Hard Days Are Coming!
It’s time to prepare for the hard days ahead. God has recently spoken to my wife, Karen, and He told her that the coming days of the Anti-Christ are going to be far worse than the Great Depression during the 1930’s. The error of a Pre-Trib rapture has been taught many in the church, and many Christians will not be prepared when these days arrive. They will end up being like the foolish virgins who will not be prepared and will not be able to endure their time of waiting for the Bridegroom!
Memorize the Word!
It is better to be prepared for the worst, and if it does not happen as bad as we believe it to be, than not to be prepared and be caught and blind-sighted by the devastation would be worse! I am not just talking supplies! We will need to know, understand, and have the word set to memory. With the days of the Anti-Christ, we can expect Bibles to be burned or destroyed; thus, we will need to have the Scriptures set to memory. We will also need to develop our prayer life, as we will need to become dependent on God for direction for direction so that we will know how to endure the hard days ahead, where to go and what to do to survive!
Many Will Not Be Prepared!
There are so many people who call themselves “Christians” who do not know their Bibles, nor have they developed their prayer life, because they have bought into the deception of the church in believing that before these hard days of the Anti-Christ arrive that Christians will be raptured out of here! However, most Christians in other countries where they are being persecuted right now do not believe in this “pre-Trib rapture deception!” It is only believed by those who are currently living in comfort and ease, but they will soon learn what it is to suffer persecution and even death, instead of them “being removed” by God!
The Deception about the Meaning of the Temple Veil Being Rent!
Another deception of the church is the belief that God brought the Law of God to an end with the death of Christ. The tearing of the Temple veil was not about bring the commandments to an end. There is not one example in the Scriptures where God brought any law or set of laws to an end by tearing any fabric at all. The tearing of fabric is a sign of mourning, and this goes all the way back to Jacob being told about the death of Joseph by his brothers. Therefore, when the Temple veil was torn from top-to-bottom God was mourning the death of His Son, just as any loving father would have done, and by doing so, He would have also identified Him as His Son.
Yeshua is Our Example!
Yeshua (Jesus) was our example of how to live in obedience to God – not our substitution! The Bible does not teach “substitutionary living” and “identification atonement,” but Yeshua (Jesus) identified with us and was our example of how to live out the commandments in our day-to-day life, and He was our substitute in His death.
Substitutionary Living – Identification Atonement – A Deception?
This is what the Bible actually teaches! Do not believe this common deception that’s currently being taught: “substitutionary living” – This idea that Yeshua (Jesus) kept the commandments perfectly, so now we don’t need to do so. We automatically, therefore, get His righteousness and He gets all of our sins. This is not what the Bible actually teaches. They are basing this teaching on a mistranslation of the Bible:
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
First of all, the words “to be” is italicized because they are not in the original Greek. Also, in Hebrew the word châtâ’ [H2398] means “sin” but the feminine form, chata’ah [H2401] means “sin offering,” chatta’ah [H2403] means both “sin” and “sin offering.” For an ancient Hebrew, it made sense that if you “sinned,” you need a “sin offering,” so they used the same word for both. The Greek equivalent of the word chatt’at is hamartia. And since harmartia is the Greek equivalent of these Hebrew forms, we should treat it with the same meanings: “sin” and “sin offering.” If we do, then we get the following:
He made Him who knew no sin a sin offering on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
The Process that Leads to Eternal Life
ow the word “might” does not mean it is an automatic, but that it is a possibility. According to Paul, in Romans 6, there is a three-tier process that we have to make our way through:
Stage 1: We present ourselves as slaves for obedience to God
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Stage 2: Being Slaves to Righeousness Results in Sanctification (or Holiness)
I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members (body) as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in SANCTIFICATION. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
Stage 3: Sanctification (Holiness) Results in Eternal Life
But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in SANCTIFICATION/HOLINESS, and the outcome, ETERNAL LIFE.
But rather than explaining these processes, they merely state the next verse, which is a summary statement for the whole process:
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus (Heb. Moshiach Yeshua) our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
This is very similar to what we read in Hebrews 12,
Pursue peace with all men, and the SANCTIFICATION (or Holiness) without which NO ONE WILL SEE THE LORD. (Hebrews 12:14; emphasis added).
Holiness – a Process, Not Just a Gift!
Holiness is not just “given to us.” It comes as part of the process that Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) outlines for us in Romans 6. It comes as part of us enslaving ourselves to God and His commandments, so that we becomes “slaves to righteousness,” which results in SANCTIFICATION (or HOLINESS), and it is by us living SANCTIFIED, HOLY LIVES, which results in ETERNAL LIFE. Christianity has lied and deceived us by teaching us that we cannot obey the commandments PERFECTLY. I got news for you – there is not a single verse or passage in the whole Bible where God asks us to obey Him PERFECTLY – it simply is not there! All He asks is that we obey Him lovingly from our hearts, and that we can do. If we do not, it is not because we can’t – it’s because we chose not to do it! Let’s choose to obey Him and His commandments in preparation for His soon return!
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