The Word Blog

Welcome students of the Word of God

February 10th, 2009

This web blog on The Word MP3.com was created to allow students of the Word of God an opportunity to ask questions, make observations and find answers to their questions on the Bible and how to apply it to their lives.

In this Blog, we are not really interested in the opinions of men as much as we are interested in the opinions of God’s Word. We are interested in your understanding and explaination of what the Bible has already said. There are thousands of web site blogs where people can express their opinions, this is not one of those. I am only interested in what the Lord has to say and how to apply what He says to all our lives. Hopefully, you are likeminded and also desire a place where the opinions of men are restricted and the Word of God is exalted.

Isaiah wrote that the ”Lord’s thoughts are not our thoughts“, and therefore they are so much higher than our thoughts. With that in mind, I would personally like to know everything that He thinks and much less what men think, who cannot tell what is going to happen 10 minutes from now, much less 10 years from now.

Through predictive prophecy, the Lord wrote history in advance in the Bible. Of the 3,500 or so Prophetic predictions of future events, over 2,500 of those events have already happened with precision and acurracy that is beyond the possibility of chance.

This is why it is so relevant and so important to stay on the subject of what the Bible teaches and how to apply theses principles and precepts to our own personal life.

It is interesting that we can find everything that we need to know about the Bible from Just studying the Bible. The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself, not the commentaries written by men, not the thoughts and interpretations of men. The Bible is very easy to understand if you just read it literally, except for those rare occasions where the context tells you that you should see it as an allegory or illustration of some greater truth.

On any given subject of the Bible, you can find multiple other places in the Bible where the same subject is also discussed. How can this be? If the Bible was written by more than 40 authors, over a period of at least 1,500 years, how could multiple writers agree on any given subject? The answer; they could not, unless the common author of all their thoughts and words was from the same source, that of the Holy Spirit as He inspired holy men to write.

The fingerprints of the Holy Spirit are all over the 66 books of Bible. Once any person takes the time to explore and compare scripture with scripture, they will stand in amazement at the interlocking details of each subject that all fit together as if the Bible was written by a single Author, and of course it was, the Holy Spirit.

Enjoy this Blog and follow the one basic rule, keep your comments within the constraints of what the Bible teaches and we will all be happy. Any person who uses a curse word, insulting remark, or hateful statement directed at another person in this blog or makes any comment deemed unacceptable by the administrator, all or part of their remarks may be deleted by the administrator or the user may be removed from the forum for a period of suspension or removed permanently. The administration of The Word Blog reserves the right to remove any comment or user from this forum at any time. The only other rule for this Blog is the rule of love. Giving up yourself and your rights in order to meet the needs of another. Love in action. Do everything here with this kind of sacrificial love in mind and then there will be no need for any other rule.

Blessings,

Administrator

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March on Washington D.C. September 12, 2009

September 22nd, 2009

The recent march on Washington D.C. on September 12, 2009 was an amazing testament to the resilience of American Patriotism.

Revised estimates of the number of participants in the march are now over 1.8 million people. The majority of the news media has drastically under reported the true number. Some in the news media reported that there were as few as 100,000 participants.

The Following photos are of some of those brave and patriotic Americans who have had enough of the foolishness of our current administration. Remember that for most of these in attendance, this is their first protest march anywhere, much less on Washington D. C.

I find it interesting that so many Americas have changed their opinions of President Obama, now that we have all seen what his true agenda is. Strange that many of us had been warning the citizens of America for months before the election, that this was exactly the kind of president Mr. Obama would be. He is and has been, the most liberal Democrat that the Senate has ever had. Despite serious warning, this was the president America wanted.

Interestingly, that when Israel wanted to have a ruler over them, they asked the Lord for a king “Like the other nations”. The Lord told Israel that they didn’t need a ruler because He was their king. He warned the people that if they had a king like the other nations, he would over tax their assets, inscript their young men and women into his servitude and bring the nation into ruin. They refused to listem and so the Lord gave them the kind of king that they asked for, Saul.

1 Samuel 8:19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, so that we also may be like all the nations…”

In the end, Saul was the worst possible choice that Israel could have made and he did bring the nation into ruin. It is always better that a nation is ruled first by the Lord, and second by God fearing citizens.

The people of America asked for a king like all of the other nations and they recieved just such a king. Liberal, Socialist, one world government oriented. Now we have three more years of the Obama administration to endure, the greatest deficit in American history, and Goverment mandated health care on the horizon.

The following pictures display the awesome power that the common everyday ordinary citizens of America have. This is a government by the people and for the people. Never in the history of the world has one nation sought to govern themselves in the same way that the people of the United States have.

“We The People in order to form a more perfect union…”

The Framers of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence took their guidance for how the laws of America should be framed, from the laws of God as found in His word, the Bible. For more information on this historical fact, follow this link, The Reason for the Revolution-the Bible

The following images of brave and patriotic Americans raising their voice in protest over the current direction that the Obama administration has taken, is a sign that patriotism and activism is still alive in America. Pray for the current administration that they will come to their senses and return America back to a place of conservatism, rationalism, and an athmosphere where Faith has it’s rightful place in American government as it has had from the beginning.

Rob Robinson

For more information of America’s Spiritual Heritage Follow this link: America’s Spiritual Heritage

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America’s Spiritual Heritage

September 20th, 2009

The Role Christianity and the Bible Played in the Formation of the United States of America

Listen to the MP3 Audio Study of this Event Here

This past week, Melinda and I attended a special Congressional Briefing hosted by our United States Senators and Congressmen in Washington D.C.

The purpose of this gathering was to inform us as pastors of the importance in teaching our congregations the Roles that Jesus Christ, Christianity, and the Bible played in the forming of the United States of America.

During our Congressional briefing, 8 Senators and Congressmen spoke to us on the Spiritual issues that concern our nation.

The first Senator that spoke to us was Senator Tom Coburn

Senator Tom Coburn

Senator Coburn began by telling us this:

“Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would remind us of all the things that he had taught us…how can how can we be reminded if we do not know what Jesus said.”

Pastors need to teach from the pulpit the Word of God, and what our spiritual heritage is.”

Senator Coburn continued:

“Freedom is not guaranteed, it must be fought for by every generation…”

“The Constitution is a Divine document, and today we have began to abandon the Constitution…”

“Pastors must call people back to the basics of our faith and the basis for our freedom… to keep the people informed of their spiritual heritage”

Senator Randy Forbes:

Senator Randy Forbes

“The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were the greatest men the country has ever known.”

They understood two things:

Our rights came to us from our Creator.
These set of rights cannot be taken away by man because they came from our Creator.

“There is an attack today on the first principle that our rights came from our Creator.”

“Those today in government would have us believe that our rights come from government, not from a Creator.”

Senator Pete Hoekstra:

Senator Pete Hoekstra

“To be a great nation we must integrate God into everything.”

“There is pressure everyday in the nations capital to pull God out of Government and give control of people’s lives to government.”

Esther 4:4 “God has placed each one of us in just the right place at just the right time…”

Senator Sam Johnson

Captured while flying a mission over Vietnam, he spent nearly 7 years in a Hanoi prison. Senator Johnson said that he never prayed in all his life as he did when he was captured by the Vietnamese.

Placed before a firing squad several times, each time all of the guns of the soldiers, would not fire, they finally gave up trying to shoot him.

They placed him in leg stocks for 72 days, and solitary confinement for months at a time.

Through it Senator Sam Johnson said that in all he went through, the Lord never left.

Lt Colonel Brian Birdwell.

Lt. Colonel Brian Birdwell

The only survivor of the outer ring of the Pentagon during the attack by the airliner on the Pentagon September 11, 2001.

Burned over 60 percent of his body, unrecognizable he was burned so severely…

Testified for almost an hour how the Lord had been with Him through those impossible days.

Congressman Todd Aikin

Congressman Todd Aikin

Congressman Aikin said this of Americas beginning:

“The Puritans understood 4 points of Government:”

Civil
Church
Family
Self

They believed that all four of these forms of government came by a covenant with God.

Today, because the Church is not strong, the family is not strong, therefore self government is not strong, therefore we see the effects upon our civil government, it is weak and our freedoms are in great danger of being taken away.

It all started because America has been weakened Spiritually.

America is weak Spiritually because we do not know our Spiritual Heritage, we allow Secular Humanists to dictate to us the lie that America was not formed as a Christian Nation, and that the men that were used to found our nation, were not Christians.

They tell us that Religion has no place in American government, when in fact there would have been no American government had in not been for deeply Spiritual men who loved Jesus Christ and based our entire government on the Bible.

Fortunatly for all of us today, there is a public record of all of the events that happened at the forming of our nation.
You will be absolutely amazed at the amount of information that is available that confirms and establishes that the men that framed our constitution and signed our Declaration of Independence, were seeking to base the constitution and the laws of the United States on the Bible and Christian Principles.

The information I will be sharing with you this morning, is just a small sample of what is available to you and of all that Melinda and I learned this past week.

On the Tuesday night before the Congressional Briefing, we were take on a private tour of the Capital building and told of the wonderful spiritual heritage that all of have.

Most people in America do not know the Spiritual roots of the Capital Building in Washington DC.
Most Americans have been taught that America is a secular Nation.
The Rotunda of the United States of America is where we began our tour.
The Rotunda is so tall that that entire Statue of Liberty could stand inside the dome and still have over 30 feet to spare.

A Cross Section of the U.S. Capitol Building

When the public was first permitted in the Rotunda in 1824, the first things that you saw when you entered were the massive oil paintings along the inside wall.

Each painting is 14 feet by 20 feet and depicts an important event in American History.

Four Pictures on the East side of the Rotunda were placed here from 1840-1855

U.S. Capitol Rotunda Floor

1. Columbus landing in America in 1492, shows the religious service conducted after his landing.

Columbus Landing In America

2. Desoto discovering the Mississippi River in 1544

Desoto Discovers the Mississippi River

3. The Baptism of Pocohontus at James Town in 1613

The Baptism of Pocohontus

4. The Pilgrims praying before departing from Holland to America in 1620

The Pilgrims Departing Holland For America

In just the first 4 paintings, we see 2 prayer meetings and a Baptism

Contrary to what is being taught in our public schools and in the media today, America began with a deep love and worship of Jesus Christ.

The 4 Paintings on the west side of the Rotunda were in place when the Building originally opened in 1824

They represent events from Americans quest for independence

1. The Signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776

Signing of the Declaration of Independence

2. The Battle of Saratoga in 1777, our first victory in the American Revolution.

Surrender at the Battle of Saratoga

3. The Victory at Yorktown in 1781, which was the last battle in the American Revolution.

The Surrender at Yorktown

4. George Washington as the commander and Chief of the Continental army on 1783

George Washington Resigns His Commission

The first painting of the Pilgrims in 1620, kneeling in prayer, committing themselves to the Lord, gathered around the Bible.

The bible is the Geneva bible, it was printed in 1560.
It was the favorite Bible of the Pilgrims, the Puritans, the Descenters and Separatists.
These groups believed that there was too much corruption in the organized church of the 16^th century.
They believed that much of what the church was doing was not Biblical.
They objected to these corrupt practices and this is why they were called the “Descenters”.
Many dedicated themselves to the Lord and separated themselves from the church, and the anti Biblical practices, and so they were called “Separatists”.
Others wanted to cleanse and purify the church from within, so these were called the “Puritans”.

The Bible that these 4 groups used was called the Geneva Bible.

The Geneva bible was the first portable Bible that the common person could own and use for themselves.
One of the best features in the Geneva bible was the commentaries written in the margins of the Bible.
The commentaries were anti-king and anti-church which both had grown corrupt.
The former Bibles were owned by kings and the commentaries in these Bibles were directed at obedience to the kings and the state church.
Because those that carried this new Geneva Bible had within them, commentaries against the state and the state run church, they were persecuted by the government, they sought a place where they could worship the Lord according to what the Bible said and not according to what man said.
It was for this reason that the Pilgrims left England and eventually arrived in America in November of 1620

While still anchored offshore, relying on the Geneva Bible as their source of strength and light, the Pilgrims authored the Mayflower compact.

Signing the Mayflower Compact

The Mayflower Compact

It was the first government document written in America.

The Mayflower compact highlighted two important Biblical Principles.

The Pilgrims stated that they had come to this continent for the express purpose of Evangelizing those here to a saving Knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Individuals would knit themselves together into a community which would govern themselves according to the standards found in God’s Word.

These are the events shown in this first painting found in the United States Capital Building Rotunda.

The Pilgrims Departing Holland For America

150 years later, when the Declaration of Independence was authored, it was from these first principles that the Declaration declared that all of America could and now would completely govern itself under God’s laws, the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”.

This belief was so strong, that they would rely upon Gods Word, that it was written on the currency of the American Revolution.

On the back of the currency is the words “The Law is our King” across an open bible

During the American Revolution, the Bible and God’s Law were recognized as the Basis for our self government.

These principles were instituted 150 years previously by the Pilgrims.

In 1611, When King James printed his bible, it was essentially the same translation of the Bible as the Geneva bible printed in 1560, except King James removed all the commentaries to try to silence those who no longer wanted to be ruled by a corrupt king and a corrupt church.

The King James Bible became the official Bible of many British Monarchs and was the official Bible of the English Colonies.
The British Government instituted a law in which it was illegal to print any English bible, so that they could maintain control over which bible was produced.

Another painting that is in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capital in Washington D. C. is that of the Baptism of Pocahontas.

The Baptism of Pocohontus

Pocahontas was one of the first converts to Christianity in the new world.
She was led to Jesus by John Rolfe, who later became her husband.
The Geneva Bible was used in leading Pocahontas to Jesus.
In this picture in the Rotunda, Pocahontas is being baptized in 1613 by the reverend Alexander Whitaker.
During her baptism, Pocahontas changed her name to “Rebekah”, wanting a new name from the Bible in her new life.
From that moment on, in every writing of her, she is referred to as “The Princess Rebekah”
She never again wanted to be referred to Pocahontas, but wanted to be know as “Rebekah” for her new life in Jesus Christ.
Why is it that when we hear of her story, she is called “Pocahontas” and not The Princes Rebekah?
Because the secular world does not want to acknowledge that America began by people seeking to come to this land to tell the gospel of Jesus Christ and form a Christian Nation.

The next paintings on the other side of the Rotunda are from 150 years later in Washington D.C.

All 4 of these paintings are by John Trumbull, one of the founding fathers of the United States.
John Trumbull was an officer during the American Revolution.
What makes his painting so meaningful is that he personally witnessed what he was painting.
He knew those in the paintings personally, so these paintings are eye witness accounts.
Because of John Trimbull’s commitment to accuracy, the faces of those in these paintings of our founding fathers, are as accurate as we can get of what the founding fathers really looked like.
John Trumbull came from a family of outspoken Christians.
There are also other members of John’s family honored in the Capital.

There are several proclamations issued by John Trumbull’s brother Jonathan.

Jonathan was an officer under George Washington during the Revolutionary war

In this picture in the Rotunda is Colonel Trumbull seated with the other officers at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown.

The Surrender at Yorktown

After the Revolution, Jonathan became the governor of Connecticut.

He issued a proclamation while governor, calls the entire state of Connecticut to a day of prayer and thanksgiving.
The language is strongly evangelical.
He issued several proclamations like this one.

Jonathan Trumbull was one of the majority of our founding fathers who were strongly and openly followers of Jesus Christ.

There are many people today that say that our founding fathers were not Christians and that Christianity did not play an important role in the formation of America as a Nation.

One of today’s historians has said that at most, the founding fathers were “Deists”.

In one article called “the founding fathers were not Christians”, the writer states that the early presidents and leaders were generally “Deist”, or Unitarians that did not believe in a personal God or in the Lord Jesus Christ.
They say that the Bible played no role in the founding of American.
One book called “The Godless Constitution”

How can these lies and false representations go unchallenged?

Most Americans do not even know who our founding fathers were.

As we look at the next painting the Signing of the Constitution of the United States of America, how many of the 39 signers could the average American identify?

The Signing of the United States Constitution

Two; Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

How about the Declaration of Independence, those 56 signers, how many could you identify?

Signing of the Declaration of Independence

Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4^th, 1776.

It was not signed until August 2, 1776.
In these days before the signing, some of those who had been called on to sign, were called away to battle before their signature could be added.
George Clinton approved the Declaration on July 4th, but before he could sign, he was called to military service in New York.
Some of those who actually signed the Declaration, were not in Congress when it was approved.
Matthew Thornton, Thomas Stone, Francis Lightfoot Lee

Every person in this painting in the Rotunda either contributed either by voting or by signing.

What were the signers of the Declaration of Independence Spiritual Views

John Witherspoon

An ordained minister of the Gospel.
Had several published books
He was responsible for the worlds first family Bible

Charles Thompson

The Secretary of Congress
He and John Hancock were the only two signers to sign the first draft of the Declaration of Independence.
He created a new addition to the Bible called “The Thompson’s Bible”, not the Thompson’s chain reference Bible.
It is the first translation of the Greek Septuagint into English.
It took him 25 years to complete this translation.
It is still considered today one of the most scholarly translations of the Bible.

Charles Carol of Carrollton.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

He was the final surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence.
He was the last of the 56 signers of the document to pass away.
He died in 1832 at the age of 95

On his 89th birthday, he wrote the following letter:

“On the mercy of my redeemer, I rely on for salvation, and on his merits, not on any that I have done in obedience to His precepts…”

In other writings, he stated that his faith in Jesus Christ was the chief reason he had entered into service in the American Revolution.

He was fighting to preserve religious liberty.

Dr. Benjamin Rush

When he died in 1813, the newspapers and the other founders of the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that he was one of our three most important founding fathers, along with George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

How many people today have heard of Benjamin Rush or what role he played in the forming of America?
He was a leading educator, started 5 colleges and universities, including the first college for women.
He is also called the father of American medicine.
He personally trained 3,000 students for their medical degrees.
In 1791 he founded the Sunday school movement in America, called “The First Day Society”.
He started the worlds first Bible Society.
In the constitution for the Bible Society, Dr Rush lists two reasons why America needs a Bible Society:

Through the Bible, every person could discover how to have personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
If every person owned a Bible, studied it and obeyed what it teaches, all of our social problems such as crime, slavery etc, would diminish.

“It is in living by the Bible that man becomes both humanized and civilized”

In looking for a way to mass produce the Bible, Dr Rush helped created the “Stereotype printing”.

With the help of then president James Madison, and in an act passed by Congress, Dr Rush obtained stereotype plates from the federal Government so that he could mass produce Bibles.
Dr Rush is a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Francis Hopkinson

Church Music Director.
He is responsible for the earliest printed Hymnal in America
He took all 150 Psalms and set them to music.
He did this so that we could sing the Psalms just like David did thousands of years before.
Founding Father and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Richard Stockton

Captured by the British and made a prisoner of war, he was severely tortured and abused and never fully recovered from his injuries once returned to the American army.
Here is one of his final letters:

“I think it proper here, not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great and leading doctrines of the Christian Religion, such as the universal defection and depravity of human nature. The Divinity of the person and the completeness of the redemption purchased by the blessed Savior. Of divine faith accompanied with a habitual, virtuous life. But also, to exhort and charge my children that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom…”

This founding father who sacrificed his life for our freedom, was a strong believer in Jesus Christ.

Thomas McKean

He was one of America’s leading legal authorities.
He wrote a commentary on the constitution of the United States in 1792.
He signed the Declaration of Independence, and helped author the constitutions of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and served as governor in these states.
He was the chief justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania.
In a trial in his court over a man by the name of John Roberts, John Roberts was sentenced to death after jury found him guilty of treason.
Back then, someone sentenced to death had 7-10 days to live, not 15-20 years as is the case in the legal system today.
Upon the pronouncement of the sentence upon John Roberts of death, Chief Justice Thomas McCain asked the condemned man to approach the bench and sought to lead the condemned man to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

A supreme court justice of Pennsylvania, in an American court of law, sought to lead a condemned man to Jesus Christ before his death.

If we listen to the current arguments made today, that our founding fathers were not men of faith in Jesus Christ, we would never know about this amazing story.

A judge in an American court trying to lead a man condemned to death to Jesus Christ so he could have eternal life!

Thomas Mc Cain was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and He loved the Lord.

To my surprise, I discovered that during the American Revolution when the Colonists sought to separate themselves from the rule of England, that very often the leaders of the armies were the Pastors of the churches.

They would teach the people the Word of God, and finish the service on Sunday, then go to the back of the church and ask for recruits to go out and fight the British soldiers during the American Revolution.

Imagine, 56 men who had no army, no navy, no military, pledged their lives, their fortunes and the sacred honor to defeat the world’s number one power.

Imagine if 56 of us here today gathered together to try and overthrow the world’s number one power, it is inconceivable!

What was the spirit that motivated these men to try and do something impossible?

Notice the opening text from the Declaration of Independence, which gives us the reason that they felt compelled to try and do the impossible :

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

In this one sentence, the founding fathers forcefully declared why they must separate themselves from Great Britain.

“The Laws of Nature, and Natures God”.

These 8 words expressed a complete manner of Law and of life.

This statement in our founding document declares an agenda, a wide spread movement, and has specific beliefs.

The source for this statement was “Blackstone’s commentary on the Law”

Blackstone’s commentary on the Law was the law book used for years before the American Revolution ever happened
Blackstone’s was the primary text book in law schools until 1920
Bar exams were taken from this book.
The Supreme court quoted from this book several times in its opinions.
It was considered to be the final authority on most issues.
Blackstone’s gives the meaning of these 8 words found in the Declaration of Independence:

“Man considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely and dependant being.

And consequently, as a man depends absolutely upon his maker for everything, it is necessary that in all points conform to his makers will , this will of his maker is called the Law of Nature.

This law of nature being co-equal with mankind and dictated by God Himself, is of course superior to any other. It is binding to all the globe, all countries and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this. This then is the Law of Nature, it is the law of God expressed through His creation.

If our reason were always clear and perfect the task would be pleasant and easy, we would need no other guide but the law of nature. Every man now finds the contrary in his own experience, we find that our reason is corrupt and our understanding is full of ignorance and error. This has given manifold occasion for the benign interposition of divine providence which has been pleased at sundry times and diverse manners to discover and enforce His laws by an immediate and direct revelation. The Doctrines thus delivered, we call the revealed or the divine law and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures.”

The Scriptures are the laws of the God who created Nature.

Upon these two foundations (“The Laws of Nature, and Natures God”) The law of nature and the law of revelation, of natures God, depend all human laws. That is to say, no human laws can be allowed to contradict these”

This means that those that framed the Constitution and signed the Declaration of Independence believed that all of our laws in the United States of America came from God and from His Word found in the Bible. That man does not have the right, nor the capacity to institute any other laws outside of God’s law.

This legal phrase in Blackstone’s commentary on the law, explains the entire thought process behind why The United States of America was founded from the beginning.

America was founded by Christian men who believed the Bible is the word of God and that all of our rights and laws come only from the Word of God.

After America won the battle of Yorktown and was free of British rule, they no longer were restricted in being able to print Bibles to give to the citizens of America.

Congress enacted a law that allowed the printing of Americas very first English Bible in 1782.

Congress approved the plan, appointed a committee to see to the printing of the Bible, all from the first government of the new American Colonies.

The opening page to this new Bible say that the American Congress recommends this Bible to the inhabitants of the United States of America.

Even in the treaty signed by America and Britian that ended the war that gave America her independence, it begins with these words, “In the name of the most Holy Trinity…”

When Congress moved into the Capital building that Melinda and I just toured last Tuesday, they kept careful and detailed writings of everything that was said and done in that building.

In the first weeks of November of 1800, according to the records, Congress spent the first few weeks organizing the rooms, their committees and other business.

In the first week of December, 1800, Congress made an interesting decision:

Congress decided that the Capital building would also serve as a church building.
The United States Capital became a church.
This is a matter of the public records of Congress at that time and the diaries of those in attendance when that decision was made.

One of the speeches of John Quincy Adams gives us a clear understanding of why the United States of America was formed and the purposes that our Nation first existed.

“Why is it friends and fellow citizens that we are assembled here? And why is it that entering into the 62^nd year of our national existence, that you have asked me to address you?

Why is it that next to the birthday of the Savior of the world that our most joyous and venerated festival occurs on this day?

Is it not that the chain of human events in the birthday of a nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior?

That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation. Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the redeemers mission on earth. That it laid the cornerstone of human government, on the first precepts of Christianity.”

For over one hour John Quincy Adams continued his speech that Christianity was the basis for and the reason for our national independence.

He died in the Capital building in the room for the speaker of the house, while in session and his last words were, “It is the end of earth, I am composed…”

The more that we learn about how America began with openly strong Christian Men, it becomes completely impossible to believe what has been spoken and taught today that American government should be a completely secular and religion free.

Our founding fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to insure that this nation was began based on the principles of the Bible and of a strong faith in Jesus Christ.

All of us who spent those days in the nations capital were inspired to take what we learned back to our churches and teach our congregation, I hope that all of you here today are inspired to take what you have learned and teach others and take a stand against the current trend of secular humanism that has plagued our nation today.

Rob Robinson

Posted in Americas Spiritual Heritage, Articles by Rob Robinson, Walk of the Believer | No Comments »

Thoughts on Worry and Fear

August 31st, 2009

The other day I was going through my usual scenario of worry and fear when the Lord asked me once again why I was worrying and why was I afraid.

He reminded me that He has always taken care of me and all of my needs, and that He has continually been faithful to me throughout all my life.

You see, my greatest worry in life is for my little church. I worry that the people are not being blessed and feel loved as they need. I worry that I am not being a good enough servant to them and that I have not been sensitve to their needs. I even worry if the tithe and offering will be sufficient enough to meet the needs of the church for the coming month.

My friend Ralph told me a story that happened to him the other day when he was off fishing as he so loves to do. He said that he and his wife had 3 fishing poles in the boat with them. They were anxiously waiting for a bite on the poles that they were holding, when the pole that no one was paying any attention to that way laying in the bottom of the boat, began to move. The Lord had given a fish to them on the pole that no one was paying any attention to.

As I heard this story, the Lord reminded me that when I paid no attention to these things that I worry about, but just continue on with what I am supposed to do on a daily basis, that He takes care of all of the needs the church has and that I have.

When I choose to invest worry and fear in these things, well then He just allows me to fight that battle in my mind, without Him. When I surrender every thought and bring them all captive to His wonderful care, then He takes over and provides everything that is needed.

What a wonderful lesson for us all, to stop our striving and worry, and just allow the Lord to take care of everything for us.

Jesus promises us that if we would make the object of our life to live for Him, and to seek His righteousness, that all these other things He would take care of for us.

Pastor Rob

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Why Should I go to Church?

August 16th, 2009

What are the reasons that we should attend and become involved in a local church in our community?

Once a person commits their life to Jesus Christ, very often they begin attending a church near their home. What are the real purposes for attending a church, and what should the focus of our heart be in becoming a part of a church?

When we first begin attending, hopefully it is because we have discovered how wonderful Jesus is and we just want to know Him better. The way that we know Jesus better is through the Bible, the Word of God. It is by a personal, daily reading and meditating upon the Bible that we find that the Lord speaks to us, guides us and increased our knowledge of who He is and How He works in our Life.

When the church began in the book of Acts chapter 2, there were just four things that the new Christians were doing together that caused them and the church to grow.

Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

1. Continuing in the Apostles Doctrine, which is teaching and studying the Word of God.

2. Continuing in opportunities for Fellowship together.

3. Continuing in remembering what Jesus has done through Communion.

4. Continuing in Prayer together.

Hopefully, there is an opportunity for worship time before the teaching of the Word in your church. This is your opportunity to prepare your heart to receive what the Lord has for you on that particular day as you hear the word taught by your pastor.

Preparation of the heart is perhaps the most important thing that we can do even before we arrive at church.

What we are anticipating in receiving from the Lord beforehand, will determine what we actually do receive once we arrive at the Church.

When Israel was about to go into battle it was those who led worship who were out in front of the army.

2 Chronicles 20:21-2221 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:

“Praise the LORD,

For His mercy endures forever.”

22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.

In your new life as a follower of Jesus, you are going to have many and frequent a battle. The way that the enemy is defeated is by first worshiping and praising the Lord. As you do this, the Lord will go before you and scatter and defeat every enemy that comes against you.

An important question to ask ourselves to test where our heart truly is at, is the following question:

“Are we going to church for what we can put into it, or for what we can get out of it?”

Certainly we hope that attending a church will be a blessing to us personally, and that we can have many of our spiritual needs met by attending church, but is this the main reason for attending, to have our own needs met?

Again in Acts chapter two, it describes the fact that those who first attended the New Church of Jesus Christ, were more focused on others than on themselves.

Acts 2:44-4544

Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,

45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

It seems that one of our main desires in becoming a part of a local church should be “How can I be a blessing to those who attend?”

Remember that this is Jesus Church not your church, not the pastor’s church, only Jesus can say “This is my church”, the rest of us are just members of His church.

Matthew 16:18

And I also say to you … I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

As we realize that this the Lord’s church, and we are called to be members of His church, it changes our whole perspective. No longer are we simply coming to get “our needs met”. We are attending to become a part of what Jesus is doing in and through His church.

Jesus spoke often of Servant hood, and the role that His followers should play in their lives before other people and as members of His church.

Matthew 20:25-28

25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.

26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—

28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Our place in Jesus church is to serve, to lay our lives down for each other. We are not coming to have our own needs met as much as we are coming to meet the needs of others. If you sincerely want to become a part of Jesus church, this is not an option, it is a requirement. With this in mind, it changes our whole attitude about attending church.

If becoming a servant like Jesus in His church is your desire, then consider the following:

Try to arrive at least 30 minutes before the service begins so that you have an opportunity to spend some time in fellowship with other believers. Getting to know people who also Love Jesus and are seeking a closer relationship with Him will help you in your own personal walk with the Lord.

Did you know that people arrive early in the morning before you, just to prepare the building, the service, the classrooms, fellowship area and very often they cook food and brew fresh coffee for you? Wouldn’t it be nice if we all arrived about 30 minutes or more before the actual service begins just to enjoy some of the wonderful things that people worked so hard on that morning to bless you with?

Arriving early also is an opportunity to have the Lord show you where there are needs in the church on that particular day that you could become involve in and help with.

Perhaps there is someone who has arrived early who has had a really difficult week and is feeling discouraged.

Almost without exception, hurting people always come to church early, hoping to find some comfort. You can tell how much of a need a person has very ofter, by their early arrival.

The Lord planted you in that church to be a help and encouragement to anyone there who needs help or encouragement. You can pray with this person, encourage them, share a verse of scripture with them that has encouraged you in the past. Just being there early to be available is a tremendous blessing and ministry in itself.

Maybe the building has not been cleaned the past week, the carpets need vacuuming, the floors could use some moping, the trash need to be emptied. Jesus has made you a member if His church, it is your responsibility to help it become the very best it can be.

As the service begins with either a Worship team up front or even pre-recorded music with the lyrics to the songs displayed, is such a wonderful opportunity to get your focus in the right place.

Most people have very busy and hectic lives during the week, and as such, when they come into the sanctuary on Sunday morning, they are severely distracted. Particularly parents with children have been through allot that Sunday morning, just to get the kids ready and get to church on time.

The playing of worship music is not “Fill time” so that you can get some refreshments out in the fellowship area, or arrive late, because it’s just the music playing anyway.

Arrive in plenty of time to get into the sanctuary on time and settle your heart in anticipation of the worship time that is about to begin. Once the music starts, refrain from getting up to move around, or do anything that would distract others who are trying to worship the Lord. When we move around or become a distraction, we take the focus of worship or the study of the Word off Jesus and place it on ourselves.

The enemy will often use these kinds of distractions to interrupt the service in process and rob Jesus of the Glory He is receiving in the service. It also makes concentration difficult for all of the other people in the Sanctuary.

If you came into the church anticipating recieving much from the Lord, then it really doesn’t matter who is teaching on that particular day. If you came to receive, you will receive and be blessed.

Just make sure that you came prepared to be a blessing to others also.

Think of coming to church as arriving at the best “All you can eat” buffet in the world. All around you are all these delicious varieties of fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood and deserts. Would you take the smallest plate that you can find and begin to pile on your food? Most of us would look for the largest plate we could find, or better yet, two plates one in each hand!

When we come to the Lord’s house, we should be anticipating that He has prepared for us the very best meal we have ever tasted. So we bring the biggest plate we can find and we just say to the Lord, “Pile it on Lord, as high as you can, I want to receive everything that you want to give me this morning.”

In relationship to our expectation of receiving much from the Lord, will be how much we actually do receive.

Deuteronomy 4:29

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

One great reason for attending church is to receive from the Lord, everything that He has for us as we study His word together.

Reason number two as laid out above, is to be a blessing and source of encouragement to those who come on that particular day, that needed help.

Many people have the attitude that “I can worship God anywhere, at home, in the mountains, by a lake with a fishing pole, or walking through the mall shopping.”

The problem with this kind of thinking is that those who believe such things, think that church is only for you and what you can get out of it.

Jesus created His church so that we would forget about ourselves and focus on others. Each one of us are a Minister of the Gospel, not just the one called “Pastor. The pastors primary job, according to the Bible, is to teach the people all of the Word of God.

The needs of ministry in other people’s lives is to come from each of the individual persons within the church.

When our attitude is to worship God on our own, or on our own terms, we have become dissobedient to the desire of the Holy Spirit for all believers in Jesus Christ to gather together corporately.

Hebrews 10:25

Do not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

As we examine the Tabernacle or the Temple in the Old Testament, we see in the “Inner Court”, the “Table Of Showbread”.

Stacked on top of the table were two stack of six cakes of bread. The meaning of these 12 cakes was one cake for each of the 12 tribes in Israel. This bread assembled together on this table meant “Fellowship”.

Now if there was only 10 cakes on the table, then fellowship together could not happen because two were missing.

You were planted in the church to be present with all the others who were planted there, so that there could be fellowship. If you are not there, then the complete fellowship of the church cannot happen. Sometimes you are sick or have to work and attendance is not possible. Let’s be honest though, most often when we don’t go to church, it is because we don’t want to, we have something else that we want to do that is more important to us.

Jesus said that where your treasure is, there you heart will be also. We can tell what it is that we treasure by where we spend our time, where we spend our money, where our thoughts are fixed upon.

Being a member of Jesus church and being a blessing to others in the church is so very important. There is no greater joy or sense of fulfillment that coming into your church and becoming involved in and a help to the people who also attend with you.

Pastor Rob

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Question from a new believer

May 29th, 2009

I had a question that nobody had an answer to. I was wondering if god made us in his image which is both male and female then why do we only emphasize that he is a male and a father? Its like saying masculinity is a priority or more important part of god. Why can’t we say father/mother? Cuz he is both. From what I learned and believe he is a spirit being and not a flesh and his spirit is both masculine and feminine…but people only call him father, and emphasize that women r the weaker half. Its like saying the feminine part of god is weak. Doesn’t seem to make sense. How can I proud of being a woman if I am always looked as weaker and un powerful? And a lil lower than men? The world has so much double standards and expectations of women and on top of that, say we r to honor and respect men, is this god’s plan? That women need to accept when men do not take responsibility,( adam was WITH eve when she was talking to the serpent, didn’t say anything and just took the apple and bit it when she gave it to him.) and we must be humbled and do nothing cuz they are the head? Im not trying to put men down im trying to understand. I hope this doesn’t offend u, I do not want to come across as a feminist. Lol.

The Following is the answer submitted by Rob Robinson:

There is not really a clear explanation in the scripture for your question, but here is my attempt at answering.

God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and these three are expressed as “Masculine”.

It seems that God has all of the attributes that we see expressed in both a Male and Female, however, He is still Masculine.

When it says that we were created in His image, I believe that in order to properly illustrate as many of the characteristics of the Godhead as possible, He chose to express these qualities in two separate beings, Male and Female.

The Male obviously has qualities that are unique to him and the Female qualities in her that are unique. When these two come together as one in the covenant of husband and wife, together they express many of the attributes of God.

I believe that a Male by himself, or a Female by herself cannot display these same these qualities alone as they can together. In that “Mystery” of the uniting of two lives, male and female can display more fully the image of God, if they are in a covenant relationship with Him and live by faith and are led by the Spirit of God.

Before the Lord, there is neither Male nor Female that is superior, both have the same standing, the same Love, and the same opportunity for Salvation, service, and reward from the Lord. However, because the Fall of all mankind was began by the deception of the female, the Lord placed man in Spiritual Authority over the woman, and Christ in authority over the Man.

It would be incorrect to assume that because God is Masculine and the Man is in authority over the woman, that the woman is somehow inferior to the man. The scripture in no way implies this, in fact it states she is his equal before God.

A man and woman united in Marriage, under the covenant of Jesus sacrifice for their sins, living their lives led by the Spirit of God, show what the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit are like as they are united as One.

Rob

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THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY

April 4th, 2009

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me – John 5:39.

THE WORD “Scriptures” in this passage refers to the Old Testament. Christ is saying that in the Old Testament we will find the prophecies referring to Himself. It is therefore in these prophecies, and their fulfillment, that we may look if we wish to find evidence that Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, the saviour of mankind, and everything else which was prophesied of Him, and which He claimed to be.

If we find these prophecies to be fulfilled in Christ, we will establish not only that Christ is the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament, but that those prophecies were given by God Himself. For if they were not given by God, no man would have fulfilled any number of them, as will be evident later in this chapter.

In order to evaluate our evidence we shall use the same principle of probability which was stated and used in the preceding chapter.

In evaluating these prophecies, we shall have to answer this question regarding each prophecy: One man in how many men has fulfilled this prophecy? I realize that some will object to this question, saying that these prophecies were made with respect to Christ, and no other man has, or even can, fulfill them. This, of course, is true when you consider the mass of prophecies regarding Christ, but it is not true of all individual prophecies. It was prophesied, for example, that Christ would be born in Bethlehem; certainly other persons have been born in Bethlehem. It was prophesied that Christ would be crucified; other men have been crucified. I certainly am not trying to be sacrilegious in asking these questions; but I am trying to look at the evidence entirely unbiased, that I may the better give a clear argument.

The Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship at Pasadena City College sponsored a class in Christian evidences. One section of the work of this class was to consider the evidence produced by the fulfilled prophecies referring to the first advent of Christ. The students were asked to be very conservative in their probability estimates. They discussed each prophecy at length, bringing out various conditions which might affect the probability of any man fulfilling it. After discussion, the students agreed unanimously on a definite estimate as being both reasonable and conservative. At the end of the evaluations the students expressed their feelings thus: If any one were able to enter into the discussions and help in placing the estimates, as they had done, that person would certainly agree that the estimates were conservative. The estimates used in this chapter are a combination of the estimates given by this class on Christian evidences combined with estimates given me later by some twelve different classes of college students, representing more than 600 students. I have carefully weighed the estimates and have changed some to make them more conservative. If the reader does not agree with the estimates given, he may make his own estimates and then carry them through to their logical conclusions.

We considered the following eight prophecies:

1. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).

This prophecy predicts that the Christ is to be born in Bethlehem. Since this is the first prophecy to be considered there are no previously set restrictions, so our question is: One man in how many, the world over, has been born in Bethlehem?

The best estimate which we can make of this comes from the attempt to find out the average population of Bethlehem, from Micah down to the present time, and divide it by the average population of the earth during the same period. One member of the class was an assistant in the library so he was assigned to get this information. He reported at the next meeting that the best determination of the ratio that he could determine was one to 280,000. Since the probable population of the earth has averaged less than two billion, the population of Bethlehem has averaged less than 7,150. Our answer may be expressed in the form that one man in 7,150/2,000,000,000 or one man in 2.8 x 10⁵ was born in Bethlehem.

2. “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me” (Mal. 3:1).

Our question here is: Of the men who have been born in Bethlehem, one man in how many has had a forerunner to prepare his way? John the Baptist, of course, was the forerunner of Christ. But since there appears to be no material difference between the people born in Bethlehem and those born any other place in the world, the question can just as well be general: One man in how many, the world over, has had a forerunner to prepare his way?

The students said that the prophecy apparently referred to a special messenger of God, whose one duty was to prepare the way for the work of Christ, so there is a further restriction added. The students finally agreed on one in 1,000 as being extremely conservative. Most of the members thought the estimate should be much larger. We will use the estimate as 1 in 10³.

3. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation: lowly, and riding upon … a colt the foal of an ass” (Zech. 9:9).

Our question then is: One man in how many, who was born in Bethlehem and had a forerunner, did enter Jerusalem as a king riding on a colt the foal of an ass? This becomes so restrictive that we should consider an equivalent question: One man in how many, who has entered Jerusalem as a ruler,

has entered riding on a colt the foal of an ass?

The students said that this was a very hard thing to place an estimate on. They knew of no one but Christ who had so entered. The students thought that at least in more modern times any one entering Jerusalem as a king would use a more dignified means of transportation. They agreed to place an estimate of 1 in 10⁴. We will use 1 in 10².

4. “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends”(Zech. 13:6).

Christ was betrayed by Judas, one of His disciples, causing Him to be put to death, wounds being made in His hands.

There seems to be no relation between the fulfillment of this prophecy and those which we have previously considered. We may then ask the question: One man in how many, the world over, has been betrayed by a friend, and that betrayal has resulted in his being wounded in his hands?

The students said that it was very rare to be betrayed by a friend, and still rarer for the betrayal to involve wounding in the hands. One in 1.000 was finally agreed upon, though most of the students would have preferred a larger number. So we will use the 1 in 10³.

5. “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver” (Zech. 11:12).

The question here is very simple: Of the people who have been betrayed, one in how many has been betrayed for exactly thirty pieces of silver?

The students thought this would be extremely rare and set their estimate as one in 10,000, or 1 in 10⁴. We will us 1 in 10³.

6. “And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord” (Zech. 11:13).

This is extremely specific. All thirty pieces of silver are not to be returned. They are to be cast down in the house of the Lord, and they are to go to the potter. You will recall that Judas in remorse tried to return the thirty pieces of silver, cut the chief priest would not accept them. So Judas threw them down on the floor of the temple and went and hanged himself. The chief priest then took the money and bought a field of the potter to bury strangers in. Our question is: One man in how many, after receiving a bribe for the betrayal of a friend, had returned the money, had it refused, had thrown it on the floor in the house of the Lord, and then had it used to purchase a field from the potter?

The students said they doubted if there has ever been another incident involving all of these items, but they agreed on an estimate of one in 100,000. They were very sure that this was conservative. So we use the estimate as 1 in 10⁵.

7. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7).

One man in how many, after fulfilling the above prophecies, when he is oppressed and afflicted and is on trial for his life, though innocent, will make no defense for himself?

Again my students said they did not know that this had ever happened in any case other than Christ’s. At least it is extremely rare, so they placed their estimate as one in 10,000 or 1 in 10⁴. We will use 1 in 10³.

8. “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet”(Ps. 22:16).

The Jews are still looking for the coming of Christ; in fact, He might have come any time after these prophecies were written up to the present time, or even on into the future. So our question is: One man in how many, from the time of David on, has been crucified?

After studying the methods of execution down through the ages and their frequency, the students agreed to estimate this probability at one in 10,000 or 1 in 10⁴, which we will use.

If these estimates are considered fair, one man in how many men, the world over, will fulfill all eight prophecies? This question can be answered by applying our principles of probability. In other words, by multiplying all of our estimates together, or 1 in 2.8 x 10⁵ x 10³ x 10² x 10³ x 10⁵ x 10³ x 10⁴. This gives 1 in 2.8 x 10²⁸, where 28 means that we have 28 ciphers following the 2.8. Let us simplify and reduce the number by calling it 1 in 10²⁸. Written out this number is 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

This is the answer to the question: One man in how many men has fulfilled these eight prophecies? But we are really concerned with the answer to the question: What is the chance that any man might have lived from the day of these prophecies down to the present time and have fulfilled all of the eight prophecies? We can answer this question by dividing our 10²⁸ by the total number of people who have lived since the time of these prophecies. The best information available indicates the number to be about 88 billion or 8.8 x 10¹⁰.

To simplify the computation let us call the number 10¹¹. By dividing these two numbers we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 10¹⁷.

Editor’s note: It is probable that 88 billion or 8.8 x 10¹⁰ assumes a growth rate for the earth’s population which is much too small – that most of the people who have ever lived are still alive today – suggesting that this number may be too large by a factor of ten. If so, this will affect the final result by the same factor of ten; ten times fewer total people who might have fulfilled these prophecies means only one tenth the chance that one of them might have done it by accident. Our number would become 10¹⁸ instead of 10¹⁷. The number used in this book is very conservative.

Let us try to visualize this chance. If you mark one of ten tickets, and place all of the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose that we take 10¹⁷ silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far s he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote using their own wisdom.

Now these prophecies were either given by inspiration of God or the prophets just wrote them as they thought they should be. In such a case the prophets had just one chance in 10¹⁷ of having them come true in any man, but they all came true in Christ.

This means that the fulfillment of these eight prophecies alone proves that God inspired the writing of those prophecies to a definiteness which lacks only one change in 10¹⁷ of being absolute.

Sometimes we weigh our chances in the business world, and say if an investment has nine chances in ten of being profitable, and only one chance in ten of being a failure, it is safe enough for us to make the investment. Whoever heard of an investment that had only one chance in 10¹⁷ of failure? The business world has no conception of such an investment. Yet we are offered this investment by God. By the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior we know, from only these eight prophecies which lack only 1 chance in 10¹⁷ of being an absolute proof, that that investment will yield the wonderful dividend of eternal life with Christ. Can anyone be so unreasonable as to reject Jesus Christ and pin his hope of eternal life on such a slim chance as finding the right silver dollar among this great mass, covering the whole state of Texas two feet deep? It does not seem possible, yet every man who rejects Christ is doing just that. More than three hundred prophecies from the Old Testament which deal with the first advent of Christ have been listed. Every one of them was completely fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Let us see what happens when we take more than eight prophecies.

Suppose we add eight more prophecies to our list, and assume that their chance of fulfillment is the same as the eight just considered. The chance that one man would fulfill all sixteen is 1 x 10²⁸ x 10¹⁷ or 1 in 10⁴⁵.

Let us try to visualize this as we did before. Take this number of silver dollars. If you make these into a solid ball, you will have a great sphere with a center at the earth, and extending in all directions more than 30 times as far as from the earth to the sun. (If a train had started from the earth at the time the Declaration of Independence was signed, and had traveled steadily toward the sun at the rate of sixty miles per hour, day and night, it would be about reaching its destination today. But remember that our ball of silver dollars extends thirty times that far in all directions.) If you can imagine the marking of one silver dollar, and then thoroughly stirring it into this great ball, and blindfolding a man and telling him to pick out one dollar, and expect it to be the marked one, you have somewhat of a picture of how absolutely the fulfillment of sixteen prophecies referring to Jesus Christ proves both that He is the Son of God and that our Bible is inspired. Certainly God directed the writing of His Word.

In order to extend this consideration beyond all bounds of human comprehension, let us consider forty-eight prophecies, similar in their human chance of fulfillment to the eight which we originally considered, using a much more conservative number, 1 in 10²¹. Applying the same principle of probability used so far, we find the chance that any one man fulfilled all forty-eight prophecies to be 1 in 10¹⁵⁷.

This is really a large number and it represents an extremely small chance. Let us try to visualize it. The silver dollar, which we have been using, is entirely too large. We must select a smaller object. The electron is about as small an object as we know of. It is so small that it will take 2.5 x 10¹⁵ of them laid side by side to make a line, single file, one inch long. If we were going to count the electrons in this line one inch long, and counted 250 each minute, and if we counted day and night, it would take us 19,000,000 years to count just the one-inch line of electrons. If we had a cubic inch of these electrons and we tried to count them, it would take us 1.2 x 10³⁸ years (2 x 10²⁸ times the 6 billion years back to the creation of the solar system).

With this introduction, let us go back to our chance of 1 in 10¹⁵⁷. Let us suppose that we are taking this number of electrons, marking one, and thoroughly stirring it into the whole mass, then blindfolding a man and letting him try to find the right one. What chance has he of finding the right one? What kind of a pile will this number of electrons make? They make an inconceivably large volume.

The distance from our system of stars, or galaxy, to the next nearest one is nearly 1,500,000 light-years; that is the distance that light will travel in 1,500,000 years going 186,000 miles each and every second. This distance is so great that if every man, woman and child in the United States, 200,000,000 of them, had a library of 65,000 volumes, and you collected every book in all of these libraries and them started on this journey of 1,500,000 light-years, and decided to place one letter from one of the books on each mile (e.g., if “the” was the first word in the first book you would put “t” on the first mile, “h” on the second mile, and “e” on the third mile; then leave a mile blank without a letter and start the next word in the same manner, etc.), before you complete your journey you will use up every letter in every book of every one of the libraries and have to call for more.

Space, by some authorities, is supposed to extend in all directions to the distance, not of 1,500,000 light-years. but more than 4,000 times that far or 6,000,000,000 light-years. Let us make a solid ball of electrons, extending in all directions from the earth to the distance of six billion light-years. Have we used up our 10¹⁵⁷ electrons? No, we have made such a small hole in the mass that we cannot see it. We can make this solid ball of electrons, extending in all directions to the distance of six billion light-years 6 x 10²⁸ times.

Suppose again that we had this great amount of electrons, 10¹⁵⁷ of them, and we were able to make 500 of these tremendous balls, six billion light-years in radius, each minute. If we worked day and night it would take us 10¹⁰ times the 6 billion years back to creation to use up our supply of electrons. Now, one of these electrons was marked and thoroughly stirred into the whole mass; blindfold your man and ask him to find the marked electron.

No man could in any way look over this mass of electrons, blindfolded or not blindfolded, and pick out any one electron, let alone the one that had been marked. (The electron, in fact, is so small that it cannot be seen with powerful microscope.)

To the extent, then, that we know this blindfolded man cannot pick out the marked electron, we know that the Bible is inspired. This is not merely evidence. It is proof of the Bible’s inspiration by God–proof so definite that the universe is not large enough to hold the evidence. Some will say that our estimates of the probability of the fulfillment of these prophecies are too large and the numbers should be reduced. Ask a man to submit his own estimates, and if they are smaller than these we have used, we shall add a few more prophecies to be evaluated and this same number will be reestablished or perhaps exceeded.

Our Bible students claim that there are more than three hundred prophecies dealing with Christ’s first advent. If this number is correct, and it no doubt is, you could set your estimates ridiculously low on the whole three hundred prophecies and still obtain tremendous evidence of inspiration.

For example you may place all of your estimates at one in four. You may say that one man in four has been born in Bethlehem: that one of these children in four was taken to Egypt, to avoid slaughter; that one in four of these came back and made his home in Nazareth; that one in four of these was a carpenter; that one in four of these was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver; that one in four of these has been crucified on a cross; that one in four was then buried in a rich man’s tomb; yes, even that one in four rose from the dead on the third day; and so on for all of the three hundred prophecies and from them I will build a number much larger than the one we obtained from the forty-eight prophecies.

Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world.

Peter Stoner

From the book “Science Speaks, Chapter 3

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Happy National Atheists Day

April 1st, 2009

I had heard that the Atheists were upset because they did not have any holidays to celebrate. Christans have Easter, Christmas and such, why don’t Atheists have a holiday of their own?

I think that they forgot today, this is their signature national Holiday. April 1st each year is called “April Fools Day”.

Psalms 14:1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

Happy holiday my empty, hopeless brothers!

Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.’

Admin

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One More Walk of Faith

March 25th, 2009

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 Today at 9:45 am I go in for the surgery on my eye to remove the quickly progressing cataract, and restore my vision.

For most person’s with two eyes, this is a simple matter. The surgeon will only operate on one eye at a time, if all goes well with the first eye, then they proceed with the surgery on the second eye.

A person with vision in just one eye such as myself, the risk factor is greatly increased. In rare occasions, the surgery will have complications and the vision in the eye operated on will decrease, or in even rarer cases, the person can lose the sight in the eye completely.

If you have vision in just one eye, the thought of losing your eyesight is very frightening. Being born blind, I have alway greatly valued my eyesight and been so thankful to the Lord that I could see and enjoy the beauty of this world.

The doctors told me yesterday that I do not need to have the surgery now as my vision is not really bad as yet. He told me though that within six months I will most likely be back in to have the procedure done, as the cataract is of the variety that is very fast in it’s progression. I am very healthy now, so the risk factors for the surgery are less than they would be later, should my health not be a good a it is presently.

As I write this from my hotel room in Phoenix, with about 3 hours remaining till I go in for the surgery, I am filled with anxiety and fear. Even though I have walked with the Lord for 33 years now, I find that this is perhaps my greatest trial. But don’t we all say that every-time we have a trial; “This is the most difficult one Lord!”

All things being considered though, I am confident that the Lord is good and that He really loves me. Not once in 33 years has He ever let me down, failed to bless my life or take care of me. I believe He brought me to this moment to build my faith, to show His love to me, and to demonstrate His great power to work in the lives of anyone who trust in Him. I am looking forward to the opportunity to be able to come back here in just a few days and report to you that everything went perfectly and that my eyesight has been restored and there were no complications whatsoever. This is because I know that the Lord is mighty and He will not disappoint those who trust in Him.

So thank You Lord for all the years of your faithfulness to me and for bringing me to this moment where I must trust you once again. Thank you Jesus for you love and the courage and strength that you give to all of us when we fall upon your mercy and trust in You. I Love you Jesus so much, and I am so grateful that I know you in difficult moments like this. Thank you to all of you who have prayed with me and supported and loved me through this so very much. I will write back here soon to report the success of the surgery and the faithfulness of the Lord. Trusting In Him,

Rob Robinson

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The God of this Word?

March 20th, 2009

A tremendous question was asked recently concerning the meaning of the term “God of this World“. I wrote this short article to explain the Biblical meaning of this term and how to apply it to the present condition of the world.

A question: Who owns the earth?

Originally it belonged to God, because He created it, it was his

Genesis 1:1

“In the beginning God created the heavens and earth”

God gave it to man. Adam was to be a steward over it.

Genesis 1:28

“Then God Blessed Them And God Said To Them, Be Fruitful And Multiply; Fill The Earth And Subdue It, Have Dominion Over The Fish Of The Sea, The Birds Of The Air, And Over Every Living Thing That Moves On The Earth.”

Man lost control of the earth to satan in Genesis 3:4-24

Genesis 3:24

So The Lord drove out the man from the garden; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life

When Jesus went into the wilderness to fast for 40 days and nights, at the end of the 40 days, when He was at His weakest, that is when satan came to Jesus to try and persuade Him to take a short cut and not go to the Cross…

Matthew 4

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.

3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,

6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

“He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and,

‘In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ ”

8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him

Essentially, what satan was saying to Jesus is, I have dominion over all the kingdoms of this world, I can give them to whomever I desire, I will give them to you Jesus, if you just fall down and worship and serve me. You don’t have to go to the Cross Jesus, Here is a short cut…

Notice that Jesus never disputes the fact that satan has this dominion over the kingdoms of this world., just the fact that worship should only be given to God.

There are many places in the New Testament where dominion of the earth is spoken of as presently belonging to satan.

John 12:31

Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

John 14:30

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.

John 16:11

of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

The Greek word for “Ruler” here is: “Archon”, “First in Rank”, It is the same word used to describe Jesus as He is Ruler over us as His Kings and Priests.

2 Corinthians 4:4

whose minds the god of this world has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Ephesians 2:2

in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

Jesus came to redeem not only the Human population of earth in his death and resurrection. Jesus came to redeem the Physical earth.

The actual claiming of the earth is delayed until chapter 5 of the book of Revelation.

In Revelation chapter 5, we see Jesus taking back possession of the earth.

This is why it is wrong to blame God for all of the suffering in the world.

Suffering, pain and death in the earth is the results of man loosing control of the earth to satan.

The reason that terrible things happen here upon the earth, is that we gave dominion of the earth over to satan.

Essentially, in the garden, we told the Lord that we did not want Him to rule over us, we wanted to rule over ourselves.

The Majority of people on the earth today, continue to not want the Lord to Rule over the earth.

The chaos, brutality and cruelty of the earth today, is the results of mans rule and satan’s dominion of the earth.

You can’t blame God for all of the terrible things that happen in life, you can blame us, and you can blame satan.

This is the world that we asked for…a World without God.

When Jesus returns to earth at the end of 7 year Tribulation Period, and He finally established His kingdom over the earth, no one will hurt or kill again on the earth…

Isaiah 11:9

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.

So, if you have been mad at God for something that has happened to you in your life, it isn’t His fault, it is our fault, this is the world that we asked for, when we told God not to rule over us.

What a glorious day it will be when the text of Revelation Chapter 5 comes to pass as Jesus steps forward to the throne of God and takes the title deed to the earth back and then comes to redeem it once and for all.

Remember that although Jesus did redeem us at the Cross and has already won the right to redeem all creation, that complete redemption has been delayed until the Return of the Lord to the Earth as described in Revelation 5 and 19.

It is also important to remember that although dominion over this present world has been given to satan, it is a very limited dominion, for a very short period of time. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have not lost their rulership over the universe, they have never ceased to reign over all. We do however see in the Bible that satan is given certain moments of time when he seems to have a period of rulership, in which the Lord uses for His own good purposes. Ultimately and permanently, satan and all his angels will find their rightful place in the Lake of Fire where they will never again have dominion over anything.

For a complete study in this redemption of the earth as seen in the Book of Revelation, please see my Revelation commentary Here: http://www.thewordmp3.com/revpdf/revelation_05.pdf

Rob Robinson

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The Pre-Wrath Rapture

March 18th, 2009

Recently, a dear friend and brother in the Lord, and one of our contributing editors on this Blog, Lahry Sibly, contacted me regarding the doctrine of the Rapture of the Church.

As Lahry always is so very gracious in his comments and views, it was a joy to know that he and I have perhaps slightly different views on the doctrine of the Rapture.

Now in some venues this difference in Scriptural understanding might cause some hurt feelings or even at worst, a break in Christian fellowship. But not so with Lahry and myself. We have agreed to meet later to discuss this doctrine, and I am confident that the results of this meeting will be a blessing to both of us and a deepening of our friendship in the Lord.

Let me say at the onset of this post that the doctrine of the Rapture of the Church, I consider that it is one of the most important foundational doctrines in the Bible. It is important in understanding correctly, the Grace of God, and His lack of will to punish with His wrath, His people along with the rest of the world.

Jesus death on the Cross not only accomplished salvation for all those who believe it, but also a removal of ALL future wrath from God. Make no mistake, the last three and one half years of the seven year tribulation period will be a total and complete outpouring of the Wrath of God upon the world in a way that this earth has not, not ever shall again ecperience. Jesus wrote that this wrath will be so severe that “If those days were not shortened (to three and one half years) No one would survive.

As we examine the text of the Old Testament, we will not find a single instance where the Lord ever poured out His wrath when His people were present.

Beginning with the Flood of Noah, the Lord removed the Gentile Enoch, who had been walking in fellowship with God for 300 years, just prior to the wrath of the great flood. Enoch as a Gentile, being a picture of the Gentile Bride of Jesus, that we believe will be removed from the earth before He begins the time of His wrath during the Great Tribulation.

Noah and his family that enter the Ark and are carried through the flood are a picture of The nation of Israel who will be also carried through the great tribulation and sheltered in Petra, in the present day nation of Jordan.

What an iteresting picture; a time of wrath, a gentile who walked with God, who is removed, literally Raptured out of the earth, just prior to the beginning of the wrath of the great flood.

Secondly, we think of Lot the Nephew of Abraham. When news of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah reaches Abraham in Genesis 18, he immediately petitions the Lord to ask Him about this event. ”Shall not the judge of the whole earth do right”, Abraham asks the Lord. “Would God punish the righteous with the wicked?’

Notice the premise of Abrahams question; Would God punish His people with the rest of the world when He is pouring out His wrath? The answer from God was NO, “If I find 50 righteous I will not destroy it for the sake of the righteous. Then Abraham negotiates with the Lord “What if there be 45, 40, 30, and so on, down to 10, “Would you destroy the city if there are only 10 righteous there, Abraham asks the Lord? The answer from God is “NO, I will not destroy the city for the sake of 10.”

As it turns out there is only 4 righteous who trust in the Lord, and even these 4 are forcibly removed from Sodom by the angels sent to bring the wrath, before the wrath can begin. If you examine the text of this story you will notice that the angels are very specific in Genesis 19:22 in telling Lot and his family that they cannot pour out the wrath while they are still present in Sodom.

So, we have the establishment early in the Old Testament of the priciple that God will not pour out His wrath when His people are present.

When we arrive at the New Testament, we see even a clearer picture of the pre-wrath removal of God’s people from Jesus Himself.

As Jesus is discussing the great and awesome “Day of the Lord”, the time of the seven year Tribulation in Luke Chapters 21, He makes the statement to the believers hearing Him, “Pray that you may be found worthy to escape all these things and stand before the Son of Man.” Jesus tell us that we should pray that we would escape the great tribulation period by being “Worthy”, the New Testament code word for “Saved”.

Luke 21:36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

As Paul writes his description of the seven year tribulation, he tells us that we, the church, “Are not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation…”

1Thessalonians 5:9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ

In the Book of Revelation chapter 3, Jesus tells the church of Philadelphia, Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickl.” Clearly, Jesus is talking about the Great Tribulation, and He makes the promise that He will not allow His church to be present when He pours out His wrath.

Those who see a post tribulation Rapture often will point to the scripture in which Jesus said: John 16:33 … In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

”It is extremely important that we distiguish between the Wrath of God during the tribulation period and the tribulation that comes from the world. When Jesus said “in this world you will have tribulation”, He was speaking literally of tribulation from the world. The problems, trials and heart aches that this present world causes us. This is far different from the seven year tribulation which is Tribulation or Wrath from God Himself.

In Revlation chapter 6, those who are present during the plagues of the seven seals, do not repent of their sins, and instead go for shelter in the caves of the earth and cry out “Hide us from the Wrath of the Lamb”.

Revelation 6:16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

Those who are present during the seven years know that these plagues are coming from the Lamb, Jesus Himself. Is it concievable that the same Lamb who took the wrath of the Father for us at the Cross, and purified us from all of our sins, would now subject us to His own wrath during the seven year Tribulation, Impossible.

A second important fact is that the entire focus and purpose of the seven years has nothing to do with the church whatsoever. When Gabriel gave Daniel the prophecy of the seven year tribulation in Daniel chapter 9, He said that the prophecy was for “Your Peiople” the Jews.

Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city.. 27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate…

Clearly, the seven year tribulation, also called in reference to the above verse in Daniel 9, “The 70th week of Daniel”, is for Israel, not the church. The current status of the world is called by the Bible as “The times of the Gentiles”.

Luke 21:24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

At the instant the Rapture happens, the “Times of the Gentiles” ends, God will then turn His attention from his present course, that of gathering a bride for His son, back to the nation of Israel so that He might also save them.

This was the entire topic of discussion in the first part of the Book of Romans, where Pauls makes several statements that God has not forgotten Israel, but has only turned His attention from them for a time, but at the conclusion of the Time of Gentiles, He will again focuss His attention of Israle and “So all Israle will be saved”.

Romans 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved

The greatest Biblical proof of the Pre Wrath Rapture is the Book of Revelation itself. The Book of Revelation is writen in Chronological order. As we follow the chain of events in Revelation, we see that in Chapter 4 John is told “Come up here” and he is raptured into heaven where he sees the church already there in heaven, before the Tribulation begins in chapter 6.

In chapters 1-3 Jesus addresses his letters to His church, then mysteriously as John is taken up to heaven, we do not see the church mentioned again until chapere 19, where the members of Jesus church are seen riding on white horses out of heaven, returning to the earrth.

Why is the church conspicuously missing from chapters 4-19? Because the Tribulation begins in chapter 6 at the openeing of the first seal, and contineues through chapter 18. During the entire time of the Wrath of the seven years, the church is not seen on the earth, she is seen in heaven.

Beginning in chapters 4 and 5 we see a group of individuals described as too large to numner, from every tribe tongeu, nation and people. These are not angels, these are human beings. They are wearing white garments, that can only be worn by redeeemed human beings, they are singing a “New song” that has never been sang in heaven before, “Jesus you are worthy to recieve glory, honor, power and thanksgiving, becuaee you ave REDEEMED US TO GOD BY YOUR BLOOD.

Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.

Those who are singing this song, are in heaven. ”Who can sing this song of redemption claiming that they “have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ?” Not the angels, only the church can sing of being redeemed by Jesus blood. Notice that they are singing this song in chaperr 4 of Revelation, beofore the Tribulation begins in chapter 6.

The purpose of the seven year tribulation is to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies concerning the pouring out of Gods wrath on a world that has rejected Jesus Christ. Two-thords of the inhabitants of the earth durign the last 3 1/2 years of this wrath will die in the plagues poured out by Jesus Himself. It is inconceivable that the Lord would require His Bride to undergo such horrific punishment.

The book of Revelation describes the fact that duing this seven years, the Beast will put to death by beheading, all those who have pledged allegiance to Jesus Christ. There will be a huge number of people saved during the tribulation period, but all of them are kiled by the antichrist. We see them under the Altar of God in heaven in Revelation chapter 6 crying out to the Lord “How long Lord before you avenge our death…”? And they are told by the Lord “To wait a little longer until the numner of their bretheren are complete”. In other words, until all the believers are killed by the beaast and they are in heaven.

Revelation 6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Revelation 6:11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed

Some of the adherants of the post wrath Rapture who see only one coming of Jesus Christ at the end of the age, say that the reason that the church will have to go through the Tribulation period is that is is for her purification.

The sacrifice that Jesus made on the Cross was the comlete purification of Jesus Bride. There is no further need of any purification by any other means. The work of the Cross was complete. To say that somehow the Church is not ready yet for heaven and needs the refineing fire of the tribulaation period, is to diminsh the Cross of Jesus and his atonement, it is Heresy.

One of the points that skeptics of the doctrine of the Rapture make is that of their claimed view that the Rapture is a relatively new doctrine that appeared on the scene int he last one humdred years of the church. They say that the early Christian church knew nothing of this doctrine nor did they teach it.

This of course is an error, because in the recently translated early Christian documents of Ephraim the Syrian and other early church documents, we find that the Rapture of the church and the tribulation periood were being taught in Jesus Church as early as the first centurey.

There is extensice proof that the early church knew and uderstood that before the seven year tribulation began, and the antichrist was introduced, that the Lord would decend out of heaven and remove the church from the earth.

I am always amazed at what people do with the book of 1 and second Thessalonians since their main purpose was Paul writing to a church who had been told by outsiders that the “Day of the Lord”, the code words for The seven year tribulation had already began. The beleivers there wondered then what had happende to their loved ones, if the rapture had already happend and the tribulation had began, then where were their loved ones? In respomnse to this false information, Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians

1Thessalonians 4:13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

1Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

1Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.

1Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

1Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

1Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Notice Paul’s clear purpose in writing this part of the letter was to clear up a missunderstanding regarding the Day of the Lord and to bring comfort to those who had been incorrectly taught, ”I do not want you to be ignorant concerning those who have “Fallen Asleep”, the polite way of saying that a person had died. The believers in Thessalonica were grieving over what the dispossition was of their departed loved ones, since their understaning was from Paul that when Jesus returned, He was bringin with Him, their loved ones. If the Tribulation had began as these outside teachers had claimed, then where were their loved ones?

Paul said, before the Lord “catches up”, or raptures out those alive at His return, He will bring up from the grave the bodies of those who have died loving Him and transform their old perishable body into an imperisshable body. and we shall all meet the Lord in the clouds in the air. Notice that the meeting is in the air, not on the earth, as will be the case when Jesus returns to the earth at the end of Tribulation period.

Notice that the Rapture is not the second coming, for the Lord will only meet us in the air. At the second coming as described in Revelation Chapter 19, Jesus will touch down on the mount of Olives in Israel, in fulfillment of Zechariah 14.

In the Book of Acts when Jesus was Ascending back to heaven, The angel told the disciples that Jesus would return to the earth the same way they saw Him leave the earth. Where was Jesus at when He ascendd to heaven? The Mount of Olives!

Acts 1:11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Acts 1:12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet.

Notice that upon the actual physical rertun of Jesus it will be at the mount of Olives, from which He ascended to heaven. The Rapture is not the physical return of the Lord to the earth, it is a meeting in the cloud of the air.

One final point and then I will close this post for now:

In the book of Revelation chapter 20 we see a vivid description of the Final judgement of those who have rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at the Great White throne.

Revelation 20:11 ¶ Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

These souls are those who had the opportuity throughout their lifetime, of accepting Jesus sacrifice on the Cross for their sins, and gaing eternal life. They chose instead of their own free will to reject Jesus sacrifiice and instead be judged on their own works. Their resurrrection from the dead “their first resurrection” does not occur until the end of the one thosuand year reign of Jesus during the Mellinium.

The first resurrection for the believer in Jesus Christ began at the resurrrecetion of Jesus, and as Paul describes it, Jesus was the first in a series of those who would rise from the dead to eternal life.

1Corinthians 15:23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.

Revelation 20 describes the resurrection of the lost in this verse:

Revelation 20:5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

This is the first resrurrection of the un-saved. The resurrection of the saved is described in the very nesxt verse:

Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

There is a “First resurrection of the un-saved at the end of the 1,000 years, and there is a first resurrection of the saved that happens at the rapture. Both of these events are described simultaniously in Revelation 20:5-6.

Paul wrote:

Titus 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

If the Rapture did not happen until the end of the 7 year Tribulation period, then we would not be looking for the “Blessed Hope” of Jesus return, we would be looking for the appearing of the antichurst. It seems strange that the Lord would want us to watch for Him by waiting for the appearing of the antichrst at the beginning of the tribualtion period, instead of waiting for the “blessed hope of Jesus return” first at the beginning of the Tribulation period.

One final point, since Jesus said that “no man knows the day nor the hour of His return”, how could He be referering to a return at the end of the 7 years since we will know the exact day of His return, just by watching for the abomination of dessolation spoken of by Daniel? When the antichrist erects the statue of himself in the newly rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, there will be exactly 1290 days till Jesus comes the second time, therefore we would know the day of Jesus return.

Daniel 12:11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.

There are many other verses throughout the Bible that point to a Pre-Wrath Rapture, and depending on the intrest in this subject, we may add to this original post.

Rob Robinson

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