and the coming of the Lord have been well nigh blotted out from the belief of the Churches; and the promise of the Lord been made of none effect by the ravages of Tradition.<br /><br /> In Phil. 2:27, we read that Epaphraditus "was sick nigh unto death; but God had mercy on him"..So that it was mercy to preserve Epaphraditus from death. This could hardly be called "mercy" if death were the "gate of glory", according to popular tradition.<br /><br /> In 2 Cor. 1:10-11, it was deliverance of no ordinary kind when Paul himself was "delivered from so great a death" which called for corresponding greatness of thanksgiving for God's answer to their prayers on his behalf. Moreover, he trusted that God would still deliver him. It is clear from 2 Cor. 5:4 that Paul did not wish for death; for he distinctly says "not for that he would be unclothed, but clothed upon (i.e. in resurrection and "change") that mortality might be swallowed up of LIFE"; not of death. This is what he was so "earnestly desiring" (v.2)<br /><br /> Hezekiah also had reason to praise God for delivering him from "the king of terrors". It was "mercy" shown to Epaphraditus; it was "a gift" to Paul; it was "love" to Hezekiah. He says (Isa. 38:17- 19): "For the grave (Heb. sheol) cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day."<br /><br /> On the other hand the death of Moses was permitted, for it was his punishment; therefore, there was no deliverance for him though he sought it (Deut. 1:37; 3:23,27; 4:21,22; 31:2). Surely it could have been no punishment if death is not death; but, as is universally held, the gate of paradise!<br /><br /> In 1 Thes. 4:15, we read: "This we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain shall not precede them which are asleep."<br /><br /> To agree with Tradition this ought to have been written, "shall not precede them which are already with the Lord". But this would have made nonsense; and there is nothing of that in the Word of God.<br /><br /> While we may draw our own inferences from what the Scriptures state, we shall all agree that it is highly important that we should clothe these views in Scriptural terms, and that we should ask and answer how far it is that these popular sayings have practically, at any rate until recent years, blotted out the hope of resurrection, the hope of the Lord's coming again to fulfill His promise, to receive us to Himself. You remember how the apostle speaks to some in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians, who say that there is "no resurrection of the dead"; and in writing to Timothy he refers to Hymenaeus & Philetus, who had led some away from the faith by saying that "the resurrection is past already".<br /><br /> The greatest comfort which the greatest Comforter that the world ever knew had to give to a sister who had been bereaved of a beloved brother was, "Thy brother shall rise again." All hope is bound up with this great subject: and, if our Theology has no place in it for this great hope, then the sooner we change it the better; for remember that this subject is one of revelation.<br /><br /> We are expressly enjoined by the Lord Himself: "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice" (John 5:28). These are the Lord's own words, and they tell us where His Voice will be heard; and, that is not in heaven, not in Paradise, or in any so-called "intermediate state", but in "the GRAVES". With this agrees Dan. 12:2, which tells us that those who "awake" in resurrection will be those "that sleep in the dust of the earth"; from which man was "taken" (Gen. 2:7; 3:23), and to which he must return (Gen. 3:19; Eccl. 12:7).<br /><br /> Psalm 146:4 declares of man, "His breath goes forth, He returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish." The passage says nothing about the "body". It is whatever has done the thinking. the "body" does not think. The "body", apart from the spirit, has no thoughts. Whatever has had the "thoughts" has them no more; and this is "man".<br /><br /> There is Eccl. 9:5, which declares that "The living know that they shall die; But the dead know not anything". It does not say dead bodies know not anything, but "the dead", i.e. dead people, who are set in contrast with the "living". As one of these "living", David says, by the Holy Spirit (Psa. 146:2; 104:33):"While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being". There would be no praising the Lord after he had ceased to "have any being". Why? Because "princes" and the "son of man" are helpless (Psa. 146:3,4). They return to their earth; and when they die, their "thoughts perish": and they "know not anything".<br /><br /> This is what God says about death. He explains it to us Himself. We need not therefore ask any man what it is. And if we did, his answer would be valueless, inasmuch as it is absolutely impossible for him to know anything of death, i.e. the death-state, beyond what God has told us in the Scriptures.</p></blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-33459917582747114212011-02-26T21:38:00.001-08:002011-02-26T21:39:32.728-08:00Be At Peace With God<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--97BDpAdmF4/TWnjh3aI6gI/AAAAAAAAAl8/guYLZfVwMKs/s1600/biblebasicintsructionsbeforeleavingearth.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 173px; height: 125px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--97BDpAdmF4/TWnjh3aI6gI/AAAAAAAAAl8/guYLZfVwMKs/s400/biblebasicintsructionsbeforeleavingearth.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578239784423844354" /></a><br /><center style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span ><h1><span >Be Conciliated To God</span></h1><blockquote><b><span >“<i>For Christ, then, are we ambassadors, as of God entreating through us.<br />We are beseeching for Christ's sake, 'Be conciliated to God!</i>'”</span></b><br />(2 Corinthians 5:20)</blockquote></span></center><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span ></span></span><div align="justify" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span >“IS GOD entreating me to be at peace with Him? I thought He was angry with me because of my sins.”<p>Not so! God, in His fathomless grace, condescends to do all the entreating now! Don't drown out His entreaties with your pleadings for forgiveness, for He gives you His word that your sins have been already taken care of, once and for all, by the Savior, Christ Jesus, Who died for you on the cross.</p><p>“But how can I be sure ...?”</p><p>Your salvation is guaranteed by the fact that God raised Him from the dead. God's Word assures us that Christ “was given up because of our offenses, and was roused because of our justifying” (Rom. 4:25, Concordant Version).</p><p>Your faith in these facts is all that really matters. There is nothing left for you to do, except believe God. “Yet to him who is not working, yet is believing on Him Who is justifying the irreverent, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.” (Rom. 4:5). “For in grace are you saved, and this is not out of you”; it is an outright gift, not based on anything which you may do, but based on His love for you. These things are so, “lest anyone should be boasting. For His achievement are we” (Eph. 2:6-10). If your faith is genuine, this is only because you have been “graciously granted, for Christ's sake, ... to be believing on Him” (Phil. 1:29).</p><p>The Lord Jesus did not merely offer you a “chance” to believe. No, He cares so much for God's chosen ones that He provides for them ever so much better than that. Besides, before you had the spirit, you were “not able to know” concerning spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). And when God called you, He was quite as able to unveil His Son in you as He was in Paul (Gal. 1:15,16). The reason why anyone believes is not because of something he has done, but because of something He, the Lord Jesus, has done! “The grace of our Lord overwhelms” our unbelief “with faith and love in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 1:14). God already chose those “in Christ” long ago; so there is no risk involved at all (Eph. 1:4-6).</p><p>“God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that, while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes” (Rom. 5:8). God has done it all. Salvation is “of the Lord.” It is by God in man, not God and man!</p><p>He gave His Son to die for you; He made Him to be a sin offering for your sake; He gives you His own righteousness through Christ. He has provided everything because He knows that you cannot provide it yourself. Rather you should recognize that God has already done it by Himself for Himself, so He needs no conciliation. But you do! All the estrangement is on your side. The quickest way to rid yourself of it is to listen to His entreaties, and heed them.</p><p>Sit down and think it over. The moment your thoughts stray back to yourself, you are off the track. Let me tell you a secret. The greatest thing, after all, is not your salvation, but God's glory. That is really His main reason for saving you. He loves you and He never would have allowed sin to come between you and Himself in the first place, if it would not eventually be to His glory and for your greatest good.</p><p>Ponder this: God is actually entreating you to be conciliated, or at peace, with Him. He has done everything necessary to justify you, so that you may walk boldly into His presence (Rom. 5:1,2). Right now you may not be able to realize all of this fully, but respond to His entreaty <span >–</span> Be conciliated to God! And thank Him for His unspeakable gift!</p><p>“For Christ, while we are still infirm, still in accord with the era, for the sake of the irreverent, died” (Rom. 5:6).</p></span><p><span >“God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that, while we are still sinners, Christ dies for our sakes. Much rather, then, being now justified in His blood, we shall be saved from indignation, through Him. For if, being enemies, we were conciliated to God through the death of His Son, much rather, being conciliated, we shall be saved in His life. Yet not only so, but we are glorying also in God, through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom we now obtained the conciliation” (Rom 5:6, 8-11).</span></p></div><div align="right" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><p><span >A. E. Knoch</span></p></div><center style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><p><span >Copyright © Concordant Publishing Concern</span><br /><span >15570 Knochaven Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91350, U.S.A. 661-252-2112 </span><br /><i><span >This publication may be reproduced for personal use</span></i><br /><i><span >(all other rights reserved by copyright holder).</span></i></p></center>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-78492809786817131582010-12-12T17:12:00.000-08:002010-12-12T17:12:02.996-08:00The Eons of Time Not Eternity<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/v5-zeoUCGs4?fs=1" width="425" frameborder="0" height="344"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-18256389422070662692010-12-10T06:57:00.000-08:002010-12-10T07:00:05.098-08:00Who Am I - I Am In Christ Jesus A new Creature<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LZT_6V7rpR8/TQJAaBjAKeI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/_YSV5qm4wSo/s1600/christ%2Bdid%2Bit%2Bnot%2Bme.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 383px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LZT_6V7rpR8/TQJAaBjAKeI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/_YSV5qm4wSo/s400/christ%2Bdid%2Bit%2Bnot%2Bme.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549068506709895650" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; "><div id="ygrp-text" style="line-height: 1.22em; font-family: Georgia; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; ">LOOK TO CHRIST God has made you who you are as a part of His new creation. Any attempt at knowing who you really are must start here. "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17). So, who are you, really? You are a new creature in Christ. Paul wrote, "For to me to live is Christ …" (Philippians 1:21). In Galatians 2:20 he said, "I am crucified … but Christ lives in me." Since it is true that we no longer live, but Christ lives in us, let me ask you this question: If you want to get to know who you are, who are you going to have to get to know? Him! In other words, to discover your <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_1" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">true identity</span>, you will have to discover Him Who alone is your life. It is impossible to know who you really are apart from Him – apart from knowing Him. Realizing this one simple truth frees you from the "know thyself" world-view. You are delivered from it by knowing the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_2" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Lord Jesus Christ</span>, in Whom you have your new, true identity. Hear Paul again, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death" (Philippians 3:10). The call of the believer's life is not some human, self-centered psychology of "know thyself," but by the divine, Christ-centered spirituality of "know Him." E.W. Bullinger wrote, As to the natural man, all is different. The ancient philosophy had a motto continually sounding in its ears, "<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_3" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Know thyself</span>." This saying was introduced by Solon, one of the seven wise men of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_4" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Greece</span>, and the wisest of them all. A lawgiver, a great reformer, and a great patriot, 638 years before Christ, Solon gave this as his most precious wisdom. It was carved over all the schools and seats of learning, its letters may be seen today carved in the marble ruins of Greece. It was good, so far as man's wisdom went; it was the best that man could do! Oh, but how impossible to obey it! It is the one thing man never could do. It is the one thing none of us know. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). If we could know ourselves thus, what then? When we came to this knowledge, and saw ourselves and our ruin, would it not end in despair? No, we can only know ourselves by the knowledge of Christ. Christianity came and brought with it a loftier motto, a heavenly wisdom, a Divine truth: "That I may know Him."[1] Paul also wrote, "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_5" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Spirit of the Lord</span> is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_6" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">glory of the Lord</span>, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:17-18). Beholding and Becoming Paul tells us that as we behold the glory of the Lord, we are changed into His image. This is the principle of what we might call Beholding and Becoming. As you BEHOLD Him, you are transformed into His image. This beholding and becoming is carried out and accomplished in the very details of your life. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_7" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">The Father</span> is steadily at work in you, manifesting the life of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus He accomplishes this in the most difficult circumstances that life may throw at you. This is the great plan of God in your life. Changed The Father is transforming you, so that you are being "changed into the same image." This word "changed" is the Greek word metamorphoō from which we get our word "metamorphose," which Webster defines as, "to change into a different form; to transform."[2] It appears three other times in the Greek Scriptures. It is used twice of the Lord Jesus Christ's transfiguration: "And after six days Jesus takes with Him Peter, and James, and John, and leads them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured [metamorphoō] before them" (Mark 9:2). "And was transfigured [metamorphoō] before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light" (Matthew 17:2). And this same word is by Paul in Romans chapter 12: "And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed [metamorphoō] by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:2). Image Just exactly what is this "change"? We are being TRANSFORMED "into the same image" of the Son. The Greek word for "image" is eikōn. Its usage by <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_8" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Paul the Apostle</span> is very telling. He uses this word in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ being in the "<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_9" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">image of God</span>": "… Christ, Who is the image [eikōn] of God …" (II Corinthians 4:4). "… Who is the image [eikōn] of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature" (Colossians 1:15). Then Paul uses this same word in reference to believers: "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image [eikōn] of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Romans <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_10" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">8:29</span>). "And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image [eikōn] of the Heavenly" (I Corinthians <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_11" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">15:49</span>). "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image [eikōn] of Him Who created him" (Colossians 3:10). The Lord Jesus Christ is in "the image of God," and you are being transformed into "the image of His Son." The <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_12" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">first principle</span> of knowing who you really are is to look to Him, to know Him, to keep your eyes upon Him – for all that you are is "in Him." Well did the hymn writer pen, O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There's light for a look at the Savior, And life more abundant and free! Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.[3] Clyde L. Pilkington, Jr, © Daily Email Goodies™ --------------------------- BOOKS BY CLYDE L. PILKINGTON, JR. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://clydepilkington.com/" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); line-height: 1.22em; font-family: Verdana; "><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_13" style="line-height: 1.22em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; ">http://ClydePilkington.com</span></a> DAILY EMAIL GOODIES Receive the Daily Email Goodies by signing up at: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://dailyemailgoodies.com/" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); line-height: 1.22em; font-family: Verdana; "><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_14" style="line-height: 1.22em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; ">http://dailyemailgoodies.com</span></a> OUR WEEKLY PERIODICAL <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_15" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">The Bible</span> Student's Notebook, available in two formats: Electronic (e-mailed to you) and Printed (mailed to you). <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://biblestudentsnotebook.com/" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); line-height: 1.22em; font-family: Verdana; "><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_16" style="line-height: 1.22em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; ">http://biblestudentsnotebook.com</span></a> OUR ONLINE ARTICLES Bible Student's Notebook past articles online. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.pilkingtonandsons.com/Articles.htm" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); line-height: 1.22em; font-family: Verdana; "><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_17" style="line-height: 1.22em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; ">http://www.pilkingtonandsons.com/Articles.htm</span></a> </p></div><div style="line-height: 1.22em; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 0px; ">__._,_.___</div><div id="ygrp-actbar" style="line-height: 1.22em; clear: both; margin-bottom: 10px; white-space: nowrap; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); padding-top: 15px; "><div style="line-height: 1.22em; "><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:Clyde@StudyShelf.com?subject=Re%3A%20%232550%20%5BUnion%20with%20Christ%5D" target="_blank" href="mailto:Clyde@StudyShelf.com?subject=Re%3A%20%232550%20%5BUnion%20with%20Christ%5D" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); line-height: 1.22em; margin-right: 0px; padding-right: 0px; ">Reply to <span style="line-height: 1.22em; font-weight: 700; ">sender</span></a> | <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:dailyemailgoodies@yahoogroups.com?subject=Re%3A%20%232550%20%5BUnion%20with%20Christ%5D" target="_blank" href="mailto:dailyemailgoodies@yahoogroups.com?subject=Re%3A%20%232550%20%5BUnion%20with%20Christ%5D" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); line-height: 1.22em; ">Reply to <span style="line-height: 1.22em; font-weight: 700; ">group</span></a> | <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dailyemailgoodies/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJxMGZsbjNzBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE3NTUyMzMxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTAxOTUwOQRtc2dJZAMxODI3BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3JwbHkEc3RpbWUDMTI5MTk4OTU3Ng--?act=reply&messageNum=1827" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); line-height: 1.22em; ">Reply <span style="line-height: 1.22em; font-weight: 700; ">via web post</span></a> | <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dailyemailgoodies/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJmdmFzOHJmBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE3NTUyMzMxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTAxOTUwOQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNudHBjBHN0aW1lAzEyOTE5ODk1NzY-" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); line-height: 1.22em; font-weight: 700; "><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_18" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Start a New Topic</span></a></div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dailyemailgoodies/message/1827;_ylc=X3oDMTM1a2Z0YmV1BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE3NTUyMzMxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTAxOTUwOQRtc2dJZAMxODI3BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3Z0cGMEc3RpbWUDMTI5MTk4OTU3NgR0cGNJZAMxODI3" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); line-height: 1.22em; "><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1291992892_19" style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Messages in this topic</span></a> (<span style="line-height: 1.22em; font-weight: 700; ">1</span>)</div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-21768053440798222052010-12-09T13:27:00.000-08:002010-12-09T13:27:02.556-08:00Grace TRANSCENDENT<iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Tp35N2a8ISQ?fs=1" frameborder="0"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-90297601215493564512010-12-06T16:05:00.000-08:002010-12-06T16:08:20.065-08:00Free Will.....Or God's Will Be Done In All<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LZT_6V7rpR8/TP164LBVxMI/AAAAAAAAAjA/F7_Xu4EMYuk/s1600/LOOK%2BAND%2BSEE.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 275px; height: 388px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LZT_6V7rpR8/TP164LBVxMI/AAAAAAAAAjA/F7_Xu4EMYuk/s400/LOOK%2BAND%2BSEE.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547725421439993026" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 16px; "><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><strong>The Myth of Free Will</strong></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">I was raised in the “free will” doctrine and taught it diligently for many years as a pastor. We all do have a will: the “problem” is that it isn’t free. “Free will” is a myth.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">We did not choose our race, our nationality, our sex, our eye or hair color, our birth date, or even who our parents were. No “free will” there at all, and that is just for “starts.”</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">“Free-will” is “influenced” by our culture, our society, our peers, our sex, our upbringing, our parents, and by our spouses, etc. “Free will” is simply an illusion. Everything about us is a composite of influences around us, and in circumstances over which we have no control or choice whatsoever. We did not even choose to be here.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Something as basic as the weather conditions restrain our so-called “fee will.” For instance, we use our “free will” to “choose” to go hiking – then a strong thunderstorm settles in and changes our “free will” plans.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">My mother had no “free will” in getting cancer. My father had no “free will” in dying from it. Jenny had no “free will” in her husband abandoning her and her children. Bob had no “free will” in the loss of his job. Jerry had no “free will” in the drunk driver that paralyzed him and killed his son.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Aashish had no “free will” being born, and then living and dying without ever even having heard of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ – not even once, let alone the gospel of what He had done for him.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">We all have a “will,” but whatever are its characteristics, “free” is definitely not one of them. Even our belief in “free will” is not of our own “choosing” – it was thrust upon mankind by the religious system. It makes for good theology, but it just isn’t true. Paul warned us of religion’s <em>“will worship”</em> (Colossians 2:23); and if we listen closely we can hear this worship of human “free will” in the language of its believers:</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">“<strong><em>I</em></strong> believed in the gospel.”</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">“<strong><em>I</em></strong> came to Christ.”</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">“<strong><em>I</em></strong> chose to place my faith in Christ.”</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">“<strong><em>I</em></strong> decided to live for God.”</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">The disciples may have thought that they chose to follow the Lord, but Jesus set the record straight:</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em>“You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you”</em> (John 15:16).</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">This is why John wrote that the work in Israel was not <em>“of the will of man, but of God”</em> (John 1:13).</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">As parents we love our children; and they love us “back.” They respond to our unconditional love of them. They do not love us out of “free will” – they did not pick us out and “choose” to love us – they were influenced in their “decision” to love us only because we loved them first. They were set up! And so it is with God in His relationship with us. We learn this from John’s simple words:</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em>“We love Him, because He first loved us”</em> (I John 4:19).</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">There is no “free will.” The reason that we love Him is completely <em>outside</em> of ourselves. His love is the <em>first cause</em> from which our love springs. Paul wrote of this love being manifest through the Lord Jesus Christ to us:</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em>“For the love of Christ constrains us”</em> (II Corinthians 5:14).</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">His love is not just available, or a potential love, nor an offer of love; but a<em>constraining</em> love. “<em>Constrain</em>” is a strong word. The Greek word from which it is translated is <em>sunecho.</em> James Strong defines it as “to arrest (a prisoner).” The word is so strong that it is used in the Scriptures of being <em>overtaken</em> by a disease (Matthew 4:24; Luke 4:38; Acts 28:8).</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">It is interesting that Paul used this word, for he knew firsthand of Christ’s constraining love. It arrested him on the road to Damascus. Paul (Saul) was not seeking Christ. He did not “choose” Him. Paul met the resurrected Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, and there called Him “Lord” (Acts 9:6). This was all the grand, abrupt, course-altering, sovereign work of God in reaching Paul.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Paul was on his way to Damascus to do harm to the saints there. He did not change his mind by his own “free will.” Rather, it was the dramatic “Damascus Road experience” that transformed his will. Paul met with spectacular interference to his “free will.” He met the resurrected Christ! One day, those who have not trusted Christ during this life will be resurrected and brought into the presence of the Son of God, and will with Paul call Him “Lord.”</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em>“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” </em>(Philippians 2:10).</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Oh, the extent to which God will go to reach man! Isn’t it odd how Christendom limits God’s ability, and yet makes man’s will free. God is not limited at all, and in due course He will pull out all the stops in reaching mankind with His love.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">There are two “wills” in the universe: the Creator’s and the creatures. God’s will is FREE, the creatures’ is not. God <em>“will have all men to be saved”</em> (I Timothy 2:4), and He Who <em>“works all things after the counsel of His Own will”</em> (Ephesians 1:11) will <em>“reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven”</em> (Colossians 1:20), making Him <em>“the Savior of all men”</em>(I Timothy 4:10).</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">When my children were young we lived on a busy street with no fence around our house. I would not allow them to play in or near the street. They had no “free will.” I constrained them with my love.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">We are not the masters of our own fate. We are not the lords of our own lives. We are the creatures, not the Creator. <em>“He is Lord of ALL”</em> (Acts 10:36), <em>“in Him we live, and move, and have our being”</em> (Acts 17:28), and our response to His love is all a matter of timing, <em>“but every man in his own order”</em> (I Corinthians 15:23).</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">None of us had any “free will” in being included in the disobedience of Adam. It was forced upon us. Neither do any of us have any “free will” about the undoing of Adam in the obedience of Christ.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em>“Therefore as by the offence of one</em> [Adam] <em>judgment came upon <strong>all men</strong> to condemnation; <strong>even so</strong> by the righteousness of One</em> [Christ] <em>the free gift came<strong>upon all</strong> men unto justification of life.”</em> (Romans 5:18)</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Not even our faith to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is a matter of our own choosing.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em>“For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that <strong>not of yourselves:</strong> it is<strong>the gift of God</strong> …”</em> (Ephesians 2:8-9).</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">THIS is the good news, believe it or not.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em>“If we believe not, yet He abides faithful: He cannot deny Himself”</em> (II Timothy 2:13).</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Clyde L. Pilkington, Jr.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em>© Daily Email Goodies</em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-71597684967068595252010-12-03T11:27:00.000-08:002010-12-03T11:30:31.022-08:00He Does Give the Faith To BELIEVE - THEN YOU BELIEVE<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LZT_6V7rpR8/TPlFStCf60I/AAAAAAAAAio/bvxN1CLuRFY/s1600/christ%2Bdid%2Bit%2Bnot%2Bme.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 383px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LZT_6V7rpR8/TPlFStCf60I/AAAAAAAAAio/bvxN1CLuRFY/s400/christ%2Bdid%2Bit%2Bnot%2Bme.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5546540603713514306" /></a><br />Why do I believe in God. It is His will.<div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/LiteralWord#p/c/55793076F3768271/1/mKHzieSgQZU">http://www.youtube.com/user/LiteralWord#p/c/55793076F3768271/1/mKHzieSgQZU</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-16887007903248782352010-10-21T13:06:00.001-07:002010-10-21T13:06:46.177-07:00Eternal Is Not Forever<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><blockquote><h4 align="center"><b>THE WORDS, "EON," AND "EONIAN"</b></h4></blockquote><p align="justify">As a teacher, I have not been very successful in impressing these words on students. While both are English words, they are not in general use. People still ask, "What do you mean by 'eon' and 'eonian?'" Well here is another effort in the direction of making the meaning plain. </p><p align="justify">My attention was recently called to a "Lexicon" which said the root, ai, means eternal. "Eon is aion, in Greek, and "eonian," is aionion. It is not easy to show this, because the Greek has what we might call a double o, which has the long sound, while the single o has the short sound. To be precise, the double o, or long o, is used in both these words, making the former, "i-on," with the long sound, as in "lone"; and making the latter word, "i-on-ion," with the first o long, and the other short. </p><p align="justify">But does ai mean eternal? If it does, then the noun, aion, means eternity. Let us see if it could possibly have that meaning. In Matt. 12:32, Christ closes a sentence in these words, "neither in this aion nor in that which is future." Would anyone speak of this eternity and that which is future? In Eph. 2:7, we find the phrase, "the on-coming aions." Would anyone speak of the on-coming eternities? The phrase, "the aions of the aions," is frequently found. How would it sound to say, the eternities of the eternities? In Matt. 24:3, the disciples asked the Lord, "What is the sign of Thy presence and of the conclusion of the aion?" Were they asking about the conclusion of the eternity? In I Cor. 10:11, Paul speaks of "the consummations of the aions." Is anyone so foolish as to suppose he had reference to the consummations of the eternities? </p><p align="justify">It is impossible to read the passages noted, and not see that aion refers to a period of time. When Christ said, "this aion," and "that which is future," he clearly implied that "this aion" will come to an end, and another aion will follow. When Paul said, "the on coming aions," he clearly implied that "this aion" will come to an end, and another aion will follow. When Paul said, "the oncoming aions," he clearly taught that there are to be aions which have not yet had a beginning. The phrase, "the aions of the aions," certainly speaks of a plurality of aions. The "conclusion of the aion," most assuredly means the present aion is to have a conclusion. And the discourse of our Lord, which follows, endorses this idea. "The consummations of aions" certainly shows that more than one aion will have a consummation. </p><p align="justify">Early English translators had an inkling of the meaning of the word, "aion." A version that was made long before the King James Version, translated the word by "werauld." This was a combination of "wer," meaning man, and "auld," meaning age. To them, an aion was a period of time about the length of a man's life. While they were not correct as to the length of an aion, they certainly did not believe it denotes eternity. This explains why the word is translated "world," so often in the King James Version. "World" became the accepted spelling of the old Anglo-Saxon word, "werauld." But it is out of place now, for world has come to mean "system," and kosmos is the correct Greek word for this. The King James Version correctly renders kosmos, by world and incorrectly renders aion, by world. </p><p align="justify">The King James "translators" certainly had no idea of the meaning of aion. They translated it, and its adjective form, "aionion," by EVER—NEVER—WHILE THE WORLD SANDETH— COURSE—WORLD—EVERMORE—NOW—EVERLASTING—AGE—BEGINNING OF THE WORLD—END OF THE WORLD—WORLD WITHOUT END—ETERNAL. Comment on these inconsistencies would be unnecessary, were it not for the fact that many people revere the King James Version above God, Himself. </p><p align="justify">To such ones, set me say, The King James Version was not the first English translation. Something like a dozen had been made before 1611, when this version was made, at the command of King James I. Even with the royal endorsement, the version did not come into general use until fifty years later. Even then it did not satisfy scholars, and the Revised Version was an attempt to improve on it. Later, the American Revision sought to further correct it. </p><p align="justify">Anyone of average intelligence and education can ascertain that an aion is a segment, or long period, of time. The scriptures show that there are five. In Eph. 2:2, we find "the aion of this kosmos." Transliteration aion into the English, eon, and translating kosmos into the English, world, the phrase reads, "the eon of this world," This indicates that each eon has a world. That being so, each world belongs to an eon. According to II Pet. 3:6, there was a world that was destroyed by water. This has reference to what is mentioned in Gen. 1:2, "The earth becomes waste and barren." That was before Adam. If there was a world, then, there was also an eon. In II Pet. 2:5, we find that God spared not the world in the days of Noah. So the world, or system that existed from Adam to the flood, was evidently in the second eon. The third eon began then, and will have its consummation at the future coming of Christ to establish His kingdom. The fourth eon will embrace what is usually called "the millennium." The fifth will follow the judgment at the white throne. The last two are called the eons of the eons. The last one is called the eon of the eons, and the eon of the eon. </p><p align="justify">Whether or not the reader believes what I have said, he certainly should be able to know that when I say "eon," I mean a long period of time. </p><p align="justify">It is just as easy to find the meaning of aion, or eon, as it is to find what any other word in the scriptures means. Much easier, in fact, than many other words. For its usage shows clearly, that it is a segment of time, that it has a beginning, and a consummation, that there was something which took place before the aions, I Cor. 2:7, and that there is to be a conclusion of the aions, Heb. 9:26. </p><p align="justify">AN EON IS A LONG PERIOD OF TIME.</p><p align="justify">Having found the meaning of aion, or eon, it is just as easy to know the meaning of the adjective, aionion, or eonian, as it is to know the meaning of American, after we learn what America means. An American city is a city in America. </p><p align="justify">The eonian God, is God in the eons, Rom. 16:26. That He is the eternal God, goes without saying. Otherwise He would not be God at all. But as the eons are the scenes of sin and death, we are happy to find God's relationship to the eons. Knowing Him to be the eonian God, we do not fear that He will be unable to manage the eons. </p><p align="justify">Eonian life means life in the eons. Its usage shows that it refers to the life believers shall have between their vivification in Christ's presence and the consummation of the eons. Let this "soak in," if possible. Don't call it eternal life, for the scriptures call it eonian life. And, please don't think the life will end at the consummation of the eons. It cannot end, for they have been made immortal. But after the eons it will not be eonian life any longer. It will just be life. And don't quibble, and say everybody who lives at any time during the eons, has eonian life. We are looking at words as they are used in the scripture. Eonian life, according to scripture usage, does not refer to the mortal life of any person. It means immortal life that believers shall have in Christ's presence, before the consummation of the eons. </p><p align="justify">Eonian Chastening, Matt. 25:46, means chastening in the eons. Eonian extermination, II Thess. 1:9, means extermination in the eons. Eonian fire, Jude 7, means fire in the eons. Without taking space now, to explain these passages, (I expect to do that in a later issue), suffice it say that none of this will extend beyond the consummation of the eons, for—</p><blockquote><p align="justify">"Consequently, then as it was through one offense for all mankind for condemnation thus also it is through one just award for all mankind for life's justifying," Rom. 5:18.</p><p align="justify">"For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, all shall be vivified," I Cor. 15:22. </p><p align="justify">"This is ideal and welcome before God our Savior, Who wills all mankind to be saved and to come into a realization of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator of God and mankind, a Man, Christ Jesus, the One giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for all," I Tim. 2:3-6. </p><p align="justify">"And through Him to reconcile the universe to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether on the earth or in the heavens," Col. 1:20. </p></blockquote><p align="justify">If chastening, or extermination, is endless, these passages are absolutely untrue. The King James Version, and every other version that I have ever seen, translates these passages so as to show that God has justification, vivification, salvation and reconciliation for all. True, the King James Version does not use the word "vivified," in I Cor. 15:22, but it says all shall be made alive IN CHRIST; and that same Version says that to be in Christ, is to be beyond condemnation, Rom. 8:1. Admit that all are to be made alive in Christ, and then claim that some of them will be condemned and you dispute that passage in Romans. </p><p align="justify">Please keep this paper. The same general theme will probably be discussed in several issues, looking at the matter from every angle. </p><div><br /></div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-43150744333998187032010-10-19T19:40:00.000-07:002010-10-19T19:40:33.581-07:00Part 4 ~ Eternal Hell Doesn't Cancel Out The Salvation Of All<object style="background-image:url(http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/rrNnrpAd4rc/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rrNnrpAd4rc?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rrNnrpAd4rc?fs=1&hl=en_US" width="425" height="344" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2082089850174096629.post-61224377644909567962010-10-19T19:33:00.000-07:002010-10-19T19:36:52.623-07:00God has the Will and POWER to save all each in their own order.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 19px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; color: rgb(55, 28, 0); "><p class="style5" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 0, 0); "><strong>The Universalism of the Bible Should Not Be Institutionalized</strong></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Those who believe in universalism of the Biblical variety, generally do not want to build a denomination around the teaching. It belongs to everyone. There are those who believe in the salvation of all mankind in every denomination of Christianity. They do not verbalize it because of the persecution they might receive. But surveys of Christians in main-line denominations prove many of them do NOT believe in Hell even though the teaching of Hell is part of their denomination’s teachings.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">In summary, the Universalism one finds in Tentmaker material, is a universalism that comes right out of the mouths of the Hebrew prophets; it is a universalism that came out of the mouth of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth; it is a universalism that the apostles of Christ established as a foundational teaching in the first century AD; and it is the universalism taught by the early church fathers for the first few centuries of the Common Era. True, by about the time of Augustine, this glorious teaching sank into the sands, which I believe pushed the Western world into the Dark Ages. During that time, those who embraced the Universal Restitution of all things were killed for their beliefs and many of their writings were burned. That is why we find much literature supporting universal salvation in the early church fathers’ writings but not much from about the fifth century to the time of the Reformation.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">But since the Reformation, there have been thousands of books, booklets, tracts, etc written by Christians who support the teaching of Universal Restoration through Scriptures. This teaching will NOT sink into the sands of time again. This teaching will grow and expand even as the knowledge of the Lord begins to cover the whole earth. The glory of Universal Salvation is part of the knowledge that will set creation free from its bondage to corruption.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Christians throughout Church History have used the following Scriptures to support their belief that Universalism is taught in the Bible-- that is, in its Hebrew and Greek form.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="style4" style="font-weight: bold; ">Luke 19:10: </span>"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." The question is this: Will Jesus Christ really do what He said He came here to do? He didn't say He came to save some of the lost. He came to save the lost. And that is everybody! Apart from Christ, we are all lost, but He came to seek for us until He finds us (Luke 15:4).</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Luke 3:6:</strong> "All flesh shall see the salvation of God." This verse is probably taken from Isaiah 40:5, which says, "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Surely these verses point in the direction of universal salvation. Matthew 5:8: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Luke 6:27-36:</strong> “But I [Jesus] say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungratefujl and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">If you are a Christian, you have probably read this passage many times to discover what kind of lifestyle Jesus expects from you. Have you ever thought of reading it as a description of God? Look at it in that light. Jesus says in the end that if you do these things, you will be like your Father, "for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil" and "your Father is merciful." Remember also that He is unchanging. If God's attitude toward sinners now is love and mercy, it will always be. Could the loving God described above really be happy knowing that even one of His children created in His image is suffering unspeakable anguish in hell forever?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Matthew 12:29:</strong> "How can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house." <strong>Luke 11:21-22:</strong> "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil." In these verses, the strong man is Satan, the stronger man is Christ, and the plunder or spoil is mankind. Jesus defeated Satan on the cross and He will eventually carry all of the spoils of that victory to be with Him. If anyone is eternally lost, Jesus' victory was only partial. In the NLT, Luke 11:22 is translated, "Until someone who is stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings." Jesus won the right on the cross to strip Satan of all his belongings, and He will!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Luke 15:4:</strong> "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?" Forgive me for coming back to this passage, but it is one of my favorites. To me it is so clear. If the average shepherd would keep on looking for one lost sheep and not give up until he finds it, surely our Lord will be no less persistent in seeking out every last one of His sheep, not just until they die, but until He finds them and brings them back safely to His fold. Praise His name forever! By asking, "What man of you...," Jesus gives clear sanction to the right to argue from those feelings shared even by the outcast and sinful, to the divine feelings as I have done in chapter 2. It is obvious that that is exactly what Jesus is doing here in this passage. It is as if He said, "If a shepherd won't give up until he finds one lost sheep, how much more will God refuse to give up on His children!"</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>John 1:6-7:</strong> "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him." That ALL might believe! That is God's stated reason for sending John, and that is His reason for all of His dealings with mankind. Dare we say that God will fail to accom¬plish His goal in sending John and all of the other prophets, and His only begotten Son?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>John 1:29: </strong>"The next day he [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, `Behold, the Lamb of God, who is going to try to take away the sin of the world!"' Is that what it says? No! Jesus is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" The sin of the whole world, not just a part of it. Will He do it? Does He work "all things according to the counsel of his will?" (Ephesians 1:11).</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>John 3:17:</strong> "God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." Again, why would God, who is all knowing, send Jesus to save the world if He knew beforehand that most of the world would not be saved? That doesn't make sense. God sent Jesus to save the world because He knew His Son would accomplish exactly what He sent Him to do.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>John 3:35, 6:37-39: </strong>"The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day." The false belief that salvation must take place before physical death necessi¬tates explaining away even the clearest scriptures. If you believe that punishment after death is temporary and remedial, as I hope to show when we get to our study of the Greek words translated "eternal" and "everlasting," the above verses are crystal clear. The Father has promised the Son that everyone will eventually come to Him. He has given them to Him. Their destiny as redeemed children of God is sure!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>John 6:33: </strong>"For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Notice He doesn't offer life to the world-He gives it! I am not saying faith and repentance are unnecessary. I am saying that verses like Philippians 2:10 about every knee bowing and every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God look forward to a time when everyone who has ever been born has come to faith and repentance.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>John 12:32:</strong> "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." We have already looked at this verse. Remember Jesus didn't say that He would draw a select group called "The Elect"! He doesn't say He will try to draw all people to Himself. He says He will do it! He says in the words of a poet:</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><em>So shall I lift up in My pierced hands beyond the reach of grief and guilt, the whole creation</em>. -Elizabeth Barrett Browning</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Matthew 11:27: </strong>"All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and ANYONE to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." This verse says as clearly as it possibly can that the only thing necessary for anyone to know God is for Jesus to choose to reveal Him to them. Why would Jesus choose not to reveal the Father to anyone for whom He died?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">In what has become known as the High Priestly Prayer, just before His betrayal and arrest, Jesus says in John 17:1-3: "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over ALL flesh, to give eternal life to ALL whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Who has the Father given to Jesus? All flesh. Or as John 3:35 says, "all things," or as John 12:32 says, "all people," the salvation of every person has been predestined from before the foundation of the world. The Father has given ALL mankind to Jesus, and He will draw them ALL to Himself in His time.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>John 19:30: </strong>"When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, `It is finished."' J.C. Ryle writes, "Our Lord meant that His great work of redemption was finished. He had as Daniel foretold, `finished transgression, made an end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness' (Daniel 9:24). After thirty-three years, since the day when He was born in Bethlehem, He had done all, paid all, performed all, suffered all that was needful to save sinners and satisfy the justice of God. He had fought the battle and won it, and in two days He would give proof of it by rising again."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">If the salvation of all men was not secured on the cross but only made available, it would have been far from finished. The battle would have just begun. The hard part would have been getting people to receive the salvation made available to them. People do need to receive it, but Jesus died knowing that they all eventually will because the Father had given them all to Him. It is finished! 1 John 2:2: "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">So much for limited atonement! Jesus made atonement for the sins of the whole world. Would He who knows all things, who knows the beginning from the end, die for anyone unless He knew His death would have the desired effect of reconciling all people to God?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>1 John 3:5:</strong> "You know that he [Jesus] appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin." Did Jesus really come just to take sin to hell and leave it there like a toxic waste dump, or did He come to annihilate it? Our next verse answers that question.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>1 John 3:8:</strong> "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." What is sin? The works of the devil. Jesus came not to keep sin in hell forever but to destroy it. That is why 2 Peter 3:13 says, "But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." Some day the entire universe will be completely devoid of sin, and God will be all in all! There won't be a place called hell that is full of sin forever, because according to Revelation 20:14, "Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire," presumably for destruction.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>1 John 4:14:</strong> "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the few who receive him in life, and to throw the rest into everlasting torment." Is that what it says? No, it says, "The Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world." Will He succeed, or will He fail?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Revelation 1:18:</strong> "I [Jesus] have the keys of Death and Hades." How can death eternally separate anyone from Christ when He has the keys of Death and Hades and He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Revelation 5:13:</strong> "And I [John] heard EVERY creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and ALL that is in them, saying, `To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"' How can people be left in hell weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth if they are ALL gathered before the throne of God and the Lamb, worshipping them and ascribing to them bless¬ing and honor and glory?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Ephesians 1:9-10: </strong>God's "purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time," is to "unite ALL things in him [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth." What other meaning could these verses possibly have than the clear meaning that is right there? In the fullness of time, ALL things ("all people," according to the context) will be united in Christ and God will be all in all! That is why Paul talks in verse 12 about "we who were the first to hope in Christ." We who are believers now are the firstfruits. The rest will follow in due time.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Acts 3:21 (NLT):</strong> Jesus "must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of ALL things, as God promised long ago through the prophets." Again, what else could this refer to but the complete restoration of every child of God created in His image to a right relationship with Him?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Acts 24:14-15: </strong>"I [Paul] worship the God of our fathers, believ¬ing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God ... that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust." This is the same man who said in Romans 9:3: "I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers." Would he hope for the resurrection of the unjust knowing that they were being raised only to be thrown body and soul into a place of torment forever?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">We have been looking mostly at the Gospels and Acts. Now we turn to the letters of Paul. We will find in them the stream of promise still widening, the universal nature of redemption indicated with a precision of language and a variety of illustrations that seem impossible to reconcile with endless evil. I don't mean that every passage quoted is in itself conclusive. I do mean that all are rele¬vant, as links in the great chain of promise, which taken together make a very strong case for universal restoration, which brings up an important question: If we are to believe in endless evil and endless suffering, how can we account for such passages that, taken in their natural meaning, obviously point to the wider hope?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">That the Bible holds out the hope of universal restoration and reconciliation cannot be denied (Acts 3:21; Colossians 1:20). If this will never take place, why is it in the Bible? Why does the Bible raise expectations that will never be fulfilled?<br />Paul's writings deserve special notice. His writings are the clos¬est thing to a systematic theology in the Bible ranging over the whole field of the divine purpose and human destiny. I want to draw your attention to two points:</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">1. Not only does Paul assert the sovereignty of God, but it also lies at the center of his teaching. He sees everywhere a purpose slowly but surely fulfilling itself, a purpose that can be resisted but not defeated.<br />2. He gives striking prominence to the resurrection as a spiri¬tual and redemptive force. It is the climax of Christ's work for man.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">In Romans 4:13, he says that God promised "Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world." God chose Abraham not for Abraham's sake only, but also that he might inherit the world. This is a spiritual inheritance, not physical. In verse 17, Paul cites Genesis 17:5: "As it is written, `I have made you the father of many nations."'</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Romans 5:18:</strong> "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for ALL men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for ALL men." This passage couldn't be more explicit. Everyone who was condemned by Adam's sin will be justified by Christ's death. If the word "ALL" means "all mankind" in the first part of the verse, it means "all mankind" in the second part. I highly recommend studying the entire passage (Romans 5:12-21) without a commen¬tary. Commentators will just try to explain away the clear teaching of this passage, which is that grace is always stronger than sin.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Romans 5:15:</strong> "If many [everyone] died through one man's [Adam's] trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift [salvation] by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many [everyone]." This verse is another example of those who believe in eternal hell changing the meaning of a word in the same sentence. In the first part of the verse, they say the word "many" refers to all men because Adam's trespass brought death on all mankind, but when Paul uses the same word in the second half of the same sentence, they say it refers only to those who are born again before they die, because they refuse to believe that God's grace will reach every man. Paul clearly says in this verse that the grace of God and the free gift of salvation abounds for everyone!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Romans 11:11-31:</strong> “So I ask, did they [Israel] stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their fore¬fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irre¬vocable. Just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Study this passage carefully and prayerfully and see how God, the Master Strategist, is working everything together toward a goal that cannot fail! What is that goal? The next verse tells us. Romans 11:32: "For God has consigned ALL to disobedience, that he may have mercy on ALL." God chooses this person or nation and hardens that person or nation not to save a select group called "the elect" as Calvinists would have us believe, but so that "he may have mercy on all."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Romans 11:36: </strong>"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." Look at each part of this declaration one at a time. "For from him ... are all things." This obviously means that all things have their origin in Him. He created every thing. "Through him ... are all things" Everything is sustained by Him. "To him are all things." As all things had their origin in Him, so they will return to Him. To Him be glory forever!! Amen!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Romans 14:11:</strong> "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." The margin of the ESV says, "Or shall give praise." The NASB translates it: "Every tongue shall give praise to God." The CEV: "Everyone will kneel down and praise my name!" The words are self-explanatory. Everyone will praise God!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>1 Corinthians 15:22:</strong> "As in Adam ALL die, so also in Christ shall ALL be made alive." The Message translates it: "Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ." Again I would ask you, Does it really make sense to take the first "all" to mean everyone and confine the second "all" to those who die in Christ? It is obvious that Paul has the same group in mind in both halves of the verse.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>1 Corinthians 15:22-28:</strong> “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "all things are put in subjection," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">At the end, there is no place for sin, evil, or hell, for God is all in all! If God has to cast some people into everlasting hell, it means that He was unable to get them to submit themselves to Him. They won't be submitting themselves to Him in hell; they will be hating Him and cursing Him for all eternity. What kind of subjection is that? All will willingly subject themselves to Jesus and to God the Father after He has purged them of all sin and rebellion. The same word is used of Christ's subjection to the Father, and of the subjection of Christ's enemies to Him. Obviously Christ's subjection to the Father is out of love. How can endless evil and torment be described as subjection to Jesus? Such an interpretation is excluded by the last statement in this passage: "that God may be all in all"!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>1 Corinthians 15:55: </strong>"0 death, where is your victory? 0 death, where is your sting?" If the majority of mankind will go to everlast¬ing hell after death, it would seem that death will have won a gigan¬tic victory! I urge you to study this entire section of scripture (1 Corinthians 15:12-58) and notice Paul's increasing rapture as his argument expands, as the prospect opens up to him of a universe yet to be, from which all sin and death are wiped out. Paul's words give only an imperfect expression of the absolute triumph of Christ, of the flood of glory that will fill the universe in the widest possible sense. God will be all in all!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>2 Corinthians 5:19:</strong> "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself." Note that it doesn't say God was trying to reconcile the world to Himself. He was doing it! Study this whole passage carefully (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). God's reconciliation of the world to Himself is an accomplished fact. When we tell others about Christ, we are just telling them to embrace what has already been accomplished. And if they don't do it in this life, they will in the life to come when EVERY knee shall bow and EVERY tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Ephesians 1:9-10:</strong> "His purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time," is "to unite ALL things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." If all things in heaven and earth are to be united in Christ, how is there any possibility of an endless hell or a creation permanently divided?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Ephesians 1:22-23: </strong>"And he [the Father] put all things under his [Jesus'] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." The Greek verb used here for all things being under Christ's feet is used in 1 Corinthians 15:28, referring to the subjection of Christ to the Father. As we saw in looking at that verse, Christ's subjection of Himself to the Father is willing submission out of His love for the Father. That is the same submission Jesus will someday have from "all things." Notice the last phrase of verse 23: "the fullness of him who fills all in all." God fills everything in every way. The idea of a place exist¬ing for all eternity where people are forever shut out from the pres¬ence of God doesn't fit in a universe where God fills all in all.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Ephesians 4:8:</strong> "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." Who are these captives? Luke 11:22, which we have already looked at, tells us. When Christ, the stronger man, broke into the strong man's (Satan's) house, he carried away all his belongings. 1 Peter 3:19, 4:6 tells us that Christ went and proclaimed the gospel to the spirits in prison (Hades) that they might live in the Spirit as God does.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Ephesians 4:10: </strong>"He who descended is the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things." As we saw in looking at Ephesians 1:23, if Christ fills all things, how can there be an everlasting hell where people are forever shut out from the presence of Christ? The doctrine of eternal hell totally contradicts so many verses of scripture. The day is coming when God will completely eradicate sin from existence, not just keep it tucked away in a dark corner of the universe called hell forever!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Colossians 1:19-20: </strong>Through Christ "God was pleased ... to reconcile to himself ALL things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." If God's goal in sending Christ was to reconcile everything to Himself, nothing can thwart that goal because He "works all things according to the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11).</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Philippians 2:10-11:</strong> "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Don't let that word "should" throw you. The NASB, NLT, NCV, CEV, The Message, and other translations all say "will." The key phrase is "to the glory of God."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">If people are just bowing outwardly out of fear or awe while their hearts remain unbowed, that doesn't glorify God. Some day, every creature everywhere will willingly bow in worship and adoration as it says so clearly in our next verse, Revelation 5:13: "And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, `To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"' This is so obviously genuine worship! Would God who loves all mankind really cast anyone into everlasting torment who worships Him like this? Obviously John is looking past the judgment to a time when everyone everywhere has at last been reconciled to God and God is all in all! Hallelujah!!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">In my church we sing a song called "Ancient of Days," which quotes this verse almost verbatim. It goes, "Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto Him who sits on the throne. From every nation all of creation bows before the Ancient of Days. Every tongue in heaven and earth shall declare your glory. Every knee shall bow at your throne in worship." Too bad I seem to be the only one in my church who believes the words as they're being sung.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Philippians 3:20-21:</strong> "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself." The way that the subjection of all things to Christ is to be understood is clear from the context, "who will transform our body to be like his glorious body." No believer doubts that Christ is able to subdue all things to Himself, but this passage shows decisively what that means. It is making them like Himself, not casting them into everlasting torment!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>1 Timothy 2:3-6:</strong> "This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time." There are basically three ways this passage can be interpreted:</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><em><strong>1. The Arminian</strong></em>-God desires all people to be saved. He gave His only Begotten Son to save everyone. But He can't save anyone except those who are willing to be saved.<br /><em><strong>2. The Calvinist-</strong></em>God has two wills that "appear" to contra¬dict each other-His revealed will and His secret will. Even though His expressed will is for all people to be saved, He really doesn't want anyone to be saved except for the elect whom He chose before the foundation of the world, and whom He effectually calls to Himself. They call this "appar¬ent" contradiction a paradox or an antinomy. But if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. In other words, if it looks like a contradiction and sounds like a contradiction, it probably is.<br /><strong><em>3. The Universalist-</em></strong>God wants all men to be saved. He sent Jesus to die for all men. God is sovereign. Therefore all will eventually be saved.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Unfortunately these are not straw men. I have heard and read each of these views from those who hold them. Which one sounds most plausible?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>1 Timothy 4:10:</strong> "We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe." The meaning is so clear it's transparent! God IS the Savior of everyone! He is the Savior of believers now and He will save everyone else in due time.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>2 Timothy 1:10:</strong> "Our Savior Christ Jesus ... abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Jesus has abolished death, and with death what it implies in scripture--sin and evil. Death abolished and death in its worst form, the second death, maintained forever, are plain contradictions.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Titus 2:11:</strong> "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people." How is God's grace bringing salvation for all people consistent with the eternal damnation of anyone?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>1 Peter 3:19:</strong> Christ "went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison." 1 Peter 4:6 tells us what was preached to them. Was it their eternal damnation? No, it was the Gospel. It says, "The gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">J.C. Ryle says, "Some theologians hold that, between His death and resurrection `He went and preached to the spirits in prison' (1 Peter 3:19) and proclaimed the accomplishment of His work of atonement." Although he himself considered this "doubtful," he says this view was held by Athanasius, Ambrose, Zwingle, Calvin, Erasmus, Calovius, and Alford. This is the most natural way to interpret these verses if you don't have to try to prove the unbiblical teaching that all chance for salvation ends at death.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>2 Peter 3:9:</strong> "The Lord is ... not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." The NIV translates it: "The Lord is ... not wanting anyone to perish." If the Lord does not want anyone to perish, we can rest assured no one will. We have already shown in chapter 2 that God is able to change people's hearts and make them willing to come to Him even if they come "kicking, struggling, and resentful" as C.S. Lewis so eloquently put it in his testimony.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Hebrews 1:2:</strong> "He [God] has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things." What sort of things do you suppose Jesus Christ is interested in inheriting? Mankind!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Psalm 2:7-8:</strong> "The Lord said to me, `You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession."' This verse is used in missions textbooks all the time. God has promised to give His Son all the nations as His inheritance, and He will do it!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Hebrews 2:5-9:</strong> “Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, "What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet." Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left NOTHING outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for EVERYONE.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Here is one more passage to add to the many that speak of Christ's kingdom being destined to extend over all things. I have already shown that subjection to Christ means not the subjugation of slaves, but perfect harmony and peace in the New Testament. The subjection of mankind will be like Christ's subjection to the Father, done out of love. (See notes on Philippians 3:21 and 1 Corinthians 15:25.) Christ has tasted death for everyone! Therefore all will be saved in due time.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Hebrews 2:14-15:</strong> "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver ALL those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." If Jesus' death destroyed the devil as to his having the power of death, how can death continue forever in hell? If Christ's death delivers ALL from the fear of death, how can eternal death be waiting for anyone?</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Hebrews 6:17 (NIV):</strong> "Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath." We see God's unchanging purpose clearly in 2 Peter 3:9 where it says that God is not willing for anyone to perish. The word translated "willing" there is a vari¬ant of the word translated "purpose" in Hebrews 6:17.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">If God's purpose or will is unchanging, and He is not willing that any should perish, we can be sure that God's purpose will come to pass in His time!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Hebrews 9:26:</strong> "He [Jesus] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." The NIV translates it, "To do away with sin." That is the question: Did Jesus come to completely do away with sin or just to safely contain it in hell forever? If sin exists forever, Christ's victory is incomplete, because He came to do away with it completely! Amen!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Hebrews 13:8: </strong>"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." The same Lord Jesus Christ that loved sinners when He was here in the flesh, who prayed for those who nailed Him to the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," that same Jesus will love sinners forever because He is unchanging!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">A few words of caution must be added here. I hope I have made it clear that in teaching universal salvation, I have not tried to minimize sin, nor have I taught that sinners will be saved while still clinging to their sins. I believe that many people have terrible sufferings awaiting them after they leave this life-how long and how severe I leave up to a loving and just God. But I believe that God never punishes for punishment's sake. He always has the sinner's repentance and restoration in view, and in His wisdom He knows exactly what it will take in each case to bring about the desired results!</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I am opposed to the popular creed partially because I believe that it in fact teaches men to make light of sin in two ways: first, because it teaches a plan of retribution that is so unjust as to make people secretly believe its penalties will never be inflicted; and next, because it asserts that God either will not, or cannot, overcome and destroy evil and sin, but will bear with them for ever and ever. I repeat that not a single word has been written in these pages that would indicate that God is just a "good of boy" who winks at sin and considers it a light matter when someone violates His holy law! God forbid that I should teach such shallow theology! It is in the light of Golgotha that we see sin as exceedingly sinful, so sinful that nothing less than the death of God incarnate could pay for it. But let us be careful, lest in thinking we are honoring the atonement we are actually dishonoring it by limiting its power to save by teaching that Christ failed in His mission as Savior of the world, making Him a liar. Because He never said, "If I am lifted up I will draw SOME men to myself," or "I will TRY to draw all men to myself," but, "I WILL draw ALL MEN to myself!"</p><p class="style5" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 0, 0); "><strong>PASSAGES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT</strong></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">GENESIS 12:3 In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (NKJV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">GENESIS 18:17, 18 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? (KJV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">GENESIS 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (KVJ)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">GENESIS 26:4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. (KJV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">GENESIS 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. (KJV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">1 SAMUEL 2:6 The Lord kills and he gives life, he sends down to Sheol, he can bring the dead up again. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">2 SAMUEL 14:14 For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him. (NKJV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">JOB 5:17-18 Happy the man whom God rebukes! Therefore do not reject the discipline of the Almighty. For, though he wounds, he will bind up; the hands that smite will heal. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 10:15 Break the power of wickedness and wrong; hunt out all wickedness until thou can't find no more. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 13:5 I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 16:10 You will not leave my soul in Sheol. (NKJV) ...abandon me to Sheol. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 17:7 Show me how marvelous thy true love can be. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 18:30 The way of God is perfect. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 30:2-3 0 Lord my God, I cried to thee and thou didst heal me. 0 Lord, thou has brought me up from Sheol and saved my life as I was sinking into the abyss. (NEB) ...spared me from going down into the pit. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 30:5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. (NKJV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 31:7 I put my trust in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad in thy unfailing love. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 40:4-5 Happy is the man who makes the Lord his trust ... Great things thou hast done, 0 Lord my God; thy wonderful purposes are all for our good. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 49:15 But God will redeem my life [soul] from the grave [Sheol]; he will surely take me to himself. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 66:10-12 For you, 0 God, have proved us; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us out to rich fulfillment. (NKJV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 68:18 When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 72:17-20 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. (KJV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 86:9 All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, 0 Lord; trey will bring glory to your name. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 86:13 For thy true love stands high above me; thou hast rescued my soul from the depths of Sheol. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 88:10-12 Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do those who are dead rise up and praise you? Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction? Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion? (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 100:5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues to all generations. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 102:19-21 The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 103:8-14 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keen His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. (NKJV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 103:22 Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 107:43 Let the wise man lay these things to heart, and ponder the record of the Lord's enduring love. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 116:3-8 The cords of death bend me, Sheol [Hell] held me in its grin. Anguish and torment held me fast; so I invoked the Lord by name. "Deliver me, 0 Lord, I beseech thee..." Gracious is the Lord and righteous, our God is full of compassion ...I was brought low and he saved me ... He has rescued me from death. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 118:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 119:71 How good it is for me to have been punished, to school me in thy statutes! (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 119:75 I know, 0 Lord, that thy decrees are just and even in punishing thou keepest faith with me. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 138:8 The Lord will accomplish his purpose for me. Thy true love, 0 Lord, endures for ever, leave not thy work unfinished. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 139:8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PSALM 145:3-17 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.. .I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. They will celebrate your abundant goodness ... The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. All you have made will praise you, 0 Lord ... They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know of your mighty acts...Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. The Lord upholds all those who fall ... The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ECCLESIASTES 3:14 Everything God does will endure forever. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ISAIAH 1:25 I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ISAIAH 14:24, 27 The Lord Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand"... For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ISAIAH 26:9 When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ISAIAH 46:9-10 I am God, there is no other, I am God, and there is no one like me; I reveal the end from the beginning, from ancient times I reveal what is to be: I say, "My purpose shall take effect, I will accomplish all that I please." (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ISAIAH 48:10 See, I have refined you ... I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ISAIAH 45:22-24 "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, `In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.'" All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ISAIAH 54:7-8 "For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you," says the Lord your Redeemer. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ISAIAH 55:1, 3, 5, 8-11 "Come, all you who are thirsty ...I will make an everlasting covenant with you ... Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel ... For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourishes is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">JEREMIAH 23:16-22 Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you ... They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord ... But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or hear his word? Who has listened to and heard his word? See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly. I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood, in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">JEREMIAH 30:24 See what a scorching wind has gone out from the Lord, a sweeping whirlwind. It whirls round the heads of the wicked; the Lord's anger is not to be turned aside, tit he has finished and achieved his heart's desire. In days to come you will understand. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">JEREMIAH 31:34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">JEREMIAH 32:27, 32, 37, 40 I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? ...The people of Israel and Judas have provoked me by all the evil they have done ...I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furies anger and great wrath ...I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">LAMENTATIONS 3:31-33 For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. (NIV) Though he may punish cruelly, yet he will have compassion in the fullness of his love; he does not willingly afflict or punish any mortal man. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">EZEKIEL 18:23 Have I any desire, says the Lord God, for the death of a wicked man? Will I not rather that he should mend his ways and live? (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">EZEKIEL 33:11 As I live, says the Lord God, I have no desire for the death of the wicked. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">EZEKIEL 34:11-16, 30-31 For these are the words of the Lord God: Now I myself will ask after my sheep and go in search of them. As a shepherd goes in search of his sheep when his flock is dispersed all around him, so I will go in search of my sheep and rescue them, no matter where they were scattered ... I will bring them out from every nation, gather them in from other lands, and lead them home ...I will search for the lost ... They shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they are my people Israel, says the Lord God. You are my flock, my people, the flock I feed, and I am your God. This is the very word of the Lord God. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">EZEKIEL 37:12 I will open your graves and bring you up from them, and restore you to the land of Israel. You shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them, 0 my people. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">HOSEA 6:1 Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us and will heal us, he has struck us and he will bind up our wounds. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">HOSEA 14:4, 9 I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them .... Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">JOEL 2:28, 3:21 And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people ... Their bloodguilt which I have not pardoned, I will pardon. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">AMOS (selections up to ch. 9): I will send fire ...I will send fire … will send fire ... I will send fire ... I will send fire ... Seem the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph lime a fire ... the Lord will smash the great house into pieces ... I will spare my people Israel no longer ...The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer ... Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites ... I will destroy it from the face of the earthen that day I will restore David's fallen tent ... I will bring back my exiled people Israel. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">MICAH 7:18-20 Who is a god like thee? Thou takest away guilt, thou passes over the sin of the remnant of thy own people, thou dost not let thy anger rage for ever but delightest in love that will not change. Once more thou wilt show us tender affection and wash out our guilt, casting all our sins into the depths of the sea. (NEB)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">HABAKKUK 1:5 Loom ... and watch-and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you weld not believe, even if you were told. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">HABAKKUK 2:3 The revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">HABAKKUK 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ZEPHANIAH 2:11 The Lord will be awesome to them when he destroys all the gods of the land. The nations on every shore will worship him, every one in its own land. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ZEPHANIAH 3:8-9, 15, 17, 19-20 I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them-all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger. Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder .... The Lord has taken away your punishment... he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love ... I will ... gather those who have been scattered ... At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ZECHARIAH 13:9 This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">MALACHI 1:11 In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">MALACHI 3:2-3 Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a laundress's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver, he will purify the Levies and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness. (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">MALACHI 3:6-7, 10 "I the Lord do not change. So you, 0 descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed ... Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty..."Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">MALACHI 4:1-2 "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the Lord Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings." (NIV)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">As we can see (if one has eyes to see), there are ample verses to prove that “Universalism IS in the Bible.” However, there are other passages of Scripture which appear to contradict the teaching of Universal Salvation. In the words of the famous Dr. C. Ryder Smith, a teacher of eschatology for twenty years, says in his book, The Bible Doctrine of the Hereafter (p. 258): "In an earlier chapter, it has been shown that the New Testament teaches everlasting punishment. On a review of the whole evidence, therefore, it follows that throughout that book there are two doctrines, which, to the human mind, are irreconcilable: The doctrine of universalism and the doctrine that there are those who will not be saved."</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></div></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "></div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14167941498808993659noreply@blogger.com0