Jesus Lifted Us

JESUS LIFTED US

 

As we know from the book of Genesis, after God had created the perfect universe, then He created human beings after His image and likeness. He gave them dominion over all of creation, and created them male and female so that that they could reproduce after their kind. Then He created a perfect Garden of Eden for them to live in, and told them they could eat of the fruit of any tree in the garden "except" the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they should eat the fruit of this tree they would certainly die. And we know from reading (Gen 3:1-24) for how they lost their intimate relationship with their Creator God, and were banished from the garden. From that moment on our world became a "Fallen World". God was not surprised by this because of His "Foreknowledge" and had a plan to rectify this situation! This plan included allowing His only begotten Son Jesus to become a human being by way of the "virgin birth" of Jesus through the womb of Mary of Nazareth. Thus Jesus became the one and only perfectly "Sinless Man" ever born without the "Sin" inherited from our original parents! Jesus was truly 100% God and 100% Man at the same time!!

 

Sometime last year in 2016 I discovered an old hymn by the name of "He Lifted Me" written by Charles Huchinson Gabriel. I have adopted this as my favorite words t o repeat in my mind every night before going to sleep  and every morning when I open my eyes. Here is the first verse and chorus.

"In loving kindness Jesus came, my soul in mercy to reclaim. And from the depths of sin and shame, through grace He lifted me. (chorus) From sinking sand He lifted me, with tender hands He lifted me. From shades of night to planes of light, O praise His Name, He lifted me"    

 

Of course the death Adam and Eve received the moment they disobeyed the command God had given them, was the death of their intimate relationship they had enjoyed with their Creator in the Garden, this was the "spiritual death" of their spirits, and their "souls" were damaged and needed to be restored. So this is what we inherited from them, and what only Jesus could restore for us who receive Him by faith as our Lord and Savior!!

 

Sincerely submitted

Dave Jamer                                                                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Believers Manual On Perfection

 

 THE BELIEVERS MANUAL ON PERFECTION

 

Here is another one of those words that can spark great debates, or cause much confusion in church circles. It is used in both the Old and New Testaments and basically has the meaning of someone or something being complete, or finished. Mature might be a word that could be used in reference to a person. Some of the confusion results from such statements as Jesus made, like "Be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect". This is in the form of a command, and surely Jesus wouldn't command us to do something that He knew we couldn't do. So therefore it must be possible to become perfect in God's sight. During the Holiness Movement in the 1800s a teaching came forth that was called "sinless perfection" that caused a lot of controversy. Those who held to this teaching believed that a person could become so holy, or sanctified, by keeping all the law or commandments given in the Bible, as they understood them, that they would become "sinless" or without any trace of sin. You don't hear much of this term lately, although in some circles there is a teaching that goes by different names that sort of says the same thing. It may be referred to as "The Select of the Elect", "The Man Child Company", "The Manifest Sons of God", etc. All of these groups have a common root of becoming "Over-comers". The Bible does speak of striving to overcome sin, the flesh, and the devil, and it would seem that is not the position of all believers, or else some would not be singled out from the rest. Most of these groups that this writer has heard of developed a spirit of pride that rendered them useless in the Kingdom of God. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

 

A better term might be "Christian Perfection" instead of sinless perfection. In an earlier paper called "Blameless or Faultless" this writer explained the difference in these two words, and showed how we can be blameless in this life but not faultless. This same truth applies to the discussion of Perfection. It is possible to be blameless, if we are living to the best of our ability in obedience to God's word, but being found faultless, or sinless will only happen when we stand before Him in our resurrected bodies. If you are interested in seeing the scriptural explanation of the meaning of these words you might like to read the referred to document.

 

Sincerely

Dave Jamer  Revised on 18/01/17

 

 

 

The Restrainer

THE RESTRAINER

 

One of the key points in the teaching that Jesus will rapture His Church before the last 7 year period, known as "Daniel's 70th week" (Dan 9:24-27), is that the Holy Spirit, who resides in believers, is the "Restrainer" mentioned by Paul in (2 Thess 2:7). This has been taken as a "proof text" to fit in with their theory of a "secret rapture". The Holy Spirit is defined by Jesus, as fulfilling different roles in the life of believers when He comes, but restrainer is not one of them! Check it out for yourself in chapters 14, 15, and 16 of the Gospel of John, where the words of Jesus are recorded. Depending on which translation you use, you will find words such as, Advocate, Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Strengthener,----but not Restrainer. This role for Him has been added to scripture by those who are trying to prove that the Church will not go through the time of "great tribulation" at the hands of the Antichrist, during the last half of this 7 year period. Various scriptures clearly teach this, including the words of Jesus, Paul, and John, and yet these people invent a theory that attempts to prove their false teaching!

 

There is only one person mentioned in scripture, that I am aware of, who could fill this role of restraining evil until the time set by God to let the Antichrist start his persecution of Israel and the Church. That person is the archangel "Michael", who has been given the specific task of protecting God's people, as mentioned many times in scripture. The most important reference, relating to the subject at hand, would have to be (Dan 12:1), where he is confirmed as the one who protects the nation of Israel. At the middle of this 7 year period, we are told he will "arise", and then the Antichrist will begin his reign of terror against the people of God (Rev 13:5-10). The word here translated arise, or stand up, in most English translations could be translated as "stand still", since it is the same root word that is used to describe the miracle of the sun and the moon stopping, or standing still, so that Joshua and his warriors could complete the battle against their enemy. (Josh 10:13) By letting scripture explain scripture, we can often prevent being led into error by those who are trying to prove some theory. Let's keep in mind that God must allow His Church to be purified, and changed from their present condition, before they are ready to be raptured! This purification can only come about through a time of persecution, such as much of the Church are already experiencing in other parts of the world! Why should God exempt the church in our Western world, and keep us from this time of persecution, that He has planned to make us ready to be raptured? That doesn't make any sense to me!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer