The Saul/Paul Controversy, Part 1

 

Children of Israel: I know that some of you are getting tired of my Jew-bashing. Fair enough. There is more in this world than exposing the enemy, although being aware of the who the anti-Christ is is certainly of utmost importance! Even I have moments when I get away from the apostasy of this world order and get lost in the beauty of Scripture. (I'm sure there are a few snickers in the audience.) In point of fact, many of my e-friends have asked me to do a series on the writings of Paul. I have resisted doing this for about three years now. But the time has come for me to chime in on this issue. We have basically three sides: 1.) The universalists who love to interpret Paul as a "let's convert the heathen and watch the love fest happen" inclusivist, 2.) the Paul bashers who think Paul was either a raving lunatic or conniving Jew trying to destroy Christianity, and 3.) a misunderstood 2-Seedline exclusivist.

I have been steadfastly arguing for the latter. But rather than do a time-consuming study on this subject -- because it would take a book to sort out the madness of extremes of Pauline interpretation -- I have decided to do a study of Paul on a Chapter by Chapter basis in an attempt to demonstrate that Paul, like the Apostles and the rest of the Bible, is, in fact, a Two-Seedline Identity Christian.

Today, I am going to make a recommendation to all who are interested or have taken sides already on this issue. The recommendation is this: GET A MOFFAT TRANSLATION. Moffat is the only translator who straightens out the mish-mosh sentence structure that is the inherent failing of the King James Version. To that effect, I am citing this reference. This will be the first of many items on Paul. Enjoy!

Pastor Eli

The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet 1578 Rapture kc 2-2

What does this scripture mean?

It stands here all alone, pulled out of context.

Do you know what subject is being discussed here?

The return of Christ?

Wrong!

You can't guess at these things.

They are too important
and they affect the very salvation of the souls of men and women.

To arrive at the subject being discussed here we must back up to verse 13.

Let's look at both the King James and the Moffat translations together.

1 Thes. 4:13 (KJV) But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

1 Thes. 4:13 (Moffat) We would like you brothers, to understand about those who are fallen asleep in death; you must not grieve for them, like the rest of men who have no hope.

OH!

The subject is "where are the dead?"

Paul doesn't want us to be ignorant about where the dead are.

The Sadducees were running around telling everyone there is no such thing as a resurrection,
i.e. there is no life after death.

Those who believe that lie have no hope.

Too bad!

[14] (KJV) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

[14] (Moffat) Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then it follows that by means of Jesus God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.

That makes sense.

If we believe that Jesus died and rose again then we must also believe
that our loved ones who have died,
knowing Jesus,
rose also (changed of course into their spiritual bodies) to be with Him,
and so they are with Him.

So when Jesus comes back He will bring them with Him.

I like it!

[15] (KJV) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

[15] (Moffat) For we tell you, as the Lord has told us, that we the living, who survive till the Lord comes, are by no means to take precedence of those who have fallen asleep.

That makes sense.

How could we precede those have died and are present with the Lord?

We can't, they are already with Him.

[16] (KJV) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

[16] (Moffat) The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a loud summons, when the archangel calls and the trumpet of God sounds; the dead in Christ will rise first,

Stay with me here.

If you've come this far you are no longer ignorant.

That's the purpose of Paul explaining this...
"I don't want you to be ignorant concerning where the dead are."

So..... Quiz time!

Where are the dead in Christ?

Right!!

They are already with Him.

So don't let your mind think about people "rising" from graves.

They aren't there.

They are with Christ.

Take your Strong's concordance (if you don't have one, get one published by Hendrickson, not Nelson) and check out the Greek word and its prime roots for "rise". It means to stand-up or present.

So the "dead in Christ",
those who have died believing in the Lord,
who are with Him now,
will present themselves or stand-up first when Christ returns.

[17] (KJV) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

[17] (Moffat) and then we the living, who survive, will be caught up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall be with the Lord for ever.

Do you remember the secret truth we learned earlier, the "mystery" Paul showed us?

Then let's play Final Jeopardy! Today's category is (Christ's Return). Your Final Jeopardy answer is:

At the sound of the Seventh Trump, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, He changes everyone's flesh bodies into their spiritual bodies.

First contestant: Antichrist

Alex: No, I'm sorry, "Antichrist" isn't the correct answer. He only performs illusions in the sight of flesh men and women promising to Rapture them away soon. And I see you wagered your soul on that. It'll cost you everything!

Second contestant: !@#$%^&

Alex: Oh, so sorry! I see you couldn't come up with an answer. Looks like you're still ignorant of God's Word. Better start studying before it's too late. I see you also risked it all. Too bad.

Third contestant: Jesus Christ

Alex: You are right. You're a champion of your people. You shall receive rewards.

Let's look again at 1 Thes. 4:17

[17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

"In the clouds" is an expression that means "in a group".

In other words,
we are going to gather together as a group with the saints
that are coming with Jesus when He returns.

Paul uses the same colloquial expression in Hebrews 12:1
when he refers to a great cloud of witnesses,
meaning a group of witnesses.

Christ is returning to the Mount of Olives where He will stand.

That is where we gather to Him, not in the clouds.

There is so little scholarship given to the Bible today that it is shameful.

There are many figures of speech, analogies, metaphors, etc.
that the Holy Spirit uses in the Bible as tools of communication to better teach us.

But they are often ignored because of ignorance.

I guarantee you that if a verse in the New Testament read "The apostle Paul got into hot water" that we would have churches whereby in order to be in good standing you would have to get into a tub of hot water. Then there would be great discussion as to how much water you should get into and what temperature is considered to be hot. This would go on in spite of the FACT that the verse had nothing to do with water at all. It is a common expression in our language meaning he "Got into TROUBLE", not water!

Well, we are going to gather to Christ as a collective group,
NOT in clouds (unless you have your head in the clouds).

There's one more word you need to look up for yourself.

Don't take my word for it.

I'm not going to be there at your Final Jeopardy round.
I'll be playing Wheel of Fortune.

The word is "air" in verse 17.

This verse really sounds like we are going to fly into the clouds,
up, up and away into the air.

The Greek word translated "air" is aer, which also means to breath or respire.
It refers to our spiritual body, our "breath" of life body.
Remember the secret?
We gather back to Christ, along side our brethren who have since passed away and are coming with Jesus, in our spiritual bodies.

It has nothing to do with clouds and oxygen.

Feel better?

1 Thes. 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free...
free from worry,
free from anxiety, free from the bondage of the traditions of men,
free from ignorance...free to love and please Him.

I know it is not popular to teach against such a widespread doctrine as the

Rapture.

But we don't conduct any opinion polls or focus groups here
to see what pleases the people
and then stroke them with lies to keep them coming back.

To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.

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