REALITY OR ILLUSION

REALITY or ILLUSION?

Many people, I believe, are operating in the area of various "illusions", and not in "reality". What do I mean by that statement, you might ask? Well, in answering that question, let's start with a simple illustration. I have heard of people being lost in a desert, dying of thirst, and they think they see a pool of water in the distance. When they approach what they believed to be a pool of water, it is simply more sand! This we call an "optical illusion", thinking we see something that is not really there. It is a case of our mind playing tricks on us, and is not in the realm of reality. Here in New Brunswick we have this phenomenon of the so-called "magnetic hill", which is really an optical illusion. The way the landscape is shaped, you think you are going up hill, when in reality your are of course going down hill. This same problem exists in the church. We have been told many things by sincere teachers of the Word of God that have proved out to be illusions, when compared with a "face value" approach to scripture, which is reality!

One of these illusions was introduced to the church in 1909 by a man named C.I. Scofield, who published a Bible named after him. This Bible introduced a teaching that has affected many sincere Christians ever since. It is known as "Dispensationalism", based on his belief that all of human history is divided up into seven periods, that he called "dispensations". The reality is that there are only two periods, called in our Bibles the Old and the New Testaments, or sometimes referred to as "covenants". They are clearly explained by Jesus Himself, as recorded in (Matt 11:7-18). John the Baptist can be considered as the man who stood between the OT and the NT. He was the greatest of all the OT prophets, and yet Jesus said that even the least member in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than him. In other words any truly "born again" believer, who is a follower of Jesus, and a citizen of His Kingdom, holds a higher position with God than any OT prophet! I prefer to believe the words of Jesus over any man's theory, how about you?

Another case of a well known theory that I consider an illusion is that of the very popular "Pretribulation Rapture" teaching. This is actually a combination of the "secret rapture" theory introduced in 1830, which taught that Jesus would come at any moment to catch away the church, and take them to heaven to be with Him. Then when Dr. Scofield introduced his dispensational theory in 1909, which taught that the "church age" must end before the "kingdom age" could begin, the marriage of these two theories produced the Pretribulation Rapture theory! The reality is that Jesus will remain in heaven with His Father "until" certain scriptures are fulfilled, such as (Ps 110:1), (Acts 3:19-21), (2 Thess 2:1-8), plus others. Another much believed illusion is that Jesus is busily building "mansions" in heaven for His followers to inhabit for eternity. This is based on a misinterpretation of (John 14:1-4), thanks in part to the translators of the King James Bible, who used "mansions" in verse 2 and used "abode" for the same Greek word in verse 23 of this same chapter. The word abode comes closer to the proper meaning, as used by Paul in (Eph 2:22), to describe the Church that Jesus is presently building from His position in heaven. (Matt 16:18) He is accomplishing this through the work of the Holy Spirit, who came to earth to replace Him when He returned to heaven after He had finished His mission of redemption of mankind! When the Church is complete and has made herself ready (2 Cor 7:1), which I believe will only happen during the tribulation period at the hands of the Antichrist, and then the Father will give Jesus permission to come to earth to receive His Bride (Rev 21). This Bride is His Church that He has been building for over 2000 years, and will bring down to earth, and locate it just above the rebuilt natural Jerusalem. This will be the dwelling place for Jesus, His Church/Bride, and the Father through out eternity! This is the "reality" that can only be understood by a "face value" interpretation of the Bible, instead of living in the "illusion" given to us by believing the theories of men. By face value, I mean applying the following principles, 1/ Seek to discover the author's intended meaning, 2/ Recognize the importance of context, 3/ Wherever possible, let scripture interpret scripture, 4/ Determine the literal reference of figures of speech, 5/ Look for near/far implications and applications in prophetic passages. Since I started to follow these principles in my reading of the Word of God, many errors that I had always believed as truth became clear to me, as I'm sure they will to you too. We must apply what the believers did in (Acts 17:11)!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

COME OUT

COME OUT

This is part of an exhortation from the apostle Paul found in his second letter to the church in Corinth. "Wherefore come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves says the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you." (2 Cor 6:17) Corinth was a very wicked city, and believers naturally had to come out of that wicked culture in order to become followers of Jesus. This is still true today, some 20 centuries later, because our culture is probably no better now than it was then. It seems that secular humanism, and a post-modernism philosophy, mixed with various Eastern Religions, and so-called New Age thought, give us a very dangerous religious mixture!

Besides all this, today we have "church structures", that are not scriptural, that Paul didn't have to warn people to avoid. Paul was just planting new churches among the Gentiles, and his main opposition came from the Pharisees, a very religious group of Jews, that he had been part of before he met Jesus. These were the same people who opposed Jesus, when He taught about the Kingdom of God. They were threatened by His teaching, because it was completely new and they feared it would put an end to their own religious "kingdom". Check out (Matt 23:1-36) to see what Jesus thought of them. I suppose we could compare these Pharisees to some of our church denominations today, who have become very Liberal in their theology, and deny many basic scriptural truths such as the "virgin birth". So besides having to "come out" of the world and its various "religions" mentioned above, today any serious seeker after truth must also "come out" of certain religious church structures! This is not an easy thing to face, because many people have been brought up in these church structures, and have never known anything different. They don't realize how far their particular denomination has changed from God's plan of what the true "Church" that Jesus said He would build looks like. The Greek word first used as church in (Matt 16:18)is [ecclesia] which means "called out", and was used in the Greek culture to identify a "governmental assembly". This is what the Church we see in the book of Acts was meant to be, a colony of the Kingdom of God, functioning on earth, to prepare followers of Jesus for their eternal role as the bride/wife of the Son of God. (Rev 21:9-10)

Thousands of people are now leaving churches because they have not found the love and acceptance they expected from reading (Acts 2:42-47), which is our first picture of a NT church. Thank God, He is raising up a new breed of followers of Jesus in this hour. Have you met any of them yet? They are forming networks such as "House 2 House", or "Organic Church", where like minded people can find fellowship with Jesus and each other in small house gatherings. Check them out,if you are interested, it could be the answer to your frustrations!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer

HEAVENLY PROTOCOL

HEAVENLY PROTOCOL

 

For those of us who never lived in a culture that contains masters and slaves, we have a hard time understanding the idea of "protocol". It means there is a proper way to address people, and an improper way. As I understand it, you must never speak to, or give orders to a slave! You always speak to the master, and he in turn gives the orders to the slave to carry out your request. This sounds logical when it comes to earthly situations, but how can we understand it when we consider events in heaven?  Here we face the mystery of the Godhead, which we call the "Holy Trinity", Or "Three in One". God is certainly only One, Who has chosen to reveal Himself in three ways, for us to better understand Him. With our finite minds it is near impossible to understand the "Infinite"! As near as I can understand it, they are all equal in essence, but different in function. The Father as the Source of all things is Spirit, and is invisible. (John 4:24) The Son is the visible image of the invisible God! (Col 1:16, 2:9). The Holy Spirit is of course invisible too, but His role seems to that of a servant or  "Slave", to the Father/Son who we can consider the "Master". This may not be a proper analogy, but when I read scriptures like (John 16:13-15), that is the picture I come up with.

 

With that in mind, and the limited knowledge I have about the relationship of a slave to his master, it seems to me that a heavenly protocol would demand that we never speak directly to either the Holy Spirit, or angels! Yet I'm aware of many Charismatic believers who do both! You read testimonies of people being transported to heaven and talking to angels, and even giving them commands. I have often heard well meaning believers commanding the Holy Spirit to do things, like "come" or to pour out "more" of the Spirit on certain people. This sort of thing opens the door to spirits of darkness, in my opinion. Read (2 Cor 11:12-15) carefully and consider the warning given by Paul. Derek Prince declares that any spirit you can give orders to is not the Holy Spirit, but must be a counterfeit spirit, or demon operating under orders from Satan! We are warned many times in scripture to be aware that many false prophets will be sent by our enemy in these last days to deceive many! For example hear what Jesus said in (Matt 24:4, 5, 11, 24), and we should believe Jesus because "He is the truth"! Right? So let us beware of the danger of deception, and heed scriptures like ( 1 John 4:1) or (1 Thess 5:21-22) because we are certainly in the last days!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

SHREDDING DAY

SHREDDING DAY

 

The prompting for writing this article came from a devotional thought in ODB for Dec 22, 2009. It was entitled "Good Riddance", and described an event that happened in NYC on Dec 28, 2008. People were encouraged to bring a record of things that happened to them that year that they would like to get rid of. A large industrial paper shredder was set up in Times Square that would take care of any records that people brought forward!

 

The author of this devotional used the scripture (2 Cor 12:7-10) where Paul asked God three times to deliver him from the "thorn in his flesh", but God didn't take away the pain of this affliction, but instead told him "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness". In other words He gave Paul the strength to live with the affliction that was given to keep him from becoming proud because of his many heavenly revelations. I wonder if that might possibly be the reason our prayers are not always answered in the way we desire. But wouldn't it be great if we could somehow just have all our past records that represent failures or painful experiences in our past, put into some giant shredder, and done away with? In a sense, that is exactly what happened on the cross, when Jesus gave His life as the only possible payment for the sins of all humanity. He was the perfect, sinless, Son of God, the only one worthy to do this! That is the true gospel of the Kingdom of God, which we should be proclaiming to the world's citizens who are still in their spiritual darkness.

 

God has promised to remove our sins from us, and remember them no more. That is far better than just having them placed in some giant shredder! Check out (Psalms 103:1-12) to see the extent of this promise. He makes this available to everyone because of His great Agape love to all who believe. (John 3:16-21) But because He has created us with a free will, He must restrain this powerful love from us until we come to Him in faith and ask for it. That is why the whole world is not redeemed, not because God lacks power, but simply because people "loved the darkness more than the light, because their actions were evil"(John 3:19). Thank God He has sent His Holy Spirit into the world to convict us of our sinful condition, and show us our need to repent and receive Jesus to become part of His Forever Family! (2 Cor 5:17) Have you done that yet? If not, why not?

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer