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Gone Fishin'

~ …“Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men!”

Gone Fishin'

Tag Archives: parable

Trustworthy and Insightful Managers

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Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Devotional, Faith and Wisdom

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alert, disciple, entrusted, faithful servant, follower, freely give, gifts, goal, harshly whipped, heart work, insightful, lightly, manager, Master, parable, prepared, punished, readiness, resources, responsibility, responsible, reward, stewardship, trustworthy, unselfishly, watchful, wise, YeHoVaH God, Yeshua

…Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities! – Luke 12:48b, MSG

Yeshua’s watchfulness and readiness parable (see Luke 12:35-40) is the context in which He speaks the above verse to His close Disciples. In that parable, Yeshua explains how important it is to be alert and prepared for His return.

After Peter asks Yeshua if He is speaking just to His Disciples or to everyone, Yeshua Hamashiach uses another parable. In His second parable, He defines a watchful and ready person as a “faithful and wise manager” (Luke 12:42) who has been given the responsibility of using the gifts/resources he or she has to further YeHoVaH’s heavenly Kingdom and proclaim His Glory on earth by, for example, giving food and other needed essentials to the disadvantaged and doing so at “the proper time” (Luke 12:43).  

There can be no doubt that Yeshua is saying everyone – whether saved or unsaved – has been given gifts/resources. He adds that some people are given great ones and others are given greater ones. Moreover, He makes it clear that regardless of what gifts/resources each person has and regardless of how many or how much of them each person has, the bottom line is that everybody’s faithfulness to YeHoVaH and Yeshua requires that he or she behaves like a  trustworthy and insightful manager who uses responsibly – wisely and unselfishly – the gifts/resources entrusted to him or her.

Contrary to popular opinions, no one is supposed to use whatever YeHoVaH has entrusted to him or her to make his or her own individual life comfortable, secure, wealthy, famous, and etc. In other words, no human being can afford to take his or her responsibility lightly. If he or she does, Yeshua says that when He returns that person will suffer severely for his or her unfaithfulness (that person“…will be harshly whipped” – Luke 12:47, TLV). In contrast, the individual Yeshua finds faithfully and unselfishly doing what he or she is expected to do with the gifts/resources he or she had will receive a great reward, as well as will be put in charge of everything Yeshua owns (which is everything YeHoVaH owns).  

Responsible stewardship should be everyone’s goal – especially everyone who is a Yeshua believer and follower. In the end, each Yeshua believer and follower who is found to be a faithful steward will receive a greater reward in Heaven than anything he or she ever could have had on earth.

Selah . . . .

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The Dragnet

25 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Devotional

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"church" folk, bad fish, churchgoers, day of reckoning, dragnet, false “church” members, false preachers, False Teachers, good "catch", good fish, Great Commission, hard to swallow truths, moral lesson, parable, pretend believers, separtion, sobering truth, true believers, uncomfortable truth

The Dragnet Parable

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. ~ Matthew 13:47-48, ESV

The Dragnet parable definitely is a picture of the Work of Christ and His Disciples, who invite people to enter God’s Kingdom through faith in the Gospel of Christ—the dragnet. The Lord’s main point in this parable is that the Great Commission eventually reaches many people who say they are His, but the hard-hitting truth is that myriads of them do not belong to Him. Put differently, just like the dragnet catches all kinds of fish—regardless of their usefulness—Christ’s Gospel draws all kinds of people, including the multitudes who never repent and/or never follow Christ.

The above spiritual truth and  Divine Truth are why in The Dragnet parable Christ warns us about the false teachers, false preachers, and false church members who masquerade as Christians. He also teaches us that—just like the caught fish cannot be sorted until the fishermen pull their net ashore—all of the pretend Christians are not known until the end of the Age of Grace. The Lord communicates these hard to swallow truths through the bad fish in the net symbolism. This parable’s bad fish in the net symbolize the seeds of God’s enemy that are planted in the net to disrupt and discredit God’s Kingdom—much like the tares planted in the field of wheat in Christ’s Wheat and Tares parable. Then too—like in The Wheat and Tares parable—this Dragnet parable refers to the end of the Age separation of righteous Christians and unrighteous pretenders.

Once the separations are completed, both the bad fish and the tares are judged and then thrown into the Lake of Fire. Moreover, like the wheat, the good fish enter the Millennial Kingdom as mortal believers in unglorified bodies—the people who repopulate the Earth.

The Lord’s moral lesson in His Dragnet parable is this: There is a day of reckoning coming—the day when the Lord separates true believers from pretend unbelievers. Christ also teaches us that being caught in the net in no way means that every fish is a good catch. These Divine Truths are why we need to realize that people’s weekly church attendance and weekly participation in church activities are not signs of authentic Christianity. The sobering truth is that there are way more bad fish than we know who attend church services and participate in church activities, while the born again, saved, blood-bought and Holy Spirit-filled believers are fewer.

A word to the wise should be sufficient. Shalom.

Keep it real…Live it out…Watch it work!

 

~ from my manuscript – Keeping It Real: Daily Renewing the Mind

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The Bridegroom Is Coming: God’s Ultimate Marriage Story

25 Wednesday Feb 2009

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Prophecy

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Bride, Bridegroom, CHUCRH, Gentiles, grafted, great mystery, holiness, hypocritcal righteousness, Israel, Jews, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven, millennial reign, Oil of the Holy Spirit, Olive Tree, parable, rapture, righteousness, ten virgins

William Blake's Ten Virgins Painting (Based on The Parable of the Ten Virgins)

Contrary to popular opinion, the Ten Virgins’ parable is not about Israel being grafted back onto the Olive Tree just in time to rule with Christ during His millennial reign. Spiritually speaking, since the Kingdom of Heaven/Kingdom of God is inside every born again and saved believer in Christ, the Ten Virgins’ parable, thus, is about all believers (Jews and Gentiles) who live and die on Earth during the CHURCH Age (cf. Matthew 25:1-13).

Moreover, in this parable, Christ is teaching that not everyone who professes Christ as Lord will be counted in His true CHURCH number, because not every believer will have both an inner and outer appearance of righteousness, as confirmed by His description of the five wise and the five foolish Virgins¹. The five foolish Virgins, though professed Christians, are more like the quasi-religious Pharisees who only had an external show of righteousness, and because of that Christ publicly rebukes them for their hypocritical righteousness and calls them whitewashed tombs (cf. Matthew 5:20-7:1-5; Matthew 23:2-28). On the other hand, the five wise Virgins are fully prepared and alert believers because they take the Oil of the Holy Spirit with them as they enter into the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. The Oil of the Holy Spirit is what makes it possible for trimmed yet burning lamps to be continuously refilled, and the Oil of the Holy Spirit is what makes it possible for believers to be prepared and watchful, as they await the rapture of the CHURCH.

For these reasons, it is important to understand that the Ten Virgins’ parable does not  deal with Israel (Jewish people having the “spiritual” scales to fall off of their eyes).  Indeed, the Ten Virgins’ parable focuses instead on the marriage between Christ and the CHURCH, which is that great mystery the Apostle Paul describes in Ephesians Chapter 5. Christ, thus, uses the Ten Virgins’ parable to teach all believers about the parallels between the traditional Jewish marriage custom and the Kingdom of Heaven’s spiritual Truths about the ultimate Bridegroom’s proposal submitted to the perfect Bride. Furthermore, in the Ten Virgins’ parable, Christ uses the Hebrews’ understanding of a marriage contract, the cup of wine, the bride price, the bridegroom’s midnight return, the shout, the bridal procession, the bridal chamber, and the wedding feast to reveal God’s spiritual Truths about the Rapture of Christ’s true CHURCH and what happens to His true CHURCH immediately thereafter.

For sure, the parable about the Ten Virgin’s is intended to teach ALL believers about the suddenness and unexpectedness of their Lord’s Second Coming—a second coming that happens in stages, with the final stage being Christ’s visible bodily return, when He comes back to Earth with His saints and allows His feet to touchdown on the Mount of Olives! Thus, the parable of the Ten Virgins is the true CHURCH’s wake-up call; this parable is intended to convince Christ’s true CHURCH about the necessity for each member to be prepared for that unknown moment when the Bridegroom returns for His Bride—returns in the air to rapture His dead in Christ and alive in Christ CHURCH members who are spiritually pure, righteous, and perfect in His sight!

The symbolisms in the Ten Virgins’ parable are: (1) Christ, who is the Bridegroom (cf. Ephesians 5:25-28a, 31-33); (2) the Ten Virgins, who are the CHURCH Age Christian believers (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:2); without a doubt, the five Wise Virgins represent the watchful, prepared genuine believers (Bride of Christ) who are raptured—the alive believers who are caught up to meet Christ in the air; the five Foolish Virgins represent the alive careless, negligent, unprepared believers who are left behind to experience the Tribulation Period along with the ungodly unbelievers living in the world after the Rapture; (3) the Holy Spirit of God, who is the Oil in the five Wise Virgins’ lamps—the spiritual Oil that sanctifies believers with real righteousness, as well as the spiritual Oil that will glorify them; (4) the Shout, which signifies the prophesied thunderous sound that alerts the watchful, prepared Virgins (Bride) about their betrothed’s (Bridegroom’s) promised return—in this case, the time of the Rapture; moreover, this Shout consists of Christ’s (the Bridegroom’s) command “to come,” the archangel’s call, and the trumpet sound of Almighty God (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16); (5) the Shut Door, which symbolizes what Christ means when He says “I know you not” (cf. Matthew 25:12b, KJV), and the Shut Door also highlights the fact that Christ has not been fooled by some believers’ external appearance of righteousness; lastly, the Shut Door symbolizes the end of the CHURCH Age—that there will be no more chances for the alive unprepared Christians or the alive ungodly unbelievers to enter into the physical heavenly Kingdom of God with Christ before the Tribulation Period starts; and (6) the Marriage Feast, which is the promised Marriage Supper of the Lamb or the wedding reception that the Bridegroom (Christ) has prepared for His Bride.

Since Jesus is God, as well as a Jewish man, He most assuredly is aware of the old marriage custom practiced by Jewish couples living in Israel, or in other places throughout the world. That’s why Jesus has no problem effectively using the parable of the Ten Virgins to illustrate how a Jewish man’s proposal to his beloved bride-to-be is, indeed, the most unforgettable marriage story of all time.

By telling the parable of the Ten Virgins, Christ is proving that He knows that from the first moment that a Jewish male decides who he wants for a wife (the female he either chooses or the one his parents have chosen for him to marry, as in an arranged marriage), there are three established steps to the Jewish marriage process that the Jewish male must follow. Step one: After deciding who he wants to marry, the Jewish male then leaves his father’s house and goes to his intended bride’s house, taking with him a contract of marriage, a cup of wine, and the “bride price” (money). When he arrives at his intended’s home, the first order of business involves the contract negotiations. If the guy and the girl are too young to accept their adult roles, the contract is negotiated between their parents. Whether the marriage is arranged or the young lady is chosen by the young man himself, and whether the intended bride’s parents negotiate the terms of the marriage contract with the young man’s father or the young man negotiates the terms of the marriage contract directly with his intended, the two parties—the prospective Jewish couple—will know each other’s responsibilities, for these responsibilities will be spelled out in the marriage contract.

Not only are the terms of the marriage contract very clear, but also, if accepted, this marriage contract becomes a legal agreement (covenant) binding both parties. They legally are betrothed (married), even though they are forbidden to have any sexual contact during their betrothal period. In fact, since they are considered officially married, if the marriage contract is broken, the couple is considered divorced (cf. Matthew 1:18-19). Moreover, if the husband dies during the betrothal period, the wife is considered a widow—even though the marriage had not been physically consummated.

Furthermore, during Step One, before the negotiated and presented marriage contract could be enforced, the husband-to-be must give the marriage contract to his intended, must put the cup of wine in front of his intended (which symbolizes his act of proposal), and must place before her the mohar, the cash gift or the bride price. She not only must read the marriage contract but also she must count her money. Once she does all that, the husband-to-be would toast the bride with a cup of wine, giving her a short period of time (about 10 seconds) to decide if she wants to spend the rest of her life with him. To accept the proposal, the bride-to-be would pick up the cup of wine and drink from it, or she could push the cup of wine away, which would mean she has rejected the proposal. If she drinks the wine, she not only is accepting but also is sealing the covenant—agreeing to remain true to her husband throughout the betrothal period while she waits for him to return for her and take her home with him. Moreover, if her answer is “yes,” then the bridegroom tells her, “I go to prepare a place for you” (cf. John 14:2a), but before the bridegroom leaves for his father’s house his bride covers her face with a veil.

This veiling custom signifies that this woman is unavailable (that she has separated herself from the pool of available young ladies)—that she is consecrated, set apart, and bought with a price. Moreover, the wearing of a veil after accepting a marriage contract, lets others know that this woman is “taken.” For these reasons, in everything, this wife now must submit to her husband.

In the traditional Jewish marriage, no engagement ring is exchanged; however, the tie between the betrothed Jewish couple is a much stronger one than the tie between Gentile fiancés and fiancées. Furthermore, this betrothal period gives the two parties a chance to grow or mature in their relationship—to get to know one another better—before they consummate their vows. For sure, this betrothal period gives the couple time to mature emotionally, affectionately, and faithfully.

Step Two:  During the betrothal period, while the husband and wife are getting to know one another better, and maturing emotionally, affectionately, and faithfully, the bridegroom is preparing a proper room (bridal chamber) in his father’s house, where he and his bride will consummate their marriage vows. The bridegroom’s father is the ONLY one who can sign off on the completion of this bridal chamber. This custom prevents the young man from rushing through his building responsibilities—keeps him from building a lean-to or some poorly constructed structure that would not be an adequate place to bring his wife. For this reason, neither the bridegroom nor the bride would know the day or the time of the wedding ceremony, which is why in Matthew 25:13 Christ tells ALL of His believes to “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh”; only God, Christ’s Father, knows when the Bridegroom (Christ) will return for His Bride (the true CHURCH).

Be that as it may, after the bridegroom’s father agrees that the bridal chamber is finished and that it is properly built, the bridegroom, accompanied by his companions/friends/groomsmen, returns to his bride’s house and escorts her to the bridal chamber that he has prepared for the both of them. It is while they are in this bridal chamber that they will exchange gifts—the bridegroom’s additional gifts for his bride and her dowry (offering) to him, which she laid up for him while she waited for His return. During the betrothal period, the bride also will keep her literal lamp filled with oil so that she will be ready for her bridegroom, in case he comes at night.

Traditionally, the bridegroom does return during the night, and his night arrival is the reason why he loudly calls out to his bride (or sounds a trumpet). To give his bride time to make herself presentable for receiving him (time to put on her veil and get her lamp), the bridegroom courteously alerts his bride to the fact that he is drawing close to her parents’ home. After he arrives and unveils his bride, the two of them leave for the place the bridegroom has prepared in his father’s house. Once there, they say their vows, then enter their bridal chamber, where, as aforesaid, they exchange their gifts and consummate their marriage.

Step Three: Seven days later, after their marriage has been consummated, the husband and wife come out of their bridal chamber for the Marriage Supper (Wedding Feast). The friend (best man) hears the husband’s voice, as the couple approaches the banquet room, and then the friend (best man) announces the union between the bride and the groom to the Wedding Feast’s invited guests. Only the husband’s special friend gets to stand beside him as one of the honored guests at the Wedding Feast. For this reason, the husband’s grateful friend rejoices in knowing that the bride and groom finally have become one (cf. John 3:29).

As Christ draws the parallels between the traditional Jewish marriage custom and the Kingdom of Heaven’s spiritual Truths about the ultimate Bridegroom’s proposal submitted to the perfect Bride, Christ presents modern-day believers with a beautiful portrait of the mysterious union between Christ (Bridegroom) and His CHURCH (Bride). We, thus, come to understand that through the parable of the Ten Virgins Christ is teaching us about His own return for us—teaching us about our Jewish Bridegroom (Christ) who loved us so much that He enacted the same marriage custom for us that God’s chosen Jewish people traditionally followed.

The mysterious union between Christ (Bridegroom) and His CHURCH (Bride) that Apostle Paul writes about in Ephesians 5:25-28a, 31-33 begins when we are born again and saved by Grace through our confessed faith in and acceptance of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus the Christ. As New Testament believers, we now have entered into a legal marriage contract with Christ, who left His Father’s House in Heaven to come to us (His Bride-to-be) as our Jewish Bridegroom. Along with bringing us His marriage contract—the New Testament, which spells out for us our responsibilities as His Bride and His responsibilities as our Bridegroom—Christ also brings His gifts of the cup of wine (Christ’s shed blood) and His bride price (Christ’s atoning sacrifice–His death on the Cross).

After we accept Christ’s gifts, He lets us know that He is going (ascending) to His Father’s house (Heaven) where He will be preparing a place for us (cf. John 14:2-4). He also lets us know that He is coming back for us once our bridal chamber is completed. While He is in His Father’s house, we, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, must endeavor to live consecrated and sanctified lives for Him—we must wear our individual “spiritual” veils that let the world know that we have been bought by a price and, thus, belong to Christ.

Then too, during our betrothal period (the Church Age), while we live and walk in the Holy Spirit (cf. Galatians 5:25; Romans 8:9a, 11) and allow the Word of God to be a lamp for our feet and a light for our path (cf. Psalm 119:105), we also are busy for the Lord. We are making sure that we lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven (cf. Matthew 6:20-21); during the CHURCH Age, we obediently and righteously do the kinds of works for Christ that are of gold, silver and precious gemstone quality (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15). These righteous works become our dowry to our Bridegroom (Christ)—our righteous works that earn us the gifts/rewards Christ has promised us: (1) our crown of glory (cf. Proverbs 4:9; 1 Peter 5:4, KJV); (2) our crown of rejoicing (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:19, KJV); (3) our crown of righteousness (cf. 2 Timothy 4:8, KJV); (4) our crown of life (cf. James 1:12; Revelation 2:10, KJV); and (5) our robes of white linen (cf. Revelation 19:8, KJV). During this Second Step of the Body of Christ’s (the CHURCH’s) marriage process, we also are keeping our vessels filled with the Oil of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, fills us, and helps us to develop our necessary daily and intimate fellowship, and righteous and holy relationship, with God so that our spiritual life can mature morally, spiritually, emotionally, and faithfully, and so that we can be a watchful and ready (prepared) Bride—the One the Bridegroom will recognize and find acceptable when He comes back for Her.

As the Bridegroom is coming down from Heaven, He alerts us with a loud shout, the archangel’s call, and God’s blast from His trumpet. Next, Christ catches us up into the air where we meet Him in the clouds; this event is better known as the Rapture (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). After we enter the heavenly realm of the Kingdom of God, we will say our marriage vows. Then, we immediately will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ where we will be judged according to the “quality” of the works we did on Earth under the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15). Our Bridegroom then will take us to the place He has prepared for us (our heavenly bridal chamber). Next, we will exchange gifts—our dowry of laid up treasures—for the rewards we will receive from our well-pleased Bridegroom (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:1-5, 9-10; Revelation 22:12).

After consummating the marriage, becoming one with Christ, which is a seven-day ceremony biblically and symbolically represented as the seven years of the Tribulation, we will celebrate our marriage at the Lamb’s Marriage Supper, which will not happen until the beginning of Christ’s millennial reign—when Christ sets up His physical Kingdom of God on Earth. Now, what should be noted is that Father God is the One who invites the special guests of honor to our Marriage Feast, but who we can expect to see there as honored guests are the Old Testament saints who died before Christ and the Tribulation saints who died during the Tribulation Period. Other guests will be the ones who not only survived the Tribulation Period but also the ones who made the last-minute decision to receive God’s gifts of Salvation and Eternal Life during the Tribulation Period (cf. Matthew 22:8-10; Luke 14:21b-23; Revelation 19:6-9).

It is sad to say, but in spite of the outpourings of the Holy Spirit, there still will be hard-hearted individuals who will not accept Christ as their personal Savior. Consequently, Christ’s Rapture and bodily Second Coming, the latter of which will trigger the end of our present world as we know it, will shock numerous men and women who are not in the least bit prepared for Him, just like the masses of people during the flood in Noah’s generation were shocked when the rains finally came. The flood caught the majority of Noah’s unprepared generation by surprise. Moreover, as only a handful of humans got to enter the ark to be saved from the flood, (exactly eight people … cf. 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5, KJV), likewise, in the end times, it also appears that only a remnant of individuals will be caught up to meet Christ in the air (see the mini-parables of the two field individuals, whose gender is not specified, and the two women grinding at the mill … Matthew 24:40-41, KJV).

In these aforesaid Matthew Chapter 24 mini-parables and in the Ten Virgins’ parable of Matthew Chapter 25, as each of these parables serves as a picture of believers, Christ is making it crystal clear that after the dead in Christ arise ONLY the living true CHURCH members will be allowed to enter into the bridal chamber with Him and be saved from the Tribulation—saved from ALL of God and the Antichrist’s wrath that will come upon this Earth. Christ describes how ONLY one of the two field workers, one of the two women grinding at the mill, and five of the ten Virgins will be representatives of His True CHURCH members. As such, they will be the ones who are saved from the Tribulation Period. The fate that will await those who are not raptured will be that they become the left-behind individuals who will experience the prophesied second destruction of the world.

What’s more, the Ten Virgins’ parable makes a salient point that needs to be mentioned here, and that salient point is that the Bridegroom will Shut the Door (will close off any access to Himself), which underscores the aforementioned statement about the careless, negligent, unprepared believers being left behind. Without a doubt, Christ not only is the five wise Virgins’ Bridegroom but also He is the five foolish Virgins’ Bridegroom. Now, since Christ is the ONLY Door through whom ALL believers must enter into the Kingdom of God (cf. John 10:7, 9), then the Word of God is clear: the Door will close on ONLY those believers who are foolish (careless and unprepared). Christ Shuts the Door, because He has judged those standing on the Earth side of the Door to be unworthy to enter into the physical heavenly Kingdom of God.

Most of us will agree that having any door shut in our faces is probably one of the most embarrassing feelings we ever could experience in this life. In the case of the foolish Virgins, the experience of having the Bridegroom Shut the Door to the Kingdom of Heaven in their faces is more than an embarrassment, because the closed Door is a harsh reality check that comes in the form of a twofold rejection: verbal and observable. Christ, the Bridegroom, not only tells them that He doesn’t know them but also He shows them that He doesn’t know them by keeping the Door closed—by intentionally ignoring their knocking and pleading.

What a horrible reality check we (modern-day believers) will have if we end up being careless, negligent, and unprepared believers to whom our Bridegroom says “I know you not”! How devastated we will be to realize that we not only are EMPTY of the Oil of the Holy Spirit—empty of the power and authority that keeps us in covenant agreement with our Bridegroom, and keeps us willing and able to fulfill our own marital responsibilities—but also we will be devastated when we realize that we are homeless, uncovered, and on our own, for the Holy Spirit can no longer live in left-behind believers who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads (cf. Revelation 7:2-4). In this awful state, we will come to realize too late that we are the very personification of Christ’s foolish five Virgins who find themselves on the outside of the Door that leads to the physical Kingdom of Heaven, pleading with Christ to let them in, only to realize that He will not.

The bottom line is this: If we do not have any Oil in our vessels when the Bridegroom comes in the air to Rapture His glorified CHURCH, He will Shut the Door on us. Thus, without the anointing that illuminates Divine TRUTH, we will not have any Light emanating from us that could move Christ to open the Door for us. How is it, then, that we who find ourselves left behind could ever run out of the Holy Spirit’s Oil?

Well, Christ makes it clear in the Ten Virgins’ parable that these ten Virgins are believers; however, He also makes it clear that only five of them are baptized with the Holy Spirit, as the other five are trying to live a holy and righteous life off of fumes! These foolish five are careless, unprepared (non-productive), inattentive and impure churchgoers because they believe in Christ yet they have “no oil for their lamps” (Matthew 25:3b, NLT); therefore, they are spiritually anemic, lacking the full power and full authority of the Holy Spirit who would have sustained their lamps’ light. They are without the anointed Oil that makes it possible for them to achieve the spiritual maturity that would have kept them enlightened, watchful and prepared while they waited for their Bridegroom’s return. The parable’s moral, then, is this: If we are foolish, carnal, non-productive, inattentive, impure Christians, we will be left behind! On the other hand, if we are wise, spiritually mature and productive, purified, watching and waiting Christians, we will be raptured.

Time is of the essence. We must take advantage of every opportunity we are given to become more like Christ, for we cannot afford to miss out on being the Bride who is to participate in the ultimate marriage, everlasting honeymoon, and glorious wedding feast of all time. We also cannot afford to miss out on our Jewish Bridegroom’s gift—the gift of living with Christ in the presence of God forever. For these reasons, we swiftly must become the CHURCH Christ is coming back for, realizing that He is not returning for members of brick and mortar churches, but rather we must realize that our Bridegroom is coming back for what we have within our individual vessels. Therefore, what we must have on the inside of us is the infilling (baptism) of the Holy Spirit’s power that works in us (cf. Ephesians 3:19b-20) and causes us to develop a righteous and holy conduct—one that demonstrates that we are walking worthy of our vocation (cf. Ephesians 4:1-6).

Additionally, we must be filled with the Oil of the Holy Spirit, because only His anointed Oil will cause us to be fruitful, purified, and wise servants who are pure in heart (cf. Matthew 5:8), as well as humble, holy, righteous, loving, forgiving, peaceable, merciful, and thankful believers. Finally, we must be filled with the Oil of the Holy Spirit, because only His anointed Oil will keep us faithful in our resolve to remain true to Christ—will keep us loyal to the commitments outlined in His marriage contract (the New Testament). The Holy Spirit’s anointed Oil also will reveal to us God’s Divine Truth, which makes us aware of this fact: since carnal Christians just have an outward form of religiosity without any inward spiritual reality, they ONLY serve Christ with their lips. Therefore, we must seek continuous fillings of the Holy Spirit’s anointed Oil so that our married faces will never become unveiled, for this unveiling would indicate that we have fallen into spiritual adultery, and our spiritual adultery will cause the Bridegroom to Shut the Door and leave us behind!


¹The English word “virgins,” as used in the King James Version of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, has been translated from the Greek word “parqevnoß,” which is transliterated as “parthenos.” Thus, in the context of the aforesaid parable, “parthenos” or “virgins” means a marriageable maiden who never has had sexual intercourse with a man.

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The Importance of Christian Worship

20 Tuesday Jan 2009

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Faith and Wisdom

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admiration, bow down, criminal's death, devotion, essence, King of Kings, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven, Lord of Lords, nobleman, parable, respect, reverence, ten minas, worship

For nearly three and one-half years, Jesus the Christ preached and taught about the Kingdom of God-a kingdom that only born-again individuals could see and/or enter into. Jesus the Christ’s Good News about the Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven) was the Good News about Himself: Jesus the Christ, the One who is the heavenly Son-God-Savior-King-Lord-Head who fulfilled the Perfect Will of His Father by becoming the God-man who sacrificially gave His life (died on the cross) in order to pay (atone) for this world’s sins. Furthermore, this God-man taught mankind this Good News about the Kingdom of God and Himself mostly through parables, and from His parables the hearers learned that the Kingdom of God only had ONE sovereign King who had dominion over every created heavenly and earthly creature.

Just like an earthly sovereign king or queen is automatically lord of his or her subjects, Jesus the Christ, who is Heaven and Earth’s sovereign King, also automatically is the Lord of Heaven and Earth. Since the definition of Lord is someone who is the owner of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE in a kingdom, simply because he or she has complete power and authority over all of the kingdom’s resources, including its citizens whose service and obedience are due him or her, then just as it is important for citizens of earthly kingdoms to worship their kingdoms’ kings or lords, it is important for the Kingdom of God citizens (Christians) to worship their Lord, King and Savior who is Jesus the Christ.

As born again (Holy Spirit regenerated) saved individuals who are ambassadors (authorized representatives or messengers) for their Lord and Savior, these citizens of the Kingdom of God on Earth also have the essence of the Kingdom of God in Heaven dwelling in them. That essence consists of holiness, righteousness, mercy, love, grace, peace, joy, faith, goodness, kindness, gentleness, humility, self-control, divine truth, wisdom, power and authority, which the citizens of the Kingdom of God on Earth are to demonstrate to this entire world. Additionally, the citizens of the Kingdom of God on Earth are to make disciples of the brand new Holy Spirit rejuvenated and saved believers. In other words, citizens of the Kingdom of God on Earth (Christian believers) are entrusted stewards who faithfully must increase the Lord’s Kingdom on Earth in His absence.

Jesus the Christ makes this last point comprehensible in His parabolic teaching on the Ten Servants (also called the Parable of the Ten Minas, or the Parable of the Talents). In Luke 19:12-15, Christ says:

A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. Before he left, he called   together ten servants and gave them ten pounds of silver to invest for him while he was gone. But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say they did not want him to be their king. When he returned, the king called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what they had done with the money and what their profits were. (NLT)

In these opening verses to the parable about the Ten Servants, the nobleman (a common citizen who is uncommonly wealthy) is Jesus the Christ, the God-man who, after having fulfilled His initial purpose for coming to Earth, now is returning to Heaven where God will anoint and crown Him Lord and King of God’s heavenly and earthly Kingdoms, and then anoint and appoint Him as Head of the CHURCH. Before Jesus the Christ, the nobleman, leaves for Heaven, He gives ten of His servants a mina (100 denarii). Seven of the ten servants (who represent the Pharisees and their Jewish followers) rebel immediately, because they refuse to accept Jesus as their Lord and King. However, by the end of this parable, the remaining three servants (Christians) give an accounting of their stewardship to the nobleman (Jesus the Christ) who now has been elevated to the positions of Lord, King and Head. This new Lord, King and Head of the earthy Kingdom of God soon finds out, though, that only two of these three remaining servants have been productive!

The moral of this parable is that believers’ Christian life must involve their service and obedience to Jesus the Christ, because He has been anointed and appointed by God to be Lord (owner) of everything and everyone in the Kingdom of God in Heaven and on Earth. The Apostle Paul confirms this Divine Truth when he writes:

Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because  of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11, NLT)

Consequently, believers’ Christian living must involve their godly worship of Jesus the Christ, because He not only has been anointed and appointed worthy to manage God’s heavenly Kingdom’s spiritual resources (wisdom, knowledge, understanding, spiritual gifts, power, authority, the holy city, and the angelic hosts), but also has been anointed and appointed worthy to manage God’s earthly resources (land, water, vegetation, money, material goods, and all creatures). Therefore, just as earthly kingdoms’ citizens have to bow down and worship human lords or kings, Christian citizens of the Kingdom of God on Earth also must bow down and worship Jesus the Christ the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Moreover, this anointed and appointed Lord-King-Head is the Lion of Judah who is coming back to Earth again to rule and reign here with His saints.

That’s right! Just like the nobleman in the parable about the Ten Servants returns as a king and lord who is ready to reward his servants for the profit they gained on his mina, Jesus the Christ, who is the crowned, honored and glorified Son of God, is coming back with His reward in his hand for the lackadaisical and hard-working servants, as well as for the dissenting unbelievers.  Therefore, Jesus the Christ not only deserves to be honored and glorified by all of mankind, but also deserves to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth by His Kingdom of God on Earth citizens, and these true believers’ worship means that they must express their reverence of, respect/admiration for, and devotion to Jesus the Christ with EVERYTHING that is within them, which is the whole essence of the Kingdom of God.

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The Wheat and Tares’ Parable

14 Wednesday Jan 2009

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Study

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angels, harvests, love, parable, parabolic, repears, spiritual maturity, tares, transforming, wheat, winepress

During Christ’s earthly ministry, He frequently used the very effective teaching tool known as the parable, which is a word that means to “lay one thing down by another.” Jesus taught His initial followers (both the crowds and His disciples) through parables, because not only do parables provide a vision of life in God’s eternal Kingdom but also parables make spiritual statements (Divine Truths) about God’s everlasting Kingdom very coherent.

Thus, by using a parable to illustrate how the Kingdom of God really works, Jesus impressively sharpens His believers’ fundamental understanding about what life in God’s eternal Kingdom is like. Christ vividly draws His illustrations by comparing one of God’s Divine Truths that is operational in Heaven to a very familiar and well-comprehended earthly principle (or earthly narrative, or earthly fact) that is operational either in nature or in humanity. For example, in the parable of the wheat and tares, which is found in Matthew 13, Christ is comparing the supernatural harvest of His end of the age believers to an earthly farmer’s spring or winter wheat harvest.

Moreover, in Matthew 13, Christ is using the parable of the wheat and tares to reveal His angelic reapers’ inappropriate an inopportune eagerness to separate the wheat and tares from maturing along side each other. These angels’ impatience and lack of spiritual discernment are why Christ refuses to let them pluck up Satan’s tares, for Christ knows that some of His wheat might get uprooted by mistake.

Many scholars believe that the “tares” mentioned in this parable are “bearded darnel,” which is a weed similar to ryegrass. When examined during its early developmental stages, “bearded darnel” will resemble wheat. The similarities between the early developmental stages of wheat and tares are not only the Divine reasons why Christ refuses to allow His angles to pluck the tares before His full crop of wheat has matured, but also the agricultural reason why human farmers refuse to place a time factor on when their crop of wheat successfully will reach each stage of development. For sure, both Christ and earthly famers know that when wheat matures that the differences between wheat and tares will be very obvious.

Perhaps the uncertainty of knowing the exact time when wheat will mature is why the separation of wheat and tares is dealt with in Revelation. In John the Revelator’s first harvest vision, the apostle depicts how the parable of the wheat and tares will be carried out (cf. Revelation 14:14-16). The Apostle John visualizes a crowned Christ sitting on His throne that is on a white cloud, and from here He thrusts the very sharp sickle that is in His hand into His earthly wheat. Christ then supervises His host of angels who physically are separating the wheat from the tares.

Now that the harvest is not only ripe but also mature, these angles cannot make the mistake of bundling the wheat with the tares, which would cause that “wheat” (believers) to be judged as “tares” (unbelievers). Thus, from what the Apostle John depicts in his first harvest vision (the earth’s mature crop vision), it is obvious that Christ’s parabolic separation of the wheat and tares happens near the end of the Tribulation Period, just prior to Christ’s triumphal bodily return back to Earth to begin the “great winepress harvest” of Apostle John’s second harvest vision (cf. Revelation 14:17-20). Another noteworthy point is that at the time of the wheat and tares’ harvest, God’s grace period has ended, which means that there will not be any more chances for “tares” to change their minds about believing in and accepting Jesus Christ as God’s ONLY begotten Son and Savior of the world.

John’s first harvest vision is also why the parable of the wheat and tares does not pertain to the Body of Christ’s end of the CHURCH Age rapture. For sure, Christ’s parable about the wheat and tares deals with the “wheat” (the surviving left-behind individuals who genuinely have accepted Christ during the Tribulation Period), and the “tares” (the surviving pretend Tribulation Period believers).

What then is the present-day application of Christ’s parable about the wheat and tares? The moral is this: If it is possible that even God’s heavenly host, in their haste to harvest the Earth, could make a mistake in determining who are Christ’s end of the age “wheat” and who are the Devil’s end of the age “tares,” then twenty-first century Christians should not be so quick to judge who is worthy to be called their brothers and sisters in Christ. Specifically, because none of us, on this side of the Rapture, is as spiritually mature as we would like to think that we are, we often are incapable of correctly discerning who is a Christian and who is not. Therefore, instead of making the mistake of uprooting “wheat” that we incorrectly have misjudged as “tares,” those of us who are spiritually mature should use the time that God has given to us to strengthen those in love who might be spiritually weak. Lastly, we all need to use this time that God has give to us to praise and thank Him always for not being finished with any of us.

God is still working on transforming each of us into His spiritual children (Christ’s true CHURCH that He will harvest at the end of this present CHURCH Age). Currently, some of us might have reached a higher level of spiritual maturity a little sooner than others; however, there never will be a time when our “more holier than thou” attitudes will give us the right to judge others who might not be as spiritually mature as we think that we are.

Our  biblically provided options are: to correct and strengthen one another in love, and/or to remove ourselves from fellowshipping with presumed “tares.” We, on the other hand, are not told to pluck the presumed “tares” out of our local churches! For these reasons, until we have become perfected through God’s glorification process, we should leave the separating of Christ’s “wheat” and the Devil’s “tares” to Christ.

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Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen

Sanctified Child

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