Neither Jesus nor any other writer of scripture used the phrase "Sixth Path." But Jesus said "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." Paul wrote, "Pray without ceasing" and "walk by the Spirit." The "Sixth Path" is a term that I use to help communicate those and other express teachings of scripture about intimate fellowship with God through scripture, prayer, the Holy Spirit and pain. 

Chapter one reveals Five Paths: five degrees of intimacy and intensity as we read scripture which you may experience by clicking here. Ten minutes in that page could change your life. The chapter on prayer reveals the Endorsed Prayers... the prayers we pray as we "walk by the Spirit." The chapter on the Holy Spirit reveals how God responds to our prayers through the Holy Spirit. The chapter on pain reveals how we interact with God as we suffer. 

Taken together these chapters reveal what fellowship with God looks and sounds like. Chapter two (The Sixth Path) brings these many facets together. Fellowship with God is a two way conversation in the spiritual realm, as we Follow Christ, bearing His yoke in the world.

Then, the chapter on Paradise reveals how our interaction with God will change in the eternal state of the coming age. Paradise is the Seventh Path.

For a summary of all six paths, read discussion topic 48 below.

Isaac,
It gave me great joy to hear your story and I am honored by your request that I come to Africa Kenya. I published your story in the feedback section of this site.  From the time I received your request some days ago, I began to pray. Now, I have awakened in the middle of the night to respond.

The scriptures say that we are to "Always rejoice. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

So, I will respond with a prayer:
Yahweh... My Lord, Creator, Savior, King, Comforter, Father, and Judge who lives within me, I thank you... that you, by your Spirit, are sending your word throughout the whole world. In just a few months, people from 189 nations have read some part of this book. I thank you for Isaac's desire to draw near to You. Isaac has expressed his request that I come to Kenya and his hope for a Spiritual guide. I am willing to do as you wish, for you are Lord of all. I understand that my present calling is to reach the world through this book and by adding to this book. And the purpose of Fellowship with God in the Sixth Path is to call hungry souls to interact directly with Your Spirit and Your word. Many are misled by human teachers today. But no one has ever been misled by Your Spirit or Your word. But if you want me to travel, I am open to that.

I pray for Isaac and those in his church that they will hear the leading of Your Spirit... for your word says:

"the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don't need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him" (1 John 2:27).

Your anointing (Your Holy Spirit) has taught me that the battles for the souls of men are won on our knees. You win the battles. So, I pray that your Holy Spirit will teach Isaac, his small church and all hungry souls around the world to pray the scriptures (subchapter 1.2) and to make disciples of all nations by the simple two step method that your Son and the apostles demonstrated... Repeat the words of the Father and pray (subchapter 2.3).

I ask you... for all the hungry souls... that you multiply their faith and love one thousand fold. I ask you to multiply their faith and love one thousand fold again and again and again. I prayed daily for three years that you multiply my faith and you did. You changed me from within me, in Your grace, by Your power and for Your glory. Oh my Lord, I thank you and praise you. Faith feels so good! Even in disaster and pain, faith feels so good!

I know that we are not to place our trust in man for Your word says "Yahweh says: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh" (Jeremiah 17:5). But You have appointed shepherds and teachers (Ephesians 4:11). You do speak through men as Your words in subchapter 3.3 reveal. Enable all the hungry souls throughout the world to discern the difference between truth and falsehood, by asking this question in Your Spirit and with love:

Where in the Bible does it say that?

You deserve all praise!

Amen

Isaac, my spiritual brother, you now have the response from my heart.

May Yahweh bless you as you walk with Him! By the way, I call Him Yahweh because that is the name He instructed Israel to address Him by. This is explained in the appendix.

Your brother,

Jim

Amy's Question:
Do you have to pray and then meditate to delevope spiritual gifts... I have a strong faith in Jesus, and why can't I get it. Do I have to meditate on that
Amy

Response:
I have prayerfully considered your question and asked our Lord to remind me of scriptures which speak to your question.

As you PRAY scripture, you will recognize the spiritual gifts which the Holy Spirit has chosen for you. 

The acronym PRAY is described in subchapter 1.1.

By God's grace, I will answer from the scriptures.

Romans 12:1-8, chapters 12-14 of 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians 4:7-12 are the primary scriptures revealing spiritual gifts.

A prayerful meditation on those passages would be profitable. Dwell on those scriptures for as long as the Holy Spirit draws you into them. This could be an hour or several months. Subchapter 1.1 reveals how to read them.



Please prayerfully consider the following words from the Father, along with my prayerful explanations:


1) How to develop spiritual gifts: 
"8 For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another faith, by the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, by the same Spirit; 10 and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages. 11 But the one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires" (1 Corinthians 12:8-11).

Everyone doesn't get the same gifts (v 8). The Holy Spirit chooses who receives each gift (v 11). If you read the passage beginning from verse 3 you will see that "Spirit" in verse 11 refers to the Holy Spirit. So, we don't do something to "develop" a spiritual gift. They are gifts. Gifts are received. Spiritual gifts are not aptitudes. They are supernatural. If you look at the list it is evident that they are supernatural. The first two gifts mentioned are the word of wisdom and word of knowledge in verse 8. These two spiritual gifts are gifts of "words". So, verse 8 revealed God's supernatural placement of words into the heart of one member to minister to another.


2) Do spiritual gifts exist today?
"8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages (tongues), they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:8-12).

This is part of the longest section of scripture about spiritual gifts in the Bible, chapters 12-14 of 1 Corinthians. Spiritual Gifts will "cease" (v 8) and be "done away with" (v 10) when the "complete has come" (v 10), when we see Christ "face to face" (v 12), at which time we will "know fully" instead of "know in part" (v 12), knowing as we have been "fully known" by God (v 12).
We will not "know fully" as God has "fully known" us (v 12) until we stand before Him in the next age. 1 John 3:2 states "we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is." We will be like Him when we see Him. So, scripture explicitly states exactly when spiritual gifts will end. That day has not come for those of us who are alive in this world. It will come in the next age.


3) Do we have to pray and meditate to receive spiritual gifts?
"Therefore let him who speaks in another language pray that he may interpret" (1Corinthians 14:13).

Here Paul specifically instructed some to ask for the spiritual gift of interpretation. So, asking for specific spiritual gifts is appropriate. It would be appropriate to say "if it be Your will" when you ask for a specific spiritual gift, since the Holy Spirit distributes them "as he desires" (1 Corinthians 12:11). Conditions for effective prayer are presented in subchapter 4.11.


4) Do we get to pick our gifts?
1 Corinthians 12:28-31 says "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all miracle workers? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with various languages? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts." From the context of the passage, the answer is "no". No particular spiritual gift is received by all believers.

Remember 1 Corinthians 12:11 which was quoted in paragraph 1 above. "But the one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires." The Holy Spirit decides who receives which gifts. The Holy Spirit has been granted authority over the distribution of spiritual gifts. 

Regarding the gift of tongues, 1 Corinthians 14 has much to say: "he who speaks in another language speaks not to men, but to God; for no one understands; but in the Spirit he speaks mysteries" (14:2) So, tongues is prayer in another language. The verse says "he who speaks in another language (tongues in most translations) speaks not to men, but to God;" Speaking to God is prayer so tongues is prayer. Mysteries are spoken in this prayer. The mysteries are for the building up of the church (14:5). 

One who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret (14:13) so that the result will be that he may pray with the spirit (tongue) AND the mind (14:15). Then the ungifted (without the gift of interpretation) can understand and say "amen" on hearing the prayer prayed in both tongue and mind (14:16). So,  speaking in tongues and one's prayer language are the same thing because tongues is prayer. "But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the assembly, and let him speak to himself, and to God" (14:28). So, we see again that tongues is prayer ("speak to himself, and to God"). Prayers in tongues are to be prayed silently if no interpreter is present. Then verse 39 says "don't forbid speaking with other languages" (tongues). 

I must pray: "Father, make us one. Please repair the schism that exists in the body of Christ over tongues. I know that you are not pleased with this division. Only You can bring unity!" Amen. 

I prayerfully request that all who are reading these words will join me in this prayer.


5) Does possession of gifts mean that we are spiritual?
Paul's letter to the Corinthian church indicates that possession of spiritual gifts doesn't mean that we are spiritual. In that letter, he indicated that the Corinthian church had various spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 14:26-29), but was not "spiritual" (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). To the contrary, they were "babes in Christ" and fleshly. 

Paul wrote that the Corinthian church was not spiritual:
"Brothers, I couldn't speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren't yet ready. Indeed, you aren't ready even now, 3 for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren't you fleshly, and don't you walk in the ways of men?" (1 Corinthian 3:1-3).

Although not spiritual, here are some gifts the Corinthian church had:
"26 What is it then, brothers? When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has another language, or has an interpretation. Let all things be done to build each other up... 29 Let the prophets speak, two or three, and let the others discern." (1 Corinthian 14:26-29). So, we see that the Corinthian church had the gifts of teaching, tongues, interpretation and prophecy. "

So we see that a church may be fleshly and unspiritual while possessing and exercising spiritual gifts. So, while we are to desire spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 14:1) we must "walk by the Spirit" as described in subchapter 4.7.

By the way, "Revelation" could have referred to "word of wisdom" or "word of knowledge" from chapter twelve. And a prayerful reading of 1 Corinthians 12-14 will reveal that the gift of prophesy in the New Covenant is different from what was done by Old Covenant prophets. Various attributes of this gift are mentioned in those chapters, none of which were foretelling of the future.)

At this point, I would like to address the possible misuse of spiritual gifts before I explain how to identify your gifts in section six below. The misuse of spiritual gifts can drive seekers away from the church who might have been greatly blessed if the gifts had not been misused. "If therefore the whole assembly is assembled together and all speak with other languages, and unlearned or unbelieving people come in, won't they say that you are crazy?" (1 Corinthians 14:23). I know of seekers were being greatly blessed in a congregation until everyone began speaking in tongues simultaneously. After that, they never returned. They actually had the response that 1 Corinthians 14:23 prophesied they would have. They thought that the worshipers were "crazy". No congregation is perfect or even near perfect. But errors do have consequences. There should have been at most three who prayed in tongues but only if an interpreter was present: "If any man speaks in another language, let it be two, or at the most three, and in turn; and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the assembly, and let him speak to himself, and to God" (1 Corinthians 14:26). 


6) How do we recognize the spiritual gifts which the Holy Spirit has chosen for us?

First, let's look at a list of spiritual gifts:

From 1 Corinthians 12:1-12: Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, Faith, Healing, Miracles, Prophecy, Distinguishing of Spirits, different kinds of languages (Tongues), Interpretation of Tongues.

From 1 Corinthians 12:28-31, the following are added: apostles, prophets, teachers, helps, governments (administrations).

From Ephesians 4:7-12 the following are added: evangelists and shepherds.

From Romans 12:1-8 the following are added: service, exhortation, sharing, leading and mercy.

As we PRAY these passages in context, it is clear that spiritual gifts are granted to children of God, that children of God may participate in God's eternal plan to "draw all men to himself" (John 12:32). Spiritual gifts are all used in making disciples, either towards the growth of existing disciples or conversion of unbelievers into disciples.

So, what does prayer and meditation have to do with recognizing our spiritual gifts? Chapter 4 reveals how the Endorsed Prayers are our first step in our part in the disciple making process. As we pray the Endorsed Prayers, with knowledge of the workings of the Holy Spirit (chapter 3), we will see how the Holy Spirit works through us to make disciples. We will see which spiritual gifts are operating in us. Small group meetings are one of the primary avenues to exercise spiritual gifts (subchapter 4.13).


7) Authority to do Kingdom Work
"Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest" (Matthew 9:38).

We do not have the authority to take kingdom work upon ourselves. We are to ask. In Matt 9:38, Jesus instructed his disciples to ask "the Lord of the harvest" to "send out laborers into His harvest". Then He sent them. Jesus instructed them to ask. God decided who to send, when to send them and where to send them. Peter understood that he was under authority when he said "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." We ask Him to command us to the work. When He commands, we go. We are under authority. We are to obey His spirit (Hebrews 3:7-8). You may pray for years that God will send you before you recognize His response. Subchapter 3.1, titled "Spiritual Authority and the Spiritual Realm" reveals powerful and eye opening scriptures regarding authority. These passages may be received through prayerful meditation.


8) Miraculous Healing, Signs and Suffering

All of the spiritual gifts are miraculous. But the obviously and visibly miraculous gift of healing is a sign rather than God's working to remove the suffering of the world. Micro-subchapters 4.6e through 4.6j present scriptures on this issue. Suffering will not be removed until Paradise as shown in chapter 6, "Fellowship with God in Paradise: The Seventh Path." Chapter 5 "Fellowship with God in Pain" presents a Biblical view of suffering.


My Prayer:
Lord of Heaven and earth, Creator of all that is good and pure, grant Your gifts through Your Holy Spirit into Amy and into all Your children throughout the world, removing all obstacles, demolishing all strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4) to accomplish the objectives of Your will in each nation, in Your appropriate time, which You have chosen, for Your glory and our benefit.

Amen

Jim

Amy's Question:
Hi, I'm looking for a spouse. But don't know who he is, I know that God wants the best for us. Does he want me to be with someone so special, I trust in Jesus... In Jesus name can you please help me, love and God bless... Amy 

Amy, 
I have prayed for you.

I do not know what God has chosen for you, or the days ordained for you during the times you will live in this age (Psalm 139:16, Ephesians 2:10). 

I do know this:
"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).  

My wife's aunt was a good woman... a person of faith. She grew up in hard, difficult times, working on a farm using horse drawn farming implements and with no electricity. She told of the West Texas sand storms cutting her skin and of barricading herself in her childhood home with her family as they tried to breathe through cloths which they held over their mouths to keep the sand out of their lungs. When she grew up, she became an accomplished business woman, very high up in a large internationally known company. She worked directly with the founder and CEO for twenty-five years.  When I met her she was forty-eight. She had such excellent qualities that I was surprised that she hadn't married. I expected that she never would. But when she was sixty she met Ben. They married. She was happily married to Ben for twenty-seven years until Ben died.

A few months after Ben's death, her doctor told her that she had two months to live. She had no children, so I invited her to live with us until she crossed over into the next age. But after the two months had passed, she was still alive. She had actually improved steadily. About this time, she walked into my den and said with a strange smile on her face "I'm supposed to be dead now." We laughed. She died one month later in my middle bedroom... full of faith and gratitude. She is now with Ben in the unimaginable ecstasy of God's presence that continues forever and ever. 

She was really amazing. I miss her. She lived with us for three months as she died, never thinking of herself, a joy to be with as she died. We actually had fun and laughed often in those months. I was working in my home at that time, so I was her primary caregiver until my wife came home from work. She was so careful to avoid disturbing me as I worked. I was amazed at her faith and thoughtfulness and gratitude to God. She had no fear of death. My death was on my mind since I was in poor health, had lost forty pounds and had recently been diagnosed with Cancer. I asked God to allow me to see her face at the moment of her death and He did. She exhibited no fear in all of her three months in our home. She was a light. Her name is Hope.

If you want what God wants for you, you will get what you want.

Jesus said, "If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7). Subchapter 2.5 titled "How Intimate Can This Fellowship Be?" will put you on the correct path. John 15:7 is explained, in detail, in that subchapter and in greater depth in subchapter 4.11, titled "Conditions for Effective Prayer." 

I will repeat the passage. Jesus said, 
"If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7).

There are two keys. The first is to remain in Him (abide in or live in Him). Second, is to remain in His words (abide in or live in scripture). Subchapter 1.1 titled "Learning to Read: Five Paths" is dedicated to helping hungry souls to abide in His words. The purpose of this book is to bring those souls who want Him into real experience of remaining in Him.

It is essential to "walk by the Spirit" (subchapter 4.7). One who walks by the Spirit will pray the Endorsed Prayers (chapter 4). The Endorsed Prayer to "be filled with knowledge of His will" (micro-subchapter 4.2c) will be especially helpful.

If you will spend several months praying the scriptures presented in the subchapters I have mentioned and if you will then "follow the lamb (Christ) wherever he goes", you will have joy in what He has chosen for you. You will have joy, with suffering (2 Timothy 3:12, John 16:33). Painless joy will not be a permanent state until the eternal Paradise (chapter 6). Your part is to pursue intimacy with God. God does the rest. Many questions will be answered as you pray the scriptures as I suggested. 

It is appropriate to ask God to provide a spouse with the addendum, "yet not my will but your will" (Matthew 26:39). In this way you are asking for a spouse but wanting God's will more than yours. 

Your husband should be a believer:
"Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?" (1 Corinthians 6:14).

Here is my prayer:
"Lord of Heaven and Earth, full of all mercy, grace and power, draw Amy into intimate fellowship with You through your Holy Spirit in Your word, so that she may walk with You, in Your presence and in Your joy... to be a light, pointing to You."

May God Bless you Amy!

Your brother in Christ,
Jim

Jennifer N, 
I have prayed for you... that our Lord will draw you into a deeply intimate relationship with Himself. 

Fellowship with God is a two way conversation in the spiritual realm, as we follow Christ, bearing His yoke in the world. 

Man's side of this conversation is prayer. God's side of this conversation is scripture and the Holy Spirit. Subchapter 4.2 is titled "Endorsed Prayers for Spiritual Communication." This chapter provides the prayers endorsed by scripture for receiving communication from the Holy Spirit. In these prayers we ask for wisdom, knowledge of His will, revelation and etc. 

Subchapter 3.3 is titled "Spiritual Communication." This chapter reveals some of the Holy Spirit's responses to those prayers. So, we communicate through prayer. Micro-subchapter 4.2a reveals that prayers offered in faith and without doubt result in communication from the Holy Spirit. For example, He will provide wisdom to those who ask in faith and without doubt. 

At the most basic level, the path to intimacy with the Holy Spirit is to ask for it. Micro-subchapter 4.3j reveals this prayer for intimacy from the Song of Solomon. 

But, this entire book, Fellowship With God in the Sixth Path, is dedicated to the communication and intimacy which you seek. 

Jesus said "If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7). 

His will and our will can become so similar that we want only what He wants and He grants everything that we want. That verse is explained in detail in subchapter 2.5. So a very intimate relationship is available to God's children in this life... a union of wills. 

But notice that the condition for receiving everything we desire is two-fold: "If you remain in me, and my words remain in you". His words must remain (abide or live) in you. So, what we do with God's word is critical. The very first subchapter, subchapter 1.1, titled "Learning to Read" is the stepping stone to intimacy with God. Subchapter 1.1 is designed to transform what happens in that moment when we come into contact with God's words. This transformation does not come quickly like learning to ride a bicycle. It is more like learning to be a good parent or rising to the highest levels of a particular sport. It takes a very long time for this transformation to take place. 

I suggest that you ask God for intimacy (micro-subchapter 4.3j). Plan to continue in this prayer for months. Then continue in this prayer until you fully have what you are asking for. I am still praying this prayer. I am confident that He will grant deeper and deeper intimacy with Himself, with sufferings, until I am in His visual presence, ruling with Him forever. 

Spend a lot of time in subchapter 1.1. I have prayed for you and others who desire intimacy with the Holy Spirit. He will lead you into a deeper, intimate joy with the Holy Spirit who is within you! In subchapter 1.1 you will change from reading the Bible to learn about God to actually interacting with God in His scriptures. It is from this interaction that we come to know His will, to bear His yoke and to follow Him wherever He goes. 

God Bless you my sister in Christ, 
Jim

Ayoola,  

Thank you for reading Fellowship with God in the Sixth Path at fellowshipwithgod.org and for sending me your request.

When I saw your request, I immediately began asking God to provide an answer for you.

In broad terms, the answer to your question is scriptural prayer... In other words, prayerfully meditate on scripture and pray the prayers endorsed by scripture. Intricate details of how to have intimate fellowship with God are provided in Fellowship with God in the Sixth Path.  That is the purpose of every chapter in the book. 

It is also important to practice scriptural prayer with another believer. Just set aside an hour with one or more who follow Christ. Take a book of the Bible, Ephesians for example. Read the first few verses and answer three questions: 

1) What does it say about God? 
2) What does it say about man? 
3) What does it say that we can pray? 

Then pray the prayers that you discussed. 

Next time you meet, pick up where you left off and pray through the entire book of Ephesians from beginning to end.

Here are some more detailed suggestions to help you get started:
To learn how to prayerfully meditate on the scriptures in the Bible read subchapters 1.1 – 1.3 of Fellowship with God in the Sixth Path. Ask God to draw you into a particular book of the Bible. 1 John and Ephesians come to mind. You could turn to 1 John and prayerfully meditate on the first four verses. Talk to God about these verses with questions and praise for as long as He draws you into those words... possibly for half an hour... possibly for three months. Instead of prayerfully meditating through a book of the Bible, you could also begin by prayerfully meditating on the scriptures in the introduction and subchapter 1.1 of this book.

Next, I suggest that you pray the Endorsed Prayers.  These are presented and explained in chapter 4. Chapter 3 explains the invisible spiritual realm so you can understand how the Holy Spirit and the unholy spirits are interacting with you.

As a first step into the Endorsed Prayers, make the Endorsed Prayer of faith and the Endorsed Prayer of obedience a permanent part of your daily prayer life. In these prayers, you ask God to multiply your faith (subchapter 4.3a) and you ask God to grant obedience to you (subchapter 4.3f).

The two Endorsed Prayers regarding Temptation are also particularly helpful (subchapter 4.3g and 4.3h).

Nine prayer acrostics are provided in subchapter 4.8. The acrostic PRAY reminds us of what to do when we read scripture. Another acrostic tells us who to pray for. Seven acrostics tell us what to pray. Since there are seven, you can pray a different one on each day of the week. So, you can pray KINGS on Monday, FOLLOW CHRIST on Tuesday, THE WAY on Wednesday, POWER on Thursday and etc. 

My first suggestion above was that you prayerfully meditate on scripture as described in subchapters 1.1 – 1.3. I will quote a portion of subchapter 1.1 below. It is helpful to keep these words in mind  as you read scripture:

"But please do not do one thing. Please do not read alone. He is within you. In your spirit turn to Him who is within. As you read, turn. If your heart is distracted from Him, turn again. Turn again and again and again. Over time, your times of intimacy will lengthen. Your times of reading alone will shorten. Its a growth process. You will be reading scripture in fellowship with God who is within.

 

Over time, reading scripture in fellowship will spill over into other areas of life. You will find yourself working in fellowship, talking to a friend in fellowship, sharing your faith in fellowship. It has been a very slow process for me. But turning in your spirit, to Him who is within, will become spontaneous, natural and powerful over time. 

 

The closing words of the introduction to this book were:

"To enter into this fellowship, the heart must touch what the eye cannot see. It all depends on what happens in one particular moment... in that very second when we come into contact with the word of God. That moment is the foundation of this book. It is from that moment, which this fellowship with God unfolds. Chapter 1 will focus on that moment."
 
Ayoola... In closing, I offer this prayer for you:
 
Lord of Heaven and earth, I offer you praise for who you are and what you have done. You are full of wisdom, power, grace, love and justice. I lift up Ayoola to you and on Ayoola's behalf make this request. Out of Your great power and grace, please multiply faith, intimacy, insight, strength and power, all for Your glory and for Your glory alone! Amen.

If you have other questions or comments, please contact me again!

Your brother in Christ,

Jim   
 

My current fellowship is in a non-denominational church. But, over the 50 years since my conversion, I have also worshiped in three very different denominations. 

I have no allegiance to any confessional, denominational or non-denominational tradition of man... be they Calvinist, Armenian, Dispensational, Covenant Theology, Catholic, Charismatic, Pentecostal, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, etc. However, I have been taught by, worshiped with, or read extensively from Armenian, Calvinist, Catholic, Dispensational and Charismatic traditions. And I have benefited greatly from each tradition. From each I gained understandings that I did not receive from the others. In my experience, the voice of any one of those traditions was insufficient. But what was lacking in one, was supplied by another. Glory to God! 

God's word is perfect. But none of the traditions are perfect. Although there is much agreement between them, there are also areas of disagreement. And proponents of each tradition sincerely believe that they have the correct interpretation. 

Jeremiah 17:5 says "Cursed is the man who trusts in man." 

If I were to trust the teachings of any tradition to be perfect, my interpretation of scripture would be corrupted by that trust. As I read scripture, I would be searching for a way to interpret the passage so that it didn't contradict my man-made tradition. I would be replacing God's perfect word with the imperfect teaching of man.

• Jesus said "You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me'" (Matthew 12:7-8).
  

I am distinctly Berean (Acts 17:10-11). So, with respect to teaching from any tradition I ask the question, "Where does it say that... Where may I read in scripture about that"? If I don't see a scripture which proves their teaching, I do not accept their teaching as a doctrine of God.

I do not teach each any of the traditions of man. Instead, I focus on quoting scripture. My book probably contains more scripture than any Christian book you have ever read. For example, seventeen percent of subchapter 1.1 is pure scripture quotation. Most Christian books probably have less than 1% scripture. In other words, Fellowship with God in the Sixth Path contains a lot of scripture.  I repeat the words of the Father and pray. I seek to follow the example of Christ, the Holy Spirit and the apostles. Neither Jesus or the Holy Spirit spoke from their own ideas. They only repeated the words of the Father. We should imitate them (1 Corinthians 11:1). This is not optional.

• Jesus said, "For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak... However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak" (John 12:49, 16:13). 

• Paul wrote, "Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ (1Corinthians 11:1)"

I pray that all who read this page will follow in the example of Christ, the Holy Spirit and the apostles... Repeat the words of the Father and pray.

It is instructive that Jeremiah 17:5 states:  "Cursed is the man who trusts in man."


What is your criteria for determining if a doctrine is true or false? 

Please prayerfully consider this:
If you make that determination based on a human endorsement of the doctrine, you are trusting in man. So, whether you deem a doctrine to be true because it is endorsed by a particular denomination, church leader or other individual, you are trusting in man... under a curse. 

According to scripture, religious leaders may not know God at all. In the prophet Samuel's day, the priests Hophne and Phinehas were "wicked men. They did not know Yahweh (God)" (1 Samuel 2:12). They even had sex with the female servants in the place of worship, the tabernacle (1 Samuel 2:22). The leading religious group when Jesus was crucified was the Pharisees. In John, chapter 8:13-59, Jesus said that the Pharisees (verse 13) did not know God (verse 19) and that their father was the Devil (verse 44). Jesus said that the Pharisees prevented others from entering the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 23:13)... that the converts of the Pharisees were sons of Hell (Matthew 23:15). 

Even religious leaders who "search the scriptures" may be unbelievers. The Pharisees are an example. In John 1:19-24, the Pharisees sent priests to talk to John the Baptist. Then in John 5:33-40, Jesus said that those who "sent to John" (verse 33), "search the scriptures" (verse 39), think that they have "eternal life" (verse 39), but actually refused to come to Christ (verse 40), and therefore did not have life (verse 40).

My Prayer:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, hear my prayer for all who read this page. Draw them into Your word. Draw them to seek Your truth directly from scripture and Your Holy Spirit... for it is Your Holy Spirit who reveals the truth of Your written word to our hearts. Draw them into subchapter 1.1 to learn how to interact directly with You in Your written words. Teach them not to trust in man. I pray that all who read herein will repeat Your words and pray. I ask these things for Your glory and their good, that Your name would be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen


God Bless,
Jim

SAKARI,

I have prayed much about your two questions over a long period of time. It took a long time because I added new material to this online book, because of your question. I pray for you and all of God's children that He will grant understanding¹ and unity² . 


FIRST QUESTION:
What let other people not able to understand the word?

Understanding is granted or withheld by God according to conditions which He has ordained. Subchapter 1.6 presents scriptures which establish these truths. Subchapter 1.6 is titled "Conditions for Understanding the Word."


SECOND QUESTION:
What let other people not able to understand the Word of God and the same time argue?

The solution to the problem is not simple. It requires more than words. It requires prayer and action. I will present three solutions for your prayerful consideration.


First:
I wrote and published another subchapter in the appendix to deal specifically and scripturally with arguing. It is A8 in the appendix and is titled "Church Unity: Make Us One!" Click here to read it.


Second:
You may need to change the way in which you conduct your Bible study. 

Please consider the Four Step Bible Study method which was published after you asked your question. It was designed, in part, to deal with both of the questions you have asked. 

This method provides detailed steps, along with a Leader's Guide. It is designed to increase understanding... and also to reduce arguing³ and fruitless discussion.⁴ The four steps integrate prayer into group Bible study. If you will read the introduction to the Four Steps Bible Study and the Agenda, you will understand how it works. That should take about ten minutes. Basically, you gather your group and text them a link to the agenda page. Then all of you follow the four steps together from your phones. Click here to read the introduction to the Four Step Bible Study.

Third:
Pray the Endorsed Prayers as presented in chapter 4. All of the prayers focus on your concerns in some way or another. Pray those prayers in your meeting. Then you will be praying prayers that Christ and the apostles prayed or instructed the saints to pray. If you are not praying them, then the words of the apostle James may apply. "You don't have, because you don't ask" (James 4:2). Click here to read the introduction to the Endorsed Prayers. 


I pray that you will receive power and grace from our Lord through His Holy Spirit within.. to make disciples of all nations⁵. 

God Bless!
Jim


1)  2 Timothy 2:7
2)  Romans 15:5
3) 2 Timothy 2:14
4) 1 Timothy 1:6
5) Matthew 28:19

Lili's Question: 
Hi Jim, what timing to find your writings on this day of Pentecost. Thoroughly enjoying reading slowly and re-reading your words of wisdom. For the first chapter you start with the heading 'Alone'. I guess this to imply" just me, reading without God's help ? Blessings to you dear Brother in Christ. 

Lili, 
Thank you for your message. I am thankful that you are benefiting from the book and have prayerfully considered your question. First, I will answer your question. Then, at the bottom of this page I will present some scriptures in footnotes for your prayerful consideration. 

Your question was: 
"For the first chapter you start with the heading 'Alone'. I guess this to imply" just me, reading without God's help ?" 

In subchapter 1.1, I use five paths to help readers experience increasing levels of intimacy and intensity with our Lord while reading scripture. They represent five levels intimacy in worship. 

The five paths are: 
Path 1: Alone 
Path 2: Heart 
Path 3: To Him 
Path 4: Within 
Path 5: Pray in the Secret Place of the Heart 

In Path 1(Reading Alone), I am addressing the consciousness of the reader: 

Reading alone would include any reading where the reader reads without a persistent consciousness of God's presence as each word of scripture is being read. 

Even if I ask God for illumination before I read, I can still read in this solitary way, with no awareness of the presence of my personal and living God as I read His "living and active" words. 

Reading alone has ceased when we fix our attention on our Lord¹ in the invisible spiritual realm and are reading Christ²... reading the living words³ of our living God, being taught by His Holy Spirit⁴, in His presence⁵ in the now⁶. When we read the Word, we read Christ because Jesus is the Word². 

In Path 2, seeking the heart of the passage, the reader seeks God's heart in God's words, making an intimate connection with the heart of the person of the Holy Spirit. Paths 3, 4 and 5 involve reading God's words to God, as if we are a child reading to our father⁸. These three paths all involve an intimate interaction with God that reading alone lacks. They involve gentleness, affection and a taste of the ecstasy foreseen in the Song of Solomon. 

Reading alone is a delusion... a lack of consciousness of the reality of the event. God said that His words were "living."¹ So, they are the living words of a living person. If any portion of our reading lacks this consciousness, that portion of our reading is reading alone. That portion is far less profitable, often fruitless to me. Some call it dry. Reading in paths 2 – 5 is never dry. They can't be since they involve intimate interaction with the one who spoke the universe into existence! 

The understanding of scripture is not acquired by intellect. Understanding is granted or withheld⁶ as a supernatural, personal act of God for those who meet spiritual conditions which God has ordained. This was explained from the scriptures in subchapter 1.5 titled, "Conditions for Understanding the Word". 

I read in all five paths. My goal is to never read alone, but after practicing the intimate reading methods for nearly a decade, I still slip back into reading alone. I consider reading alone to be the opposite of reading "in the Spirit." So I think of reading alone as reading "out of the Spirit." For years I read or listened to His words mostly in Path 2. Now I spend most of my time in Path 3. 

When one practices the intimate reading methods, one is trained to live the life Paul admonished us to live when he wrote "Pray  without ceasing" (1Thessalonians 5:17). In your intimate readings of scripture, your reading becomes prayer. You read prayerfully. This is the starting point for thinking, speaking and living prayerfully... in His presence.

In Conclusion:
If you will read scripture in the way of Paths 2 and 3 for a long time... until the awkwardness is gone and you pass into real experience, you will have a clear understanding of what it was to read alone. This is similar to a person who was born blind but received sight long after becoming an adult. After receiving sight, and seeing all that had been hidden from him, he fully understood what it meant to be blind. For the present, ask God to draw you into the path He has chosen for you at this time. 

Jesus is God. Jesus is the Word. The Word is alive. Jesus and the Word are in us. So, when we read the Word, we are reading a person. It is a personal interaction. If we only read information (read alone), we are not having fellowship with God as we read. 

Lili,
My prayer for you: 
Lord of Heaven and earth, I pray that you will draw Lili deeper into Your intimate presence as she interacts with You in Your word... to read prayerfully, think prayerfully, speak prayerfully and live prayerfully... to walk by the Spirit. 
Amen!

Lili, please join me in praying for a great awakening to be led by laymen, who repeat the words of the Father and pray. 

God bless you sister!
Jim


Footnotes: 
1) Fix our attention on our Lord in the invisible spiritual realm: 

• "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). 
• "17 Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). 

The first passage speaks of being still. The second scripture is the end of a long passage about "a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit ". It began in verse 6. It ends in verse 18 with "seeing the glory of the Lord" in the present tense. When we behold the Lord, we fix our spiritual eyes on His spirit within. Its a spiritual action. Its supernatural. As we behold Him, we may feel affection for Him. We may offer words of praise. We may call His name repeatedly. We may wait for Him to respond to a prayer... perhaps a prayer to reveal His will... perhaps a prayer for understanding of scripture. 

2) When we read scripture, we read Christ. Jesus is the Word of God: 

• "The Word became flesh, and lived among us" (John 1:14). (Jesus is "the Word." See also John 1:1.)
• "His name is called 'The Word of God'" (Revelation 19:13 speaking of Jesus). 
• "You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me. Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life" (Spoken by Jesus in John 5:39-40). 

So, all of scripture testifies about Jesus. His name is "The Word of God." The Word became flesh in the incarnation of Jesus and dwelt among mankind.

3) The Word of God is alive: 

• "having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever" (1Peter 1:23). 
• "For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword" (Hebrews 4:12). 

4) The Holy Spirit teaches from within: 

• "the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don't need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things" (1 John 2:27. The anointing is the Holy Spirit.) 

5) God is Present, Within: 

• "...it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). 
• "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his" (Romans 8:9). 
• "Or don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19). 

6) The Holy Spirit Speaks in the Now (In the present):

• "Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, in the day of the trial in the wilderness" (Hebrews 3:7-8).

7) Understanding is Personally Granted or Withheld by God:

•  "But their eyes were kept from recognizing him" (Luke 24:16). 
• "Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures" (Luke 24:45). Note: Luke 24:16 doesn't say who kept their eyes from recognizing Jesus. But since it is God who opens our minds to understand scripture (Luke 24:45), it is God who decides to open or to not open. To not open is to withhold. So, God both reveals and conceals justly, based on spiritual conditions which He has ordained (subchapter 1.5).

8) Reading as a Child to your Father:

• Jesus said... "3 Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.  (Matthew 18:3,4).

So, one must become childlike to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (verse 3). And once one has entered the Kingdom of Heaven, greatness is also achieved by being childlike (verse 4). So, if we are to mature to greatness in Christ through reading God's words, we must do it "as little children... like this little child."

Amabel's Question:
I've been suffering from negative intrusive thoughts and OCDs etc. I followed several teachings and all boils down to seeking to know God Intimately. In such a situation where fears , doubts etc have become a pattern, how I go about it. Cos I badly need deliverance.i have been told if I cry out to him, he'll reveal himself.

Amabel, Thank you for sending me your request. I am praying for you and have asked our Lord to guide me in my answer. If you cry out to Him, He will reveal Himself to you. He will deliver you. Both revelation and deliverance take place at a point in time. Both take place over time as well... over our entire lives. 

I agree with you, knowing God intimately is the key. This book is titled Fellowship with God in the Sixth Path. It is about fellowship with God... the whole book is about intimacy with God. 

To be intimate with God, we must follow Him. We must do what He is doing. We must take up the yoke of Christ. If we do, we receive rest, intimacy with God. If we don't take up His yoke we are what Jesus called "lukewarm". Being lukewarm is not fun. I know from experience.

What you want will probably take time. It has been a process of a lifetime for me. I asked God to multiply my faith every day for three years. He did. Then when my doctor told me that I had cancer, I laughed. 

You are asking how to go about developing intimacy with God. Here it is: 

The three ingredients for intimacy with God are Prayer, Bible Study and Disciple Making. Prayer and Bible Study are not two separate things. They are one thing. We pray scripture. In Bible Study we have a two way conversation with God. Disciple making takes place when we allow another person into that two way conversation. Disciple making is basically this: Repeat the words of the Father and pray. Prayer and scripture are the two basic ingredients in disciple making. 

We need to do prayer, Bible study and disciple making individually. But we also must do them in a group setting, like a Bible study / prayer group. Chapter 7 is dedicated to intimacy with God in a group setting. 

You may think that you can't do those things and you are right. But God can do them in you. "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:1). 

I will briefly touch on the three components of intimacy with God, one at a time, from the scriptures. Then I will share some of my story and pray for you and others like you who are reading this post. This will get you started, right now.... I am serious, the time to start is now. 

The three components are all easy. Jesus said that it is easy, and it is. I have found it to be painful, but it's easy. And, I don't believe that there is any other way to move from fear to faith, resentment to love, darkness to light. 

Bible Study

•  "long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow" (1 Peter 2:2). 
• "I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation" (Psalm 119:99, as Psalm of David). 

David had greater insight than all of the priests and prophets who taught him. So can you... if you meditate on scripture. Subchapter 1.1 shows various ways to do that. 

One prayer to pray now: 
Ask God to open your eyes to understand His word (from Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:16-19, micro-subchapter 4.2d). 

Please pause and pray this prayer now. 


... pause for prayer ... 


If you have prayed, then continue reading. If you did not pray, none of these words will help you. Scriptural prayer is the key. If you did not pray, then pray now. Only after you have prayed, then continue reading. 


Prayer

• "Pray without ceasing" (1Thessalonians 5:17). 

Every time is prayer time (subchapter 4.12). Subchapters 4.1 – 4.6 show you how to pray as Christ and the apostles instructed. After reading those subchapters, you will know what to talk about when you talk to God.

One prayer to pray now: 
Ask God to multiply your faith and love (micro-subchapter 4.3a,e). These prayers deal with your doubts, fears and many inner conflicts. God may use suffering to bring about great change in you (subchapters 5.1, 5.2). 

Please pause and pray this prayer now. 


... pause for prayer ... 


Disciple Making

•  "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls . For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30, explained in subchapter 2.3).

The yoke of Christ is to make disciples. It is written: "the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Jesus also said, "I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly" (John 10:10). Jesus did not come to remove the suffering of this world. Chapter 5 of this book shows that suffering is a device used by God to draw men into life. Christ came to give life to the dead, in a world full of trouble (John 16:33), until He someday returns to take God's children to Paradise.

As I said before, the yoke of Christ is to make disciples. You will receive rest as you lay your burden down and pick up the yoke of Christ to make disciples. Notice to whom He called to this yoke and this rest... "all you who labor and are heavily burdened." That is you and I. This is explained from the scriptures in subchapter 2.3. 
Making Disciples is not something that only elite Christians are supposed to do. All Christians have been commanded to make disciples. This is presented in the appendix (A5).


To be intimate with God, we must follow Him. We must do what He is doing. We must take up the yoke of Christ. If we do, we receive rest, intimacy with God. If we don't take up His yoke we are what Jesus called "lukewarm" The lukewarm path is one of misery. But the yoke of Christ results in rest. But we experience suffering whether we are lukewarm or bearing the yoke of Christ. Suffering will not end until the age to come. So, essentially, I suggest that you lay down your burdens and pick up His. I know that it seems crazy to receive rest by bearing the burden of Christ. But that's the way it is. The Yoke of Christ and the perils of the lukewarm path are explained from the scriptures in subchapters 2.3 and 2.7, respectively. 

Prayer to pray now: 
Ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the harvest (Prayer from Matthew 9:38, micro-subchapter 4.4a). 

When He is ready, he will send you. This is not something that you decide on your own. You must follow spiritual authority in the spiritual realm. You ask, He sends. It will happen at the time He chooses. This is explained in subchapter 2.3. 

So, ask the Lord of the harvest to send  workers into the harvest. 

Please pause and pray this prayer now. 


... pause for prayer ... 


Pray this prayer daily until He sends you. I don't mean that He will send you into another country. Praying this prayer is your obedience until He brings you into a disciple making situation... wherever you may be at the time. When He does this, you repeat the words of the Father and pray. You will ask God to give you words to speak. Then you will speak the words that He gives you (Ephesians 6:18,19, micro-subchapter 4.4b). That is how you make disciples.

That is the end of Part 1 of my response to your question. Please read the next discussion post for Part 2.

Part 2

Join a Bible Study and Prayer Group 
It is vital is to be in Bible study and prayer with other Christians who will pray for you and with you. 

• "Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are various kinds of service, and the same Lord. 6 There are various kinds of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; 9 to another faith, by the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, by the same Spirit; 10 and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages. 11 But the one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires" (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). 

Spiritual profit awaits you as you gather with other believers. You will use your gifts for the benefit of others and other will use theirs to your benefit. You may not think that you have a contribution to make in the group, but you do. Notice that in verse 7 it said "to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all." This is not accomplished by listening to a teacher in a group. You need to be in group where the individuals in the group interact with each other prayerfully and scripturally. All of this is explained in detail from the scriptures in subchapter 7.3. 

If you don't have a group to pray and study scripture with then start one. You only need one other Christian to form a group. Ask God to lead that first person to you. Chapter 7 shows you how to lead a group. Subchapter 1.2 shares some other methods. Click here to learn how to lead a prayer meeting. 

Now you have prayed the prayers I asked you to pray. What now? I suggest that you pray through the introduction and first chapter of this book. Do this as many times and for as many years as our Lord draws you into it. 

In that regard, I will share my experience with you and then pray for you. 


MY EXPERIENCE: 
Some years ago, I was frustrated by my poor performance as a follower of God. I had been a Child of God for some forty years. I had faith and was exerting much effort into growing closer to God. I memorized and studied scripture and read numerous Christian books. I had hundreds. But I was not growing in my faith. I was not becoming a better person. I concluded that God would not be pleased with me on judgement day. 

So, I began to search for writings of those who had suffered for their faith. Was there something in their faith that was so precious and powerful, that they would never let go of it... even in intense persecution? Maybe such a person could guide me. 

After much reading, I settled on the book "Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ", written in 1685 by Jeanne Guyon. This book has had greater impact on my life than any other, except scripture. She spent many years in prison for writing it. 

Before reading Guyon's book, I had approached the Bible as a source of knowledge. But Guyon approached scripture as a point of contact... a point of contact for fellowship with God. Her approach tapped into power. Mine did not. 

I have read Guyon's book for many years. So far, I have read the first three chapters over forty times. My thought processes underwent many reversals as I studied her experience of "fellowship with God" through scripture. Through many years, I compiled scriptures which prove this "fellowship with God". Then I condensed them into a form that can be distributed inexpensively and read quickly. These scriptures are in this book. They are authoritative. 

I believe that the reason for which this book has been written is to bring about a Great Awakening... that this awakening will spread through laymen... laymen who walk by the Spirit... laymen who repeat the words of the Father and pray. 

MY PRAYER FOR YOU: 
Oh my Lord, consider your servant Amabel. Hear her cry. Draw her into the prayer that never ends... into that intimate walk in Your presence. Give her to drink from Your joy and power, in Your Spirit, from Your words, in her prayers, and through Your people. My Lord, I pray this prayer not only for Amabel, but for everyone with Amabel's desire for intimacy with You... for everyone who reads this post, from all over the world. All praise to Your name, Yahweh! Your are King of Kings and Lord of Lords! You are master, savior, creator and the quiet voice within. I ask all these things for Your glory and Yours alone.... I ask these things for her benefit. Praise your name! I praise Your name for what You have done... and for what You will do! 
Amen!

Amabel,
If you have other questions, please contact me again.

Your brother in Christ,

Jim Phillips

Dear Armstrong,

Your Message:
I want to say thank you, God's servant for answering the call of God of your life and yielding yourself to the Holy Spirit as instrument of viable transformation therewith for this dying world. 

The way I stumbled into this kingdom master piece, "FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD IN THE SIXTH PATH" is categorized as God's orchestration; a friend inquired of me on how he could start an online prayer group and after waving the thought of ignoring him or asking him to search the web, I did the searching myself, thus stumbling into this wholesome master piece of God's heartbeat; and just by perusing over it I got stuck with chapter 2, and that alone seemed to have restructured my inner recesses as I learnt that "reading the Bible is not having fellowship with God, though one step of doing but falls short of fellowship with God"; so prayer and Bible study must be "concurrently done ,rather than sequentially " 

By this, i'm already having the push to start a Bible study Prayer group in Facebook even though I don't fully know how to get started. I shall endeavor to go through the entire free book . Thank you, Pastor and God bless you for this kingdom work.



My Response:
As I read your message I praised God for His work in you and asked Him to give me a response. 

I have used Facebook very little. But after thinking prayerfully, I believe that the following is worth a try. 

Basically, post a short scripture and let participants know that you will be answering three questions about it: 

• What does the scripture say about Man? 
• What does the scripture say about God? 
• What does it say that we can Pray? 

• Then you pray those prayers!

After the three questions have been answered by various participants, then the participants will pray those prayers by texting them into Facebook. This is an adaptation of Step 3 from the Four Step Bible Study in subchapter 7.1. The Leaders Guide in subchapter 7.2 provides some guidance regarding this step. 

I suggest that you begin the meeting with prayer (Opening prayer and also prayers for individual needs). This is adapted from Step 1 in the Four Step Bible Study. You could open by texting a prayer of praise along with requests that God would open your hearts to respond to His word. Then you could ask participants to text their prayer needs. All participants could pray silently as needs are being texted.

FINAL STEP AFTER THREE MEETINGS:
After your group has had several meetings as I have described above... and after they are comfortable with them, you could add another step to the end of your meeting. The Group leader could read God's words to God while offering prayers pertinent to the passage. This is Step 4 in the Four Step Bible Study. The Group leader could do the first verse and then let others do the remaining verses.  

If you read the introduction and agenda for the Four Step Bible Study in chapter 7, you will see that I included Steps 1, 3 and 4, but did not include Step 2 in my suggestions above. I did not include Step 2 because I thought it would be difficult to do that step by text on a Facebook page with participants who are participating by phone. Now Step 2 plays a critical role in engaging participants intimately with the living God. But I believe that a group leader, who becomes comfortable reading God's words to God, can accomplish the goals of Step 2 by leading the group to do the FINAL STEP AFTER THREE MEETINGS, as described above. 

WHAT SCRIPTURE SHOULD YOU USE FOR YOUR MEETINGS?
I have already prepared Study Arrangements for most New Testament books. Just open subchapter 7.5 and select a book from the list.  Use the Context Passage for Meeting 1 for your first meeting. Use the Context Passage for Meeting 2 for your second meeting, and  so on. Continue that way until your group has prayed through the entire book.  

 In this way, you will be better equipped to understand each passage. Here is why. When you begin to pray through chapter 2 of Ephesians, for example, you will have already prayed through all of chapter 1 in previous meetings. So, you will have the proper context to understand chapter 2. You will have interacted with the Holy Spirit in every sentence of chapter 1, before you interact with chapter 2. And just as important... the Holy Spirit will have interacted with you in every sentence of chapter 1, before you interact with Him in chapter 2. 

By the way, the activities of the Holy Spirit are described, in detail, from the scriptures, in chapter 3.


Conclusion:
Armstrong, my brother in Christ, please prayerfully consider and prayerfully adjust my suggestions as His Holy Spirit leads you. This book is read in 190 countries and 50 languages. Each nation has different traditions and different ways of interacting. If you find something that works better in your culture, please let me know!

I pray that God will fill you with His Spirit, to hear His voice... to walk by His Spirit... to make disciples of all nations... to the praise of His name... and all this for His glory, and His glory alone!!! Amen!


I am one who points to Him...  Creator, King, Comforter, Savior, Judge, Father and Brother. He perfectly pours forth love, mercy, grace, loving discipline and justice! 

I am one who prays for God to bring life to the dead... for a Global Great Awakening... to be led by laymen... who repeat the words of the Father and pray!

I am your brother in Christ,

Jim Phillips

Dear D.

Your Message:
Praise God. I how do get a soft PDF copy of this book fellowship with God in sixth path. Thanks to God to using you to preaching the word of God. D in Uganda ( Africa)


My Response:

I have been asked this many times and I am still waiting for my technology consultant to advise me further. This is complicated because of the way my website is built. But, while we wait, try this. It worked on my computer.  

1) Visit fellowshipwithgod.org from a computer. 
2) Use the Table of Contents icon at the top left of the page to navigate to the Introduction . 
3) With your cursor, drag down from the top left word (You) to the bottom right word on the page (introduction) to  select all of the text on that page.
4) Left click into the selected text and then click  copy to copy all of that text.
5) Open Microsoft Word. Paste the text into Word.  

When I did this, I could save the page in Word on my computer to read from the computer.  

Please let me know if this works for you!

My Prayer for You:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, multiply faith in D... fill him with joy in Your presence... fill him with Your words... may Your words spread through the entire earth through D and all who know You... all for Your glory... to the salvation of all who yield to You when You draw them... You have said "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself" . Amen!

2 Thessalonians 3:1
John 12:32
 
God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear Opala,

Your message:
Hello, I accepted Christ as my saviour years ago but recently I heard gabe the street preacher tell a Christian girl that she was going to hell . Since then my thoughts have spiraled wondering about my salvation.:( how do I avoid these thoughts and strengthen my faith ? Thank you 

My Response:
I have prayed much about your question. There is a short term answer for your immediate need, assurance of salvation. Then I will provide the long term answer. The first answer is like giving you a fish because you are hungry. The second answer will teach you how to fish. I will present the second answer in a way that provides even more scripture on assurance of salvation. 

The short term answer, the fish: 
"¹You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, 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 children of disobedience. ³ We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; ⁸for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹not of works, that no one would boast" (Ephesians 2:1-9). 

Verses 8 and 9 say that we are saved by grace, through faith... NOT BY WORKS. So, contrary to what Gabe says, we do not enter eternal life because we stop sinning. Verse 9 says "not by works". If we lost eternal life every time we sinned, we would constantly alternate between being a child of God and a child of Satan. I gave you a fairly large section of scripture to provide context to verses 8 and 9. You can see in verse 5 that they were "dead" and "made alive". So, you can see that the word "saved" in verse 8 speaks to eternal life. 

Saved means "delivered". Saved does not always mean conversion to eternal life. But in the Ephesians passage above, it does. In the Old Testament scriptures, the word "saved" rarely meant conversion into eternal life. It typically indicated a deliverance from a physical threat: Disease, David's military enemies, Pharaoh's army, etc. You can tell by the context. For example, God "saved" Israel by drowning Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea (Exodus 14:30). In that case the word "saved" had nothing to do with eternal life. You can tell by the context. For the thousands of years leading up to the writing of the New Testament, the word "saved" rarely had anything to do with eternal life. It means delivered. Conversion is deliverance. But every deliverance is not conversion. 

Anyway, you can see that we cross from death to life, by grace and through faith, NOT by works. 

That leads us to the long term answer... learning to fish. 

Learning to fish: 
God's children must learn to self-feed, directly from the undiluted word of God... while in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. For your first reading, I suggest that you take the book of John, and read / scan it from beginning to end, in one or two sittings. Subchapter 1.1 shows how to read in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. After you spend quite a bit of time in the Five Paths of subchapter 1.1, the section titled Scripture Reading Options in that subchapter will help you read / scan through an entire book. 

Why read an entire book of the Bible from beginning to end? 
To see every word, phrase and sentence in it's actual context. So, that false preachers who take verses out of context can't deceive you. 

Why read the Gospel of John? 
Because it is the ONLY BOOK of the Bible that states that it was written that you may have life (eternal life). All of the books written after John were written to believers who didn't need to enter into eternal life. They already had eternal life.

Here is the passage from the gospel of John:
"Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹ but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and thatbelieving you may have life in his name' (John 20:30, 31). 

When you read the gospel of John, pay particular attention to John 3:15, 16, 36, 5:24, 6:40 and 6:47. ALL of these verses promise eternal life based FAITH and FAITH ALONE. ALL of these verses use the phrase ETERNAL LIFE. They don't use the word "saved" or "guilty" or "kingdom" or figurative language. So, we know that these verses speak absolutely to ETERNAL LIFE. 

John 4:13-15 says "¹³ Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." 

Jesus said that once you drink His water, you will NEVER THIRST AGAIN. Verse 14 shows that He is talking about eternal life. He says you will NEVER THIRST AGAIN. NEVER. Doesn't sound like we flip back and forth between damnation and salvation every time we sin. Gabe the street preacher a man. Gabe is wrong. God's word is inerrant and perfect.

Once you drink the water offered by Jesus, YOU WILL NEVER THIRST AGAIN.... NEVER! 


SUMMARY & FINAL COMMENTS 
1) Ask God to draw you into reading the Gospel of John. Then read it, from beginning to end, using one of the intimate reading methods from subchapter 1.1. Keep doing that until God stops drawing you to it. 
2) Then read all of the other books that come after John in the same way (Acts – Revelation). Acts - Revelation reveal God's truth with Old Testament mysteries clarified to the maximum extent. These should be understood clearly before you tackle hard passages in the Old Testament, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Before you read any book before John, read After Pentecost: From the Law to the Spirit. It's in the appendix, (A3), to this free online book, Fellowship with God in the Sixth Path.
3) If you still don't understand scripture after much prayerful reading, you could read or listen to a commentary or preacher that teaches exegetically. In other words, one that explains each passage in context to show the flow of thought. Most misunderstandings are avoided simply by observing the flow of thought from verse to verse, while in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Most misunderstandings can be avoided simply by reading to God (Path 3).
4) Pray that God will multiply your faith one thousand fold. See the Endorsed Prayer of Faith in subchapter 4.3a.
5) If you have other questions about anything, please message me again. If you see passages that appear to say that eternal life is lost by sinning, you may ask me. I believe that God will provide the answer. 

In this way, God will build your faith and knowledge of His kingdom, so you will not be tricked by men. You will be able to self-feed. You will not be dependent on a person to teach you. You will have daily fellowship with God in His word.

Below are some very helpful commentaries and teachers who teach exegetically. So, they explain the flow of thought from verse to verse. They don't all agree with each other on everything. I don't agree with them on everything either. What one lacks, the other often supplies. When we see Christ, we will no longer "see through a glass darkly". But until then, all of the scriptures will not be crystal clear. The first two teach from the same tradition. The other two present two other traditions. So, three traditions are included in all. Do not look to these as authorities to tell you what to believe. Use them merely to make yourself aware of possibilities, which God will prove or disprove to you in the time of His choosing, as you ask for His revelation, by faith. 

Commentaries and Teachers: 
Bible Knowledge Commentary 
Bethel Bible Church Teaching (free)
Mathew Henry's Commentary (free)
Verse by Verse International Teaching (free) 


"As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don't need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him" (1 John 2:27). 

The anointing is the Holy Spirit

"Yahweh says: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh" (Jeremiah 17:5). 

My Prayer for You, Opala...
Lord of Heaven and Earth, fill Opala with faith... Faith that is multiplied one thousand fold, and one thousand fold again, and again... so that there is no fear. All this is for Your glory and Opala's good. Praise to Your name! Amen!


God Bless, Jim Phillips

Dear Satya,

Your Message:
JESUS was born Under Law but I Am Born Under Grace. Please Give Me Full Clarity About This.


My Response:
I have prayed for God to give me His response to your question. I have prayed that He will give you full clarity... for this comes from Him, through prayer. This is revealed in Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:18. He prayed that the Ephesian church would understand what he wrote. 

"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4:4).

So, please prayerfully consider the following:

The Law of Moses was in effect for Israel only... and only from roughly 1500 BC till 33 AD. Jesus was born physically as an Israelite during that period, so Jesus was born under law. (The Law of Moses was given to Israel in roughly 1500 BC in Exodus 19-20, and terminated at Pentecost. Yes, the Law of Moses was temporary :

"Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made" (Galatians 3:19).  

Jesus was the offspring to whom the promise was made (Galatians 3:16). So, the Law was added until the coming of Christ. For a complete explanation, see the Appendix, A3, "After Pentecost: From Law to the Spirit".

The Law of Moses did not provide access to eternal life. Physical prosperity in the land of Israel was the promise of God to Israel if Israel obeyed the Law of Moses (See the entire book of Deuteronomy, especially 7:11-8:1, 28:1-68, most especially 8:1 and 28:64)). Eternal life, righteousness and justification was always by faith (grace), not works (Genesis 15:6, Romans 3:20-23, Psalms 103:17). Abraham was the example of this since Abraham lived before the Law of Moses was given. So, it was established by scripture in Genesis 15:6, on page thirteen of my Bible, that righteousness came from God by FAITH. That has never changed. NEVER. All scriptures subsequent to Genesis 15:6 build on this foundation. They add new information but do not replace, alter or bend Genesis 15:6! Righteousness comes by faith and by faith ALONE. Our works do not make us righteous (Romans 3:20-23). 

Now, if you had been born physically as an Israelite, roughly between 1500 BC and 33 AD, you would have been born under the Law of Moses. All other people who were physically born were born under the Law of Conscience (Romans 2:14-16). Adherence to either law could not grant eternal life. The Law of Moses contained rules that Israel had to keep in order to stay in the promised land. Eternal Life for both groups, beginning with Adam and continuing forever, whether Israelite or non-Israelite, has always been by grace, through faith.  

The phrase "born under grace" is a conjunction of two truths:

• "You must be born anew" (John 3:3).
• "by grace you have been saved, through faith" (Ephesians 2:8).

Let me explain further: 
1) Post-Pentecost believers are born of the Spirit. (Being born again, born of the Holy Spirit and indwelt by the Holy Spirit are three descriptions of the same event. It is unique to Post-Pentecost believers.) 
2) Eternal life is granted by God by grace and through faith. (This truth applies to both Pre-Pentecost and Post-Pentecost believers.) 

So, "born under grace" refers to a Post-Pentecost spiritual birth resulting in eternal life that is under grace.

Therefore:
1) Those born physically as Israelites between roughly 1500 BC and 33 AD, who subsequently came to believe, would have been born under the Law of Moses and also been under grace.  
2) Those born physically as Non-Israelites between roughly 1500 BC and 33 AD, who subsequently came to believe, would have been under grace, but not under the Law of Moses. These would have been born under the Law of Conscience ( Romans 2:14-16). Neither the Law of Conscience nor the Law of Moses granted eternal life to those who adhered to them (basically because no one except Christ has ever kept either set of laws). You and I are included in this class of people, who were born under the Law of Conscience, not born under the Law of Moses, but born of the Spirit, under grace at the time we first believed, our conversion.

Your statement is correct for all believers:
JESUS was born Under Law but I Am Born Under Grace.

Please prayerfully consider what I am about to say: The scriptures I have presented above can not be understood properly individually. All scripture must be encountered prayerfully, in context. So, to understand the passages in Romans one would need to read Romans chapters one through six. This is a bare minimum. The entire book should be read multiple times. How we read is very important. I have presented a number of prayerful ways to read scripture in subchapter 1.1. 

I am praying for you Satya...


If you have any other questions about this or other topics, please contact me again!

God Bless,
Your brother in Christ...
Jim

Dear Satya,

Your Message:
Friends Please Give Me Full Clarity About Bread And Wine:
John 6:52-57 What Is The Real Meaning Jesus Body And Jesus Blood?.


My Response:
I have asked our Lord to give me a response to your question.

Here is the passage:
"The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
⁵³ Jesus therefore said to them, "Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don't have life in yourselves. ⁵⁴ He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. ⁵⁶ He who eats my flesh and drinks my bloodlives in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me" (John 6:52-57).

Like most passages in the Bible, the key to understanding is to see the flow of thought before and after the passage. To do this one must read in the Spirit. I provide a number of ways to do this in subchapter 1.1 titled, "Learning to Read".

In this case, the scripture providing the necessary context is from John 6:28-64. The overall topic through this entire section is believing in Jesus for eternal life. Jesus is the bread of life which one must believe in for eternal life (v 33-35). So, to eat the bread is symbolic of believing. When we believe, Jesus comes into us (Galatians 2:20). Conversion is not achieved by adherence to a list of rules. No... Jesus, a person, comes to live within us at the moment of conversion (Galatians 2:20). 

In verse 63 John says that these words are spiritual words... life giving words. His spiritual, life giving words in verse 53 were "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don't have life in yourselves".

The flesh (body) of Christ represents His life. His blood represents His death. "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life.'" (John 6:35). "Jesus took bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it. He gave to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body" (Matthew 26:26). So, the bread represents His body, which is His flesh, His life. In verse twenty-eight, Jesus explains that the wine represents "my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins". The New Covenant is the covenant of the Spirit (Appendix 3, After Pentecost: From Law to the Spirit). So, the wine represents His blood, His death, as payment for our sins.

At conversion, we come to believe in His life and death. We take his life and death into us. As a result, we die with Him (Romans 6:8) and we are raised to life with Him (Colossians 3:1). He who lived, died, rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven is within us. We continually carry the death of Jesus within us (2 Corinthians 4:10). He lives His life in us now (Galatians 2:20).

Yes... in the spiritual dimension, we eat his life and death... The bread and wine are symbols of this spiritual reality.  The spiritual reality of His life and death within us begins at conversion and continues after conversion. His life and death continue to live and die within us... as the scriptures above have told us. 

The elements of communion, bread and wine, remind us of these things. The bread and wine do not physically become the body and blood of Christ. We know this by taste. The bread does not taste like human flesh. The wine does not taste like human blood. Communion elements are not human flesh or human blood.

The bread and the wine are symbols and reminders of His life and death, which came into us at the moment of conversion faith. They remain within us. He said... 

"In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me" (1 Corinthians 11:25). The communion element is a reminder of Him, not a consumption of His physical body and blood. They remind us of His life and death within us.

My Prayer, 
Lord of Heaven and earth, I pray that you fill Satya with knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding (Colossians 1:9). I pray that You draw Satya into a deep and intimate walk with You, in Your word and in Your Spirit. Fill Satya with Your power, peace and joy!
Amen!


If you still have questions, please contact me again.

By the way, the clearest understandings will come as you prayerfully read the entire book of John. Subchapter 1.1 suggests various ways to do that.

Your brother in Christ,

Jim


For your convenience I am providing the entire passage from John below:
"28 They said therefore to him, "What must we do, that we may work the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." 30 They said therefore to him, "What then do you do for a sign, that we may see and believe you? What work do you do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'" 32 Jesus therefore said to them, "Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn't Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." 34 They said therefore to him, "Lord, always give us this bread." 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don't believe. 37 All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. 40 This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." 41 The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down out of heaven." 42 They said, "Isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, 'I have come down out of heaven?'" 43 Therefore Jesus answered them, "Don't murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, 'They will all be taught by God.' Isaiah 54:13 Therefore everyone who hears from the Father and has learned, comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. 47 Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." 52 The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus therefore said to them, "Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don't have life in yourselves. 54 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will live forever." 59 He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 60 Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?" 61 But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble? 62 Then what if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. 64 But there are some of you who don't believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who didn't believe, and who it was who would betray him" (John 6:28-64).

Dear Alex, 

Your question:
Is the soul which make us to live and the Holy Spirit which Jesus Christ promised to send from heaven are same?

My Response: 
When I read your question I began asking God to show me how to answer.  I will provide a short answer first. Then I will give a longer more detailed answer.

• "If we live by the Spirit, let's also walk by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25).

So, the short answer is yes... if you are a believer in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit gives you life. You live by the Holy Spirit. 

But the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father (1 Corinthians 6:19), at the request of the Son (John 14:16-17). Both the Son and the Holy Spirit are under the authority of the Father. So, they do only what they are instructed to do by the Father (John 12:49,16:13). And, by the choice of the Father, every spiritual blessing comes through the Son (Ephesians 1:3). The Holy Spirit prays to the Father for you (Romans 8:26-27). The Son prayed to the Father for Simon (Luke22:31,32), and for you as well (John 14:16-17, John 17:1-26, especially verses 9 & 20). All three persons are active in this life you have. These truths and more about spiritual authority in the spiritual realm are revealed in subchapter 3.1a, from the scriptures.

With that said, I will answer your question again with a few more details about this new life you have... concerning the old you, the new you, the dead you and the living you. What follows is the long answer to your question.

Jesus (Yeshua) was conceived by the Holy Spirit. When you were born again, you also were given new birth by the Holy Spirit. Before this rebirth, you were dead in sin. At conversion (rebirth) you were crucified with Christ and the righteousness of God was imputed into you, through faith. So, at conversion, you are a new creature (a new creation). As a new creature, you have received a new and perfect nature from God which is not of your making. It is no longer you who live, but actually Christ lives in you. You still have your old corrupt nature which may still sin. But when you sin, it is the old corrupt nature that sins, not your new perfect nature. Christ lives in you now instead of the old you. Being conceived by the Holy Spirit, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit live within you.

Now, I will present below the scriptures for each of these truths. Please prayerfully consider the following scriptures:

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit:
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 1:18).

Prayerful Observation:
Jesus (Yeshua), the Son of God, preexisted creation and created the universe (Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:2, John 1:3). But, the Holy Spirit was involved in the incarnation of the Son of God into a person of flesh, within the womb of Mary.  Jesus was also filled, led and empowered by the Holy Spirit during His earthly ministry (Luke 14:1, Matthew 12:28).

When you were born again, you also were born by the Holy Spirit:
"Jesus answered, "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into God's Kingdom. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' 8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:5-8).

Prayerful Observation:
As the Holy Spirit was involved in the physical birth of Jesus, He is also involved in your spiritual birth as a child of God.


Here are some other scriptures to prayerfully consider: 

You were dead in sin:
"You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1).

You were crucified with Christ:
"I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).

God's righteousness was imputed into you:
"But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets; ²² even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction, ²³ for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴ being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; (Romans 3:21-24).

At conversion you were made into a new creature:
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

You received a new, perfect nature:
"9 we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all....when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God... For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:9-14).

It is no longer you who live:
"I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).
(The old you is dead, but still sinning.)  

But you still have an old corrupt nature:
"put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit" (Ephesians 4:22).

When you sin, it is the old nature that sins
"For the good which I desire, I don't do; but the evil which I don't desire, that I practice. 20 But if what I don't desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me" (Romans 7:17,20).
(Your new perfect nature does not sin. It is your old nature that sins.

Your new perfect self does not sin:
"Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he can't sin, because he is born of God" (1 John 3:9). (God's seed remains in those who are born of God.)

Christ lives in you now, instead of the old you:
"I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20a).

You were conceived by the Holy Spirit:

• "Jesus answered, "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into God's Kingdom. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' 8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:5-8). verse born of Spirit
• "not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5) (To be born of the Spirit is the same as regeneration.)

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in you:

• "There is one body and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all, and in us all" (Ephesians 4:4-6).
• "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his" (Romans 8:9).
• "Or don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Christ is in us. The Father is in us. The Holy Spirit is in us. The one who spoke the universe into existence is being formed in us (Galatians 4:19). All of this is revealed in greater detail in subchapter 3.2 titled, "The Holy Spirit and Christ in You".

Please click on "CONTINUED" below to read the conclusion to this discussion and my prayer for you.

Now, I will repeat your question:
Is the soul which make us to live and the Holy Spirit which Jesus Christ promised to send from heaven are same?

It is my prayerful opinion that the soul which made you live was the Holy Spirit as He gave birth to your new life in Christ. So, I believe that the answer to your question is "yes". But you still have the old self which "grows corrupt" (Ephesians 4:22-24). Please see below.

We are to put off the old self and put on the new:

• "But you didn't learn Christ that way, 21 if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth" (Ephesians 4:22-24).
• "Don't lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings, 10 and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator" (Colossians 3:9-10). See also Colossians 3:1-170.

So, we have put off the old man and put on the new man. We are also putting off the old man and putting on the new man. It is a process of growing mature in Christ. 

My Prayer for you:
Lord my Father, I pray that you fill Alex with knowledge of your person, power and will. Draw Alex into a deep, powerful, intimate communication with You... to yield always to Your will... full of joy in Your Holy Spirit... all for Your glory... that Your name may be praised... that Your name may be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen. 

Alex, if you want clarification regarding your question or have any other questions, please let me know.

God Bless,

Your brother in Christ,
Jim

Jeannette,

Here is your Question in full:
I read from the introduction, I think, you had been praying for me. Thank you. I have been searching for an understanding of what does it mean to fellowship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to change my life and the lives of others to glorify God. Explain how to proceed. I like to have a book in my hand to Mark, write questions, etc. How may I obtain a physical copy of this book? Again, thank you for praying for me and others. Jeannette

My Response:
Thank you for sending your question!  In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 the apostle Paul wrote "pray without ceasing". So, when I received your question I began praying that God would teach you how to have fellowship with Him... that He would speak to you through His Spirit, His word and His child (me).

I had fellowship with God as I prayed. I am having fellowship with God as I write. I am listening to the Holy Spirit as He guides me in answering your question. I am doing what He is doing (making disciples), as written in God's word. As I write, I am asking God to give me words, believing that He will, and writing as His words come into my mind (Ephesians 6:18-19). 

Fellowship with God is a two way conversation in the spiritual realm, as we follow Christ, bearing His yoke in the world. This is explained in subchapter 1.4.

Here is how to proceed:

• Scripture
• Prayer
• Meditation
• Make Disciples

Making disciples scares people because they don't understand how it is done according to scripture. It is simple: We repeat the words of the Father and pray. That is what Jesus did. And we can't follow Jesus if we don't make disciples. We simply can't follow Him if we aren't doing what He is doing. And, making disciples is what He is doing, in the now. We receive rest as we take up His work. Jesus said that it is easy and it is. I believe that "rest" is the joy of intimate fellowship with God as we follow Him, obeying His Spirit. Subchapter 2.3 titled, "The Easy Yoke of Christ" explains all of this in detail from the scriptures. 

It all becomes clear once you learn what prayers the apostles prayed and what the Holy Spirit does in the invisible spiritual realm. The first step is to learn some intimate scripture reading methods (subchapter 1.1). Then we progress into greater intimacy in God's word (the remainder of chapter 1). Chapter 2 reveals the depths, breadth and intimacy of fellowship with God in the current age. Chapter 3 reveals the prayers that Christ, the apostles and prophets prayed. Chapter 4 shows what is happening in the invisible spiritual realm and how we interact in that realm.


I suggest that you begin with subchapter 1.1 (the first subchapter in chapter 1). Stay in that subchapter for as long as He draws you into it. 

On the subject of making disciples I have a few other comments. "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners" (1Timothy 1:15). Jesus said "I came that they may have life and may have it abundantly... if I am lifted up from the earth (on the cross) I will draw all people to myself... Where I am, there my servant will be also... come after, me and I will make you fishers for men... go and make disciples of all nations" (John 10:10, 12:32, 26; Matthew 4:19, 28:9). All Christians are disciples. All disciples are supposed to make disciples. These truths are proved from the scriptures in the appendix, subchapter A5 titled, "Is Every Christian Supposed to Make Disciples?"

Making disciples includes evangelism of unbelievers. It also includes helping disciples mature in Christ. From the above scriptures we see that the work of Jesus after His death is to "draw all people" to Himself, so all people may have life "abundantly". He is doing this near you at the present time. If you are His servant, that is where you "will be also"... as "fishers for men"... making "disciples of all nations". 

You don't need to go to another nation unless He calls you to that. You may make disciples among strangers, friends, co-workers and family. It may happen at church, work, beside a lake or while standing in line. You may make disciples by speaking audibly, praying silently, repeating scripture, by showing faith in disaster, by loving an enemy and etc.

Making disciples is not a system. It is learning to follow the Holy Spirit. To learn how to walk by the Spirit see subchapter 4.7 titled, "Walk by the Spirit". As you pray the Endorsed Prayers from subchapters 4.2-4.6, you will be making disciples and walking by the Spirit. Both activities are primarily silent ones. But the Holy Spirit will lead you to speak audibly at the times of His choosing.

Regarding a physical copy of this book... I am sorry to say that a physical copy is not available. But, in one of the discussion questions above a reader asked how to get a pdf copy. You may benefit from reading my answer to that question.

My Prayer for you:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, please draw Jeannette into a deep, continuous, intimate walk with You, through Your word and prayer in Your Spirit as she follows You in everything You do... in the now! I praise You for what You have done and for what You will do! All to the praise of Your name. Amen.

Your brother in Christ,
Jim   

Dear Mawuko,

Your Question is:
How can I be assured that I am ready for the Savior's return? 


My Response:
This is an important question. I have not asked it enough. I have asked our Lord to give me His answer to your question. 

"Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don't expect, the Son of Man will come. 45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes" (Matthew 24:44-46). 

The short answer is this:
We are to give true spiritual food to the household of God. All Christians are supposed to make disciples. In essence, we are to make disciples who make disciples. This is how spiritual truth has been passed on through the centuries, from person to person, from Christ to you and I. 

We are not all evangelists, preachers, teachers, or Bible study leaders. But all born again believers have a spiritual gift which serves the body of Christ. All of us have a sphere of influence. All of us can repeat the words of the Father and pray. That is the essence of disciple making ministry. We repeat the words of the Father and pray. 

Chapter 4 teaches the Endorsed Prayers... prayers that Christ, the apostles and prophets prayed or taught others to pray. They are simple and straight from the scriptures. 

When we repeat the words of the Father and pray, we are acting in faith... faith that it is His words that have power... It is His words which accomplish what He pleases (Isaiah 55:11)... It is He who draws, teaches and impowers His children to obey (John 6:44, 1 John 2:27, 1 Corinthians 13:7). 
When I was in college I was in a Bible study led by a very effective evangelical  ministry called Cru. It was led by another student who was majoring in Pre-med / Biomedical Engineering. His name was Sam. At one point Sam asked me to lead that study because he was about to graduate and head off to medical school. My response was "I can't do that." I didn't mean that I didn't want to or that I didn't have the time. I didn't believe that I was capable. It was like asking me to fly a spaceship. Sam looked me directly in the eyes and said firmly "It is not your words that you will speak. You will speak words of scripture, and His word will not return void. It is not your job to convict others of sin. The Holy Spirit will do that. Pray about it." I prayed about it and led the group. I had an internal witness that I should. Men in that group became Christians and then became evangelists.

Mawuko, I am praying for a great awakening... to be led by laymen... laymen who repeat the words of the Father and pray. Please pray with me... ask God to send workers into the harvest (Matthew 9:38).


(Pause for prayer)


(Pause...) 


As I said before, making disciples is simple. We repeat the words of the Father and pray. We do this "in the Spirit... walking by the Spirit". 

Jesus said "love your neighbor" (Mark 12:31). Jesus only spoke what the Father told Him to say (John 12:49). If you can say "love your neighbor", you can repeat the words of your Heavenly Father. Paul prayed for the Philippian church, that their "love may abound yet more and more" (Philippians 1:9). If you can say to your brother "love your neighbor" and silently ask God to increase the love of your brother, you can repeat the words of the Father and pray. You can make disciples. Christ will consider us to be "alert" and "ready" if we are involved in disciple making ministry at His return. He said "give them their food in due season". Don't worry. It is easy. Jesus said that it is easy and it is (subchapter 2.3).  

Now for a more detailed answer:
First I will repeat the passage:
"Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don't expect, the Son of Man will come. 45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes" (Matthew 24:44-46).

The context of this passage begins at Matthew 23:1. The statements Jesus made in chapter 23 present a contrast... to show examples of those who were not ready for Christ return... so that we would understand Matthew 24:44, so we can "be ready".   

Let me explain:
In chapter 23 Jesus is addressing the Pharisees who were responsible for the spiritual life of Israel (v 2). But instead of serving the spiritual welfare of Israel, they served themselves (v 5-7, 13). As unbelievers, the Pharisees didn't enter heaven and actually kept others from entering (v 14).  The Pharisees worked hard to gain a following, and when they succeeded... they created sons of Hell (v 15). They were blind guides (v 16). They were legalistic men... masters of living by rules (v 23,24). They were hypocrites... outwardly righteous but inwardly dead sons of Hell (v 27, 28). I could go on, but you get the point. They were unbelievers, masquerading as children of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

That is what Matthew 23 was about. 

Then in Matthew 24:3, Matthew records three questions which His disciples asked Jesus. 

• When will the temple be destroyed?
• What is the sign of Your coming?
• What is the sign of the end of the age?

Jesus answers the first, second and third questions in verses 4-22, 23-34 and 35-51.

Let me repeat the applicable passage again:
"Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don't expect, the Son of Man will come. 45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes" (Matthew 24:44-46).

This passage is part of Jesus's answer to the third question: What is the sign of the end of the age?

In this passage Jesus told the disciples to feed His sheep as He told Peter in John 21:15-17. Jesus was telling His disciples, who were believers, to be tending to the spiritual welfare of God's household. That is what we need to be dong when He comes at the end of the age.

In the last verse of the book of Matthew Jesus said:
"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20).

Feeding God's household is making disciples. We feed them God's word. All Christians are disciples. All disciples are supposed to make disciples. As I wrote earlier, subchapter A5 in the appendix explains this. 

While the Pharisees served themselves and reproduced sons of Hell, we are to serve God's household and grow Children of God.

One may ask... How do I make disciples?
In its most basic form, you repeat the words of the Father and pray. 

More specifically...
If they don't know Christ:
Pray. Tell them the basics of the Gospel (subchapter A1 in the appendix).Then keep praying as you answer questions.

If they do know Christ:
1) Teach them to self feed on scripture (chapter 1).
2) Teach them to pray (chapter 4). Pray the Endorsed Prayers of chapter 4 for them and WITH them.
3) Teach them about the Holy Spirit (chapter 3).

In Matthew 24:48-51, Jesus explains what will happen to the evil servants who abused the household of God (the Pharisees):
"But if that evil servant should say in his heart, 'My lord is delaying his coming,' 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn't expect it and in an hour when he doesn't know it, 51 and will cut him in pieces and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be" (Matthew 24:48-51).

Verses 48-51 fit Jesus's description of the Pharisees in chapter 23 very well. Notice that Jesus used the word hypocrites. That is exactly what Jesus called the Pharisees in verse 27 and 28 of Matthew 23. If you read chapter 23 you will see how the Pharisees served themselves and abused God's household, very consistent with verses 48-51 of chapter 24. 

My prayer for you, Mawuko:
May our Lord fill you with His words and His will (Colossians 1:9) as you meditate on His word in His presence. May He give you His words to make disciples (Ephesians 9:18-19).

Your brother in Christ,
Jim

Dan,

Thank you for your question! 

Your Question:
Dear James, In your explanation of Ephesians 1 verse 4 you explained that this is a corporate choice of God. But in an other place you made a brief mention of 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 as being the choice of God for salvation. How should we understand this statement that we are chosen from the beginning for salvation?.


My Response:
Jesus said "apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). So, when I read your question I asked God to give me His answer...  Then I read the entire book of 2 Thessalonians and prayed through pertinent portions (as described in subchapter 1.1).  

How do we Understand?
Understanding of scripture is a gift from God to converts with soft hearts and a willingness to obey, who receive understanding by zealously seeking it through prayerful meditation on scripture. So, in general, that is how scripture says that we understand scripture. These scriptural truths and more are explained in subchapter 1.5 titled, "Conditions for Understanding the Word".


Now I will pray.  Next I will present the understanding which I believe is appropriate, being careful in the Spirit, "not to think beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6, subchapter 1.5). 

My prayer: 
"Lord of Heaven and Earth, I pray for Dan, myself, and all who read this post...  that You grant understanding of Your self and Your words! Give us soft hearts and a willingness to obey. Give us zeal to seek understanding through prayerful meditation on Your words. Amen."

By the way, details of the conversion process are presented in the appendix, subchapter A7 titled, The Unabbreviated Conversion Corridor". You may benefit greatly by reading that page. Scriptures showing the interactions between free will and election are presented. 

Now, let's look now at the scriptures you asked about. First I will quote the text from Ephesians, then the text from 2 Thessalonians. And by God's grace, we will reconcile them. 

Here are the texts:

• "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love" (Ephesians 1:4).
• "But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

Subchapter A9 of the appendix has a micro-subchapter titled,  "WHAT DOES EPHESIANS 1:4 MEAN? CHOSEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD".  That subchapter presents God's choice of "us in Him" as a corporate (group) choice of God, rather than an individual choice of God. The example I used had to do with a Mayor choosing a police department to perform a task rather than choosing an individual policeman for that task. 

You are asking how we should understand the 2 Thessalonians 2:13 where it states that "God chose you from the beginning for salvation".

You are asking me to reconcile 2 Thessalonians 2:13 to my view of Ephesians 1:4 as a group (corporate) choice. It is a great question! I love your question! I am happy to present how I reconcile the two passages. It is by prayerfully reconciling one passage to another that the Holy Spirit sharpens our understanding and reveals contradictions that we have created. 

Let me repeat the passage:

• "But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

Based on your question I assume that you are hearing verse 13 in this way. I think that you are hearing "God chose you individually from the beginning of creation for conversion into eternal life".


Here are three prayerful observations:
The verse does not say

• individually
• beginning of creation, or
• conversion into eternal life 

Individually:
The word "you" comes from the Greek word humas, which in this instance is plural. If you have a copy of the "Greek and English Interlinear New Testament" by William Mounce, you could see that "you" is plural in the Greek because Mounce indicates whether words are singular or plural. So, "God chose you from the beginning for salvation" indicates that God chose those to whom the letter was written (the church of the Thessalonians). But the text doesn't limit this choice to an individual or corporate (group) choice.

Beginning of creation:
Here is the text:  "God chose you from the beginning for salvation". The Greek word for beginning  doesn't intrinsically mean "from the creation of the world" unless the text indicates this limitation. For example, 1 John 2:24 reads "let that remain in you which you heard from the beginning."  This doesn't mean that the readers of 1 John heard God's words before the world was created.  

So, when the text states "God chose you from the beginning for salvation", the word "beginning" could indicate a choice that took place pre-creation, the moment they believed or possibly some other moment. The text doesn't preclude any of these. We are being careful to not "think beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6, subchapter 1.5).  

Conversion into eternal life:
Here again is the text:  "God chose you from the beginning for salvation". The text doesn't say eternal life, rebirth or conversion. It says "salvation".

The meaning of the English word "saved" is broad enough to include the meaning of the English phrase "eternal life". But "saved" can mean other forms of deliverance that fall short of the deliverance of "eternal life". When I was 5 years old, a woman ran up into the second floor of our burning home and "saved" me from the flames. She led me out. Nearly 60 years later I still remember the terror in her eyes as she screamed. Being saved from disease or embarrassment are other events for which we could use the word "saved". Salvation could also include the maturity in Christ that we receive as God works in us through His word, Spirit, discipline, suffering, seeing Christ face to face and etc. So, the word "saved" is quite broad and definitely includes types of deliverance that are far short of eternal life.

Let me prove this from scripture:  

• "13 Moses said to the people, "Don't be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will work for you today; for you will never again see the Egyptians whom you have seen today" (Exodus 14:13).

Then God destroyed the army of Pharaoh in the Red Sea. This salvation had nothing to do with eternal life. This "salvation" was a physical deliverance from an earthly, physical enemy. God "saved" Israel from a king who intended to kill them.

The word salvation in this passage in Exodus had nothing to do with "eternal life".


Now consider these words from Paul to Timothy:

• "Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you" (1 Timothy 4:16).

Salvation (deliverance) comes to both Timothy and others if Timothy pays attention to himself. It doesn't mean that everyone who hears Timothy will be saved (delivered). But people will be saved (delivered) through Timothy. Timothy didn't receive eternal life every time he paid attention to himself and his teaching. He did save himself and others in the sense that they maintained fellowship with God by obeying.  

My point is this. The word "salvation" in the Bible does not always mean "eternal life". It indicates a deliverance of some type. So, when I see the word "salvation" or "saved" I think in the broad terms of "deliverance" unless context narrows the meaning.  

If you want to understand "eternal life" according to scripture, you must first look at scriptures which use the phrase "eternal life". When we see the word "saved" in scripture, we must look to the context to determine if the word means deliverance from eternal destruction, deliverance from something else or both. If we equate "eternal life" with "salvation" we will create many contradictions. 


Lets wrap this up. Here again is the text:

• "But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

I see that God made a corporate (group) choice. Before the foundation of the world He chose a group, those "in Christ", to be holy and blameless. To be holy and blameless is a part of our salvation (deliverance). God also makes an individual choice. God makes this individual choice the moment we believe. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 states "God chose you... through... belief in the truth". So, I see both individual and corporate choice in 2 Thessalonians 2:13. I believe that the salvation He chose for us includes eternal paradise, being refined to be like Christ, being just like Christ at the moment we see Him face to face (1 John 3:2) and etc. This salvation comes about through the work of the Spirit and as fruit of faith. It is only by God's choice that we receive these different parts of salvation. We do not have the power to choose these things. We receive them by God's grace... by God's gracious choice. Even the faith we have is granted by God to those who seek Him (appendix, subchapter A7 titled, The Unabbreviated Conversion Corridor", paragraph f). God even takes action to cause us to seek Him (appendix, A7). But scripture does say that man makes a choice as well. Man can choose faith or refuse to choose faith. This choice of faith, whether described as choosing the fear of God (Proverbs 1:29) or choosing faith, is explained in the appendix, A7, paragraph o. 

Thank you again for contacting me. If you have other questions about this or other passages, please contact me again. If you have a scripture which indicates any error on my part, please send it to me. If I am wrong, I want to be corrected.

My prayer for you:
"My sovereign and gracious Lord, bless Daniel with understanding of Your Spirit and Your word so that he may walk by Your Spirit, hearing Your Spirit, obeying Your Spirit, watching in prayer, making disciples who make disciples... Multiply his faith one-thousand fold, and one-thousand fold, again and again... all to Your glory! Amen."

God Bless you my brother,
Jim

Dear Mawuko,


Thank you for contacting me!

Your question is: 
Is 'Once saved, forever saved' a true doctrine?

My Response:
My apologies for taking so long to answer. We had a wedding and health issues. 
This is such a very important question which is asked often. So, I created a new page in the book to answer it.

Click here to read the page.

My prayer for you:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, all powerful and full of grace, not wanting any to perish and having the power to keep any from falling, who works all things after the council of Your will... hear the prayer of this child of Yours for Mawuko and all who read here to seek Your wisdom, council, power and will. Fill them with knowledge of Your word... may they hear Your Spirit as You open their hearts to hear, walk with You and understand. Guide them to interact with You in Your words, to spread Your words, to walk under the authority of Your Holy Spirit within them. All this I pray for the glory of Your name! Your name alone! Amen.

God Bless you my brother,
Jim

Isaac,

Your Question:
How can I get the book? And I really wish to study the Bible please I request for guidance and way forward?


My Response:
The book is currently only available online, to be read online for free. 

Regarding Bible study:
The natural man would think that your question is a simple one... one that may be answered from the mind of one with experience. But this is a spiritual task. And the answer is a spiritual answer. So, I asked God to reveal to me how to answer you. The apostle Paul, by prayer, relied on God to give him words to explain the gospel, even though he understood the gospel (Ephesians 6:18-19).

Bible study requires us to follow His Spirit. But it also requires discipline. 

Learning to study the Bible is really about learning to interact with God, in His words. So, its really about learning to pray.  But we need to understand scripture before we understand how to pray. One really can't learn to do one without knowing how to do the other. So, how can it be done?

The Bible is kind of like a bicycle. In the spiritual realm, I will put you on the bicycle, give you instructions which you won't completely understand, give you a push... and the Holy Spirit will run with you, provide instructions along the way, comfort you when you fall, and provide power for the steepest of hills. Eventually, you will see that this bicycle can fly.

Here are the steps I recommend for Bible Study: 

1) Learn how to read scripture
Read subchapter 1.1. You will learn some intimate scripture reading methods. If I don't use intimate reading methods, Bible study becomes an activity of the human mind... it becomes work... unspiritual work.

2) Scan the Book
I suggest that you open the book of Ephesians. Read the entire book from beginning to end in one sitting every day for one week. Each day, ask God to open your heart for understanding before you read. I suggest that you read using Path Two from subchapter 1.1. In Path Two, you read, seeking the heart of the passage. Don't stop to understand detail. You will do that after this first week. In this first week, just get the big picture and main points. Now, in the Second Path you may dwell on a passage for moments or months. But when scanning an entire book, you will be dwelling for moments, not months. Otherwise, you could not read the entire book in one sitting.

As an alternative to reading the book, you could listen to the book for free, online. Biblegateway.com provides the Bible in audio in seventeen languages. Click here to read. Look down the center of the page until you find your language.

Get a sheet of paper. Each day you scan the book, write down one idea from each chapter. Just a word or phrase is enough. By the seventh scan, you will have seven ideas for each chapter.

3) Detailed Study
After scanning the book every day for one week you are ready to begin a Detailed Study. Each day you will study a few verses. Click here to see the verses which I have selected for each day. When the page opens, look down the page and click on "Ephesians". The page that opens up will show "Today's Scripture" and a "Focus Scripture" for each day. 

In each day, read "Today's Scripture" using Path Two. Path Two is Seeking the Heart of the Passage. Then read the "Focus Scripture" using Path Three. Path Three is Reading God's Words to God. Today's Scripture will provide context for the Focus Scripture. You will learn these intimate reading methods in subchapter 1.1.

Next, answer three questions:
What does the Focus Scripture say about God?
What does the Focus Scripture say about Man?
What does the Focus Scripture say that I can Pray?

If you are wondering what to pray, click here and find the section in bold, gold print titled, "What Can I Pray?"

4) Deep Long Term Meditation  
As your are interacting with God's words in your Detailed Study, certain words of your Lord may touch your heart in a powerful way. This is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. These are words for Deep Long Term Meditation.  Continue to meditate on these words, for as long as your heart is drawn to them, for a day, days, weeks or months. Talk to Him about those words, asking for illumination and power and guidance. You may need to memorize these words so that you can pray and meditate on them during the day,  while waiting in lines or as you are falling asleep at night. Great changes have occurred in my life in this way.  When He speaks to you in this way, pay attention. Fix your heart on those words for as long as He draws you into them. Do not be indifferent to the Holy Spirit. "Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts..." (Hebrews 3:7-8). 


 Note:
Some of my recommendations will be awkward at first, as new things often are. After you have completed the book of Ephesians as I have asked, you will have solid spiritual weapons, to adjust and amend as the Holy Spirit leads you. It is like riding a bicycle. What is awkward at first, with practice, will become smooth and natural as if it were a part you. You will be able to go faster and farther than than you ever could have gone by walking.  

You can study the Bible this way by yourself or with a group. Chapter 7 shows how to do this as a group. 

At some point, when the Holy Spirit leads you to... read subchapter 1.5 titled, "Conditions for Understanding the Word".

MY PRAYER FOR YOU
"Lord of Heaven and Earth, for Isaac and all who read this page I pray... Fill them with power, insight and understanding as they interact with You through Your words. May Your word go forth through them... May Your word spread through them into all the earth. My Lord, bring about a great awakening... through all who read these words.. through all who will repeat Your words and pray! I ask this for Your glory... that Your name be lifted higher, higher and higher.  Amen."

Dear G,

Your Message:
Today, I was a victim of a scam. Which took $1000 from my husband's account. This was money earmarked for bills. I am a wreck. I cannot focus enough to pray and ask for directions from God. What or where do I look? What do I pray? Help me, Father. 
G


My Response:
When I read your message a few days ago I thought with my mind. I had nothing for you. I looked to the Lord and still had nothing. This morning around 4 AM your suffering and the suffering of others came to mind. Here are some of the thoughts which came into my mind as I prayed: 

With regard to the spiritual aspects of your suffering I suggest that you read subchapter 5.1 titled, "Our Response to Suffering: The Endorsed Prayers". Click here to open that page. The scriptures have much to say about suffering... how to pray and what to do.

Three days ago we had a death in the family... a close relative... an atheist for many years. I have observed some softening in him in recent years. But, he died so suddenly and so far away... we could not get to him or even talk to him before he died. So, we don't know where he is.  Weeping has come into my home. But at 4 AM this morning I praised God. I praised Him because He placed a lifelong witness in my relative's life. So, I know that he has heard the gospel many, many, many times. You see, at annual family gatherings over a period of forty years, this witness prayed the gospel at family mealtimes. He simply thanked God for sending His Son to die on the cross for our sins, to be buried, raised from the dead and seated with the Father in Heaven. He thanked God for sending His Holy Spirit to live within all who trust in Him. So, I praised God this morning because I am confidant that God has done everything that could be done to bring my relative into Paradise. Even in the last moments before he died, when he could not speak... he could have come to faith as God worked in those last minutes of his life. So, I praised God. 

I have a friend named Leigh. Leigh is in his seventies. When I get upset about something, Leigh looks me in the eyes, smiles and says "God has got it." In other words, He can and will handle it, in the way that He has chosen, according to His will. The book Pathways: From Providence to Purpose, by Tony Evans is a very helpful study of the providence of God using the book of Esther. I have bought a copy for all my kids. I have benefited greatly from Tony's radio messages and even had the pleasure of having lunch with him and his wife many years ago. I have seen personally how Dr. Evans responded to suffering and heartily recommend his book.

With regard to the monetary aspects of your issue, you could sell assets. Some sell assets on EBay Facebook Marketplace or other sites. But, I can share something else. It is a long term process. I wish I had a more immediate solution, but I hope this helps in some way. Depending on what country you live in, and your personal financial situation, some or all of the following may be helpful to you.

My wife and I ate a lot of beans and cornbread for many years when most in my country ate lots of meat. We did this so we could save money to invest. We lowered our standard of living so that we could save. To help us save, we used a recipe box.

Recipe Box:
We decided not to use credit cards. (This was before the internet.) We took 31 recipe cards and labeled them 1 through 31. We put them into a recipe box. Then we calculated how much we could spend each day and still have money left over to invest in a stock fund. I don't remember how much we could save at that time. Let's assume that we calculated that we could save $200 per month. In those days I think that left us about $40 per day to spend. So, we put $40 behind each card in the recipe box. I was paid once per month. On the first day of the month when my paycheck came, I would invest the $200. Then I would also place $40 behind each card in the recipe box. On the first day of the month, we could spend the $40 behind the card marked "1". That's all we could spend. On the second day of the month, we could spend the money behind the "2" card, but no more. You get the point. 

If you need to make a lot of purchases on the internet, you could come up with a system like the recipe box that limits the amount you can spend each day. Maybe just keep a daily list. Set a limit for how much you can spend each day through cash, checks and credit card. Or, you could use a recipe box for cash expenditures and a daily limit for other transactions. 

How do you invest your savings? 
I am not a registered investment adviser and accordingly cannot provide investment advice. But you might find that Vanguard can help you. Click here go to a Vanguard page that could help you get started. I have not used this particular Vanguard service but have used Vanguard for many decades and am comfortable with them.

PRAYER:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, please fill G. with Your Spirit. Multiply G's faith and joy in You. Open G's eyes to Your solution. Amen.

God Bless,
Jim

This question has been posted by the author of this book, Jim Phillips.


My Response:
NOT ONE WORD OF GOD'S WORD HAS BEEN PROVEN WRONG BY SCIENCE OR ANYONE ELSE.

If you will send me an alleged contradiction or other alleged error, along with the actual scripture reference, I will pray. I believe that God will provide the answer. Then I will respond below.

Note:
If there are many scriptures which trouble you... or appear to be contradictory or otherwise in error, please send me only the one most difficult verse. I will prayerfully respond, one at a time. Submissions by believers and unbelievers are welcome.

If you are an unbeliever, please carefully consider what I have to say. Unbelievers have had roughly three thousand five hundred years since the first book of the Bible has been written to find problems with the Bible. If you choose to submit an alleged contradiction or error, please carefully consider your submission. Please submit what you believe is the clearest, most difficult to explain contradiction or error. I will ask God to provide me the answer to your submission. I believe that God will provide the answer. After I have responded to your submission, feel free to submit others, one at a time. I have prayed for you. My objective is this: That you will come to believe that Jesus (Yeshua) is the Son of God... that you may have life... abundant life... in this world and eternally.

My Prayer:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, full of love, grace and power... please hear my prayer for those who read these words, whether they be believers or unbelievers. Please arrange the events of their lives, to draw them to Yourself... so that they may walk intimately with You, by Your Spirit! Amen.

God Bless,
Jim Phillips


"And I (Jesus), if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32).

"He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:26-27).

Dear Adetutu,

Your Message:
I want to learn in more.

My Response:
I have asked our Lord to give me words to respond to your desire. 

"if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures: then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God." (Proverbs 2:3-5).


So, scripture calls you to seek understanding. The way we seek is to pray and meditate on scripture. Chapter 4 reveals how we are instructed to pray according to scripture. Subchapter 1.1 reveals many ways to meditate on scripture. Subchapter 3.1 reveals the invisible workings of the Holy Spirit in the Heavenly realm, from the scriptures.


My Prayer for you:
My Lord, please draw Adetutu into an deep and intimate relationship with You, filling her with knowledge of Your will to walk with You, pleasing You in every respect. Amen


If you have ANY other questions, please contact me again.


God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear Inquisitive One,

Your Message:
how can I get holy spirit


My Response:
When I received your question I asked my Lord how to respond. Instead of addressing you by name, I referred to you as Inquisitive One. I did this to protect your identity, to protect you from persecution. Here is the answer to your question, from the scriptures.

In the current age, the Post-Pentecost Age of the indwelling Holy Spirit, you receive the Holy Spirit at conversion:

• "In him you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 1:13). 

Please observe the order of events. One hears the truth, believes, and is then sealed with the Holy Spirit. So, the answer to your question is this: To receive the Holy Spirit in the current age, one must believe the Good News of salvation (be born again). Click here to learn how to be born again, from the scriptures.

Water baptism is not a prerequisite to receiving the Holy Spirit: 
This is proved in Acts 10:1-48. In these verses Peter preached the Gospel to a gentile named Cornelius and his relatives and close friends (10:22,24). As Peter preached to them (10:34-43), they received the Holy Spirit (10:44-47). AFTER receiving the Holy Spirit (10:47), they were baptized in water (10:47-48). See below:

• "'Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us.' He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days" (Acts 10:47-48).

Since water baptism came AFTER they received the Holy Spirit, water baptism is not a condition for receiving the Holy Spirit. By the way, when we look at the original language the New Testament was  written in, the word baptize means immerse. It does not imply immersion in water. Scripture presents baptism (immersion) in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11), in fire (Matthew 3:11), into suffering (Mark 10:35-40) and into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). So, the words "baptize" or "baptism" do not necessarily mean water baptism. Context determines what one is baptized in.

Lets continue:
In the present age, the Post-Pentecost Age of the indwelling Holy Spirit, all believers are permanently indwelled by the Holy Spirit at conversion. In the previous age, under Law, this was not the case. Under Law, the Holy Spirit was "in" selected believers and "with" believers who were in fellowship with God. I believe that these two intimacies of the Holy Spirit under Law did not occur with all believers and were not permanent. Under Law, the Holy Spirit was "given" to those who asked for Him. 

The Law was in effect for roughly 1500 years, from the giving of the Law in Exodus 20, until the age of the indwelling Holy Spirit began at Pentecost in roughly 33 AD (Acts 2). The age of the indwelling Holy Spirit has continued since then for nearly 2000 years so far. Mankind also existed for about 2500 years before the law was given in Exodus 20. Click here to read a detailed explanation about the transition from Law to Spirit in the appendix, A3.

Now, let me restate what I believe, from the scriptures:
In the present age, the Post-Pentecost Age of the indwelling Holy Spirit, all believers are permanently indwelled by the Holy Spirit at conversion. In the previous age, under Law, this was not the case. Under Law, the Holy Spirit was "in" selected persons and "with" believers who were walking in fellowship with God. Under Law, the Holy Spirit was "given" to those who asked for Him. 


Below, I will present scriptural authority for these four truths:

1) All believers are permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit:
"Or don't you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God" (1 Corinthians 6:19).

In this letter to the church at Corinth, Paul is saying that all of the intended recipients of his letter were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And who were the intended recipients of his letter? 

Those words were addressed as follows: 
"To the assembly of God which is in Corinth, those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints" (1 Corinthians 1:2). 

Three phrases are used to describe the recipients of the letter:

• "the assembly of God which is at Corinth"

• "those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus"

• "called saints"

Each of the three phrases describe the recipients of the letter, who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Please prayerfully focus on the third description of the recipients, "called saints". A saint does not indicate a person who is exceptionally good. It is just another word for one who is born again. If you read the book of 1 Corinthians, you will see that the Corinthians were far from good. They were unspiritual, fleshly, babies in the faith, incapable of comprehending mature doctrine (1Corinthians 3:1-3) and one was even guilty of incestuous fornication (1 Corinthians 5:1). But, Paul called them saints. When you see "saints", think "born again". Well, the saints are recipients of the letter. So, saints are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. 

Please remember 1 Corinthians 6:19... "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you".

1 Corinthians was written to saints. The recipients of the letter had the Holy Spirit within them. So, if you are a saint, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. 

But, can you stop being a saint and thereby lose the Holy Spirit? 

According to the scriptures, the answer is no. You can't stop being a saint. So, you can't lose the Holy Spirit. Please click here to read about the once saved, always saved doctrine, from the scriptures.

One last point...
In the book of Acts, after Pentecost (chapter 2), the Holy Spirit was given to some by the laying on of hands by the apostles (Acts 8:18). This was obviously a supernatural, miraculous event... so much so that Simon the sorcerer offered money to Peter to buy this spectacular ability to give the Holy Spirit by laying on of hands (Acts 8:18-20). It makes sense for the granting of the Holy Spirit to be spectacular and supernatural, because miraculous signs were given to authenticate the message of the Gospel (Mark 16:15-20, micro-subchapter 4.6i). My point is this. There is a record of a very few, who believed and converted (Acts 8:12) but had not yet received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17). This appears to contradict the point I made from 1 Corinthians. 

Here is the distinction: 1 Corinthians was written roughly 23 years after Pentecost, near 56 AD, close to the same time when the book of Romans was written... a time at which the whole Roman world had already heard the gospel (Romans 1:8). Possibly God provided that particular miraculous sign, the granting of the Holy Spirit through the hands of an apostle, for a limited time, in limited locations, to authenticate the gospel presented by apostles as new authorities in the New Covenant (in the new Age of the indwelling Holy Spirit). 

Perhaps Christianity was not so new by 56 AD, when 1 Corinthians was written, so that God was no longer granting this particular sign in this area... It actually would be very difficult, with millions of converts and only thirteen apostles (including Paul). Converts would have to wait a long time to receive the Holy Spirit if everyone had to wait for an apostle to receive the Holy Spirit.

Does God still provide miraculous signs in non-Christian lands when the gospel is introduced. From the scriptures, I know of no reason to say that He does or doesn't. But from my experience, I know that miraculous signs still occur. 



2) In the age under Law, the Holy Spirit indwelt some:

• "So the Lord said to Moses, "Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him" (Numbers 27:18). 

The events of the book of Numbers occurred at a time when Israel was under Law. The Spirit was in Joshua. God Himself said that Joshua had the Spirit in him. 

• "Behold, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all kinds of workmanship, to devise skillful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze" (Exodus 3:2,3).

Here is the filling of Bezalel, by the Spirit of God, as a divine craftsman, to make holy implements for worship in the Tabernacle, the dwelling place of God. This event also occurred at a time when the people involved were under law.


3) In the age under Law, the Holy Spirit was "with" believers who were in fellowship with God:
"16 I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever: 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world can't receive; for it doesn't see him and doesn't know him. You know him, for he liveswith you, and will be in you... 25 I have said these things to you while still living with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you" (John 14:16-25).

Please prayerfully observe that the Counselor and the Holy Spirit are one and the same. The Counselor / Holy Spirit was "with" them in their present tense, but in their future would be "in" them. Jesus was speaking to his disciples (but not Judas). And, this took place while Israel was still under law. The four gospels, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, are in the New Testament... but the events therein took place under Law, under the Old Covenant. The New age, the New Covenant began at Pentecost in Acts 2. Click here to read more about the transition from the Old to the New Covenant. But, since the discussion of John 14:16-25 took place at a time when the participants were under Law, His comments describe the present relationship of the Holy Spirit to those believers of that age, to those who were under law. So, in the age under Law, the Holy Spirit could be "with" believers. Notice that I said "could be". In 1 Samuel 18:12, while Israel under Law, we see the following: "Saul was afraid of David, because the Yahweh was with him, but had departed from Saul." Saul was refusing to obey God and had therefore broken fellowship with Him, so Yahweh was no longer "with him". From these passages I conclude that one is in fellowship with God when the Holy Spirit is "with" him.


Under Law, to "walk with God" was the closest thing to the Post-Pentecost "walk by the Spirit". To walk with God was the most intimate fellowship available in the Old Covenant:

• "He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8).

Please open 25B for the conclusion to this discussion.

One other point:

Some may wonder if the comments of Jesus in John 14:16-25 apply only to the eleven disciples rather than believers in the age under Law in general. I looked to the Lord to answer this question. In John 14:19 Jesus said, "Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me."  When Jesus said that "Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more" He referred to his crucifixion. But after the crucifixion, the risen Christ appeared to more than just the eleven. He was seen by many believers, over five hundred brothers and sisters at just one particular time (1 Corinthians 15:6). So, it is clear that when Jesus said "you will see me", he meant believers in general, not just the eleven. So, in 14:17, when he said that the Holy Spirit lives "with you, and will be in you"... "you" pertains to the eleven in particular and also to believers in general. The eleven were in fellowship with God. Then in John 14:22, one of the disciples says to Jesus "Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world." The disciple is making it abundantly clear that the conversation related to believers (us) in contrast with unbelievers. And what did Jesus mean by "the world"?  "The world" in the gospel of John clearly indicates unbelievers. For proof that "the world" indicates unbelievers in John's gospel, see John 18:36, 12:31, 12:47, 14:17, 14:21-24, 15:19, 17:11, 17:14, 7:7. In those verses you will see that "the world" is ruled by Satan, hates Christ, does not know the Holy Spirit, that Christ came to save it, etc. 


4) In the age under Law, the Holy Spirit was given to those who asked:

• "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" (Luke 11:13).

This verse is from the book of Luke. Please remember that Luke is one of the four gospels. All events which took place in the gospel of Luke took place while Israel was under Law. Those under Law, could enjoy fellowship with God by asking for it. They could ask God to give them the Holy Spirit as a companion. To ask for the presence of God's Holy Spirit was like saying "let me walk with You". 


If you have ANY other questions, please contact me again!


My Prayer:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, I pray for Inquisitive One and all and all others who read this page. Please multiply their faith, draw them into intimacy with You, in Your word and in Your work... all for Your glory, to lift Your name higher and higher and higher! Amen.


God Bless
Jim

Dear John,


Thank you for contacting me!

Your Message:
How can I Learn to hear the voice of God, IF I Am reading Derek Prince it sounds very easy, but for me it is very difficult.

My Response:
I am not familiar with Derek Prince. But there is a page in the appendix of this book which answers your question. You may go to Odds and Ends, A9 in the appendix. Then click on the link titled, "My Sheep Hear My Voice: How to Hear the Holy Spirit". Or, you may click here to open the page.

My Prayer for You:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, fill John with Your Spirit and multiply his faith to hear Your voice. All this I ask for Your glory and Your glory alone! Amen

If you have any more questions, please contact me again.
God Bless,
Jim

Dear  kambobe,


Thank you for your message!

Your Message:

How do i communicaty with the holly spirit when studding Scripture? My Response: Talk to God as you read scripture. Offer praise and thanksgiving as you read. Ask God to open your eyes to understand His words as you read. Meditate on short passages for minutes or hours over days, weeks or months with praise, questions and requests regarding that passage. The five paths in subchapter 1.1 present four intimate reading methods for reading scripture. I suggest that you take a few minutes to experience them. One of them may become your favorite way to interact with God in His words.  Subchapter 1.2 titled, "Pray Scripture" shows how to Praise, Read, Ask and Yield. Praise, Read, Ask and Yield is represented by the acrostic PRAY. P: Praise R: Read A: Ask Y: Yield My Prayer for you: Lord of Heaven and Earth, hear my prayer for Kambobe and all who read here, multiply faith and love in Kambobe one thousand fold and one thousand fold again, and again and again... that Kambobe may understand Your voice and walk intimately with You and Your Son in all that Your Son is doing. Give Kambobe joyful intimacy with You in making disciples. Cause Your word to spread rapidly, through Kambobe into all the earth. All this I ask for Your glory and Your glory alone, that Your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen. God Bless You, Jim

Dear Bruno,

Thank you for your question!

Your Message:
I have a question regarding restitution. My question is do new or recently converted Christian believers have to make restitution for passed sins. Thanks

My Response:
When I read your question, I asked our Lord if and how I should respond. Please prayerfully consider what I prayerfully write...


Pay for Past Sins
No Christian can make restitution for passed sins. If we could pay for our own sins, then Christ did not need to die.

At the moment of our conversion, at that point in time in which we came to be known by God¹ our debts for all of our sins, past, present and future², were PAID IN FULL³. He paid the price for every sin we committed against others IN FULL. So, all debts we have for sins against others are paid, IN FULL, at moment we first believe⁵.

Christ also paid, IN FULL, every debt for every sin committed against you and I... no matter how brutal and wicked those sins may be. They are completely and entirely, wholly and in every detail, without exception... PAID IN FULL. Even if that person who sinned against us is an unbeliever and hence, unforgiven, Jesus paid for that unbelievers sins IN FULL⁴.  So, we no longer have a grievance against them and can put those sins of others behind us. Whether my persecutor ever confessed their sin against me or not, their debt against me was paid IN FULL. Whether or not my persecutor ever came to forgiveness and eternal life by grace and through faith⁵, my persecutors debts to me have been paid IN FULL.  This one truth set me free from memories of the sins of others against me... memories that plagued me for half a century until a preacher helped me to understand that those debts against me were paid, IN FULL, by Christ on the cross.

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus or You Will Sin
If we dwell on our past sins, we will be dwelling on self... will continue to be self absorbed as we were when we were unbelievers... and we will continue to sin... continue to live a life of guilt and defeat... we will continue to repeat past sins. 

We will be what we dwell on.  

Paul, a self professed murderer said, "forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13,14). 

When we drive a car, we must fix our eyes on the spot in the road where we want the car to go. If we fix our eyes on the right side stripe, we will veer to the right. We must fix our eyes on the goal! We must fix our eyes on Jesus...  we must fix our spiritual eyes on Jesus⁶. Only when we fix our spiritual eyes on Him, can we have fellowship with Him, follow Him, doing what He does... in the world. Only as we fix our spiritual eyes on Jesus, can we understand scripture, overcome sin and make disciples.  We are to think about things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, things of good report, virtue and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Who or what has these qualities in perfection and without flaw? God Himself. In other words, we are to meditate on God... who He is, what He has done and what He will do.

Restore Fellowship
We should confess our sins to one another⁷, forgive each other⁷ and as far as it depends on us, be at peace with everyone⁷. As we fix our eyes on Jesus, the Holy Spirit will lead us. He will lead us to do our part to restore fellowship, in the Spirit... in His timing.... in correct proportion. But, we can not, and should not try to confess every sin, to the tiniest infractions from our entire past, or we will never get our focus off of ourselves and begin to make disciples... as all Christians are commanded to do (Appendix, A5). One who is absorbed with one's own sinful past can not be absorbed with the Christ within, what He has done, and what He wants us to be doing... IN THE NOW... in the lives of those around us IN THE PRESENT... to walk by the Spirit, making disciples. 

This walking by the Spirit, making disciples, is described from the scriptures, in subchapter 1.4 titled, "Fellowship with God: Plunging to the Depths". It's easy. Scripture says that it is easy, and it is... if we do it scripturally. As we walk by the Spirit, He will draw us into every activity, in correct proportion, in accordance with His will, as He reveals His will in answer to our prayers (Colossians 1:9,10).

Civil Debts
Regarding civil debts, we are to pay our debts. Just because we become Christians, doesn't mean that we no longer owe taxes, credit card debts or debts for thefts, etc (Romans 13:5-7, Psalm 37:21).

In the New Covenant we live by the Spirit, not by rules:
The best first step is to begin interacting directly with the Holy Spirit is described in subchapter 1.1. Spend as much time as you can talking to God about His words. One can learn very little about riding a bicycle by reading about it. You have to ride the bike... you have to interact directly with the Holy Spirit. In that interaction He will let you know if restitution is possible and if you need to make restitution.

I did a little searching on the internet for articles about restitution. The ones I read all focused on obeying laws of restitution in the Old Covenant. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, YOU ARE NOT IN THE OLD COVENANT. YOU ARE NOT UNDER LAW. 


The Old Covenant was still in effect through the end of the Gospels, until Acts chapter 2. The New Covenant begins in Acts chapter 2. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are Old Covenant books even though they are in the New Testament. They point to the New Covenant, but Israel was under the Old Covenant in the period of time in which the Gospels occurred. I haven't found a single New Covenant scripture (Acts 2 - Revelation 22) which says anything about restitution.

It is a shame but much of so-called Christian teaching shows an ignorance of what it is to live by the Spirit instead of living by rules. Paul wrote:
"God, who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). ("the letter" refers to the law, the Old Covenant.)

I see blind teachers, who teach others to live by the Old Covenant when they are supposedly in the New Covenant and are teaching in the New Covenant period to New Covenant believers.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, THE LAW HAS NOTHING TO SAY TO YOU! 

"whatever things the law says,
it speaks to those who are under the law...
you are not under law. "
Romans 3:19, 6:14


If you want to learn how to live by the Spirit instead of living by law, then
click here. You will find, from the scriptures, that THE LAW HAS NOTHING TO SAY TO YOU!

If you want to escape legalism, I prayerfully admonish you to click that link.


My Prayer
Lord of Heaven and Earth, lead Bruno and those whom You have entrusted to him, by Your Spirit, to fix their eyes on You, follow You, make disciples, forgive others and confess sin, as You lead them. All this I ask that Your name be praised... that Your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

If you have other questions, please contact me again. 

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Footnotes:
1) Galatians 4:8-9
2) Hebrews 10:12-14
3)  1 John 2:2, Galatians 3:13,14; Colossians 2:13,14; Romans 6:23
4) 1 Timothy 4:10
5) Ephesians 2:8,9
6) Hebrews 12:2
7)  James 5:16; Ephesians 4:32; Romans 5:18

Dear B,

Thank you for your question!

Your Message:
How can one know that he is being led by the Holy Spirit?


My Response:
There is a page in the appendix of this book which answers your question. You may go to Odds and Ends, A9 in the appendix. Then click on the link titled, "My Sheep Hear My Voice: How to Hear the Holy Spirit". Or, you may click here to open the page. That page shows how to know the difference between the voice of the Holy Spirit and your own thoughts.


My Prayer for You:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, please fill B with your Holy words, with zeal and delight in Your presence... that Your words may would go out into all the earth through B... that souls may be delivered from defeat into victory... that Your name may be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

God Bless you brother,
Jim

Diane,

Thank you for your question!

Your Message:
Is this book available in print?

My Response:
I am so sorry. The book is only available online. 

My Prayer for You:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, multiply Dianne's faith one thousand fold and one thousand fold again and again and again... so that You draw her into the depths of intimacy with You in Your word... that Your word would grow, mature and bear fruit in her... that Your word would spread through her to those You have prepared and ordained to hear... that Your word would spread from person to person into all the earth through Diane. I ask these things that Your name would be glorified... that Your name would be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

Davies, Thank you for your message! Your Message: I try to live a godly life which doesn't seem to show. How can I receive the Lord, knw I hv the Holy Spirit. Hw shd I pray & do I really need a church (how do I knw it's real)? My Response: When I received your message I asked my Lord how to respond. I added a little to subchapter A1 in the appendix titled, "How to Become a Christian". I believe that it now answers all of your questions. Please click here to open that page. That page will provide a complete answer with scripture for all answers.  The short answer is 1) No one has ever received eternal life by being good. 2) You can only receive the Lord by faith. 3) You know that you have the Holy Spirit because there is an inner witness inside of you so that you just know it. 4) There is no particular prayer to pray to be converted. There is no example in the New Testament of anyone praying a particular prayer and being converted. But Romans 10:13 does say "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved." People hear the Gospel, believe and are therefore converted (Ephesians 1:13). 5) If you are a believer, you desperately need fellowship in a Bible teaching, scripture believing church... to study scripture and pray with. But, a church can be as small as two people. 6) You know if the Spirit is working in a church by the spirit within you. That doesn't mean that the church is perfect or correct in all of its doctrines. His spirit will let you know if you are in the right place... until it isn't.  Here is the Gospel:  "Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, by which also you are saved... For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third Day: according to the Scriptures,  and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once..." (1 Corinthians 15:1-5). My Prayer for You: My Lord, You have said "He who seeks finds" (Matthew 7:8). You also said "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32). I ask you Father, to draw Davies into Your word, Your Spirit, Your people and Your presence...! Amen. If you have any other questions at all... anything... please contact me again! God Bless, Jim

Luke,

Thank you for your question! I have asked God to give me words for an answer.

Your Message:
What is a quality of walking with God? How to stand before God blameless or to walk with Him blameless?? 

My Response:
The short answer is: 
We are blameless before Him by faith and by faith alone. In the Post-Pentecost age of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we walk with Him by walking in the Spirit, hearing by prayer, obeying by prayer... walking with Him, doing what He is doing, doing what He is doing as He draws all men to Himself (John 12:32). No one becomes just before God by keeping rules. 

"Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, "The righteous will live by faith" (Galatians 3:11).

A Deeper Study:
Scripture says that Enoch and Noah walked with God. Abraham was told to "walk before me and be blameless". 

"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless' (Genesis 17:1).

All three of these men died before the law was given to Israel through Moses in Exodus 19. So, "blameless" couldn't mean to keep the law perfectly, because they didn't have the law. 

Before Abraham heard these words from Genesis 17:1, he understood that righteousness came by faith... that righteousness was imputed to him, by faith (Genesis 15:6). "He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).

Abraham was blameless before God because God chose not to blame him for his sins... God chose to impute righteousness to Abraham because of his faith, before the law had been given. Righteousness by faith was not altered, bent or modified by the law. 

After Abraham died, the law was given to Israel in Exodus 19, so Israel was "under law". And Micah tells those under law to "walk humbly with your God".

"He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?' (Micah 6:8). This was God's requirement for those under law. Fellowship with God was linked keeping the law for those who were "under law".  But you, as a Post-Pentecost Christian are not under law. Click here to read "After Pentecost: From the Law to the Spirit" to understand that we who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit are entirely different creatures... than those under law... also different from those who never had the law of Moses.

Walking with God was the closest thing in the Old Testament to the New Covenant walking by the Spirit. Walking by the Spirit is done as we hear God through prayer... and as we obey God through prayer. Click here to open subchapter 4.7 titled, "Walk by the Spirit" to learn, from the scriptures, how to walk by the Spirit.

Even though Luke says that Zacharias and Elizabeth walked blamelessly in all the commandments, that doesn't mean that they never sinned. How long can someone go without breaking the tenth commandment "Do not covet"? They walked by faith as they went about keeping the commandments. It is by faith, not by keeping law, that they were blameless... not blamed by God for their sin (Genesis 15:6).

Though there is a righteousness of the law that Paul professed (Philippians 3:4-11), this was a righteousness in "flesh" (Philippians 3:4), by which Paul considered himself "blameless" (Philippians 3:6), a blamelessness which Paul considered "loss" Philippians 3:7), a blamelessness Paul considered to be "rubbish" or "refuse" in some translations... two different translations of the Greek word skubola (Philippians 3:8) which means manure. The King James translates skubola as "dung". 

So, Paul counted the blamelessness which could be attained by keeping law to be manure, compared to knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8), compared to having a righteousness not of the law (Philippians 3:9), to having the infinitely superior righteousness that comes FROM God, by faith in Christ (Philippians 3:9).

So, the amazing GIFT of blamelessness is infinitely superior to any righteousness of works. 

Walking by the Spirit, is infinitely superior to living by rules. We walk by the Spirit through scriptural prayer. I prayerfully urge you to spend some prayerful time in these three subchapters:
"Learning to Read: Five Paths", subchapter 1.1.
"Walk by the Spirit", subchapter 4.7.
"After Pentecost: From the Law to the Spirit", A3 in the appendix.

My Prayer
Lord of Heaven and earth, I pray for Luke and all reading here who desire to walk with You, that You fill them with joy in Your presence, with zeal for Your words, with faith multiplied one thousand fold and one thousand fold and one thousand fold, again and again and again... to the praise of Your name... that Your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

Luke,
If you have any other question, please contact me again!

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear Ronald,

Thank you for your question!  After receiving your message I asked God to give me His answer.

Your Message:
Jesus said in Matthew 28 Go and make disciples? Was that command intended only for the disciples to Israel or does that mean that I should seek out individuals and start working directly them to help them grow in Christ.⁽¹⁾ If I am not currently working with one or more am I disobeying Jesus.⁽²⁾ 

Follow-up question about making disciples I know I am to share my faith with others in the power of the Holy Spirit. In addition to that am I also to help them grow in Christ after conversion.⁽³⁾ I would be happy to do so if they ask but if I am not helping others grow am I being disobedient to Christs command?

My Response:
These are very important questions. I have placed superscripts ⁽¹⁾ within your questions and the answers are below:     

1) According to scripture, the command to make disciples applies to every Christian. This is proved, from the scriptures in A5 of the appendix, titled "Is Every Christian Supposed to Make Disciples". Click here to open. 

So, it is sin to not make disciples. But, everyone doesn't define making disciples in the same way. As you read below and the subchapters I refer to, a scriptural picture of disciple making will emerge.

Subchapter 4.9, titled "PASS the Faith -- Jesus said Its Easy!" explains how to make disciples. 

Making disciples is a very spiritually interactive experience where we do what Jesus and the apostles did. We repeat the words of the Father and pray. God brings us the words to say as we ask for them. Subchapter 4.10 titled, "The Conversion Prayer Corridor" is the fastest way to begin praying the disciple making prayers so that one may enter into the disciple making process. You can be making disciples when you are alone, still and silent. In fact, that is half of the process. Speaking to others in the Spirit is the result of one's prayer life. The individual prayer life is the engine of disciple making. Your silent prayers as you are engaged in a disciple making conversation, are your connection to God under His authority... watching in prayer... to respond to His authority as the conversation proceeds. Making disciples is very spiritually interactive.  

Watching in prayer comes from Colossians 4:2-4 and is explained in subchapter 2.4 titled, "Watching in Prayer". This subchapter explains how how to interact with scriptural prayer within God's authority during a disciple making conversation.

As you pray through subchapters 4.9, 4.10 and 2.4 and pray the prayers prayed by the apostles, He will lead you into the work He has chosen for you... that may be to watch in prayer... watching for a door for the word... receiving words from the Father as you ask Him for words... speaking His words by faith. Most of this happens in prayer. You will develop the habit of praying with your eyes open. You can't close your eyes to pray as you are talking to people.

2) If by "working with one or more" you mean using audible words, I would say no. You are not sinning if you are not using audible words. We make disciples by spreading His word and prayer. And when we spread His word, we spread it by prayer. If we are not spreading His word and praying as He opens doors of disciple making, I believe that we are disobeying the Spirit, sin. 

As you pray the acrostic HOW SO in subchapter 4.10, you will see spiritual authority in the spiritual realm. He choses who to send to whom. He choses when to send. He determines the your purpose in sending you. As you meditate on scripture and pray, He will plant His words in your heart and bring them to mind in a conversation at the time of His choosing.

3) As He choses to use you to grow a particular disciple for a few minutes or a few years, yes. Again, He chooses who to send to whom, when and to what end. After spending much time over two years with two men, I knew from the Lord that He had taught them all He intended to teach them through me. I took them to a Campus Crusade for Christ leaders meeting and introduced them to staff. I essentially handed them off to CCC. They both became evangelists. The part I played in their lives was unplanned by myself. It was a day by day interaction between the Holy Spirit and myself, praying for them and with them... a once in a lifetime relationship... for a particular time. His use of me keeps changing as my life circumstances change. The change is never of my choosing. When I was young I taught Bible studies in a fraternity. I didn't join a fraternity to teach Bible studies. That's what He planned. I arranged for devotional tracts to be distributed to bartenders because the company I worked for opened a hospitality business. He arranged this opportunity. For many years I focused my disciple making efforts on my own kids. That was all I could do. I published this free book online because covid eliminated my disciple making ministry. Last month nearly 9,000 people read from the book from Africa and 3,000 from Asia. I am shocked by this. He does as He has ordained. I see Him work as I pray the prayers that Christ and the apostles prayed. He is not taking orders from me. He is showing me that it is He who delivers. It is His Holy Spirit that works in the spiritually living and the walking dead. It is His word that WILL NOT RETURN VOID (Isaiah 11:11). 

My prayerless attempts are works of flesh which create frustration and make me tired. They don't create the rest of the yoke which Christ spoke of in Matthew 11:29.

If I missed something, please contact me again. If you have other questions, please ask. I have prayed for power from on high into all who have read to this point (Luke 24:49).

My Prayer
Yahweh, my Lord, Savior, King and Creator, fill Ronald and all those who read here... with the power, faith and love of Your Holy Spirit... By Your grace, send workers into the harvest... open a door for Your word... place Your words in their minds to bear witness... spread Your word rapidly... make them one. Hear these five prayers of the prayer acrostic HOW SO... to demolish strongholds... for the glory of Your name... that Your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

"for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4).

Sharron,

Thank you for your question! 

When I read your question, the first thing I did was ask another question: What scripture says that sin separates us from God? What is the true doctrine from the scripture? Then I asked God to give me His answer to your question.

I will provide two answers, a short answer and a more detailed answer.

A) The short answer is: 
On our first sin, we are separated from God. But at conversion, God makes us holy. Sins committed after conversion disrupt fellowship. But by scriptural prayer, fellowship is restored (1 John 1:9) and we can "walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects" (Colossians 1:9-10). 

• "but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior" (1 Peter 1:15).

Since we are instructed by our Lord in this passage to be holy in all of our behavior... we can be holy in all of our behavior. So, yes, we can live holy! 

But, I know of no other way that we can live holy except through scriptural prayer, the Endorsed Prayers of scripture (subchapter 4.1). According to scripture, it is by scriptural prayer that we hear the Spirit. It is through scriptural prayer that we obey the Spirit. So, it is by scriptural prayer that we walk by the Spirit (subchapter 4.7).

If any are reading here who are preachers, I prayerfully admonish you to read chapter 4, learn the prayers endorsed by scripture and teach them to your congregation. If you do not know how to pray, how will you teach your flock to pray? If your flock does not pray scriptural prayer, your flock will not walk by the Spirit.

B) A more detailed answer:

Below, I will present a more detailed answer from the scriptures and the exact scriptural terms which describe the separation which occurs because of sin. There are five sections below. The first four sections illuminate the fifth. The fifth section answers the question "Can we live holy?"

1) We are not born in a state of separation:

• "But Jesus said, "Allow the little children, and don't forbid them to come to me; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to ones like these" (Matthew 19:14).

When King David's little child died he said "But now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me" (2 Samuel 12:23). When David said "I will go to him", David revealed that he would see his child in heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to children and they go to God when they die.

Click here for additional explanation regarding this point and read micro-subchapter 1.5k. 

So, at this point we see that we are not born in a state of spiritual separation. This will be increasingly clear as the next scripture shows that we are spiritually alive before we become spiritually dead. 

2) Sin results in spiritual death:

• "I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died" (Romans 7:9).

Just like Adam and Eve, we are created spiritually alive, but the commandment comes, then we sin and die. (God said to Adam "you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Before his fall into sin and death, Adam had not the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17) but had fellowship with God (Genesis 2:15-25). Children also don't know the difference between good and evil (Isaiah 7:16) but they come to Jesus (Matthew 19:14) and are therefore not separated from Him.

• "Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; so death passed to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12).

We die spiritually just like Adam and Eve did. We die spiritually when we commit our first sin.

3) Sin results in alienation from God (separation):

• "You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him" (Colossians 1:21-22).

Being alienated from God (separated) is in the past tense. In our present state ("now"), Jesus reconciles us and makes us holy. This change occurs at conversion. Future sins do not change this. The word "now" indicates the present state of the Christian. The phrase "to present you holy" is the action of Christ, which results from His death. 

4) We are "washed... sanctified... justified", not because we stopped sinning, but because of what Christ did:

• "Or don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God's Kingdom? Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God's Kingdom. ¹¹ Some of you were such, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

Notice that the phrase "some of you were such" is in the past tense. We are no longer "idolaters.. adulterers... covetous" etc because we were washed, sanctified and justified in the name of Christ. We are new creatures, not because we stopped sinning, but because He made us new (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

God calls us saints. The word saint means holy. It is a translation of the Greek word hagios. In my Bible, the Greek word hagios is translated as holy 168 times, saint 62 times and sanctuary 2  times. So, God calls us holy. Translators have chosen to render the word as "saint" when it applies to us, but God did not do this. He called us hagios, holy. God used the same word for us that He used for the Holy Spirit. The phrase "Holy Spirit" is a translation of the Greek phrase "hagio pneuma". We are hagios, holy.

We are holy because God chose us to be holy (Ephesians 1:3-4). This choice of God was conditional... conditioned on faith. Ephesians 1:4 states: 

• "... he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him..."  Click here for an in depth study of Ephesians 1:4.

4) Sins after conversion disrupt fellowship. Fellowship is reestablished by the prayer of confession:

• "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Forgiveness is conditioned on confession. The result of our confession is two-fold: Forgiveness and cleansing. This forgiveness and cleansing is to restore fellowship. It is not a cleansing to keep us from damnation, as Christ has already accomplished our freedom from damnation:

• Christ "through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12).

So, there are two cleansings. One occurs at conversion. The other occurs as we confess sins committed after conversion. Click here and read micro-subchapter 4.3i for additional information.


5) We may please God "in every respect" through the scriptural prayer of God's will:

• "For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don't cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects..." (Colossians 1:9-10).

Yes, we can please God in all respects, in this life, through the prayer of Colossians 1:9-10 and through the other Endorsed Prayers of scripture (chapter 4). The Endorsed Prayers include prayers for increased love, faith, strength, wisdom, knowledge, obedience and etc. In all of these prayers, we acknowledge the authority of our indwelling God to grant these holy graces within us, so that we may walk holy with Him!

For additional explanation of this verse, click here, and click here to read micro-subchapter 4.2c.

My Prayer for you:

Lord of Heaven and Earth, I pray for Sharon and all those who read these words... I ask You Lord... to Multiply their faith, love and obedience... that they may walk intimately with You in the Endorsed Prayers... full of praise and thankful hearts... meditating on Your words... praying continually... to walk by the Spirit and spread Your words where ever they go... all for Your glory... that Your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

Dear Ronald,
Thank you for contacting me!

Your Question:
Apostle Paul said we are not destined to wrath. By end of 6th Seal at end of Rev6, Day of God's Wrath has arrived. In Rev7, there's a great multitude who came out of great tribulation. Would this not be Pre-Wrath Rapture? Respectfully yours

My Response:
The wrath Paul wrote of, which we are delivered from, is the wrath of damnation. And, we were delivered from that wrath on the day His Holy Spirit entered into us at our conversion. But, the wrath of damnation, the great white throne judgement, will occur after the rapture. This is what the scriptures say. Please pray continuously with me as you read on.

I will proceed in this way... 

• I will pray 
• address the heart of the issue 
• directly respond to your question

My heavenly father, guide my thoughts in Your Spirit as I write. Please draw Ronald and all those who read here to come into your intimate presence, to pray through the words of my hand, to feed on Your words, to walk by Your Spirit, in Your power, to rejoice when persecuted for our testimony as the apostles did in Acts 5:40-41:

"They agreed with him. Summoning the apostles, they beat them and commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus' name" (Acts 5:40-41).

The apostles rejoiced when beaten for testifying for Jesus. Christ did not free us from physical pain and suffering in this world. Freedom from being brutalized for our faith is not what Paul meant when he said that we are not appointed to wrath.

I will repeat your question:
Apostle Paul said we are not destined to wrath. By end of 6th Seal at end of Rev6, Day of God's Wrath has arrived. In Rev7, there's a great multitude who came out of great tribulation. Would this not be Pre-Wrath Rapture?   Respectfully yours

By Pre-Wrath Rapture, I assume that you intend the doctrinal system holding that Christ will return and take Christians up into Heaven (Rapture) before certain terrors of the book of Revelation come to pass, said terrors being presented in the book of Revelation as trumpet judgements, bowl judgements and the defeat and murder of Christians by the beast known as 666 (Revelation 13:1,7,15,18). 

The assemblies I have worshipped with for the last twenty-five years have taught a similar doctrine which also teaches that we need not fear those times because we will not go through them. I can only recall two people who vocally disagreed. These doctrines are a comfort to many who look to God to keep them from suffering. When 666 is mentioned, I continually hear my brothers and sisters in Christ say, "I am not worried about it. I won't be here. The rapture will come first". 

However, the scriptures very clearly state that 666, and his global murder of Christians occur before the rapture. I show this from the scriptures in subchapter 5.5 titled, "Will the Rapture Come Before the Tribulation?" Click here if you wish to read it. 

I will present a small portion from that subchapter for your prayerful consideration.
Please prayerfully read Revelation 13:1-18. Observe that the beast is represented by the number 666 (13:18) and kills Christians (13:7,10,15,17). If you will then read Revelation 13:18 through 14:20 and observe my general commentary as you read below, the rapture will be obvious.

In the last verse of chapter thirteen (13:18) you see the beast (666), the Christian killer. Then you see 144,000 Jews converted to Christ in 14:1-5, the Gospel preached (14:6-7), unbelievers warned (14:8-11), saints persevering and dying for their testimony (14:12-13), followed by the rapture (14:14-16) and Armageddon (14:17-20), with lots of blood (14:20). 

The order is:

• Murder of Christians by 666
• Rapture
• Armageddon

Now is the time to ask God to multiply your faith!

(Pause for prayer)

My Prayer:
My Lord, please rebuke those pastors who have not prepared their flocks for brutal persecution. Please forgive those who repent. (Endorsed Prayers from subchapter 4.3L and 4.3i)


The Rapture
For those who didn't immediately recognize the rapture in 14:14-16, there are three components to the rapture prophecies which come from 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52:

• Last Trumpet 
• Jesus is in the clouds
• Ascent of saints to Jesus in the clouds

Revelation 14:14-16, and only Revelation 14:14-16, meets all three criteria. In Revelation 14:14-16, being in the seventh and last trumpet, Jesus (the Son of Man) is in the clouds. From the cloud, without setting foot on the earth, He harvests the earth. So, the saints must rise to Him in the clouds to be harvested (ascent). Everyone who is not raptured in 14:14-16 is thrown into the wrath of God (14:17-20).   Click here to read an in depth study of this issue.

Now I will repeat your question and address it more directly:
Apostle Paul said we are not destined to wrath. By end of 6th Seal at end of Rev6, Day of God's Wrath has arrived. In Rev7, there's a great multitude who came out of great tribulation. Would this not be Pre-Wrath Rapture? Respectfully yours

Paul did write that we are not appointed to wrath:

• "wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead: Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come" (1 Thessalonians 1:10). 
• "For God didn't appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him" (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

Instead of receiving the wrath of eternal damnation, we live with Him forever. His deliverance from wrath in no way indicates a reduction of suffering in this life. On the contrary, God sends us purposely and directly into extreme suffering, for His name.

• "Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:5-8).
• "You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin. You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, "My son, don't take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives" (Hebrews 12:4-6). The Greek word translated as "chastises" in this passage is translated as "flogged" in John 19:1. In fact, the NASB, KJV and ASV use the word "scourge" instead of "chastise".
• "Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf" (Philippians 1:29).

To acquire a scriptural view of suffering, please read chapter 5 titled, Fellowship with God in Pain. Click here to read. Fellowship with God in pain is very intense. In prolonged and intense pain, there is nothing in your present but you and God. Those who have been to the edge know what I mean. The apostle Paul wrote this about knowing Christ:

• "that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death" (Philippians 3:10).

So, God's deliverance from wrath does not deliver us from suffering.

I will repeat your question again to address it directly:
Apostle Paul said we are not destined to wrath. By end of 6th Seal at end of Rev6, Day of God's Wrath has arrived. In Rev7, there's a great multitude who came out of great tribulation. Would this not be Pre-Wrath Rapture? Respectfully yours

The book of Revelation is rigidly organized as I explain in the subchapter titled "Chronology and Organizational Structure in the Book of Revelation". Click here to read. I see the 6th seal in 6:12-7:13.

The sixth seal (6:12-7:13) appears to be a preview or summary of events in the days of the seventh seal and the New Jerusalem. Remember, the seventh seal contains the seven trumpet and bowl pairs. So, the events previewed in 6:12-7:13 occur in the remainder of the book of Revelation.  Here are some examples: 

• The earthquake previewed in 6:12 occurs in 8:5. 
• The affliction of the Sun previewed in 6:12 occurs in 8:12 and 16:8.
• The day of wrath of previewed in 6:16-17 occurs in 14:19-20 and etc.
• The sealing of the 144,000 on their foreheads previewed in 7:3-4 is completed in 14:1.
• The preview of coming out of the great tribulation (7:14) occurs in 14:13 and in the rapture (14:14-16).
• The preview of the multitude before the throne in 7:9-10,15 occurs in 22:3-4 and possibly in 19:6. Specifically, 7:15 occurs in 22:1-4, especially 3-4. Verse 19:6 may be the fulfillment of 7:9-10.

The sixth seal appears to be a summary of the remainder of the book: Judgement of the wicked. Salvation to believing Jews. Salvation to believing Gentiles.

Please click discussion topic 36B below to read the conclusion.

CONCLUSION
So, I see that the words regarding the great multitude who came out of the great tribulation in Revelation 7 are a preview of those who were raptured in 14:14-16. Those raptured did avoid the wrath of damnation. But they did not avoid suffering at the hands of the beast. 

I have spent much time struggling with detailed theological end time systems. I see a great tendency to draw clear conclusions from what God has presented obscurely and therefore, speculations rather than doctrines of God is the result of their teaching. God intentionally wrote the book of Revelation to leave much of the future in obscurity (10:4). We are to ask God to multiply our faith and love (micro-subchapter 4.3a,e), so that we are faithful in the role which God has chosen for us... which may include death (Hebrews 11:1-40, especially 36-40, Revelation 2:10, 12:11, 14:13). The children of Satan will persecute the children of God until Christ returns.  Christ will reward God's children and judge Satan and his children. The following verse helps me to make sense of the world we live in:

"The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and those who fear your name, to the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth" (Revelation 11:18).

"Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, ⁷ and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, ⁸ punishing those who don't know God, and to those who don't obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus, ⁹ who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, ¹⁰ when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed" (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).

This is a difficult subject. If you have any other questions, or if I failed to answer any of your question, please contact me again. 

Years ago, I was in a Bible study / Prayer group with a friend named Mark. I left out his last name because I don't want to subject him to persecution. Mark is a retired police chief. We were discussing free will and predestination. While making a point about free will, I said that I really wouldn't have a choice if someone pointed a gun to my head. Mark calmly looked into my eyes and peacefully said "You can choose to die". Jesus and the apostles made that choice. Many Christians all over the world are making that choice now. That choice could be in your future and mine.

One who takes the mark of the beast has come to a point of no return and, will without exception, be subject to the wrath of God. See Revelation 14:9-11below:

"Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, ¹⁰ he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹ The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name" (Revelation 14:9-11).

Rotherham's Emphasized Bible translates "forever and ever" as "unto ages of ages", which is the literal translation, and which I believe is also the more accurate translation.


WILL YOU TAKE THE MARK OF THE BEAST?
1) If "once saved always saved" is a true doctrine, then one who is saved cannot and will not take the mark of the beast. 
2) If "once saved always saved" is not a true doctrine, then the scriptural guarantee to avoid taking the mark of the beast would be to pray the Endorsed Prayer of Faith, subchapter 4.3a. Click here to open that page. To read subchapter 4.11 titled, "Conditions for Effective Prayer" click here. 
3) To read the scriptural basis for my belief in the "once saved always saved" doctrine, click here. 
4) To learn how to walk by the Spirit, click here. You may as well have joy, peace and divine purpose if you are persecuted for your faith... and if you are not.


My Prayer:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, fill Ronald and all who read here with faith that never fails (Luke 22:32, subchapter 4.3a)... multiply their faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold again and again and again... to spread Your word throughout the earth... that Your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Praise to Your Holy, perfect, all powerful name! Amen.

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear Joseph,

Thank you for contacting me!

Your Message: 
What are the Endorsed Prayers?

My Response:
The Endorsed Prayers are the prayers which Christ, the apostles or prophets prayed or instructed us to pray. Many of the Endorsed Prayers are prayers that scripture instructs us to pray. So, they are not optional. Thirty Endorsed Prayers are presented in chapter four of this free online book, such as prayers regarding knowledge of God's will, power, making disciples, etc.

Click here to learn the prayers and to pray them. 

As you pray the Endorsed Prayers, you pray the will of God... you will pray the heart of God... you will walk intimately with our Lord... in the Spirit!

My prayer for you:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, fill Joseph with the prayers which You have instructed us to pray... that Joseph may walk in Your will... that Joseph will walk by Your Spirit... that Your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

If you have any other questions, please contact me again!

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear Icato,

Thank you for your question!

Your Question:
The second coming of Jesus is not yet happened but in Mathew 24 says this generation will not pass until which Jesus had spoken of...n now tat generation is no more but Jesus had not come yet.... I'm confused here pls help me

My Response:
Yes, in the first century Jesus made numerous prophecies which are recorded in Matthew 24. He said, "this generation will not pass away until all these things take place" (Matthew 24:34).
Some have claimed that that generation did pass away and therefore the prophecies of Jesus in Matthew 24 were false prophecies. 

Some believe that the Matthew 24 prophecies which "this generation" were to see have actually been fulfilled. See Victorious Eschatology by Dr. Harold Eberle and Dr. Martin Trent for an example and also much useful commentary. Others like myself believe that all of the Matthew 24 prophecies which "this generation" was to see have not been fulfilled.

You, like myself, appear to understand Matthew 24:29-31 to be a prophecy of the second coming... a coming which has not yet occurred. This was confusing to me for decades because the physical generation that heard those words in the first century AD has passed away.. without seeing the second coming. The key to the passage is to understand what Jesus meant by the phrase "this generation". 


Scriptures preceding Matthew 24 have clearly told us what Jesus meant by "this generation". He described what he meant by that phrase through lengthy conversations which he had over the course of ONE DAY... the very same day in which he made his prophecies regarding "this generation"!


And in THAT DAY, Jesus told them exactly what He meant by the phrase "this generation".
Jesus did not refer to a physical generation but an evil, spiritual generation... A single spiritual generation which spans centuries and millenniums, from Cain to the present day. "This generation" refers to the generation of Satan. This understanding comes through very the words of Christ himself, which he spoke on THAT DAY. 

Click here to see those scriptures along with commentary.

My Prayer for You:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, multiply Icato's faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... so that Icato will have no fear... to walk with you in your Spirit... to spread your word into all the earth... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

If you have other questions, please contact me again.

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Tracy,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
I think when the first rapture happens the generation of God goes and we will be able to watch the earth from the stars and see what is going on. Not that I want to see possible loved ones go through the tribulation but that is my question do you think that is true we will watch the tribulation from heaven?

My Response:
No I don't. At the end of the tribulation, I believe that the rapture / resurrection will occur and the resurrected / raptured saints will watch Armageddon from the clouds with Christ, and then enter the Millennial Kingdom. Please prayerfully read on...

A short and simple read identifies the rapture.
Please prayerfully read Revelation 13:1-18. Observe that the beast is represented by the number 666 (13:18) and kills Christians (13:7,10,15,17). If you will then read Revelation 13:18 through 14:20 and observe my general commentary as you read below, the rapture will be obvious.

Please begin reading at 13:18 now:
In 13:18 you see the beast (666), the Christian killer. Then you see 144,000 Jews converted to Christ in 14:1-5 (the 144,000 having been identified as Jews in 7:1-8), the Gospel preached (14:6-7), unbelievers warned (14:8-11), saints persevering and dying for their testimony (14:12-13), followed by the rapture (14:14-16) and Armageddon (14:17-20), with lots of blood (14:20). 

So, the rapture clearly happens in Revelation 14:14-16, after 666 has rampaged through the earth. It's very clear and simple in the text. 

Revelation 14:14-16 is consistent with all seven elements of the rapture prophecies:

• Last trumpet
  
• Jesus in the clouds
  
• Ascent of saints to Jesus in the clouds
  
• End of the age
  
• Voice of the archangel
  
• Only the Father knows the day
  
• The last day

I am confident that there is no scripture in the book of Revelation which is consistent with all seven elements which will also indicate a pre-tribulation rapture... I am also confident that there is no scripture in the book of Revelation which is consistent with all seven elements of the rapture, except Revelation 14:14-16.

Click here to read a complete explanation of my comments in the page titled, "Will the Rapture Come Before the Tribulation?".

The rapture and resurrection occur at the same time. There is only one rapture. 
Prayerfully consider:

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first (resurrection). After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds (rapture) to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Words within parenthesis are mine.

My Prayer for You:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, please multiply Tracy's faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... that Tracy will have no fear... to bear witness to who you are and what you have done... that your word will spread into all the earth... to the praise of your name... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

This is the Endorsed Prayer of Faith from the scriptures as explained in subchapter 4.3a. Click here to enter into the life of scriptural prayer.

If you have other comments, please contact me again!
God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear Larry,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
Does the church and the born again Christian get raptured before the battle of Armageddon?

My Response:
Yes. I have spent much time in prayer over end time prophecies. And I have asked God to guide me in my response to your question. Through prayerful meditation on scripture (Psalm 119:99), I have written many chapters on Biblical prophecy. In the table of contents (top left) click Appendix, then Odds and Ends, then find the section on prophecy in that page and click the link. You will see seventeen chapters on prophecy, which provide what is necessary to understand the book of Revelation, the apocalyptic sections of the Gospels and many Old Testament prophecies. In those chapters, the praying layman may see how all of the apocalyptic scriptures integrate together. I did not receive these chapters through reading the commentaries of others. They were written as I prayed... often on my knees.  

At the end of the tribulation, I believe that the rapture / resurrection will occur and the resurrected / raptured saints will watch Armageddon from the clouds with Christ, and then enter the Millennial Kingdom. The resurrected saints rule during the millennium (20:6), after which, the snapshots of 20:7-10 and 20:11-15 may occur simultaneously, in the resurrection to judgement* of the sons of Satan (20:13-15), their post resurrection rebellion (20:7-9) and their entrance into the flames of their eternal destruction (20:9,10,14).

* See John 5:28-29 on the two resurrections, one to life and one to judgement.

Please prayerfully read on...

A short and simple read identifies the rapture and Armageddon.
Please prayerfully read Revelation 13:1-18. Observe that the beast is represented by the number 666 (13:18) and kills Christians (13:7,10,15,17). If you will then read Revelation 13:18 through 14:20 and observe my general commentary as you read below, the rapture will be obvious.

Please begin reading at 13:18 now:
In 13:18 you see the beast (666), the Christian killer. Then you see 144,000 Jews converted to Christ in 14:1-5 (the 144,000 having been identified as Jews in 7:1-8), the Gospel preached (14:6-7), unbelievers warned (14:8-11), saints persevering and dying for their testimony (14:12-13), followed by the rapture (14:14-16) and Armageddon (14:17-20), with lots of blood (14:20). 

So, the rapture clearly happens in Revelation 14:14-16, after 666 has rampaged through the earth. It's very clear and simple in the text. 

Revelation 14:14-16 is consistent with all seven elements of the rapture prophecies:

• Last trumpet
  
• Jesus in the clouds
  
• Ascent of saints to Jesus in the clouds
  
• End of the age
  
• Voice of the archangel
  
• Only the Father knows the day
  
• The last day

I am confident that there is no scripture in the book of Revelation which is consistent with all seven elements of the rapture, which will also indicate a pre-tribulation rapture... I am also confident that there is no scripture in the book of Revelation which is consistent with all seven elements of the rapture, except Revelation 14:14-16. So, the rapture occurs after the tribulation but before Armageddon.


FOR MORE INFORMATION
Click here to read a complete explanation of my comments in the page titled, "Will the Rapture Come Before the Tribulation?". You will see the scriptures revealing the seven elements of the rapture in Revelation 14:14-16. You will also see the ten scriptural events from Matthew 24 which will precede the rapture. You will then see where those ten events occur in the book of Revelation. You will see that Revelation 14:14-16 is the rapture and much more.

Understanding the Book of Revelation
Everyone who is not raptured in 14:14-16 will be killed in 14:17-20 and 19:17-21... So, to my understanding, the rapture in 14:17-20 is "the last day". While I don't have an express statement of scripture to that effect, I do have express statements of scripture which reveal how the book of Revelation is organized, which you may read by clicking here. The book of Revelation is organized in seven letters, seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls. According to that organizational structure, the seventh trumpet and seventh bowl revelations of Armageddon occur together and are presented in 14:17-20 and 19:17-21, respectively. The rapture (14:14-16) is followed by Armageddon (14:17-20, 19:17-21), the millennial kingdom (20:1-9), the judgement (20:10-15) and then the eternal state of the new Jerusalem (21:1-22:5). As I wrote before, it appears that Everyone who is not raptured in 14:14-16 will be killed in 14:17-20 and 19:17-21... the last day, the end of the age. The seventh trumpet and seventh bowl revelations of Armageddon are presented in 14:17-20 and 19:17-21, respectively. To see why 14:17-20 and 19:17-21 both address the same period of time, click here to read the subchapter titled, "Chronology and Organizational Structure in the Book of Revelation".


My Prayer for You:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, please multiply Larry's faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... that Larry will have no fear... to bear witness to you... that your word will spread through him... to the praise of your name... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

This is the Endorsed Prayer of Faith from the scriptures as explained in subchapter 4.3a. Click here to enter into the life of scriptural prayer.

To learn how to prayerfully meditate on scripture, click here, read the introduction to this book and then read the next page titled, "Learning to Read". Just a few moments in those pages can change your life!

If you have other comments, please contact me again!
God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear  Enock,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
What can I do to live a righteous life?

My Response:
I have prayed that our Lord will guide me in my answer. 

Prayer
The Word
Fellowship


If any one of these was lacking in my life, my spiritual life suffered.  I suffered very much until I was supported by all three at the same time. We need to know how to read scripture. We need to know how to pray. We need interaction with the body of Christ.

I suggest that you read the following in the order shown.

Click here to read "The Acts 2:42 Three Legged Stool: Scripture, Fellowship and Prayer".
Click here to learn how to read scripture. 
Click here to learn how to pray.
Click here to learn how to walk by the Spirit.

My Prayer for you.
Lord of Heaven and Earth, multiply Enock's faith and love 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... that he may walk with you in all that you are doing... to have fellowship with you in your works... that he may spread your word into all the earth... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

Dear Josephine,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
How do I walk in the spirit?
Can you pray for me?


My Response:
I have prayed that our Lord will guide my response. I will introduce you to this subject by quoting the first portion of subchapter 4.7 of this book titled, "Walk by the Spirit".  

Scriptures About Walking by the Spirit:

• The apostle Paul wrote, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). 

• Paul also wrote, "If we live by the Spirit, let's also walk by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25).

These are the only two places in the Bible where the phrase "walk by the Spirit" occurs. The first passage shows that if we "walk by the Spirit" we will not sin. So, walking by the Spirit results in obedience.

Now read the second passage. To "live by the Spirit" is a given for the believer. To "walk by the Spirit" is not. In other words, we have life by the Holy Spirit. But we don't always obey the Spirit. In subchapter 3.5, we learned that the Holy Spirit regenerates, and gives life (John 3:5-6, Romans 8:11). In that way, we "live by the Spirit". Lets look at another passage that talks about obeying the Spirit.

• "Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts" (Hebrews 3:7-8).

This passage tells us to obey when we hear the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:14 says:

• "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God" (Romans 8:14).

Every child of God is led by the Spirit of God. You may not be an apostle. You may not be a preacher or teacher. But if you are a child of God, you are led by the Spirit of God. Will you obey when the Spirit leads you? When you obey the leading of the Holy Spirit, you are walking by the Spirit. When you don't obey the Holy Spirit, you aren't walking by the Spirit. 

So, how do we walk by the Spirit?

To walk by the Spirit, we obey the Spirit when we hear the Spirit.
And, how do we do that? By prayer.  

We Walk by the Spirit Through Prayer: 

We walk by the Spirit through prayer. But not just any prayer. God does not honor requests that are contrary to His will. We walk by the Spirit by praying the Endorsed Prayers. The Endorsed Prayers are prayers that Christ, the apostles and prophets prayed or instructed us to pray. So, the Endorsed Prayers are scriptural prayers. It is by SCRIPTURAL PRAYER, that we walk by the Spirit.

To understand what I am saying, we will build on the previous subchapters about the Holy Spirit and Endorsed Prayer. We will see how both hearing and obeying the Holy Spirit are the result of prayer... the Endorsed Prayers... scriptural prayers.

• We hear the Holy Spirit by prayer. 
• We obey the Holy Spirit by prayer.

To see the scriptural proof of what I have said and to learn how enter into real experience of walking by the Spirt, click here to open subchapter 4.7 titled, "Walk by the Spirit". Click here to learn the Endorsed Prayers.

My Prayer for You and all who read here:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, multiply Josephine's faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... as she meditates on your word and prays the prayers that Christ and the apostles prayed and instructed us to pray... that she will be strengthened in the power of your Spirit... to walk with you intimately... having no fear... participating in what you are doing in the now... that your world may be spread through her... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

If you have any other questions, please contact me again.

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear  Joseph,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
Is there a difference between spiritual time and normal ( worldly ) time. As in prophecy the prophet's would talk of the future they see, to me it's like they were there in spiritual form

My Response:
I have prayed about your question. I see that the scriptures say that every time is a spiritual time, but some are more intense than others. By the word "worldly" I assume that you don't mean sinful, but instead mean physical and mental activities. With that in mind, I will present four degrees of spiritual interaction that have come to mind.

1) Every time is a spiritual time in regard to our conduct. 
"for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, ⁵ throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Click here for more on this scripture.

To learn how to bring every thought into captivity...  click here and read the Introduction and subchapter 1.1 (to learn how to interact with the Holy Spirit as you read scripture). Then click here to learn how to walk by the Spirit.

2) The intensity of our interaction with God can vary from time to time.

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet ¹¹ saying, "What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea." (Revelation 1:10-11).


John was "in the Spirit" in the book of Revelation when that prophetic book was revealed to him. The phrase "in the Spirit" can be used in another way, but I believe that this passage represents an intense time of worship. It was not a permanent state since it took place "on the Lord's day".


3) Revelation to prophets in the form of visions and voices are a higher level of spiritual engagement.
A) "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet ¹¹ saying, "What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."

¹² I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands. ¹³ And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire." (Revelation 1:10-14).

The prophet saw a vision and heard an audible voice. 

B) "After these things I looked and saw a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, was one saying, "Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after this. Immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne " (Revelation 4:1-2).

John was taken into the throne room "in the Spirit". It appears that John's spirit, not his body, came into the throne room of God, a spiritual throne room. 

C) "I know a man in Christ who was caught up into the third heaven fourteen years ago—whether in the body, I don't know, or whether out of the body, I don't know; God knows. ³ I know such a man (whether in the body, or outside of the body, I don't know; God knows), ⁴ how he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter" (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).

Paul himself didn't know if both body and spirit was caught up into the third heaven or just his spirit.

4) In the eternal state of the New Jerusalem, we will see God face to face.
"They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no night, and they need no lamp light or sun light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever" (Revelation 22:4-5).

My Prayer for You:
Lord of Heaven and Earth,  multiply Joseph's faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again, to draw him into the deepest intimate walk with you, hearing your Spirit, having no fear and participating with you in all that you do, making disciples... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

God Bless,

Jim Phillips

Dear Frank,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
In your conversion story you make no mention of SIN. So what were you converted from and to? What happened to RIGHTEOUSNESS?

My Response:
The account of my conversion is found in the table of contents before the introduction.

1) What was I converted from and to?

• From death to life (John 5:24), 
• From the penalty of sin (Colossians 2:9-15,14) to the righteousness of Christ which is by faith (Romans 3:20-22), 
• From being a child of Satan (John 8:44) to being born again into a child of God (John 3:3-8), 
• From the domain of Satan to the kingdom of the Son (Colossians 1;13), 
• From living by the Law of Conscience to being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, to be taught and empowered by him to walk intimately by the Spirit, 
• Etc, etc, etc, etc. 

I will stop there since the list could be endless and still be insufficient to give adequate glory to the Father and Son.

2) No mention of Sin
I checked and you are correct. The word sin was not used. But sin was mentioned:
"In this period I trusted in myself. I believed that I would overcome every obstacle by the sheer force of my will. 'I will overcome' was my daily mantra. I repeated that mantra through each day."

Regarding the night of my conversion I wrote, "That night was the first time that I trusted God."

Self-faith is sin... Jeremiah 17:5 says, "Cursed is the man who trusts in man". 

So, though I didn't use the word "sin", sin is in the account. My conversion occurred when I realized that I could not save myself from the weight of life and trusted him. His Spirit came into me at that time and I was in the Spirit for three days. Eternal life does not come because we stop sinning. As I will show later, it comes to us when we believe.

But, some may wonder how my conversion could occur when I was not contemplating the basics of the Gospel... that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, rose from the dead and appeared to many (1 Corinthians 15:1-7)?

While not contemplating those things at the time of my conversion, I came to trust in the one who did those things at the time of my conversion. Scripture doesn't say that we need to say a certain prayer or think about certain aspects of God to be converted.

Eternal life comes when we believe: 

• Jesus said, "One who believes in the Son has eternal life," (John 3:36)
• "Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and doesn't come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life" (John 5:24).

Eternal life comes when we believe in Christ. It doesn't say that we receive eternal life when we believe in him for eternal life. To say that we must believe for eternal life is adding a condition to the Gospel. The scriptures above say that we must "believe in the Son" or "believe him". John 3:16 says that eternal life comes to "whoever believes in him", meaning God's son. So, we should not change the Gospel by saying that eternal life only comes to those who believe in him for eternal life (1 Corinthians 4:6). That is not what the scriptures said. The condition of eternal life is:

• "believe in the Son"
• "believe him"
• "believes in him"

We don't have to contemplate all that he is at the time of conversion. We are incapable of this. Conversion occurs at the moment we believe. All of us receive greater blessings through conversion than we are cognizant of at conversion (1 Corinthians 2:9). In fact, the delusions of our hard hearts are removed AFTER conversion, not before.  In 2 Corinthians 3:14-16 we see that "whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away". 

The scripture says, "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13).

The night of my conversion was not a time when I was contemplating the Gospel... it was when I called on his name.

If you will read  Luke 4:31-5:16, you will see that the paralytic's sins appear to have been forgiven because he trusted Jesus to heal his body (Luke 5:17-26). There is no indication in the text that the paralytic was contemplating forgiveness when his sins were forgiven. The multitude of miracles in Luke 4:31-5:16 suggests that the paralytic came to Jesus to be healed while possessing faith to be healed. The phrase, "The power of the Lord was with him to heal them" in 5:17, placed immediately before the paralytic is brought to Jesus in 5:18, clearly indicates that the paralytic's purpose was to receive a physical healing.

So, the paralytic is an example where an eternal blessing was received while requesting and contemplating an earthly blessing, with faith for the earthly blessing. As I wrote above, all of us receive greater blessings through conversion than we are cognizant of at conversion (1 Corinthians 2:9).

When Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again, Jesus said in John 3:12, "If I told you earthly things and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?". In other words, we must trust Christ in earthly things before we can trust him for invisible, eternal things.

It sounds like we can't trust God for the hereafter if we don't trust God in the now. The moment of my conversion was when I trusted God for survival in the present. At that time I called out to him in desperation (Romans 10:13), he granted faith (Philippians 1:29) and I was converted. Click here to learn about the conversion corridor, from the scriptures. Through Acts 17:26-27 in section (e) of that page we see that God changes the boundaries of the nations to prod man to "seek the Lord" and perhaps "find him". Suffering and instability in this life is what God used to prod me to seek God... for relief in this life. According God's intention in Acts 17:27, I found him. When I found him, I received him and therefore, eternal life with him. Here is the passage:

• "He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us (Acts 17:26-27).

We find God by seeking him for relief in our tribulations.

Sinner's Prayer
You may see the sinner's prayer as the only vehicle for conversion. The sinner's prayer may certainly be an appropriate prayer for conversion, depending on the version that is prayed. But a sinner's prayer is not mentioned in scripture as a vehicle for conversion and certainly is not necessary for conversion. Conversion comes when we believe in him... or trust him. And the one we must trust in... is and did what the sinner's prayer says that he is and did... as long as the sinner's prayer includes all that is in 1 Corinthians 15:1-7 and no more. That passage is the Gospel. 

In summary, conversion and eternal life occur when we believe in him... regardless of which aspects of him are in our mind at the time of conversion, regardless of whether we are cognizant of our sin at the time and regardless of whether we are contemplating eternal life, or not. Eternal life comes when we...

"BELIEVE IN HIM"

or...

"CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD"

I would like to hear from you about this and talk further. Please let me know your thoughts.

My prayer for you:

Lord of Heaven and Earth, increase Frank's faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... that he may have no fear... that he may walk intimately with you in all the works you have ordained for him! Amen. 

Click here to read my conversion account again.

God Bless,

Jim Phillips

Dear Jan,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
Who is the Woman in Rev 12?

My Response:
One of the seventeen chapters I have prayerfully written on the subject of Biblical prophecy is dedicated to answering this question. Click here to read that page and here to see the other sixteen chapters regarding prophecy. 

The woman with the crown of twelve stars appears in the twelfth chapter of the book of Revelation. I submit to you the understandings I have come to through long periods of prayer. Here are the first and last verses of chapter twelve:

"¹ A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars...  

¹⁷ The dragon grew angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep God's commandments and hold Jesus' testimony" (Revelation 12:1,17).

In Revelation 12:17 we read about the "offspring" of the woman. We see that the woman is the mother of those who keep God's commandments and testify of Jesus. In other words, she is the mother of Christians, God's children. That gives us a clue as to the identity of the mother. It would be helpful if there was a scripture which expressly stated just who is the mother of God's children. There is. Galatians 4:26. Galatians 4:26 tells us that "the Jerusalem that is above" is the mother of God's children.  

"But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all" 

(Galatians 4:26).

The Jerusalem that is above" is the mother of Christians.


So, "the Jerusalem that is above" is the woman in Revelation 12:1.

You have probably never heard that "the Jerusalem that is above" is our mother. But, if you had been a first century Christian you probably would have known. Christians of the day were very aware of the significance of Jerusalem as the city that crucified Jesus... and very aware of Jesus' prophecy of its destruction. They suffered from continuous persecution from the Jews who were headquartered in the then present Jerusalem.

The book of Galatians was written and circulated throughout the Roman empire many years before the book of Revelation was written. So, Christians of that era would have been very aware that the present Jerusalem killed Christ and persecuted them (Galatians 4:25). They would have been aware that their mother was "the Jerusalem that is above". 

As I explain in my chapter about the woman, "the Jerusalem that is above" is the heavenly city of God in the spiritual realm where God dwells now. The "new Jerusalem" is the name of that city when it comes down to earth for our eternal dwelling with God, after the great white throne judgement in chapter 21 of Revelation.

There are many details presented about the woman throughout chapter 12 of the book of Revelation: sun, moon, crown, twelve stars, persecution, nourishment and etc. 

The old covenant is symbolized by the moon. The "covenant" in Revelation 11:19, is clearly the old covenant, represented by the stone tablets of the ten commandments in the ark. The old covenant, the lesser light according to 2 Corinthians 3:5-14, was replaced by the new covenant (chapters 8-10 of Hebrews, especially10:9). So, the moon under the feet of "the Jerusalem above" shows that the moon, the lesser light, being the old covenant, has been superseded by the new covenant, with which she is clothed... She is clothed in the sun of the new covenant. So the old covenant (the moon) is under the feet of "the Jerusalem above", the woman. The "Jerusalem above" is clothed with the greater light of the sun, representing the greater glory of the new covenant (2 Corinthians 3:7-8 as explained in my chapter on the woman). 

The first offspring of the woman was Christ. So, the phrase, "the rest of her offspring" means all His spiritual brothers and sisters (Christians).

Some say the the woman represents Israel. They point to similarities between the woman of Revelation 12 and Joseph's dream in Genesis. In Joseph's dream, the sun represented Jacob and the moon represented Rachel. The sun is God's glorious, life giving, sight giving light, of which the moon is merely a reflector. If Joseph's dream from Genesis 37:9-11 was the key to the identity of the woman in Revelation 12:1, then the sign in 12:1 would reveal Israel as the mother, clothed in Jacob (the sun) with Rachel (the moon) at her feet. 

This not scriptural, doesn't make sense, is demeaning to God, Rachel and women in general. The place of women in God's design is not under Israel's feet. Regarding Jacob, Israel would not be presented as being clothed with Jacob. Surely, there is something more glorious than Jacob for the woman to be clothed with! 

The woman in Revelation 12 wears a crown, indicating that she is a queen. The book of Revelation reveals Jesus as the "King of Kings" and the new Jerusalem as the bride of the "King of Kings" (17:14, 19:16, 19:7, 21:2). Well, the future state of "the Jerusalem above" is the new Jerusalem. So, it is not speculation to deduct that the crown worn by the woman points to her future state as the new Jerusalem, as queen. If Israel were the queen in Revelation 12:1, then Revelation would have told us that Israel was the bride of Christ. But no, the new Jerusalem is the bride of Christ, the queen of the "King of Kings". 

So, Israel as a woman, wearing the crown of a queen, is inconsistent with these other passages within the book of Revelation. In other words, the fact that the woman is wearing a crown appears to disqualify Israel as God's intended meaning of "the woman" in Revelation 12:1. The new Jerusalem, not Israel, is the bride of the "King of Kings". And the new Jerusalem is the future state of "the Jerusalem above".

Could the twelve stars in the woman's crown mean that the woman in Revelation 12:1 is Israel? Israel did have twelve tribes. Well, the number twelve is used in the book of Revelation to represent the twelve tribes of spiritual Israel, saved Israel (7:2-8, 14:1). These will inhabitant the new Jerusalem. The number twelve is also used in the book of Revelation to represent:

• twelve kinds of fruit of the tree of life in the new Jerusalem
• the twelve angels at the twelve gates of the new Jerusalem
• the names of the twelve apostles which are written on the twelve foundation stones in the new Jerusalem

So, regarding the twelve stars in the woman's crown, we can see that the number twelve in the book of Revelation refers to much more than the twelve tribes of spiritual Israel. Never in the book of Revelation are the twelve genetic tribes of Israel mentioned.

Therefore, while one aspect of the number twelve in the woman's crown reminds us of Israel, the totality of the number twelve in the book of Revelation points to the new Jerusalem. And the new Jerusalem is the future state of "Jerusalem Above", which I believe is the woman of Revelation 12.

I have prayerfully searched for an understanding of this passage which would be compatible with the theory that the woman is Israel. I see three versions of Israel to address: 

• genetic Israel
• spiritual Israel
• nation of Israel

Remember that the offspring of the woman are Christians. Are any of those three versions of Israel synonymous with "Christians". Well, genetic Israel would be the physical ancestors of Jacob (who God renamed as Israel). Spiritual Israel would be the believing Israelites. Most of the early Christians were genetic Israelites who trusted Christ. By their faith, we know that they were spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel would also include gentiles who became citizens of spiritual Israel by faith in Christ. 

I don't believe that the woman is genetic Israel or the nation of Israel. Genetic Israel did not and will not become Christian since scripture says "only the remnant will be saved" (Romans 9:27). The nation of Israel did not hold to Jesus' testimony although spiritual Israel did. So the woman as the nation of Israel does not fit Revelation 12 because the nation of Israel actually fulfills the role of the dragon when it attacks "the rest of her offspring" those who testify of Jesus (12:17).  So the nation of Israel does not appear to be the woman.  However, I believe that spiritual Israel refers to the same group of people which the woman represents, but spiritual Israel is not how God reveals "the woman" in the book of Revelation. He reveals her as "the Jerusalem above", the forerunner of "the new Jerusalem", to focus on the proper view of this group of people in the next age. I explain all of this in greater detail, from the scriptures in the chapter on the woman. 

In much prayer I have seen the three great covenants in the sign of the woman:

• Old Covenant
• Holy Covenant
• New Covenant

If you will click here to read the chapter about the woman, you will see how these three covenants are interrelated with the passage in Galatians which presents "Jerusalem Above". In that chapter I also include a detailed explanation of Galatians 2:16-4:31, explanation of other details regarding persecution and nourishment from chapter 12, a correlation of Revelation 12 with the structure of the entire book of Revelation and a General exegesis of Revelation chapter 12.

My Prayer for you:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, please multiply Jan's faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... that your word would be on her lips... that she would have no fear... that she may walk intimately with you in all the works which you have ordained for her... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

If you have other questions, please contact me again!

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear  Obada,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
I have given my life to Christ several times, I feel undeserving to continue to do so especially after sinning, I seek to have an intimate relationship with the holy spirit, how to I do it and remain steadfast?

My Response:
I have asked God to guide my response. Pray the following Endorsed Prayer for yourself every day:

• "Now I pray to God that you do no evil" (1 Corinthians 13:7).

Click here for an explanation of that prayer. Once you realize that obedience is granted to us by God through prayer, you are on your way. We can't achieve obedience by trying harder. 

Please read discussion topic # 41 above which was originally asked by Enoch. Everything in that page is very important! 

My Prayer for You:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, multiply Obada's faith and love 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... that Obada may walk with you in all the works which you have ordained for Obada (Ephesians 2:10)... to have fellowship with you in your works... that Obada may spread your word into all the earth... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen. 


If you have other questions, please contact me again!


God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear Joseph,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
The Holy spirit work started before Jesus ascending (Old testament) or after (New testament)

My Response:
I have prayed for God's guidance in my response. The Holy Spirit worked in both the Old and New Testament but the nature and breadth of his work changed. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon certain people for certain purposes. In the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary with Jesus (Matthew 1:18), descended on Jesus (Luke 3:22), led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil (Matthew 4:1) and was "with" but not "in" the twelve disciples (John 14:17). 

In the New Covenant which begins after the Gospels in the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is actively involved in the day to day lives of all who are born again. In the New Covenant we live by the Spirit. In the Old Covenant, they lived by written rules. 

The four gospels are in the New Testament but are actually Old Covenant books since Israel was still under the Old Covenant (the Law of Moses) until Pentecost, which occurs in chapter two of Acts. 

Click here to read a short presentation about the amazing change that occurred at Pentecost so that Post-Pentecost believers can "walk by the Spirit".

Click here to read scriptures describing the transition from living by rules in the Old Covenant to living by two way communication with the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant.

Click here to learn what goes on in the invisible spiritual realm.

If you have any other questions, please contact me again!

My Prayer for You and all who are reading here:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, multiply Joseph's faith and love 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... that he may walk with you in all the works which you have ordained for him (Ephesians 2:10)... to have fellowship with you in your works... that Joseph may spread your word into all the earth... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen. 

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear Anonymous,

Your Question:

I've been having trouble finding a list of the six paths summarized. What are they please?

My Response:
The first five paths are summarized in the Introduction and experienced in subchapter 1.1. The fifth path is developed more deeply in subchapter 1.2. The sixth path is presented in subchapter 1.3 and developed more fully in Chapter 2 through its seven subchapters.  The sixth path is walking by the Spirit. Walking by the Spirit is revealed in a more technical way, from the express statements of scripture, in subchapter 4.7.

Below is a list of the six paths, plus the seventh path which is not available to us at the present time.

Seven Paths
1 Reading Scripture Alone
2 Reading Scripture while seeking the heart of the passage
3 Reading Scripture to God
4 Reading Scripture to God Within
5 PRAY the Scripture: Praise, Read, Ask, Yield
6 As we interact with God through Scripture in paths two through five, we interact with Him in daily life (walk by the Spirit... continuously turning to Him in scriptural prayer).
7 In Paradise, we will experience two way face to face conversations with God, as we reign under Christ forever, in the new earth. This is the Seventh Path. 

Your may click here to read the Introduction or read the following, from that page: 

Spiritual Interaction with God's Word
The first five paths represent five levels of spiritual interaction with God's word... five degrees of intimacy and intensity as we read scripture. All five paths are presented in the first subchapter to chapter 1. You can experience these five paths in less than ten minutes. I have received no better way to enter into the Sixth Path, than what is presented in that subchapter. None of God's children can be great in God's kingdom if they do not progress at least into the experience of Matthew 18:4, as is done in the Third path.

My Prayer For You:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, for all who read here, please multiply their faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... so they may walk intimately with you in this life... with no fear... that your word would go forth from them into all the earth... to the praise of your name... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear O. F.,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
I have read your thoughts on "once saved, always saved" - OSAS. I not only disagree, I wonder why you persist without scriptural backing on this erroneous path - what do you, and those who believe you stand to benefit - "sin, so grace might abound?" The word tells you severally that "continuing" in belief, in obedience, is what secures salvation, but you introduce grammar - "causation"! According to you, Apostasy is not possible. You redefine particular words in scripture to fit your narrative. To believe you, is to accept that believers and unbelievers will exist forever, because they will - this is what you understand "Eternal life" to mean. I know for a fact that eternal life is more than longevity of existence - it's the partaking for all eternity in the communicable character of God. OSAS is fallacy, falsehood.

My Response:
You are responding to my page titled, Once Saved Always Saved: Perseverance of the Saints, which may be read by clicking here. You said that I did not have "scriptural support", but I used over 60 scriptures or references to scripture in that page. We could be on the path towards unity if you would tell me specifically which ones I misinterpreted. Yes, eternal life is more than longevity of existence. It is knowing God and Jesus Christ as is expressly stated in John 17:3, which was quoted in my page:

• "This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17:3).

Apostasy is possible. And we are definitely not to sin, so that grace may abound. Your assertion on these two issue was beneficial and led me to add a section to the page to make that even more clear. Below is a section titled, “Falling Away and Severe Consequences of Sin”, that I added to the page titled, "Once Saved Always Saved” which may be read by clicking here:

Falling Away and Severe Consequence of Sin
The above passages do not encourage believers to sin.  Believers can "fall away" but God will not allow us to fall to the point of damnation, to be "condemned with the world" as the above passage plainly states.  To the contrary, sin in the believer may result in sickness or death as indicated also in the previous section. Sickness is may be a discipline to restore us to fellowship with God. Death could come when God discerns that one will not respond to discipline. God's discipline can be very severe... discipline which in the next section is figuratively described in scripture as burning, as with fire, to RESTORE the disobedient into fellowship.

Apostasy is definitely possible. But some English translations don't use that word, instead using the phrase "falling away", a phrase which I did write extensively about in that page as something that does exist. If you would send me the verse regarding apostasy which you are thinking that I am contradicting, I could respond to you. You presented various theological views without providing any supporting scripture references in your message. The crisis in Christianity is the presentation of opinions of men as doctrines of God rather than directly quoting scripture. Scripture is doctrine. "Once Saved Always Saved" is one such opinion, which I must regrettably quote if I am to refute the misunderstandings created by it. For you and I to agree, as commanded in 1 Corinthians 1:10, and explained here, I need to see the scriptures you rely on, so we may discuss scripture prayerfully, to the building up of the church as is commanded in scripture: 

"Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear" (Ephesians 4:29).

If you will prayerfully read my page again, praying through the scriptures which I present in context... and present your concerns to me with your scripture references, along with scriptures which you rely on, I will be happy to respond.

In particular, you said in your message that "continuing in belief, in obedience, is what secures salvation". If you mean that continuous obedience is necessary for eternal life, please provide the scripture which states this. This doctrine is clearly a false doctrine, presenting eternal life as something which is earned by obedience, a doctrine which is consistent with Islam and Hinduism, but not Biblical Christianity. The Biblical way to eternal life is shown by the following:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

"for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, that no one would boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly states that we are not saved by "works". So, we are not "saved" by continuing in obedience as you described. And Ephesians 2:1-7 clearly tells us that the type of salvation that is meant by the word "saved", as it is used in 2:8-9, is conversion from death into life (verse 5), the entrance into eternal life. So, while Ephesians 2:8-9 uses the word "saved", meaning as it always does, deliverance, it is speaking of conversion from spiritual death into spiritual life (verse 5): the deliverance of conversion.

No one is continuously obedient. If continuous obedience were the requirement for eternal life, only Jesus will have it.

My Prayer for you:
Lord of Heaven and earth, multiply O's faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again, that he walks with you intimately in all the works which you have ordained for him (Ephesians 2:10). 

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Please click here for my answer.

Dear Tim,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
You could have saved a lot of time by learning from the Church Fathers of the church, the ones that followed the apostles directly under Christ himself. They were the closest to the truth that has been passed down, not the so called truth of man that makes up what they think is truth. Research who the church father's knew the Woman of Revelation to be. Your research will be elevated the more you learn what the first followers of Christ knew and has been unwaivering since the time of Christ!

Tim, first I will pray for you...


My Prayer:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, please multiply Tim's faith and love 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... that Tim may walk intimately with you in your words, without any anxiety or fear... that your word will go out from Tim, from person to person, into all the earth... that the lost would be found... that the desperate would walk in your power... to the praise of your name... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

My Response to your comment:
When we look to men for answers we find many different and contradictory opinions. The identity of the woman in Revelation 12 is no different. But scripture tells us to search the scriptures to see if what men said is true:

"Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." Acts 17:11

In other words, when someone teaches a truth as a doctrine of God, we are supposed to say, "Where does it say that?"

The spiritual leaders of Jesus's day rejected him as the Messiah and had him crucified. So, those who trusted in religious leaders to interpret scripture for them were tragically misled... to the point that they screamed "crucify him!" before Pilot. Jeremiah aptly wrote, "Cursed is the man who trusts in man" (Jeremiah 17":5). 

Don't ever assume that a teacher is correct because he or she has graduated from a seminary. Always ask "Where does it say that?"

I encourage you to learn God's truth the way that scripture tells us to learn truth, by reading scripture and trusting the Holy Spirit to reveal it's meaning (1 Peter 2:2, 1 John 2:27)

"as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow" (1 Peter 2:2).

"As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don't need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him" (1 John 2:27). The anointing is the Holy Spirit. He teaches us. We don't need a human teacher. Click here for an explanation of this passage. 


David wrote, "I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation" (Psalm 119:99).  

David had a greater understanding that all the priests and prophets who taught him, because he meditated on God's testimonies, God's word, rather than commentaries of men. Click here for an explanation of this verse.

It takes prayer to understand scripture (Ephesians 2:16-20). It also takes time. We should read each book of the Bible from beginning to end... preferably in one sitting. After I have read or listened to a particular book of the Bible forty times, with much prayer, I begin to have a working knowledge of the book. It is easier to read a commentary. But trusting in commentaries is one of the primary reasons that people can't understand scripture. Scripture is perfect but commentaries aren't. As I read scripture instead of commentaries, I have pure and perfect scripture in my mind and memory, instead of partially true opinions from men. People often can't understand scripture because it contradicts what they have been incorrectly taught... 

To learn how to read scripture, click here. That will take you to the introduction of my book. The first subchapter after the introduction teaches how to read scripture.

Regarding my chapter on the woman of Revelation 12 which was the subject of your comment, I presented in that chapter the scriptures which identify the woman:
1) "The dragon grew angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep God's commandments and hold Jesus' testimony" (Revelation 12:17).2) 
2) "But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:12).

The first verse shows that the offspring of the woman keep God's commandments testify of Jesus. (They are Christians.) The second verse from the book of Galatians, written to Christians, reveals the identity of the mother of Christians, "Jerusalem that is above". In summary, the offspring of the woman is Christians, whose mother is Jerusalem above. So, Jerusalem above is the woman. So, we have simple, unambiguous statements directly from scripture to directly identify the woman. 

If a church father or anyone else believes that the woman is something else, like the nation of Israel, or Mary, there should be scripture to prove this. Please send me the scriptures used by the church fathers or others which prove her identity. In the case of Israel, you would need scriptures which state that all the children of the nation of Israel are Christians and that Israel is the mother of all Christians. In the case of Mary, you would need scripture which states that all of Mary's children were Christians and that Mary is the mother of all Christians. Spiritual Israel could refer to the same group of people that the woman represent. This would not be true in regard to the nation of Israel or genetic Israel. This is explained in the first two links below.

Click here to read my in depth explanation of the woman. 
Click here to read my abbreviated explanation of the woman. 
Click here to read many other chapters on Biblical prophecy.


If you have any other comments or questions, please contact me again.

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear C.

Thank you for contacting me!

Your Message:
Hello, my name is C. and I just wanted to ask should we as Christian keep the feast days of the Old Testament. My husband, who is a Christian, has been reading and studying and says that we should be keeping these feasts because God said it was something that we should be doing forever. He also says that we should be keeping the Sabbath Day. He feels we have replaced Gods chosen feast days with pagean days like Easter, Christmas, and such. I told him that Paul addressed this in Romans 14, but he says that Paul wasn't talking about the feast days because he kept them, and they worshipped on the Sabbath day. I don't want to argue but sometimes I wonder…should we? Please help me understand this. Is it wrong to celebrate Christmas?

My Prayer:
Lord of Heaven and earth, please grant C and her husband unity, growing faith and love, by your power and Spirit. Amen.  


My Response:
I have prayed for God to guide my response. I respect your husband's willingness to go against the crowd to obey Christ. You are fortunate to have him. I once believed in a way that was similar to your husband. But scripture has changed my mind. When in the university, I kept the sabbath. It was a fabulous day. I did not study on Sunday. We worshipped, sang praises, ate, prayed and laughed. Even if I had a final exams on Monday morning, I would not study on Sunday. One minute after midnight I would begin to study.  Please ask your husband to not be angry at what I have to say. I was angry when I first heard some of what I will share.


SUMMARY OF WHAT I WILL SHARE FROM SCRIPTURE:

• The Old Covenant, the Law of Moses was temporary and has been replaced by the New Covenant. So, we are not under the 10 commandments, which includes the Sabbath laws. 
• Christians are not under the Law of Moses, so we do not follow the Old Covenant (animal sacrifices, festivals, feast days, etc). We who are strong in faith may partially participate in Old Covenant festivals or feast days with observing Jews to "be all things to all people" to win them to Christ, if such participation could help us to win them to Christ, as Paul said. 
• You can participate in Easter and Christmas, even though there may be a historical connection to pagan festivals. You may actually be able to participate in pagan festivals, in a limited way, to win others to Christ. 
• "Forever" should be understood as "indefinite continuance" instead of never ending.

I will show all of the above, from the Scriptures.


EXPLANATIONS

1) The Old Covenant, the Law of Moses was temporary and has been replaced by the New Covenant. So, we are not under the 10 commandments, which includes the Sabbath laws. 

Click here, to read the subchapter titled, "After Pentecost: From the Law to the Spirit", for a very in depth explanation, from the scriptures. Below I show quotes from that page. But for complete explanations, click the link above.

The Law was temporary (until Christ):

• "Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made" (Galatians 3:19). 

Galatians 3:16 had already stated that Christ is the offspring, "to whom the promise was made". So, the Law was added until the coming of Christ.


The Law is a tutor to lead us to faith in Christ:

• "23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:23-24).

Believers are no longer under a tutor:

• "But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor" (Galatians 3:25).

In other words, the law was a tutor. We are no longer under a tutor. So, we are not under law.

"whatever things the law says,

it speaks to those who are under the law...

you are not under law. "

Romans 3:19, 6:14

So... the law has nothing to say to you if you are a believer. Scripture says that you are in the New Covenant of the Spirit, not the Old Covenant of Law. 

The scriptures are emphatic. 

As a believer in Jesus Christ you are:

• not under law, 
• dead to the Law, 
• released from the Law, 
• not under the jurisdiction of the Law and 
• do not serve in the Law (the letter). 

(Romans 6:14, 7:4, 7:6, 7:1, 7:6).

We have been discharged from the Ten Commandments:

• "I wouldn't have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn't have known coveting, unless the law had said, "You shall not covet"' (Romans 7:7).

• Do not covet is the tenth of the Ten Commandments. Paul specifically uses it as an example of what he means by the term "law". And we are "discharged from the law" (Romans 7:6). Some say that we are only discharged from ceremonial and sacrificial law. But Paul made it clear. We are discharged from the Ten Commandments.

We have been discharged from The Law to serve in the Spirit:

• "6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter" (Romans 7:6).

• "The letter" is a figure of speech for "the law". The transitional passage from 2 Corinthians will use this same figure of speech.

The change is in how we serve:

• "so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter" (Romans 7:6).

The passage says that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. "The letter" refers to the letters engraved in the stone tablets, containing the Ten Commandments (2 Corinthians 3:7). The stone tablets were known as the "tablets of the covenant" (Hebrews 9:4). That we serve in a new way is repeated in the transitional passage from 2 Corinthians.

We no longer serve in the law. There is the new and the old, the spirit and the letter. We serve in the spirit. But what is meant by "newness of spirit' verses "oldness of the letter"? Some say that "newness of spirit" is to obey inwardly, in our hearts, instead of in an outward legalistic way. But that isn't new. That was true in the Old Covenant as well. 

Not Serving in the Oldness of the Letter:

The old way was "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein" (Joshua 1:8). The old way to serve was to focus on the written law to practice law. When Israel was under law, God's presence was in the portable tabernacle until the temple was built by Solomon. Then God's presence was in the temple. They were to pray towards the temple because that was where God dwelt (1 Kings 8:29-30). But in the New Covenant of the Spirit, God's Holy Spirit is within us (John 14:17). In the New Covenant of the Spirit, we serve by focusing on His Spirit and walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25, Subchapter 4.7 titled "Walk by the Spirit, John 4:23). See subchapter 1.1, "Learning to Read" for help in walking by the Spirit, through scripture. 

The New Testament repeats the ten commandments, with the exception of the law of Sabbath. The reason for this omission is not expressly explained in scripture. But, Paul wrote, "One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind" (Romans 14:5). So, it appears that we have freedom in regard to the Sabbath to not work on the Sabbath... or to work on the Sabbath. We can and should enjoy Sabbath fellowship and rest each day... or on the first day of the week... or both.

Discharged from the Law,

Dead to the Law,

but NOT FREE TO SIN:

Above you saw that Romans 7:6 reveals that we have been "discharged from the law". And Romans 7:4 stated that we have "died to the law". Being discharged from law doesn't mean that we are free to sin. God anticipated that response and directly addressed it in Romans 6:15, "What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be!" (Romans 6:15). 

So, do we have no commandments in the new covenant? No. Jesus left one commandment: "This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded" (1 John 3:23). So, the one commandment is loving faith. Jesus said that all the Law and the Prophets were based on the command to love (Matthew 22:37-40).

In the New Covenant, we have one law. But we don't serve in the law. We serve in the Spirit. Remember, Romans 7:6 said "we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter". Serving in newness of the Spirit involves spiritual communication, interaction and empowerment. The Holy Spirit will remind us of the words of Christ (John 14:26, 1 John 2:27). We are to yield to the voice of the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 3:7-8).

The spirit interacts with New Covenant believers in new ways which will be detailed later in the paragraph titled "Serve in the Newness of the Spirit". Some say that we are discharged from the penalty of the Law, but that we are still supposed to focus on and obey the Ten Commandments. 

We do obey them but they are not our focus. The above scriptures said  "we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter" (Romans 7:6). The tenth of the Ten Commandments was used as a case in point. We saw that the Law was temporary, that we don't live by law and that we live by faith. Those scriptures said that we don't serve in the "oldness of the letter". In the New Covenant, we do obey the Ten Commandments. But we do it by being in the presence of God and obeying the Holy Spirit. That is how we "serve in newness of the spirit." We live by faith, seeing the unseen and following the unseen.

Romans 3:19 states, "whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law." Romans 6:14 tells us, "you are not under law. " In the New Covenant, the law doesn't speak to us. The Holy Spirit speaks to us. For example, the Holy Spirit may put these words of Christ in your mind from Mark 10:19 "Do not commit adultery". You might think that those words came into your mind through your memory. But, instead it would be the living word of God spoken by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 4:12). 

John 14:16-26 states that the Holy Spirit will "teach you all things" and "remind you of all that" Christ said.  That working of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all believers is part of the New Covenant, but not the Old. This passage was explained in the Introduction to this book.

There are Christians today who are trying to practice Christianity by following rules. These are Christians who are in the New Covenant but living as if they were in the Old Covenant. A New Covenant Christian can have intimate spiritual interaction with God within. That is what the Six Paths illustrate.

2) Christians are not under the Law of Moses, so we do not follow the Old Covenant (animal sacrifices, festivals, feast days, etc). We who are strong in faith may participate in Old Covenant festivals or feast days with observing Jews to "be all things to all people" to win them to Christ, if such participation could help us to win them to Christ, as Paul said. 

Paul wrote, " To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; ²¹ to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. ²² To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. ²³ Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it. ²⁴ Don't you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win" (1 Corinthians 9:18-24).

In other words, we may socialize with Jews at their events... and hope that they may come to know Christ through that association. 

But, to participate in Old Covenant events, thinking that such participation is a necessary requirement for eternal life is falling from Grace. So, the reason for our participation is important. Paul sternly warned the church at Galatia that they should not follow the Law as a means of justification... A reading of all five chapters of the book of Galatians is recommended. But, I will quote a few verses below:

"yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law" (Galatians 2:16).

"But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again? ¹⁰ You observe days, months, seasons, and years. ¹¹ I am afraid for you, that I might have wasted my labor for you" (Galatians 4:9-11).

"You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace" (Galatians 5:4)

So, if your husband believes that observation of the Old Covenant feasts is necessary for justification (essentially meaning that such observation is necessary to receive eternal life) such observation is a very serious sin.

3) You can participate in Easter and Christmas, even though there may be a historical connection to pagan festivals. You may actually be able to participate in pagan festivals, in a limited way, to win others to Christ.

Please prayerfully consider the following scriptures:
In 2 Kings 5:1-19, Naaman was captain in the army of Aram, enemy of Israel. His captive Israelite slave girl told him that Elisha, the prophet of Israel, could heal him of his leprosy. Naaman went to Elisha, and was healed. Naaman said in v 15, "Behold now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel". Then in verses 18-19, Naaman said to Elisha, "in this matter, may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon your servant in this matter. And he said to him, 'Go in peace.' " 

Notice that Naaman, knowing that Rimmon was not really God, bowed but did not worship Rimmon or express faith in Rimmon verbally. He also did not deny his faith in the one true God. But, by association with pagans in their activities, he can witness to pagans. Refusing to participate is a rejection of the pagans, making it difficult to witness to them. The next paragraph will provide additional illumination on the issues. But please join me in praying that the light of our God will penetrate the darkness… Into Satan's deepest strongholds… even into pagan temples… as life comes to the lost through the prayers of the saints, the Word and the witness of the Holy Spirit!

There are two passages from 1 Corinthians that deserve our prayerful consideration, as we prayerfully engage in transfer of unbelievers (Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, etc) from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of the Son (Colossians 1:13). Please prayerfully consider 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 and 1 Corinthians 10:14–33. Both passages involve food sacrificed to idols (8:1, 10:19,23, 28). Both passages indicate that eating food sacrificed to idols is acceptable (8:8,10,11; 10:25, 27). Observe that in 8:11, the week brother is ruined, not the one eating in the idol's temple with knowledge. Chapter 8 says that we should not eat food sacrificed to idols, if various conditions are met in regard to the effect it could have on the conscience of a Christian who is present at the meal who also has a weak faith (8:7,9,10,11, 12) so that we don't cause that Christian to stumble by encouraging him to eat that which is not wrong to eat, but which he thinks is wrong to eat (8:22,13). Chapter 10 has a similar prohibition in regard to the conscience of an unbeliever (10:24, 28-29), so as to not hinder our efforts to save the unbeliever's soul (10:33). Note that it is not wrong to dine in an idol's temple (8:10,1,8), eating food sacrifice to the idol, unless a believer with a weak conscience in regard to idols is present (8:9,10). It's not wrong for the believer of strong faith, because he knows that there is no God, except Yahweh (8:4,7,11). 

So, if there was a Christian with a "weak conscience, who believed that the Easter bunny or Santa Clause was a god, it would be sinful for you to participate in Easter Egg hunts or take a child to visit Santa Clause in front of that Christian, because of his or her weak conscience.

The key to participation... is knowledge on behalf of the participant, that pagan gods are really not gods... that the Easter bunny and Santa Clause are not gods... that the Easter bunny, Santa Clause, Christmas trees and etc have become cultural norms with no spiritual significance. That said, I would not lie to children about Santa Clause. We told our children that some presents were from Santa. When they were older, we told them that we were Santa Clause. In this way, we didn't alienate all of our children's friends and parents who practiced Santa Clause. 

We should also be careful to observe Paul's warning… "learn not to exceed what is written" (1 Cor 4:6). We should be careful not to apply commands specifically dealing with the worship of false gods to other things like playing cards, dancing, consuming gasoline, consuming alcohol, going to places which serve alcohol, watching movies, attending a secular university, attending a Christian school, wearing pants, long hair, short hair, owning or manufacturing weapons, socializing with heathens, refusing to socialize with heathens, building airplanes, believing the earth is flat, believing the earth is round, etc. Such things are considered to be sin by some believers and not to be sin by other believers. If we never do anything which any other believer thinks is sin, even though the other believer is mistaken, we really can't do much of anything. We couldn't interact with unbelievers in order to save their souls. If we cannot be part of a sinful organization, is there even a church on the planet which we can join? Please prayerfully consider the above scriptures. May God multiply your faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold… again and again and again… that His word be spread into the darkest places of the earth… that His name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen!

 

4) "Forever" should be understood as "indefinite continuance" instead of never ending.
The Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek. Some of these original words are sometimes translated as "everlasting" or "forever", when possibly they should be translated to infer indefinite continuance. Strong's words 5769 and 165 are examples in the Old Testament and New Testament, respectively.

Contradictions are sometimes created in some passages by rendering those words as "everlasting" or "forever". For example:

"You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest's office. Their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations" (Exodus 40:15).

The priesthood of Aaron (Exodus 40:12-15) was not eternal. It was of indefinite duration.  Christ replaced it. We do not have the sons of Aaron performing sacrifices or any priestly duties in the Christian church. Neither do present day Jews. Nowhere in the pages of the New Testament do we see a continuation of Aaronic priesthood. See Hebrews 7:1-10:18, especially 7:12, 8:4-5 and 9:11-14. Instead of the sons of Aaron being priests, all Christians are priests! See 1 Peter 2:9.

 

How Will You Know?

If you are wondering if a particular word in the Bible should be understood as forever or as indefinite continuance, click here to open the free online version of Rotherham's Emphasized Bible. Then look up the passage you are curious about and see how Rotherham translated the text. In the next paragraph you will learn more about Rotherham. 

In Depth Study: Everlasting or Indefinite Continuance?
The difference between eternal and indefinite continuance, and the proper translation of certain words in the Old and New Testament regarding that difference is treated here. 

For those of you who are interested in a detailed study of this subject written by a theologian who is expert in both Hebrew and Greek, see the analysis below by Joseph Rotherham from the introduction to his translation of the Bible, The Emphasized Bible. The remainder of this page, is devoted to Rotherham's scholarly examination of this topic, which was published in 1902.

As I quote Rotherham below, you will see some phrases, in bold text. Those phrases are in Rotherham's appendix, but not in bold print. But, I have rendered them in bold text below to make it easier for you to understand Rotherham's  point of view. 

I present below two entries from the appendix to Rotherham's Emphasized Bible:

• AGE
• AGE-ABIDING

Here is Rotherham's treatment of the subject:


AGE
To trace the Biblical development of the Ages is to gain a point from which many far-reaching observations may be made. The first thing to note is, that the idea of an "age" is one of comparatively slow growth. The Biblical parent of the Greek aion is the Hebrew olâm, and the root conception of olâm is concealed duration. Concealed duration is naturally unknown and unbounded; and it should be carefully remembered that it is from this radical conception of the nouns olâm and aion that the force of the qualifying terms l'olâm and aionios springs. (See below on Age-abiding.) The second thing to observe is, that duration does not fall into "ages" until it acquires character, and there is a transition of the times from one character into another. Only by degrees can a period round itself off into a "golden age," and then, by some observable transition, the time become so changed as to appear as only a "silver age" in comparison; or "an age of barbarism" undergo such an amelioration as to become gradually merged into "an age of civilisation." Accordingly it is not till we get far on in the O.T. that we meet with olâmim in the plural. The third thing to notice is, that "ages" may be so modified by local conditions as to vary with country and sphere; so that the ages in different lands may be far from simultaneous. While one country is advancing in civilisation or religion, another may be receding. A golden age may not be world-wide; a barbaric period may not afflict all lands at once and an age of activity in one direction may be an age of stagnation or retrogression in another. In fine, ages may overlap and interlace and interchange; and the result may be one of the utmost complexity, calling for the most thoughtful and guarded discrimination. "The patriarchal age" may, for the Hebrews, be changed into "the Mosaic," and yet for other nations remain patriarchal still. "The Mosaic age" naturally affects those only who come under Moses. It is folly for Gentiles to speak as if they had once been under Moses if they never were. The fourth point of importance is, that only as a change of age is supernaturally superinduced can we assume to characterise a given age as a divine dispensation. It cannot be affirmed that God has placed under Moses nations whom at the same time he is "suffering to walk after their own ways " (Ac. xiv. 16). The fifth consideration that arises is, that larger ages may include smaller ones. The larger age of Mosaism may embrace the smaller ages of the Judges, of the Kings, of the Dispersions. The final Christian age may resolve itself into the age of the Church, to be followed by the age of the Kingdom. Nay, we may go further and affirm, that all ages, up to a given point, may be predominantly evil, and then, from that point onward, be wholly or prevailingly good. When the foregoing factors of thought have been patiently digested, the student to whom the subject is new may find it comparatively easy to accommodate his mind to the crowning discrimination which can he traced in the Christian Scriptures, and in tracing which the eye will rest on the following land-marks. "This age" and "the coming" are terms which describe a distinction which runs through the New Testament (Mt. xii. 32; Eph. i. 21). (i.) "This Age" is characterised as one of anxieties (Mk. iv. 19); of a commingling of good seed and bad in the field sown by the Son of Man (Mt. xiii. 24-30, 36-43); of persecutions (Mk. x. 30); of need for nonconformity (Ro. xii. 2; Tt. ii. 12); of the crucifying of the Lord of glory by its rulers (1 Co. ii. 8); or the deification of Satan (2 Co. iv. 4); of the prevalence of evil (Gal. i. 4, cp. Eph. ii. 2; 2 Tim. iv. 10). (ii.) "The coming age" will be signalised by the forthshining of the glory of the Lord (Tt. ii. 13; 1 Co. xv. 23); the resurrection from among the dead (Lu. xx. 35); the bestowal of age-abiding life (Mk. x. 30; Lu. xviii. 30); and the forthshining of the righteous in the kingdom (Mt. xiii. 39, 43).—"The conclusion of the age" is spoken of in Mt. xiii. 39, 40, 49; xxiv. 3; xxviii. 20; "the conjunction of the ages," Heb. ix. 26; and "the ends of the ages," 1 Co. x. 11. (Cp. note on "Age-abiding" below.)




AGE-ABIDING
Age-abiding: that is, lasting for an indefinite or perpetual age; or abiding from age to age. The reasons for adopting this rendering of the Greek adjective aionios are: 
(i.) to keep up a close connection with the word "age" as the translation, in this New Testament, of the cognate noun aion; and (ii.) to avoid, as too restricted, the confinement of the idea to any particular, limited age. It is true that aion does not of itself mean absolute eternity, otherwise it would not submit to be multiplied by itself, as in the familiar phrase "aions of aions," which would then be equivalent to "eternities of eternities"; and it is further true that, in the history of divine revelation, aion sometimes puts a dispensational limit upon itself, so far as that the dawn of a new aion or "age" serves to close and exclude an old aion or "age," the end of which was aforetime concealed in the mists of an undefined futurity (cp. note on "Age," above). But, with all this, it is most important to remember that "age" is not the primary meaning of aion: rather,  Moreover, it seems to be as clothed with this more primitive significance, that the qualifying word aionios comes into use.   The noun aion itself clings to this fundamental notion in the well-known idiomatic phrase eis ton aiona (lit. "into" or "unto the age"); in the interpretation of which, if the force of idiom he ignored, and each word be pressed on its individual merits, the reader will be continually teased by feeling that he is being referred to some particular and pre-eminent age, which ought to be well known, while all the time it is unknown. He may say: "'Unto the age' —unto what age?" and there will be nothing in context or circumstance to tell him; whereas, once assume the existence of an idiom, and then all perplexity is at an end —l'olâm, aionios and eis ton aiona become very nearly equivalent expressions, the essence of which is "indefinite continuance." The Hebrew servant's bondage, for example, is to be indefinitely prolonged: it is to be for life—the end of which cannot be seen (Exo. xxi. 6). So also the Hebrew priesthood was appointed for indefinite continuance, when as yet it could not be foreseen that a change in the priesthood would necessitate a change in the law (Exo. xl. 15; He. vii. 12). The surrender of Samuel, by his mother, to the priestly service is to be taken as equally undefined (1 S. i. 22). To the barrenness of the fig-tree no limit can be assigned (Mt. xxi. 19). The son does not cease to be welcome in his father's house, save by externally induced bounds to possibility (Jn. viii. 35). Upon the "aionion correction" (Mt. xxv. 46) no arbitrary limit can be laid,—unless indeed the essential nature of "correction" implies it—aionios of itself utterly refuses to settle the dread question. If the equally "aionion life" is to be endless, that is best made out from the mighty negatives of Scripture ("immortal," "incorruptible," "unfading": 1 Co. xv. 51-54; 1 P. i. 4), and from the correlative promise. "Because I live ye also shall live" (Jn. xiv. 19; He. vii. 16).

Erik, Thank you for your message! Your Message: I enjoyed your commentary on Matthew 24:34. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on Matthew 10:23. Thanks. My Response: I have prayed to our Lord for the answer to your question. I will pray for you and all who read here and then respond. Lord of Heaven and earth, fan the flames of your Spirit in Erik and all who read here, multiplying their faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, that they have no fear... that your word would spread through them into all the earth. Give us ears to hear, that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.  Click here for greater intimacy with God through scripture, the primary purpose of this site.  My other chapters on prophecy are in this link. Response to Your Message: In this link I presented "this generation" from Matthew 24:34 as the generation of Satan, which spans thousands of years. This understanding comes from the words of Jesus in Matthew 23, to prove that Jesus's prophecy in Matthew 24:34 did not fail. In Matthew 24:34 Jesus said "this generation will not pass away until all these things are accomplished". You asked about Matthew 10:23. Here it is: "But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next, for most certainly I tell you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man has come. But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next, for most certainly I tell you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man has come" (Matthew 10:23). Here is a similar passage: Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom" (Matthew 16:28).

Both passages speak of the coming of the Son of Man. But what coming do they speak of? Is it in our future or our past? Please prayerfully consider the scriptures and you shall see.

To understand the context for Matthew 10:23 please read Matthew 9:36-11:1. In 9:38 Jesus instructs the disciples to ask God to send workers into the harvest of souls. Then the entire following chapter is about Jesus sending them. The entire passage is a training session for preaching the kingdom of Heaven. Notice that 11:1 reads, "When Jesus had finished directing his twelve disciples, he departed..." The phrase "finished directing" indicates that the instructions were finished at that point. In 9:36-11:1, Jesus sent the disciples to the cities of Israel (10:5-7) to preach "the kingdom of Heaven" (10:7).  It is noteworthy that 10:23, occurs almost exactly in the center of this long passage of instruction for preaching "the kingdom of Heaven". So, the context of Matthew 10:23, "you will not have gone through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man has come", is the preaching of the Kingdom of Heaven. So, the phrase "until the Son of Man has come" has something to do with the "kingdom of Heaven". 

So I see 10:23 in that context. I see the coming of Matthew 10:23 as his "coming in his kingdom" which occurred "when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places"  (Ephesians 1:20-23, Revelation 3:21). This is the same coming as mentioned in Matthew 16:28  above which reads, "the Son of Man coming in his kingdom". So, I believe that Matthew 10:23 and 16:28 both speak of the same coming... coming in his kingdom.

One of the thieves on the cross said that Jesus would come into his kingdom after Jesus died (Luke 23:42-43). Jesus does not dispute this, but tells the thief that he will be with Jesus in Paradise. This indicates that Jesus had not yet come into his kingdom while he was on the cross. After his death, when he was raised from the dead, Jesus was placed "above all rule and authority" (Ephesians 1:20-21). That sounds like Jesus was a king. Jesus was on his Father's throne when the book of Revelation was written (Revelation 3:21). That sounds like he is a king as well. 

Coming in his kingdom at his resurrection fits both Matthew 10:23 and 16:28. His resurrection would reasonably have occurred before the disciples went to every city in Israel. So, coming into his kingdom at the resurrection is consistent with Matthew 10:23. His resurrection occurred before some of the twelve apostles tasted death. It occurred after the death of Judas but before the deaths of the other eleven apostles (Matthew 27:1-8). So, coming into his kingdom at the resurrection is consistent with Matthew 16:28 as well.

His kingdom which was proclaimed in Matthew 10:7 and 16:28 was a spiritual kingdom, being "not of this world" (John 18:36). People were entering the kingdom of Heaven before the crucifixion (Matthew 11:12, 19:14). Since people were entering the kingdom at that time and since there is no scriptural record of a physical kingdom of God at that time, it was a spiritual rather than a physical kingdom that they entered. This spiritual kingdom was established in the first coming of Jesus, during the rule of Rome, just like the book of Daniel prophesied. Click here to read about the fulfillment of Daniel's 70 weeks.


OTHER POSSIBILITES
I will now present some other possibilities for Matthew 10:23 and the reasons I believe them to be incorrect.

Incarnation
Jesus was obviously present at the time he spoke Matthew 10:23. So, the incarnation doesn't appear to be the coming of the Son of Man mentioned in Matthew 10:23. 

Destruction of Jerusalem
"Has come" in Matthew 10:23 could not refer to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, since the disciples could surely have passed through all the cities of Israel in the thirty-seven or so years which passed between the crucifixion of our Lord in 30-33 AD and 70 AD.

Rapture and  Resurrection of Saints
"Has come" in Matthew 10:23 could not refer to the time of the rapture and resurrection, since those things have not occurred to the present day and the disciples finished going through the cities of Israel in the first century. 

Tribulation and Millennial Kingdom
"Has come" in Matthew 10:23 could not refer to the time of the tribulation (666) or the millennial kingdom since those things have not occurred to the present day and the disciples finished going through the cities of Israel in the first century. The millennium is the 1000 year reign of Christ which is only mentioned in Revelation 20:1-8, during which Satan is unable to deceive the nations (Revelation 20:3). 

Other Old Testament Prophecies
A fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies regarding "the Son of Man" to take place after Jesus entered Jerusalem his final time is not consistent with Matthew 10:23.

In Matthew 9:36-11:1 the disciples were proclaiming the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus had come to initiate the kingdom of Heaven which was prophesied to begin during the reign of Rome in Daniel 2:1-45, especially 2:35,40,44; as well as Daniel 7:1-27, especially 7:27.  All Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled by 70 AD, with the destruction of Jerusalem, according to Luke 21:22. Click here for more on this. All Old Testament prophecies regarding the Son of Man from those passages in Daniel 2, 7, 9, 12 and any other Old Testament book, were completely fulfilled when Jesus entered Jerusalem according to Luke 18:31.

Here is Luke 18:31...
"He took the twelve aside, and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be completed" (Luke 18:31). 

Contrary to much of what has been taught in the last one hundred years concerning alleged unfulfilled Old Testament prophecies, all Old Testament prophecies regarding the "Son of Man" were fulfilled when Jesus entered Jerusalem in 30-33 AD, just like Luke 18:31 above said.

As I wrote above... his kingdom which was proclaimed in Matthew 10:7 was a spiritual kingdom, being "not of this world" (John 18:36). People were entering the kingdom of Heaven before the crucifixion (Matthew 11:12, 19:14). Since people were entering the kingdom at that time and since there is no scriptural record of a physical kingdom of God at that time, it was a spiritual rather than a physical kingdom that they entered. This spiritual kingdom was established in the first coming of Jesus, during the rule of Rome, just like the book of Daniel prophesied. Click here to read about the fulfillment of Daniel's 70 weeks.

The above contains my prayerful understanding at the present time. If you believe that my presentation has contradicted any scripture, please let me know. If anyone has a better explanation, please contact me and give me a link to that explanation. If I am incorrect, I want to be corrected. 

God Bless,
Jim Phillips

Dear Brian,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
What happens to the wicked who are alive or those left behind after the rapture? What happens to planet earth when the rapture takes place?


My Response: In 13:1 you will see the beast, the Christian killer, who overcomes the saints (13:7), who is named 666 (13:18). Then in 14:1-5 you see 144,000 blameless ones on Mount Zion with Christ (possibly the 144,000 sealed from Israel in 7:1-8). Then you see the Gospel preached (14:6-7), unbelievers warned (14:8-11), saints persevering and dying for their testimony (14:12-13), followed by the rapture (14:14-16) and Armageddon (14:17-20), with lots of blood (14:20), the millennial kingdom (20:1-9), the judgement (20:10-15), possibly the burning of the earth (2 Peter 3:7-13) which occurs with the "fire" at Revelation 20:9 and then the eternal state of the new Jerusalem (21:1-22:5), with "a new heaven and a new earth" in 21:1... It appears that Everyone who is not raptured in 14:14-16 will be killed in 14:17-20 and 19:17-21... the last day, the end of the age. The seventh trumpet and seventh bowl revelations of Armageddon are presented in 14:17-20 and 19:17-21, respectively. To see why 14:17-20 and 19:17-21 both address the same period of time,  click here  to read the subchapter titled, "Chronology and Organizational Structure in the Book of Revelation".


Click here to read an explanation of the above and to see that Revelation 14:14-16 is the rapture, from the scriptures.

Click here to learn what scripture says about preparing for the return of Christ.

My Prayer for You:
Lord of Heaven and earth, multiply Brian's faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... that Brian has no fear... that your word would go out from Brian, from person to person, into all the earth... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! I pray the same prayer for all who read in this page! Amen.

Dear Ross,

Thank you for your message!

Your Message:
How can you suggest that the Rapture will occur ""After the Tribulation "" when the Bible clearly says that God's people/Christian Believers will not endure the wrath of God. ????

My prayer for you and all who read here:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, for Ross and all who read here, multiply their faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... that they may have no fear... that they may walk in the Spirit... in Your word... that Your word may spread from them, from person to person... into all the earth... that Your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

My Response:
Sounds like you have heard that Christians will not endure God's wrath which is poured out in the tribulation, so Christians must be raptured prior to the tribulation. In other words, Christians can't be present during the tribulation. But Christians are clearly present in the tribulation. In response to your question I copied a portion of the page titled, "Will the Rapture Come Before the Tribulation?". Click here to read that page.

Believers in Christ are mentioned repeatedly in the book of Revelation in the very passages that describe the tribulation. They are referred to as "saints", "the dead who die in the Lord", 'those who hold Jesus' testimony" and etc. I will present these scriptures farther down this page. 

The word "church" in the Bible is one of the English translations of the Greek word ekkleesia. Ekkleesia is an assembly. Ekkleesia is actually used for the assembly of Israel in the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant (Acts 7:38). It is also used for the assemblies of unbelievers (Acts 19:32, 39, 41). So, the word "ekkleesia" does not only refer to a group of New Covenant believers. It is an assembly. The word ekkleesia is used one-hundred and fourteen times in the New Testament. Not one time is it used in connection with the rapture. Not once. 

In the very last verse of Revelation 12, those who testify of Jesus are being persecuted: 

• "The dragon grew angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep God's commandments and hold Jesus' testimony." (Revelation 12:17). 

It is clear that those who testify of Jesus and keep God's commandments are attacked. 

Then the very next verse, 13:1, introduces us to the beast, 666. His identification by the number 666 is not revealed until 13:18. But, Revelation 13:7 tells us what the beast does: 

• "and it was given to him (the beast) to make war with the saints and to overcome them" (Revelation 13:7). 

There is more: 

• "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is to go into captivity, he will go into captivity. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, he must be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints" (Revelation 13:8-10).

Verse 8 tells us that those whose names were not written in the book of life will worship the beast. Verse 10 speaks of the perseverance (endurance) of the saints. That's because the saints are present when the beast is persecuting the saints (verse 7). How can the beast persecute the saints if the saints are not present? If saints are present, then the church is present. Revelation 13:15 tells us that those who refuse to worship the beast will be killed. The second beast from Revelation 13:11 will: "cause as many as wouldn't worship the Image of the beast to be killed" (Revelation 13:15). So, the saints, who were specifically mentioned in 13:10 are being killed for refusal to worship the image of the beast in 13:15. But there is much more: 

• "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on" (Revelation 14:13).

So it is abundantly and obviously clear, that the saints are present on the earth in Revelation 14:13. Then, the next few verses, Revelation 14:14-20, show that the saints are raptured in Revelation 14:14-16... and those who were left behind on the earth are reaped in 14:17-20 and thrown into the "great wine press of the wrath of God" (14:19). Let's look at those passages again. 

• "14 I looked, and saw a white cloud, and on the cloud one sitting like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15 Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, "Send your sickle, and reap; for the hour to reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe!" 16 He who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped" (Revelation 14:14-16).

In these three verses, the saints are taken up to Christ. And it's a good thing… Because those who remained on the earth after the harvest by the Son of Man in  14–16, are the subject of the reaping by an angel in verses 17-20, and are thrown into the wine press of the wrath of God. 

• "17 Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. 18 Another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Send your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for the earth's grapes are fully ripe!" 19 The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 The wine press was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia*" (Revelation 14:17–20). 

* 296 kilometers or 184 miles

The saints are raptured in verses 14-16. The "wrath of God'" comes to those who remain in verses 17-20. So, the saints did not incur the "wrath of God".


The Wrath of God
You may have heard that Christians do not incur the wrath of God and therefore Christians will not be present during the great tribulation. However, you just saw in the scriptures above that Christians are present during the great tribulation. I say... look... see... they are there. They are as obvious as a mountain. The incorrect presumption here is that presence during wrath is the same as incurring wrath. Israel was present during the ten plagues which God sent on Egypt. But Egypt, not Israel was destroyed by those plagues.

I suggest that you prayerfully read the book of Revelation. Unless God reveals its contents directly to your mind, you will not know what is in the book unless you read it. And if you read the book, it will be readily apparent that Christians will be present during the tribulation, will not suffer the wrath of God, but will suffer the wrath of Satan, the beast and their followers. The rapture occurred in Revelation 14:14-16. Armageddon occurred in the next three verses, 14:17-20. Because of the rapture in verses 14-16, the Christians observed, but did not receive the wrath of God which we see in the next three verses, 17-20.

Dear Robin,

Thank you for your message!

My Prayer for You and All Who Read Here:
Lord of Heaven and Earth, Please multiply Robin's faith 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold, again and again and again... to understand you and your word... that Robin may walk with you in your word, talking to you about your words... to spread your word, from person to person, into all the earth... that your name be lifted higher and higher and higher! Amen.

Your Message:
So how does this correlate with a parables of the Fig Tree in the dry bones? We know the dry bones represent Israel coming back to their land and the fig tree representing as we see the leaves on the fig tree we take this as a sign of spring, so when we see the signs we know that the end is near. Dry bones 1948 Israel came back to their land, and all the things Jesus spoke about in 2nd Timothy 3 we see today! I was looking up the scripture that this generation shall not pass before the son of man comes back, and came across your article. After reading your writing I'm now more confused about are we the generation to see Jesus coming in the clouds to take his bride? Since a spiritual generation is apparently what is being talked about. Thanks!

My Response: 
I have asked our Lord to guide my response to your message. The remedy for confusion is to interact with God's word prayerfully, in the Spirit. Click here to open my free online book (from which you were and are now reading) and please click "Begin Reading" to read the introduction and the first subchapter to the book. The introduction prepares you for the first subchapter. The first subchapter will teach you to read prayerfully... and without prayerful reading, confusion will not depart from you. He will guide you as to which other portions of my book you should prayerfully read.

Below I will reproduce your message, with my responses inserted in BOLD ALL CAPS. Please read my responses prayerfully.

Your Message With MY RESPONSES:
So how does this correlate with a parables of the Fig Tree in the dry bones? We know the dry bones represent Israel coming back to their land and the fig tree representing as we see the leaves on the fig tree we take this as a sign of spring, so when we see the signs we know that the end is near. 

I WILL QUOTE A RELEVANT PORTION FROM MY EXEGISIS OF MATTHEW 24, WHICH MAY BE READ IN ITS ENTIRETY BY CLICKING HERE. IT IS NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE: "24:32-34 AS GOD'S RAPTURED AND RESURRECTED CHILDREN WATCH AT CHRIST'S SIDE, IN THE CLOUDS, OBSERVING THE SIGNS OF 24:4-31, THEY KNOW THAT CHRIST'S COMING TO JUDGE IS "AT THE DOOR" (24:33). I UNDERSTAND THE WORD "YOU" IN VERSE 33 TO MEAN THE GENERATION OF GOD. SO, I UNDERSTAND IT TO MEAN THAT THE GENERATION OF GOD, WHICH SPANS THOUSANDS OF YEARS, WILL SEE "ALL THESE THINGS". AND WHEN THE GENERATION OF GOD SEES THE LAST OF THEM, CHRIST IS 'NEAR... AT THE DOORS'".

Dry bones 1948 Israel came back to their land, and all the things Jesus spoke about in 2nd Timothy 3 we see today! 

BECAUSE OF LUKE 21:20-22, WHICH MAY BE UNDERSTOOD BY CLICKING HERE, WE MUST UNDERSTAND ALL OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY TO HAVE BEEN FULFILLED BY THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IN 70 AD. CLICK HERE TO SEE A SHORT SEVEN PART ARTICLE BY JOHN PIPER SHOWING FROM SCRIPTURE THAT JEWISH AND GENTILE BELIEVERS INHERIT THE LAND OF ISRAEL (#6).  ALL JEWS DO NOT INHERIT THE LAND (#3). CLICK HERE TO READ ADAM CLARKE'S EXPLANATION OF EZEKIEL 37:14, TO SEE THAT THE PROPHECY OF DRY BONES CAME TRUE WHEN THE REMNANT RETURNED FROM BABYLON TO JERUSALEM AT THE ORDER OF CYRUS. I SEE "COME OUT OF YOUR GRAVES" IN EZEKIEL 37:11-13 AND "I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU" in 37:14 AS FIGURATIVE FOR LIFE TO A DEAD NATION, RETURNING TO THE LAND AS GOD PROMISED THEY WOULD WHEN THEY RETURNED TO HIM WITH THEIR WHOLE HEARTS (DEUTERONOMY 30:1-3). WHOLE HEARTS CORRELATES WITH COMING ALIVE AND HIS SPIRIT IN THE NATION AGAIN. THE TEACHINGS OF 2 TIMOTHY 3 ARE SEEN TODAY, AS THEY HAVE BEEN SEEN SINCE THE FIRST COMING. I BELIEVE THAT THE PHRASE "LAST DAYS" IN 3:1 INDICATES THE PERIOD WE LIVE IN, THE PERIOD IN BETWEEN THE FIRST COMING AND SECOND COMING.

I was looking up the scripture that this generation shall not pass before the son of man comes back, and came across your article. After reading your writing I'm now more confused about are we the generation to see Jesus coming in the clouds to take his bride? Since a spiritual generation is apparently what is being talked about. Thanks!

THE CHILDREN OF GOD ARE THE GENERATION OF GOD. CLICK HERE TO SEE THAT THE GENERATION OF GOD SPANS THOUSANDS OF YEARS. YES, THE CHILDREN OF GOD WILL SEE JESUS COMING IN THE CLOUDS. IN THE 70'S I WAS TAUGHT SPECULATIVE THEOLOGY THAT GENERATIONS LASTED 40 YEARS SO THE SECOND COMING WOULD COME BY 1988. YOU AND I MAY SEE THE SECOND COMING. BUT NOT NECESSARILY.

CLICK HERE FOR ACCESS TO ALL MY CHAPTERS ON PROPHECY. ITS ALL FREE. I DON'T ACCEPT OR RECEIVE DONATIONS OR ANY FINANCIAL COMPENSATION IN ANY FORM FOR MY WRITINGS OR MY MINISTRY. 

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO BE READY FOR HIS COMING, WHETHER YOU ARE PHYSICALLY ALIVE AT HIS COMING OR AWAKE FROM SLEEP AT HIS COMING.

As I wrote at the beginning of this page, Click here to open my free online book (from which you were reading) and please click "Begin Reading" to read the introduction and the first subchapter to the book. The introduction prepares you for the first subchapter. The first subchapter will teach you to read prayerfully... and without prayerful reading, confusion will not depart from you.

If you have other questions, please contact me again.

God Bless, 
Jim Phillips