Jesus had been with His disciples for three years. In His last talk with them before His arrest and crucifixion, He was telling them that He was about to leave them and return to His Father from whence He came:
“Rapture” or “Second Coming” (Part 2)
After writing the first contemplation on this subject, I decided to take another look at the Scriptures about “end times” and saw again, as I did in my childhood, plenty of Scriptural evidence for many of the “end times” teaching.
“Rapture” or “Second Coming” (Part 1)
There are countless (and I do mean “countless”) books, pamphlets, papers, sermons and lectures available on the subject of “end times.” They are all about chronological countdowns, tribulations, resurrections and judgments. Some make a distinction between the “rapture” and the “second coming”; some do not. Many congregations and denominations have been formed, fractured or destroyed because of disagreements concerning these matters. Anyone wanting to make an exhaustive study of this subject will quickly find himself agreeing with Solomon:
Ten Righteous Men
Part 1
In Genesis 18-19 we read the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (the home of Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family) and of Abraham’s plea with God that the cities be spared from what we have believed to be God’s wrath against their many sins, including homosexuality. We even hear preachers today denouncing cities like New Orleans and Las Vegas, saying that hurricane Katrina was God’s wrath against the people of New Orleans. I’ve heard more than one minister make statements like this one: If God doesn’t punish America [or a specific city in America], He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.
Continue reading “Ten Righteous Men”
Flesh
Our first response to the word “flesh”
is usually negative. We remember Paul’s list of the works of the flesh
(which we want no part of) and his conclusion that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God
(Galatians 5:19 (KJV):21). He tells us that flesh and blood
(which he refers to as corruption
) cannot inherit the kingdom of God
(1Corinthians 15:50) and goes on to say that if we walk after the flesh
rather than after the Spirit
(Romans 8:1,4-5) we shall die,
but if, through the Spirit, we mortify the deeds of the body
we shall live
(Romans 8:13). He readily acknowledges that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing
(Romans 7:18).
Listening to the Holy Spirit
When Jesus was teaching, He would often say, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear
(Matthew 11:15).
In the letters to the seven churches recorded in the book of Revelation, the ascended Christ would end each letter with, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches
(Chapters 2-3).
Who or What Is Christ?
On at least two occasions, Peter identified Jesus as Christ, the Son of the living God
(Matthew 16:13; John 6:69). And Jesus Himself prayed that we would know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent
(v 3).
The Greatest Deception
If I do not know that I and my Father are one,
(John 10:30) as Jesus knew it and prayed in John 17 that we would also know it, I will have a separate sense of self. In other words, I think that I am a separate self which I must preserve and protect —OR I must somehow persuade God (who is separate from me) to preserve and protect me. When I pray, I’m not asking for the Holy Spirit which is promised to those who ask (Luke 11:13) to guide me into all Truth (which is God). I am rather asking for that which I can consume upon my lust
to preserve the life I think I have responsibility for (James 4:3).