Tag Archives: saints

Be Ye Also Ready

02 Monday Mar 2020

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42 Therefore stay alert; for you do not know what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what time the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and not let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. – Matthew 24:42-44, TLV

What person, who has an idea about the time of day or night that a thief plans to rob him or her, would not watch for the arrival of this thief? A wise person will either wait — fully armed and ready to do battle with the robber — or he or she will alert the police, who will wait in the wise person’s house for the alleged thief so that they can catch him or her in the act of breaking and entering. Any person taking these precautionary measures is the Goodman Yeshua speaks about in His Matthew 24:43-44 Kingdom mini–parable.

Here is the point Yeshua is making: If non-believers and carnal unbelievers are smart enough to keep watch over their homes to prevent someone from breaking in, robbing, and/or harming their families, then certainly born again and saved spiritual believers also are smart enough to be like Yeshua’s Goodman. Even though Yeshua’s Bride will not be aware of the actual day and time when Her Bridegroom will return, She has the gift of spiritual discernment. Spiritual discernment helps Yeshua’s Bride know and recognize the signs of the time that will lead to Her Pre–Tribulation Rapture.  

Yeshua tells His Believers how they can avoid being caught off guard. They have to watch for the Bridegroom’s return, and they also have to do Yehovah’s Perfect Will, which, in this case, means they need to handle their own spiritual responsibilities — they need to make sure their spiritual temples are prepared for the Rapture. Their Lord, Master, King, and Bridegroom’s Return will not surprise them, if they also are filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit so that He can make them ready, willing, and able to present their bodies as living sacrifices — as spiritual overcomers whose lives are holy and acceptable to Yeshua.

Be a “goodman.” Know the signs of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Look for the signs of your Savior’s Return, and be prepared when Yeshua comes for you.

Is the Holy Spirit filling you? Are you allowing the enemy to come into your individual temple and rob you blind? Is Satan stealing anything from you that the Holy Spirit needs to transform you into Yeshua’s image? Shalom.

Keep it real…Live the Word…Watch it work! 

The Second Advent vs. The Pre-Trib Rapture in a Nutshell

07 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by in Bible Prophecy

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The Day Is Coming

1-2 Note well: God’s Judgment Day is on the way:
    “Plunder will be piled high and handed out.
I’m bringing all the godless nations
    to war against Jerusalem—
Houses plundered,
    women raped,
Half the city taken into exile,
    the other half left behind.”

3-5 But then God will march out against the godless nations and fight—a great war! That’s the Day he’ll take his stand on the Mount of Olives, facing Jerusalem from the east. The Mount of Olives will be split right down the middle, from east to west, leaving a wide valley. Half the mountain will shift north, the other half south. Then you will run for your lives down the valley, your escape route that will take you all the way to Azal. You’ll run for your lives, just as you ran on the day of the great earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then my God will arrive and all the holy angels with him. – Zechariah 14:1-5, MSG

A White Horse and Its Rider

11-16 Then I saw Heaven open wide—and oh! a white horse and its Rider. The Rider, named Faithful and True, judges and makes war in pure righteousness. His eyes are a blaze of fire, on his head many crowns. He has a Name inscribed that’s known only to himself. He is dressed in a robe soaked with blood, and he is addressed as “Word of God.” The armies of Heaven, mounted on white horses and dressed in dazzling white linen, follow him. A sharp sword comes out of his mouth so he can subdue the nations, then rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the raging wrath of God, the Sovereign-Strong. On his robe and thigh is written, King of kings, Lord of lords. – Revelation 19:11-16, MSG

51-52 But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. – 1 Corinthians 15:51-52,  MSG

15-18 And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master’s word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us. The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words. – 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, MSG

1-3 I don’t think, friends, that I need to deal with the question of when all this is going to happen. You know as well as I that the day of the Master’s coming can’t be posted on our calendars. He won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar would. About the time everybody’s walking around complacently, congratulating each other—“We’ve sure got it made! Now we can take it easy!”—suddenly everything will fall apart. It’s going to come as suddenly and inescapably as birth pangs to a pregnant woman. – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, MSG

11 “Then, after three and a half days, the Living Spirit of God will enter them—they’re on their feet!—and all those gloating spectators will be scared to death.”

12 I heard a strong voice out of Heaven calling, “Come up here!” and up they went to Heaven, wrapped in a cloud, their enemies watching it all. – Revelation 11:11-12, MSG

6 “In the middle of the night someone yelled out, ‘He’s here! The bride-groom’s here! Go out and greet him!’

7-8 “The ten virgins got up and got their lamps ready. The silly virgins said to the smart ones, ‘Our lamps are going out; lend us some of your oil.’

9 “They answered, ‘There might not be enough to go around; go buy your own.’

10 “They did, but while they were out buying oil, the bridegroom arrived. When everyone who was there to greet him had gone into the wedding feast, the door was locked. – Matthew 25:6-10, MSG

Recently, I have been reading several Facebook postings in which some “Christians” declare that the prophesied pre-Tribulation (pre-Trib) Rapture of Christ’s saints (the Bride of Christ) will not be done secretly. These “Christians” claim that every eye will see this Rapture. Now, while many people in the Tribulation may see the mid-Tribulation (mid-Trib) Rapture of the two witnesses who were killed and resurrected from the dead (see Revelation 11:11-12), the mid-Trib Rapture is neither the same as the pre-Trib Rapture of Christ’s Bride (the overcomers/saints) nor the Second Advent (Christ’s prophesied Second Coming).

Christ’s Second Advent (His Second Coming) happens when His feet touch down on the Mount of Olives and it splits (see Zechariah 14:4). Every eye will see Him, as Christ returns to earth with His saints/overcomers (see Revelation 1:7, Revelation 19:11-16). He comes back to bring judgment – God’s poured out Wrath – for those who have rejected Him (Christ) as their Savior.

This Second-Coming event is NOT the same as the pre-Trib Rapture of Christ’s Bride (saints/overcomers) event. Scripture clearly states that during the pre-Trib Rapture – when the Bride is caught up/taken up in the air (raptured) – Christ (the Bridegroom) meets His Bride in the air and on a cloud (see 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, Matthew 25:6-10). This pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Bride of Christ (when the dead in Christ and those who are alive at the time the Bridegroom comes for His Bride are removed off this earth) is imminent – can happen at any time – and it will happen in secret because He will come for them like a thief in the night (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3). In contrast, His Second Advent (Christ’s Second Coming) happens near the end of the seven-year Tribulation, and every person who is alive on earth at the time of Christ’s second bodily return will see Him coming with His Host of saints.  

Once again, The pre-Trib Rapture is the event in which Christ returns to the earth but stays in the air and on a cloud. He will return, at that time and in that manner, because He will be fulfilling God’s Promise to remove all His saints/overcomers from the earth before Father God’s Wrath (the Tribulation Period) begins to pour out on the earth. The Second Coming (the Second Advent) is the event in which Christ returns to the earth (with the clouds – with His Host of raptured saints/the armies of Heaven). Christ will return to earth, at that time and in that manner, because He will be fulling God’s Promise to send the Lion of Judah to the Hebrews/Jewish people. Christ, as the Lion of Judah, will be bringing the Tribulation Period to an end by defeating the Antichrist and his evil world empire in the Battle of Armageddon.   

Selah (pause and calmly think about that). Shalom . . . .

Christ’s Saints Are Barley Overcomers – Christ’s Carnal Believers Are Tribulation Wheat

02 Tuesday Jul 2019

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The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words. – 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, MSG

…To the one who overcomes I will give access to feast on the fruit of the Tree of Life that is found in the paradise of God. – Revelation 2:7, TPT

…To everyone who is victorious I will let him feast on the hidden manna and give him a shining white stone. And written upon the white stone is inscribed his new name, known only to the one who receives it. – Revelation 2:17, TPT

To everyone who is victorious and continues to do my works to the very end I will give you authority over the nations – Revelation 2:26, TPT

And the one who experiences victory will be dressed in white robes and I will never, no never erase your name from the Book of Life. I will acknowledge your name before my Father and his angels. – Revelation 3:5, TPT

For the one who is victorious, I will make you to be a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, permanently secure. I will write on you the name of my God and the name of the city of my God—the New Jerusalem, descending from my God out of heaven. And I’ll write my own name on you. – Revelation 3:12, TPT

And to the one who conquers I will give the privilege of sitting with me on my throne, just as I conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. – Revelation 3:21, TPT

The Bride of Christ (the collective Body of His Saints) is the prophesied Barley Harvest of Overcomers (Victorious Conquerors) – the glorified firstfruits who are raptured before the Tribulation Period begins.

The Non-overcoming Carnal Believers are the Tribulation Period’s Wheat because they resemble Tares. These Wheat believers are the ones who have not cooperated with the Holy Spirit’s sanctification process (have not allowed Him to gradually change them into the image of Christ).

Prophetically speaking, the Barley Harvest represents the first of God’s three end-time Harvests and, thus, part of the first resurrection. The Scripture refers to these saints as “overcomers.” Additionally, God’s first three feast days – Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits – spiritually represent the three stages of salvation: 1. justification (Passover), 2. sanctification (Unleavened Bread), and 3. glorification (First Fruits). Just as Jesus Christ was the first holy and saintly Barley Harvest Overcomer to be resurrected from the dead as the Barley First Fruits of the greater Barley Harvest to come, the Bride of Christ also represents the rest of the holy and saintly Barley Harvest of Overcomers.

It is written that only Christ’s holy and saintly overcomers – the spiritually mature believes who are transformed into the image of Christ – will either be resurrected from the dead as part of the first resurrection or raptured alive BOTH happening during the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. These are the saints who will rule and reign on the earth during Jesus Christ’s millennial reign. Please note that no matter if God is speaking literally or figuratively, it also is written that the Barley Overcomers (symbolizing the barley grain that always is planted AFTER the Wheat) is always harvested before the Wheat.

The natural (physical) and spiritual orders of the grain harvests are why the Wheat Harvest represents “carnal believers who today are mostly ‘Christian’ churchgoers.” These carnal believers are the end-time gathered Gentile nations. Indeed, Christ’s Gospels’ description of the gathered nations is a picture of God’s Wheat Harvest (see Matthew 25:32, Mark 13:27). It is written that all nations will come to know the Lord and serve Him.

This second harvest speaks of those believers who were justified by faith, but either they did not go through or did not submit to the Holy Spirit’s sanctification process. Many of these carnal believers will also be first resurrection believers, but just barely. They will be saved but have the smell of smoke on them. Furthermore, the alive end-time Wheat (carnal) believers will need to be shifted like wheat in order to become fully sanctified so that they can wear God’s Divine Nature and Character (be glorified). Unfortunately, they will be the beheaded Tribulation martyrs.

Carnal believers who are Wheat still have some rebellion or lawlessness in their lives that must be purged by the Fire of God (the Holy Spirit). The only way for this purging to happen is for this Wheat to be exposed to the Antichrist’s wrath during the prophesied end-time Tribulation. The believers who are part of the Wheat Harvest will be brought forth in the second resurrection (Tribulation Period’s Rapture) to be glorified “ yet so as through fire.” The apostle Paul writes:

Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely. – 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, MSG

If Christ’s believers are not saintly overcomers – victorious over the flesh, the world, and the devil  –  they are not Christ’s Barley Bride. It is only with the aid of the Holy Spirit that saints who become overcomers are able to control their flesh, conquer the corrupt world systems, and defeat God’s enemy the Devil. Selah (pause and calmly think about that)!

NOTE: God established that three of His seven commanded appointed times (feast days) would be associated with two different grain harvests and one fruit of the vine harvest that took place annually in Israel. The barley grain ripens first around the time of First Fruits, the wheat grain ripens later around the time of Pentecost, and the grapes from the vine ripen last just prior to the feast of Tabernacles. Moreover, God established that these three crops (barley, wheat, and grapes) would also depict, spiritually speaking, three classes of people. The Barley represents the holy and saintly overcomers, the Wheat represents the carnal believers, and the Grapes mostly represent the unsaved unbelievers.

Spiritual Revivals Are Holy Spirit Outpourings

18 Monday Mar 2019

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…“The Father is the one who sets the fixed dates and the times of their fulfillment. You are not permitted to know the timing of all that he has prepared by his own authority. But I promise you this—the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will be filled with power. And you will be my messengers to Jerusalem, throughout Judea, the distant provinces—even to the remotest places on earth!” ~ Acts 1:7-8, TPT

On the day Pentecost was being fulfilled, all the disciples were gathered in one place.  Suddenly they heard the sound of a violent blast of wind rushing into the house from out of the heavenly realm. The roar of the wind was so overpowering it was all anyone could bear! Then all at once a pillar of fire appeared before their eyes. It separated into tongues of fire that engulfed each one of them. They were all filled and equipped with the Holy Spirit and were inspired to speak in tongues….~ Acts 2:1-4, TPT

Almost every day, I read a Facebook posting or Twitter tweet in which a professed Christian is praying for or waiting on God to send him, her, the church he or she attends, society, or the world a revival. By revival, most of these posters and tweeps usually mean a spiritual renewal in the life of a church congregation, in the life of an individual believer, or in the life of a society—renewed spiritual life that these posters and tweeps believe will have either a local, or a national, and/or a global effect.

Then too, by revival, a few posters and tweeps also occasionally mean the renewed spiritual interest in (the restoration of) evangelistic meetings that were known as revival meetings. In these restored or renewed evangelistic/revival meetings, the focus would be on the spiritual restoration of the so-called CHURCH from its moral decline to an essential and zealous relationship with God, which would include the spiritual restoration of believers’ faithful obedience to God’s Commandments. In these evangelistic/revival meetings, the focus also would be on the spiritual restoration of lost souls. The latter spiritual restoration actually refers to mass conversions—large numbers of unbelievers being saved so that they can become Christians.

Unfortunately, these posters and tweeps don’t seem to understand that a spiritual revival is not a spiritual restoration. Spiritual revivals have nothing to do with the restored interest in evangelism—the Lord’s method of winning souls for Him—nor do spiritual revivals have anything to do with renewing the CHURCH’s spiritual relationship with God.

Biblically speaking, spiritual revivals, whether local, national, or global, really have nothing to do with Gentiles’ understanding of who Christians are or who/what Gentiles think The Church is. Moreover, every biblical spiritual revival was meant for only the already saved believers in Christ.  

Put differently, the Holy Bible never mentions any spiritual restorations or spiritual revivals that happened to Christians or The Church. That is because, biblically speaking, every spiritual restoration pertained to God turning His wayward nation of Israel as a whole back to Him, as well as pertained to every Hebrew keeping His Commandments. Furthermore, neither the term Christian nor the term The Church is ever mentioned in the Scripture as the names Christ or His initial disciples/apostles gave to believers in Christ. For sure, first-century believers in Christ never called themselves Christians. Scripture proves that first-century followers of Christ were called saints, the brethren, followers of the Way, disciples, or believers in Christ. Since they already were saved believers, their spiritual revivals were not spiritual restorations.

The main reason why spiritual revivals are not spiritual restorations is that spiritual revivals had to do with the outpourings of the Holy Spirit upon members of Christ’s Ekklesiae (His collective bodies of saints or followers of the Way who gathered locally in saints or Way followers’ houses mostly to fellowship with each other). Furthermore, in every first-century Ekklesia, there were ONLY converted, Jewish believers. Now, even though some of these Jewish believers over time either had strayed away from their first love—Father God—or His Commandments, once again, their spiritual restorations were not spiritual revivals because, once again, spiritual revivals had to do with the outpourings of the Holy Spirit. These outpourings only fell on believers in Christ (people who already were reborn and saved souls), but not to restore them. The outpourings of the Holy Spirit provided the necessary power, spiritual gifts, anointing, and authority that reborn and saved believers in Christ had to have so that they could fulfill the Great Commission.

Once more, spiritual revivals have always been the times of vast outpourings of the Holy Spirit. Biblically speaking, there were four great outpourings of the Holy Spirit that are found in the Book of Acts. These four vast outpourings of the Holy Spirit are as follows: 1. upon converted Jews on the Feast of Pentecost (when the 120 Jewish saints who were in Jerusalem were Holy Spirit filled, and then they spoke in tongues—see Acts 2); 2. upon converted Samaritans in Samaria (when Peter and John prayed for the newly converted Samaritans to be filled with the Holy Spirit, laid hands on them, and they were Holy Spirit filled—see Acts 8); 3. upon converted Romans in Caesarea (when Peter preached to the Gentiles who were gathered inside Cornelius’ house, the Holy Spirit filled all of them, and then they all began speaking in tongues—see Acts 10); and 4. upon converted Greeks in Ephesus (when Paul laid his hands on 12 converted Gentile Ephesians, the Holy Spirit filled them, and they began speaking in tongues—see Acts 19).

Please notice that in every one of these mentioned four New Testament huge spiritual outpourings or spiritual revivals the Holy Spirit ONLY poured out on the already reborn and saved souls. In other words, only the already reborn and saved believers were revived, meaning they were fortified or invigorated (strengthened, energized, empowered, and endowed) by the Holy Spirit’s outpourings—His spiritual fillings or spiritual baptisms.

Since the New Testament’s biblical times, there have been countless Pentecost-like Holy Spirit outpourings worldwide. For example, one of the most important Holy Spirit outpourings in the United States of America is the major Pentecost-like Holy Spirit outpouring that happened on Azusa Street in Los Angeles on April 14, 1906.

Be that as it may. No one knows the number of outpourings that will happen before the last ever Pentecost-like Holy Spirit outpouring happens, but the Scripture is clear—there will be an end-time spiritual revival (Holy  Spirit outpouring). In Joel 2:28-29, the prophet Joel speaks specifically about an end-time outpouring of the Holy Spirit; however, there are many biblical prophecy scholars who believe that, according to the apostle Peter in Acts 2, the initial fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy has already begun.

What is evident today is that, just like the four great Holy Spirit outpourings that happened in the Book of Acts, God still has been allowing all who follow Christ the opportunity to experience the Gift of the Holy Spirit who not only is continually living within them but also is frequently reviving them—is repeatedly filling/baptizing them so that they can function as anointed, gifted, authorized, and empowered witnesses for Christ. Unfortunately, not all believers have allowed or have wanted the Holy Spirit’s outpouring (spiritual revivals) to fall on them.

Nevertheless, whether a believer in Christ allows or even wants to experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, according to Scripture, spiritual revivals will happen but only when and where there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In other words, spiritual revivals can’t happen if there is no outpouring of the Holy Spirit because only the Holy Spirit’s outpourings are true spiritual revivals. The circular argument was intended.

Lastly,  the fulfillment of Joel’s prophesied Latter Rain or the end-time (climactic) outpouring of the Holy Spirit will only happen in Israel and among Father God’s Jewish people—an overdue spiritual revival. In other words, the final outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this planet neither will happen in Gentile “churches” nor in what Gentile Christians call The CHURCH, but this prophesied end-time Holy Spirit outpouring will happen in the same nation the first Holy Spirit outpouring took place. By then, the Holy Spirit’s outpourings will have come full circle, ending where they began. Selah . . . . .

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered Saints

22 Sunday Jul 2018

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The Seal Of God

 

 

It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life. ~ Ephesians 1:13-14, MSG

 

The Holy Spirit is the One who seals believers in Christ. Father God allows the Holy Spirit to seal Christ’s followers so that they can feel safe and secure in God’s Love, Power, and Promises. Furthermore, it is the sealing of the Holy Spirit that accomplishes Father God’s signed, sealed, and delivered spiritual Objectives, which are as follows:

1. He seals with (stamps God’s Approval on us; validates us via) God’s Insignia so that we not only can receive the Holy Spirit inside us and on us but also can receive our eternal sonship, our eternal life, and our other promised eternal gifts.

2. He seals up (preserves, locks in) our faith that God has given to us so that unbelief, nonbelief, and apostasy) will be sealed out.

3. He seals to (protect, secure, and save) us by marking us with God’s Seal—a visible impression to the forces of darkness—so that demonic/evil forces will know they can’t enter us. In other words, God’s Seal will let Satan and his imps know that we Father God’s Children.

Shalom . . .

Every blessing . . . . .

Who Are Overcomers?

23 Friday Mar 2018

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Overcomers

…I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’ ~ Revelation 21:2-4, NASB

In the above verses, the apostle John describes overcomers’ heavenly state of existence that is achieved only by Christ’s true Bride, who figuratively (metaphorically) is depicted as the New Jerusalem. However, what too many believers fail to understand is that Christ’s Bride is both the New Jerusalem—the place where She will live—and Christ’s adorned Wife who is without spot or blemish.  

Biblically speaking, very often a people and a place are presented as interchangeable. When we consider everything the Word of God says about Christ’s Bride, it becomes obvious that who and what the Holy Spirit inspired apostle John to describe in the above verses is the collective Bride of Christ who is the New Jerusalem, as well as the saints who emanate the eternal features of The Father’s glorious and holy heavenly city. In other words, Christ’s Bride is a sacred place and a sacred people.

Because the whole Word of God depicts the Bride of Christ as both a place and a people, it is time for all believers in Christ not only to comprehend but also to accept the following truths that rarely are taught or preached in modern-day churches. These untaught and unpreached truths, which by no means are all-inclusive, are as follows:

ONLY overcomers are saved AND sanctified reborn believers who conquer the flesh, the world’s systems, and Satan (see 1 John 2:15-17 and 1 John 4:1-4 [present world-system], Romans 7:15-25 and Ephesians 2:1-3 [desires of the flesh], 1 Peter 5:8 and James 4:7-10  [Satan]). Put differently, only true believers in Christ—in whom the Holy Spirit lives, fills (baptizes), and is sanctifying—will be the successful overcomers spoken about in the Word of God. The reason this entire statement is true is because all believers in Christ are promised eternal life BUT believing is more than giving intellectual assent to His Existence or His Redemptive Work. Believing also means Christ’s Ekklesia (His One Body of Believers or One Community of Faith Believers) is His collective Bride who uses everything He gave to Her to help Her become His saintly Overcomers. That is why the Word of God describes Christ’s saintly Overcomers as follows:

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive the right to eat from the Tree of Life in God’s Paradise (Revelation 2:7).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who don’t receive the second death or Lake of Fire final judgment (Revelation 2:11).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive some of the hidden manna (Revelation 2:17).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive a white stone on which their new names are written—names only overcomers know (Revelation 2:17).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who do deeds that please Christ until the end. They receive authority and power to rule over the nations with Christ (Revelation 2:26).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers whose deeds please Christ until the end. They are the ones who also receive the morning star (Revelation 2:28).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive white garments, and they are the ones whose names are never erased from The Book of Life (Revelation 3:5).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers whose names Christ confesses before Father God and before His angels (Revelation 3:5).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who become pillars in God’s Temple on which Christ writes The Father’s Name and His new Name (Revelation 3:12).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive the right to sit with Christ on His Throne (Revelation 3:21).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who inherit a world free of sin, diseases, pain, crying, and mourning. They are God’s people whom He lives among (Revelation 21:3-4).

 

 

By now, it should be evident that believers who call themselves Christians, Christ followers, and so on, but are not seeking to obtain the abovementioned overcomers’ heavenly state of existence will not receive everything Christ’s saintly Overcomers are promised. If believers, the ones who call themselves Christians, Christ followers, and so on, are not transforming into The Bride of Christ whose daily saintly living consistently resembles Christ’s lifestyle, they will not receive everything Christ’s saintly Overcomers are promised.  

Put differently, ordinary believers—people who are saved, reborn, and justified but who have not, with the help of the Holy Spirit’s progressive sanctification process, conquered the flesh, the world’s systems, and Satan (which are overcomers’ righteous deeds that please Christ)—will not become Christ’s saintly Bride who is adorned for Him (The Bridegroom).  Instead, they will be the end-time Tribulation’s surviving Wheat who do not receive glorified bodies.

As the end-time Tribulation’s surviving Wheat, these ordinary believers will not be Christ’s saintly Overcomers who are able to eat the fruit from The Tree of Life. They also will never wear white garments, never receive any manna, never receive their individual white stone upon which each overcomer’s new name is written, never sit with Christ in His Throne, never reign with Christ, never have their names confessed before Father God and His angels, never become pillars, never inherit an uncorrupted everlasting world, and never will always be in Father God’s Presence.

A word to the wise should be sufficient. Shalom . . . . .

It’s A New Year: HAPPY 2018

28 Thursday Dec 2017

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Happy-New-Year2018

 

 

Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. ~ Romans 5:6-8, MSG

 

 

Looking back can be intimidating,
Frightening, discouraging, but the
Same is true about looking forward;
Since alive in Christ believers get to
Start over let’s be ready to face what
Lies ahead with high heads, high spirits,
High hopes for a victorious life that
Overcomes the world, Devil, flesh—a
Life that matures spiritually in this
New Year.

Stay in the Word of God, stay filled
With the Holy Spirit, stay surrendered,
Obedient, faithful, and loving children
Who trust in the Father for strength, for
Power, for authority, for peace, for grace,
For the fulfillment of all promises He says
He will do for all Christ followers in this
New Year.

Each New Year the Father lets us see is
Him sharing His Gift that keeps on giving
Us refreshed lives filled with new hope;
So, let us press forward grateful for this
Chance to become everything He intends
For us to be in Christ, settling for nothing
Less than courageously, powerfully, godly
Living to the fullest the lives He blessed us
To have at such a time as this—that’s best
Way to thank Him for letting us see this
New Year.

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2018

Christianity and the Christian Epithet Aren’t for Followers of Christ

03 Sunday Dec 2017

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I'm Not A CHRISTIAN

They then who had been scattered abroad through the tribulation that took place on the occasion of Stephen, passed through [the country] to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one but to Jews alone. But there were certain of them, Cyprians and Cyrenians, who entering into Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, announcing the glad tidings of the Lord Jesus. And [the] Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. And the report concerning them reached the ears of the assembly which was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go through as far as Antioch: who, having arrived and seeing the grace of God, rejoiced, and exhorted all with purpose of heart to abide with the Lord; for he was a good man and full of [the] Holy Spirit and of faith; and a large crowd [of people] were added to the Lord. And he went away to Tarsus to seek out Saul. And having found [him], he brought him to Antioch. And so it was with them that for a whole year they were gathered together in the assembly and taught a large crowd: and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. ~ Acts 11:19-26, DARBY

“Christianity” developed from beliefs that are based on far too many commandments of men taught as doctrines and from the traditions of men that have pagan roots. These reasons are why “Christianity” always has been a dinosaur, which means “Christianity” is and always has been outdated—useless to Christ’s true saints. For the 21st century’s genuine followers of Christ, “Christianity” as an organized religion is, and always has been since its inception (313 A.D., when Emperor Constantine declared “Christianity” the religion of the Roman Empire), an undesirable religion, as well as why the word “Christian” is and always has been an offensive moniker. Since 313 A.D., so many pagan traditions and doctrines have been passed down by The Roman Catholic Church as true and appropriate “Christian” beliefs and practices, including the Christianized belief that claims the word “Christian” is a person who believes in and practices “Christianity.”

The above-stated truths and facts about “Christianity”—a term that is neither indirectly suggested to be the religion of followers of Christ nor directly stated as the religion of followers of Christ. Indeed, the word “Christianity” isn’t even in the New Testament. Moreover, it is the misinterpretations of Christ and His apostles’ first-century teachings and preachings that have so many 21st-century followers of Christ choosing not to adapt to, to surrender to, or to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and His spiritual changes—His sanctification process or progressive transformation—that God says in His Word believers in Christ must undergo so that they might become Christlike. Everything that Christ and His apostles preached and taught is not being preached and taught correctly, if at all, in most of today’s Catholic and Protestants church buildings. They preached and taught about Kingdom of God living; being born again; salvation only in Christ; Christ the ONLY Way; progressive sanctification; godly holiness; the saints as overcomers; the saints, the brethren, and/or the disciples in the assemblies (eklessiae, NOT churches); being baptized with Holy Spirit and Fire; and so forth. Furthermore, apostle Paul addresses his epistles to the saints, the brethren, or the disciples in the assemblies (eklessiae)—not to any “Christians” who practice “Christianity.”

Yet today, in place of what Christ and His apostles preach and teach in the New Testament, what most churchgoers hear from the pulpits is some man-developed religious doctrines and traditions that most pastors are passing off as “Christianity” (an organized man-made religion that, as already mentioned, began with The Roman Catholic Church). As a result, members who attend said pastors’ churches have been practicing “Christianity,” or as I prefer to call it, Churchianity (a word C. S. Lewis coined). My point here is that “Christianity” and Churchianity neither represents the Holy Kingdom of God living nor represents baptized with the Holy Spirit and Fire Christlikeness. It “Christianity” or Churchianity that has been taught to modern-day “Christians”—people who say they are born again, saved, and filled with the Holy Spirit when they really are just people who personify the leafy yet barren fig tree Christ withered from its roots.

Most “Christians” today continue to overlook the fact that the word “Christianity” cannot be found anywhere in the Word of God. Moreover, they continue to overlook another fact, which is that neither Christ’s apostles nor the first-century believers in Christ called themselves “Christians.” Christ’s first-century apostles and all the other believers in Christ called themselves “the disciples,” “the brethren,” “the saints,” “the elect,” “the believers,” and “those of the Way.”

The “Christian” label/nickname originated with the pagans who lived in Antioch of Syria. These pagans first called followers of Christ “Christians,” right after many Gentiles in Antioch converted to the Way and were vocal about their conversion. Many sources tell how, in the beginning, “Christian” was a derogatory pagan word—a sarcastic, mocking, irreverent, and contemptuous pagan term. There, indeed, are more than enough trustworthy sources that were written in or close to the first century that verify “Christian” was the derisive term pagans used to describe Christ’s Disciples.

For sure, “Christian,” as a derisive and an offensive term, is used three times in the Holy Bible (cf. Acts 11:26b; Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16). The apostle Peter references the apparent derisive and offensive nature of the word “Christian” in 1 Peter 4:16. There can be no doubt that apostle Peter knew “Christian” was a snide, scornful, disrespectful, insulting, and demeaning pagan term, even though “Christian” has Christ in it. What apostle Peter is doing in 1 Peter 4:16 is encouraging believers in Christ to wear the derogatory and hurtful term “Christian” like a badge of honor—to count it worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake and to God’s Glory, rather than to be made to feel ashamed for suffering as a “Christian,” which was the name of and a people who belonged to Christ whose name the pagans were blaspheming when they mocked and insulted “Christians.” For sure, to the pagans, being a “Christian” was worse than being a murderer, a thief, or an evil criminal (cf. 1 Peter 4:15)

Still, the truth is that neither Christ nor any of His Disciples/apostles declared or implied that believers in Christ are called to be “Christians.” Then too, neither Christ nor any of His Disciples/apostles declared or implied that believers in Christ are called to practice “Christianity.” Indeed, all throughout the New Testament, the words Christ and/or His Disciples use hundreds of times, collectively speaking, are “disciples,” “brethren,” and “saints,” In contrast, as previously mentioned, “Christian” only is used three times—twice in Acts and once in 1 Peter.

Years later, Roman followers of Christ began to call themselves, in Latin, Christiani, which was pronounced Chrestiani and meant they were followers of Chrestus. It is evident that Christiani was a pun that Romans used to give the Christian epithet a new and sweeter significance. Indeed, saying they were followers of Chrestus was the same as saying they were followers of the merciful one; the upright servant. That gave Roman believers in Christ a sense of pride. They were honored to be associated with and/or to suffer for Chrestus.

Over time, in the Roman Empire, “Christian” was considered to be a more splendid and appropriate name than how it originally was used. In other words, the scornful nickname had now become a respectable name. They were honored to have been given the occasion of their persecution and/or death. That occasion was because they were “Christians.”

Nevertheless, since the first-century followers of Christ not only never called themselves “Christians” but also actually went out of their way to avoid speaking that word and constantly declared they were not “Christians,” then we who are 21st-century followers of Christ should do the same. No justified play on words can change what the first-century believers knew was a contemptuous epithet. No men or women, priests/bishops or pastors/bishops, no organized Church, and no organized religion can tell Christ’s Ekklesia or Bride who or what She should call Herself. He and His first-century Disciples turned Apostles called all followers of Christ disciples, saints, brethren, elect, overcomers, believers, and/or those of the Way.

Finally, just as the first-century pagans used the “Christian” epithet, when they were mocking followers of Christ, the “Christian” moniker also is used to mock 21st-century followers of Christ. Thus, all believers in Christ who call themselves “Christians” need to stop calling themselves Christians and, instead, call themselves disciples, saints, brethren, elect, overcomers, believers, and/or followers of the Way. Likewise, all believers in Christ who claim “Christianity” as their religion, faith, or belief should stop and, instead, claim to be in a relationship with God and Christ.

Glorification Won’t Be Cosmetic

03 Thursday Aug 2017

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Glorified Bodies Not Made Cosmetically

 

 

VERSE:

so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

 

Ephesians 5:27

 

COUPLET:
Spotless and wrinkleless in ageless dreams
Can’t be achieved with anti-aging creams.

 

 

Anti-Aging Creams

 

 

PRAYER:

Holy Spirit, thank You for teaching us. Thank You, too, for changing us into the likeness of Christ, so we will be without spot or wrinkle, so others will see Christ in us, and so we’ll never resort to being those actors who once played three different roles: a “religious” role, a public role, and a familial role. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

 

 

~ this blog entry is from my manuscript Daily Manna: Bible Verse, Couplet & Prayer for Each Day of the Year

Separating Christ’s Saints from the Ain’ts

07 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by in Faith and Wisdom

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Always Keep Oil In Your Vessel (Your Heart)

Always Keep Oil In Your Vessel (Your Heart)

you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. ~ Acts 10:37-38, ESV

And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.~ Matthew 25:10, ESV

Someone literally shutting a door in our face is probably one of the most embarrassing feelings we ever will experience in this life. However, an even more embarrassing experience, other than having Christ Jesus shut the door to Heaven in our face, will be hearing the Lord tell us, from behind that shut door, that He doesn’t know us!

Should we find ourselves in this left-behind situation, we either will be in total denial, or we will admit our spiritual nakedness to the other left behinders—acknowledge that we have been spiritually uncovered (deprived of God’s spiritual hedge of protection) and, as a result, left on our own. What a horrible feeling this will be, and yet, if we presently profess with our lips to be Christians but with our hearts continue to choose lifestyles that don’t reflect Christ in us, then the harsh reality of our spiritual nakedness is what so many of us will experience, when Christ Jesus (our Bridegroom) comes back for His Bride (His Body of Believers) and leaves behind every professed believer who doesn’t have enough Oil in him or her!

How silly the left-behind members in today’s “churches” will feel when they realize that they are those foolish, unprepared virgins (believers) who denied their hearts the necessary Oil. In essence, they will feel silly for being believers who carried only a lamp of profession, or, if you will, had an outward show of religiosity, while lacking in their hearts (the vessels in which the Oil should have been placed) the Oil of the Holy Spirit. How silly these left behinders also will feel when they learn that they cannot obtain the Oil they are lacking by pleading with the sensible, prepared virgins to give them some of theirs. These foolish left behinders also cannot “buy” their needed Oil from worldly “oil” dealers.

The point here is that the Holy Spirit’s spiritual excellence (Oil of anointing or divine empowerment that produces spiritual preparedness) is non-transferable. It also can’t be borrowed, and it can’t be humanly reproduced, because the Holy Spirit’s spiritual excellence or Oil of anointing comes directly from God, and He freely gives this Oil to His Household of faith children!

Yes, there are “religious” leaders who sell anointed oil, but the Divine Truth is that the Holy Spirit’s spiritual excellence (Oil of anointing or divine empowerment) is an invisible, intangible, supernatural preparedness. This kind of spiritual preparedness is a matter of the heart, and that’s why the Oil (Holy Spirit’s anointing or divine empowerment) cannot be transferred, borrowed, or bought with worldly money or possessions. This Divine Truth is why, when the unprepared virgins/believers returned empty-handed and began to beg their Lord to let them in, Christ Jesus could not be moved to open the door for them. He couldn’t open the door to Heaven, because they never took the time to develop an intimate relationship with Him—they never took the time to make the necessary preparations for their marriage to Him!

Now, while there have been countless discussions about the meaning of Christ’s Jesus’ words in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, what is absolutely clear in this parable is that Christ Jesus is the symbolic Bridegroom. Also absolutely clear is that this parable is about His (Christ Jesus’) return. Another absolutely clear fact about this parable is that it contains specific ancient Jewish marriage customs.

Christ Jesus definitely is using the Ten Virgins’ parable to teach all believers about the parallels between the traditional Jewish marriage customs and the Kingdom of Heaven’s spiritual Truths about being betrothed to Christ Jesus and what will happen to those Bride of Christ believers who behave carelessly, nonchalantly and, thus, end up breaking their betrothed vows to their Bridegroom. That’s why, contrary to popular opinions, the Ten Virgins’ parable is not about Israel being grafted back onto the Olive Tree just in time to rule with Christ Jesus during His millennial reign. Spiritually speaking, since the Kingdom of Heaven/Kingdom of God is inside every born again and saved believer in Christ, this Divine Truth means the Ten Virgins’ parable is about all believers (Jews and Gentiles) who live and die on Earth during the CHURCH Age (or the Age of Grace).

For this last reason, the Parable of the Ten Virgins also is about the Holy Spirit of God (or the Spirit of the Lord), who is the Oil in the five wise virgins’ vessels—the spiritual Oil that sanctifies believers with godly holiness, as well as the spiritual Oil that will glorify them. Put differently, the Oil of the Holy Spirit (also referred to as the Oil of anointing) is the Holy Spirit—the One God gave to Christ Jesus so that He could do the Perfect Will of Father God while serving mankind, and the One God gives to every born again and saved believer so that he or she too can do the Perfect Will of Father God while serving others.

That is why during every believer’s betrothal period (the Church Age/Age of Grace) he or she is expected to live and walk in the Holy Spirit. In other words, every believer is expected to keep his or her vessel (heart) filled with the Oil of the Holy Spirit. The point here is that the Holy Spirit not only dwells in every believer but also He is put inside each believer so that He (the Holy Spirit) could fill him or her.

The infilling of the Holy Spirit produces the supernatural power that helps believers develop their necessary daily intimacy and fellowship—their righteous and holy relationship with God—so that their spiritual life matures morally, emotionally, spiritually, and faithfully. Additionally, the infilling of the Holy Spirit’s supernatural power also helps believers become Christ Jesus’ watchful and ready (prepared) Bride—the only Bride the Bridegroom (Christ Jesus) will recognize as being faithful to Him, when He comes back for Her.

The bottom line is that it is the Holy Spirit’s nature to fill, and refill, and refill . . . the Lord’s spiritually baptized and spiritually productive believers. Moreover, the Holy Spirit’s on-going sanctification is a process, one that not only has the Holy Spirit empowering, endowing, edifying, and educating the Lord’s Holy Spirit baptized believers, but also the Holy Spirit’s on-going sanctification is a process, which has the Holy Spirit purifying the Lord’s Holy Spirit baptized believers, until they eventually become thoroughly Christ-like. The ultimate result of sanctification is for the Lord’s Holy Spirit baptized believers to be ready for their glorification—that vital transformation that makes it possible for them to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and be with God. How is it, then, that any believer could ever run out of the Oil of the Holy Spirit?

The Divine Truth is that it is impossible to be Holy Spirit filled yet empty and helpless. That is to say, there is no way that believers can be filled with the Oil of the Holy Spirit but only have a form of godliness (deny the power that makes them like Christ Jesus)! For believers to have a form of godliness, they either would have received an inferior or counterfeit portion of “oil,” or they could never have been filled and then continually refilled with the Oil of Holy Spirit! 

For sure, when believers are being continually refilled with the Holy Spirit, they then are able to be spiritually productive, well prepared (wholly purified), and eventually ready to be glorified. Their glorification, however, only happens when their Bridegroom comes for them, and He both resurrects the dead in Christ and snatches up the alive in Christ so that they can meet Him in the air. These are the believers (the Bride) who will enter into the heavenly Bridal Chamber with their Bridegroom (their Lord)!

Finally, there can be no doubt about Christ Jesus’ spiritual meaning of the Ten Virgins’ parable. He is saying that the foolish, carnal, non-productive, unprepared (not completely purified) believers are the “ain’ts,” those individuals who will be left behind. Christ Jesus also is saying that the wise, spiritually productive, prepared (wholly purified) “saints” will be raptured. Put differently, the Lord is saying that no genuinely prepared believer in Him will ever be like the parable’s left behind foolish five virgins, who apparently believed that the Holy Spirit had given them enough Oil to last them until the Lord returned.

Here is the primary difference between the foolish and wise virgins. Only the wise virgins remained in constant contact with the One who dispenses the Oil—the Holy Spirit. Scripture proves that the foolish virgins did not receive the crucial refills that would have given them an adequate supply of Oil, which would have made it possible for them to trim their lamps so as to be ready to follow their Bridegroom into the bridal chamber, when He finally arrived. In essence, the foolish five virgins waited too long before they spiritually sought the One who fills, and refills, and refills . . . .

The parable’s Divine Truth, thus, is startlingly clear. That Divine Truth is: Any professed believer who is left behind to experience the Tribulation Period will be a professed believer who didn’t bother to have enough Oil of the Holy Spirit inside him or her so that he or she not only could make it to the time of the Rapture but also would be spiritually prepared (completely Christ-like and therefore ready) to be raptured (cf. Matthew 25:3; 12-13)! AMEN.

from Faith and Wisdom: A Rhema Word in a Dry and Thirsty Land (2006; edited)

 

For a more complete explanation of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, please read the following blog entry: The Bridegroom Is Coming: God’s Ultimate Marriage Story.