Tag: Abraham

Of Dispensations and Pre Tribulation.

I have noticed recently that “Dispensationalists and Pre Tribulation Teachers” have been coming in for some harsh criticism from anti dispensationalists, and anti pre tribulation teachers, so I thought I would give my reasons as to why I am both a Dispensationalist and also a Pre Tribulation believer. I will not however be engaging in criticism of other Christians, as I do not believe that is God glorifying, but I will be stating my beliefs and backing them up with scripture, and I will make comments on why I do not accept some of their allegations against us, or some of their beliefs about the timing of the rapture.

I believe that there are time periods set by God for certain things to take place in the plan of God.   These time periods are called dispensations.  The word dispensation comes from the Greek word “Oikonomia” which means the order or running of the household.    You could say dispensations are like agenda items, when you complete one agenda item you move on to the next.    To my way of thinking if there are no dispensations, the Bible becomes a book of contradictions, mysterious to the uninitiated, and difficult to understand, whereas in fact it is God’s revelation to us of His plans for mankind.

Revelation means to reveal, or to disclose, to make clear and understandable.   Without dispensations the Bible becomes a minefield for Christians, and a paradise for non Christians of every other religion and or persuasion, it becomes a book where men have to put their own interpretation on much of what God is saying.   It becomes a mystery not a revelation.

I think that there are some things which apply to one dispensation but not others, and that there are some things which apply to all dispensations, but without dispensations, you have a big mess of contradictions.  I believe and note here also, that dispensations are taught in the Bible, and a classic example of this is found in Eph 1:10 where it says “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:”   In this verse we can see clearly that there will be another dispensation called the fullness of times, which appears to come after the Millennial dispensation.

Dispensationalism is also seen in the writings of early Christians such as Paul, as seen above in Eph 1:10, it is also used by the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor 9:17, and again in Eph 3:2 and Col 1:25.   It is also noted in the writings of early historians such as Justin Martyr, (A.D. 110-165), Iranaeus (A.D. 130-200)   and Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 150-220) to name just a few.

Contrary to most other theological beliefs, Dispensational Theology believes that Israel and the Church are two distinct entities, operating in two distinct dispensations.   I am convinced that although both have had special relationships with God, they are not essentially one and the same.   Israel as a nation, is not and never was the church, and the church is not and never was the nation of Israel.   There are Israelis and Jews in the church, and in fact the church was founded by Jews.   When we gentiles become Christians, we are grafted into the family of faith, the father of whom was Abraham, father of the Israeli nation, but we are not grafted into the nation of unbelieving Israel!

When comparing Israel and the Church in the Bible, the word church is never seen or used in the Old Testament, and it is never seen or used after the Rapture takes place in Revelation 4:1.

I believe that it is only with dispensations that you can take the Bible literally.    Without dispensations, much of the Bible has to be interpreted according to what men think God meant rather than by what the Bible actually says.      Dispensationalists realise that there are many parts of the Bible which are allegorical, but we believe the majority of the Bible is literal, and we can see that so far, all the fulfilled prophecies have been fulfilled literally, and that those currently in the process of being fulfilled, are also shaping up to be fulfilled literally.

Allegorical passages of scripture are usually easy to recognise, such as parables and poems etc. but allegorical interpreters are very often seen to be at odds with each other, having different interpretations, because different people will always have different views on what the passage might mean.

Without dispensations you cannot have a Pretribulation Rapture.   The Pretribulation Rapture depends entirely on a literal interpretation of the Bible wherever it makes sense to interpret it literally.     Without a Pretribulation Rapture you must have God pouring out His wrath and judgement upon Himself, because He is dwelling in true believers in the person of the Holy Spirit!  That would not make sense at all.   Neither would God pouring out His wrath on the Bride to be of His only Son, who gave His life to cleanse and purify her make any sense.   God is NOT about to pour out tribulation of any type, nor His wrath upon Himself or the Bride to be of His Son!

Will the church go through tribulation?  ABSOLUTELY!    The church has gone through tribulation from its beginning, and much of that tribulation has been terrible and unbelievably cruel.   The inquisition was a time of terrible tribulation when millions of Christians were slaughtered for their faith in Jesus Christ.   The Communist countries butchered millions of Christians when they came to power in Russia and China.   Millions of Christians have been butchered by Moslems since the day Muhammad began the religion of Islam right up until today.

Much of the church is going through terrible tribulation right now in Moslem countries, in China, in India, in North Korea and in over 120 other countries around the world today.    But it is Satan and not God who is pouring out his wrath on the church today.    Satan knows that his time is up, and because of this his fury is being unleashed upon God’s people all around the world and it is spreading rapidly to the rest of the world.

Billy Graham’s Warning to American Churches: ‘Prepare for Persecution’

The Rev. Billy Graham has issued a written warning to America’s churches: “Prepare for persecution.” The renowned preacher and founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association penned a commentary that was posted on his website last week and is slated to appear in the November edition of Decision magazine.    His son Franklin Graham wrote “Persecution and targeting of Christians isn’t just in Iran or the Middle East, it’s right here in America,” wrote Franklin Graham.

I believe that if the Lord does not come back soon for His bride, that we shall soon see Christians in Australia being targeted by the world for our stand against sins of every type, most notably same sex marriage and sexual perversion of every type.   You can see it already beginning to build here in Australia as it has already in America.   But Jesus said, ‘If they hate you, remember they hated me before they hated you,’ (John 15:18).”

The accusations made by anti Pre Tribulation rapture teachers that we are afraid of tribulation, is to me both ridiculous and repugnant.   The belief that True Christians will suffer the wrath of God in the tribulation, is unscriptural and nonsensical.   Jesus has paid the full price for our sins; to have God pour out His wrath on True Christians, is to say that God was not satisfied with the sacrifice of His own son on the cross, and so Christians must pay a bit more.    That is not what the Bible says.

Yes, we must prepare ourselves for persecution and tribulation, but at the hands of wicked people who are driven by Satan, that has been the portion of the church from the beginning, and will be until Jesus comes back for us.

But persecution and tribulation do NOT come to the True Church from the hand of a loving God who says in Rom_5:9  “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”  And again in 1Th_5:9 “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

God’s Amazing Blessings For True Christians.

The Bible warns us continually to beware of false Christians; in Matthew 13:25  Jesus calls them TARES (weeds that look very much like wheat, but are not real wheat).   Jesus tells us that Satan, His enemy has planted these false Christians in the Church to try and drag the TRUE Christians away from Jesus.    Jesus also tells us clearly that in the last days, referring to our time period, that the majority of Christians will not be true Christians, but false Christians. See Revelation 3:14 forward.

We are going to look at some verses in the Bible which will paint the picture for us, of what the true Christian should be, and of the amazing blessings God has in store for them.

Romans 8:14 tells us that “the true children of God, are the Christians who are led by the Spirit of God’. v 16 goes on to say that “the Spirit of God gives us the assurance in our hearts that we are God’s children”.   v 17 says “if we are God’s children then we are also His heirs, and we are Joint Heirs with Christ and if we suffer for Him we shall also be glorified with Him.” 

So how do we suffer for Christ?  For many people in many countries today, this involves being killed because of their testimony of faith in Jesus, becoming a Martyr.    For us here, it is through the persecution that we go through from our worldly friends and work mates when they taunt us and ridicule us for being Christians, and because we refuse to go along with them and be part of their wicked ways.

2 Peter 1:4 takes us a step further and tells us that “God has made exceedingly great and precious promises to us, that through these promises we can share with Him in His divine nature, —  because of the fact that we ran away from corruption and from the desires and lusts of the world”.

It gets even better as we are told in Eph 1:4  “Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes, v 5 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  And this gave him great pleasure.”

We have been adopted by God the Father to be part of His family, sons and daughters of God.   As 1 John 3:2 tells us, “Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is”.

So what other surprises does God have for us?

Well I have what may be a surprise to many people, and even to many true Christians.    Spiritually a true Christian is no longer a Gentile, he has become a Jew.     Paul puts it like this.   Rom 11:17 “But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree, some of the Jews, have been broken off ” (because of their unbelief) “and you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, were grafted in,” (you now become part of Abraham’s tree, that is Israel), “so now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in God’s rich nourishment of his special olive tree.”  

Who are God’s chosen people?   Israel are, so if we are now part of God’s chosen people and have been adopted by Him, we therefore become Jews in God’s eyes, spiritually at least, even if not in the worlds eyes.   Spiritually we are Jews, and Satan knows that, and that is why he wants all the Jews (Israelis) dead, and he wants all Christians dead just as much!!!

Finally, we are engaged to be Jesus’ Bride.   As in Jewish custom, Jesus made an offer of marriage to all who would trust in Him.   The “Bride Price” he paid, was His own life.   He also gave his bride a gift before He left her, (like we give an engagement ring) Jesus gave His bride the Holy Spirit as a gift to help keep her strong until He comes back.   Then He told her to wait and be ready and watching.

In Jewish custom, the bridegroom can come at any time, night or day, and he would expect his bride to be packed and ready to leave with him for his fathers house immediately.   That is Jewish custom, and that is what Jesus has done for us.   Paul says in  2Co 11:2  I am jealous over you, just as God is; you are like a pure virgin whom I have promised in marriage to one man only, Christ himself.  True Christians will be part of Jesus’ spiritual bride.

So then, let us summarise the amazing blessings of the TRUE Christians?     1. They have become God’s children.   2.  They have been adopted into God’s family.   3.  They will share in the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children   4.  They have been made joint heirs with Christ in all God’s blessings.   5.   They will be transformed and made just like him when He comes.    6.  They will participate with Christ in the divine nature of God.    7.  They are Spiritually, part of God’s chosen people Israel.   8.   They will be part of Jesus’ Spiritual Bride.

That means we are no longer free to do as we want, we cannot continue living in sin.  We cannot continue to live for ourselves, or for our own pleasure.  1 Cor 6:19 says, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, v 20 for God bought you with a high price, So now you must honour God with your body”.   We belong to Jesus.  We are engaged in a legally binding contract.  Therefore we must guard our life from sin and evil, and keep ourselves pure for Jesus, to the very best of our ability,  (no one is perfect – yet, but we must rtry to be.)   In Summary :-

True Christians will keep themselves pure for Jesus, their bridegroom.

True Christians will be ready, watching and waiting for the return of their bridegroom at ALL times.

True Christians will run away from the desires and lusts of this world.

True Christians will love Israel, and Israelis, Jesus earthly family.

True Christians will be led by the Holy Spirit.

True Christians will be prepared to suffer or even die for Jesus sake.

True Christians WILL be counted worthy to receive these amazing blessings.  

ISRAEL – Current Events and Attitudes.

First let us be clear, the Bible is all about Israel and Israel’s enemies. As I mentioned last time, God promised Abraham in Gen 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you. I will use you to bless all the people on earth.” The Bible is about God blessing all the people on earth through Abraham and his descendants.   This blessing was partially fulfilled of course in the salvation of all mankind through Jesus, God’s Son.    Jesus was a Jew, a descendant of Abraham.

But this blessing is a two-edged sword, as God also promised Abraham and his descendants that He would also curse all those who curse Israel. God said in Zech – 2:8 whoever touches Israel touches the apple of God’s eye. = (Hurt Israel – hurt God)

This promise does not end with the death of Jesus on the cross, because God does not change nor lie nor retract his promises, so today that promise is as powerful as it ever was, and we have seen the fulfillment of that clearly, in the way God has blessed Israel with miraculous victories over their enemies, in wars where their enemies far outnumbered them in manpower, military hardware and equipment. At the time, no one believed for a moment that it was possible for Israel to survive, let alone to win.

That brings me to current world events. There are two major events currently taking place in the world; both of these events will severely hurt Israel, and according to the Bible, these events will shape the future of the world and the nations.

The first of these is the dividing of the land of Israel amongst her enemies. The world is determined to divide Israel up and give the West Bank and Gaza to the Arabs and the Egyptians who currently live there, under the guise of being Palestinians, (see my previous post) and to create a state of Palestine. What the World does not understand is that the land they are intent on giving to God’s enemies, does not belong to the Arabs nor the Egyptians, nor even to the so called Palestinians, in fact it does not even belong to Israel, it belongs to God!!!

Lev 25:23 The land shall not be sold forever; for the land is Mine. For you are strangers and pilgrims with Me.

Eze 38:16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

Joe 3:2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will judge them there for how they treated my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

Leading the charge is the USA, hand in hand with The European Union, The United Nations and Russia. The BIG 4. These countries have been trying to cut Israel down to size, as it were, for over 25 years now.   I believe that the root cause of the problem lies in the fact that the whole world needs oil, and the Islamic nations and their friends control some 80 % of the world’s oil supplies, meaning that most other nations in the world have very little oil, or none at all, so they have to stay on side with these Islamic nations if they want to be able to buy the oil they need to keep their countries running. That of course means going against Israel when it comes to touchy matters like “The Palestinian Problem” and dividing the land of Israel “God’s land” amongst His enemies.

The second part of the problem is the Boycott, Sanction and Divestment movement. This organisation was started by the Arabs in the West Bank of Israel, and the Egyptians in Gaza, (aka the Palestinians) in order to try and financially cripple Israel, and thus force Israel to give part of God’s land to them.   Today this organisation is sweeping the world.   Boycott = don’t buy anything made in Israel.   Divest = sell all your shares in Israeli companies and don’t invest in Israel.   Sanction = don’t allow Israel to buy or trade with other countries.

The World Council of Churches as an entity, supports BDS against Israel.

I think the saddest thing about all this is that people who actually call themselves Christians, are often the leaders of the pack.    In the USA most if not all of the mainstream or nominal churches synods, or hierarchies have approved BDS and are putting it into action in their denominations.      In saying that I would also like to note that as far as I know, and also according to BDS published materials. there are no Spirit-filled churches within the BDS movement       I am also pleased to say, that I have read of a few mainline church assemblies who have refused to follow their organisation’s lead in this matter.

I would like to point out two things. 1. For about 300 years the Jews had collaborated with the Roman Emperors to have all the Christians they could catch tortured and fed to the lions, or killed in some other gruesome way, for refusing to bow down to Caeser as their God.     When Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, the so called “Christians” of the church, filled with hatred for what the Jews had done to them for so long, decided to get their own back.   This is reflected in the churches adoption of “Replacement Theology” meaning that all God’s blessings belong to the Church, including the land of Israel, and all God’s curses belong to the Jews.

Origen (185-254 AD) – He was responsible for much anti-Semitism, all of which was based on his assertion that the Jews were responsible for killing Jesus. He was the father of the allegorical method of interpretation, and he was excommunicated by the early church and declared an heretic.

Augustine 400A.D. Asserted that the “Jews deserved death but were destined to wander the earth to witness the victory of the Church over the synagogue.”   Augustine took up Origen’s heresies and introduced them into the Roman Catholic Church who adopted them, as did all the Bishops of Rome from that time on.

  1. Unfortunately, apart from the Wesley Bros, all the other leaders of the Reformation continued to carry this hate and unforgiveness in their hearts, and so today it is still prevalent in mainstream churches.

Martin Luther 1543 “Even if they (the Jews) were punished in the most gruesome manner, that the streets ran with their blood, that their dead would be counted not in the hundred thousands, but in the millions…in sum they are the devil’s children, damned to hell……..Saints, you may think I’m behaving too crudely against the poor miserable Jews, but good God, I’m much too mild in insulting such devils.”

Such hate and such unforgiveness is in conflict with the Gospel message,  “Luk 6:27 But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.   And Mat 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, neither will your Father forgive your sins.” I’m so glad I can leave all that to Jesus.

All of this is further fulfillment of prophecy.   Our God knows the end from the beginning.   He always knew it.

So how is this going to affect the world and the nations? The Bible says in Zec 14:1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy (Jerusalem’s) spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. v2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle;

This is where the dividing of Israel’s land, and putting BDS into action is leading the world right now.

Zec 14:3 “Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. v4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives”.   Still future, but coming very soon the nations will have to fight against God for His land and His chosen people.

Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:    v 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

The result, If you read the rest of the passage, is that the sheep nations who helped Jesus brothers, were accepted into God’s kingdom, the goat nations did not help Jesus brethren and were cast into hell.  This will be the end result of what is currently taking place in the world.