Radical Disciples – A Remnant Revolution

Been busy with school, ministry and work……will be writing some new articles soon….been is a season of heavy revelation about the Kingdoms function here on earth at this time as well as the time to sound the alarm calling Gods people back to repentance and living Holy Sanctified set-a-part lives unto the Glory of the Lord….

Are we supposed to really be making disciples? Or are we walking in disobedience if we do not make time for the kingdom and fill it with the things of this world?

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Is God trying to get our attention?

I have never seen anything like it. Pastor David Platt of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama released his book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream in May of this year. It already has 370,000 copies in print and is in its 18th printing. It has spread largely by word of mouth across the country. A neighbor came up to my wife recently and spontaneously asked, “Have you seen this great new book called Radical?” It has been as high as #18 on Amazon and has even caught the attention of columnist David Brooks of the New York Times. (See his column of September 6.)

Popularity is not usually an important thing to measure, but when a book with such great biblical content starts to catch on, we have to ask, “Is God doing something new in our day to awaken his Church?”“Is He calling His people to radical discipleship for the sake of God’s glory in all the earth?” I believe He is, and that the Church is in desperate need of the biblical message that David Platt presents in Radical.

David’s message has the potential to change the way we do both church and mission. It calls us to reorder our priorities to what God cares about. With a clarity and passion that is rare, David boldly lays out a vision of the Church’s mission in this world that is wholly biblical and God-centered. David writes,

“The message of biblical Christianity is ‘God loves me so that I might make Him—His ways, His salvation, His glory, and His greatness—known among all nations” (Radical, p. 70).

David calls the Church to a sacrificial commitment to reaching all of the un- reached peoples so that God’s glory is made known in all the earth. This needs to be the guiding vision and purpose for every church. Without it we are set adrift on the endless rolling sea of a self-centered gospel where the believer’s only destination on the horizon is his own blessing. We report on this stunning new book and its young author starting on page 6.

In addition to Radical, Floyd McClung has released his new book Follow: A Simple and Profound Call to Live Like Jesus. Both of these books are calling the church to “radical discipleship.” On top of this, the latest edition of Operation World, which helped lead David Platt to his mission vision, is now available. We have arranged special quantity discounts on all three books for MF readers. See page 16 for more information.

Doing Church as Jesus Intended

How do we determine whether a church is successful or not? Is it the size of the church service on Sunday morning? Is it the size of the church budget or the number of activities for kids, young adults, women, etc.? There are many criteria that we could use, but the real question is whether we are doing what Jesus has called us to do. The only standard that counts is His. If we are not doing what Jesus has called us to do, then it does not matter how many people we can get into a building on any given day of the week.

Making Disciples

So what has Jesus called us to do? In Matthew 4:19, Jesus says to Peter and his brother Andrew, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We are to be followers of Jesus who, with God’s power, make other people followers of Jesus too. We call this discipleship. Jesus confirms this calling for us all in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Paul clarifies this calling in 2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” This is what Jesus has called the Church to do—to make disciples who can make disciples. Everything we do as a church must be evaluated on the basis of whether it helps us accomplish the goal of making disciples who can make disciples, both within our own culture and cross-culturally in every people. That must be our standard for success as the Church.

So how are we doing overall? Are we effectively making disciples that are making disciples? As I reported in my editorial in the Sept.-Oct. 2009 issue, over half of our young people are walking away from the church in college. Josh McDowell says that unless something is done quickly to change this situation, the current adults will be “The Last Christian Generation.” According to George Barna, only a small minority of the people in our pews hold to sound biblical doctrine. Even fewer share their faith with others. The overall American church is not growing. At best it is barely hanging on against the onslaught from a hostile secular culture. Our common model for doing church is for people to “pray the prayer and sit in a chair”¹ and listen to the pastor. It is not making disciples who can make disciples. The global missionary effort will never succeed if we simply bring this broken model of doing church to every tribe and tongue. But if we make disciples who make disciples, as God has designed His Kingdom to grow, the gates of Hell will not stand against the onslaught of Christ’s advancing Church.

What is the Problem?

Like the culture at large, our church culture in America is centered on entertainment, not on equipping people as effective disciple-makers. The pastor is the “performer,” and the people are the spectators. Most churches think they can grow if only they have a gifted speaker who can draw a crowd on Sunday morning. They spend much of their energy, time and money on perfecting the Sunday morning “show.” How many churches focus on looking for pastors who have a demonstrated ability to make disciples who can make disciples? There is nothing wrong with having a wonderful worship service, or a pastor who is a great teacher, but if that is the main focus of a church then it is out of focus on what really counts.

Disciple-making takes place through intentional relationships where spiritual life and maturity can be passed on from one person to another. A pastor cannot personally disciple hundreds or thou- sands of people by himself, but that is what our current church model expects him to do. The Sunday morning sermon is not discipleship. We need a new biblical model for doing church that equips all believers to be disciple-makers, not just the pastor. Here is one notable example from which we can learn.

From its founding, Real Life Ministries of Post Falls, Idaho has been commit- ted to creating a new model for doing church. They determined that absolutely everything they did would be to achieve the goal of making disciples who can make disciples. They are based in a small town of just 26,000, but in just 12 years they have grown from a church plant of four couples to 8,500 members.

They have also established six other church plants in their area, each with over 1,000 members. From 2002-2006, they were the fastest growing non-denominational church in America. Every year hundreds of people come to faith in Christ for the first time through their 600+ home-based discipleship groups. It is not the pastor of the church who is leading these people to faith. It is the disciples of this church making new disciples.

The late Avery Willis, former director of operations for the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptists, believed this was the best model of church-based discipleship he had ever seen, and he gave the last days of his life to promoting it. NavPress has also been so impressed with their work that they are partnering with them in developing discipleship materials.

The church provides frequent training for church leaders in their disciple- ship model. For more information, go to  and check out “An Overview of the Discipleship Process” (23 min. audio), or call 208-777-7325.

We need to learn from each other if we are to develop new church models that work. The global Church must learn how to make disciples who can make disciples, or the task of discipling the nations will always remain a distant and unattainable vision. We must answer God’s call to radical disciple-making.

by Rick Wood

Tolerance can be a virtue, but it can also betray an inexcusable weakness of character. We admire the person who tolerates differences where no great issue is at stake. He allows for a variety of preferences, methods, and unimportant viewpoints. He would rather be killed for a sheep than for a lamb.

But there is another form of tolerance that is despicable. That is the willingness to remain silent when God’s name is blasphemed or Christ is dishonored. It is the treachery of silence when truth is on the scaffold. It is the unwillingness to speak out against evil. Tolerance that condones deceit and unrighteousness is sin.

Those who think that Jesus was always tolerant should read Matthew 23, a denunciation of hypocrisy. This passage proves forever that our Lord was capable of scathing indignation at the pretense of religious leaders. Or they should read Revelation 2:20, where he condemned the Church in Thyatira for tolerating a woman teacher named Jezebel.

Paul, too, was intolerant of evil. He even mentioned names, something that is considered unacceptable in evangelical circles today. He delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme (1 Timothy 1:20). He didn’t hesitate to single out Hymenaeus and Philetus as false teachers (2 Timothy 2:17). And he denounced Alexander the coppersmith by name for his evil behavior (2 Timothy 4:14).

John also had the courage to name Diotrephes as one who loved to have the pre-eminence (3 John 9). It seems that the church today has lost its capacity for godly intolerance. As Robert G Lee said, “We live in a world of invertebrate theology, jellyfish mortality, seesaw religion, India rubber convictions, somersault philosophy that tells us what we already know in words which we do not understand.”

The writings of William Barclay are another case in point. Barclay denies the deity of Christ, the inspiration of the Scriptures, the miracles of Jesus and his substitutionary atonement. He believes in the eventual salvation of all mankind.

Yet his books are sold in the majority of Christian bookstores. He is widely quoted by prominent evangelical leaders. And multitudes of Christians study his books on the specious excuse that ‘they contain such valuable background information’. The fact that he is a heretic, a blasphemer and a deceiver is not important. Neither, apparently, is the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A missionary to India was right on target when he wrote, “Toleration has become so tolerant, that evil is included in that tolerance. We are in danger of becoming ‘moral cows’ in our plump comfortableness.”

It is an ungodly tolerance that has allowed so many pulpits in America to be filled with “false apostles and deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostle’s of Christ.”

Detecting a resemblance to conditions in Elijah’s day, J. Sidlow Baxter writes, ‘Such are the people who today, with sickly kindness, will tolerate teachers of errors in our pulpits because they are such smooth-mannered and amiable gentlemen. They would rather allow error to be preached and souls to be deceived than hurt the preacher’s feelings. Let Baal be worshiped rather than drought come! Let the cancer kill its victim rather than the cruel surgeon use the knife! …The best thing that could happen to some so-called Christian ministers of today is that they should be denounced in God’s name by their hearers.’

It is a sinful tolerance…

[1] that refuses to castigate a false church system that leads millions to eternal destruction with its perverted gospel.

[2] That honors its head as a great evangelist at the same time that he is condemning evangelicals as wolves.

[3] That labels God’s prophets as divisive when they denounce its idolatry, its immorality and its other heresies.

[4] That sends converts back into its deadening clutches.

…What has happened to the church of the martyrs?

We have an enormous craving for popularity. This is the stuff of which false prophets are made. We have a desire to avoid unpleasantness at all cost. A desire like this keeps us from confronting, from intervening when we should. We have a distaste for being different. We find it easier to move along with the crowd, to drift with the tide. It is all too easy to remain silent when we are in an adverse theological climate. We are ‘slaves who dare not to be right with two or three.’

We have lost the capacity for being angry. We are not easily enough disturbed. We are in the sorry state of having no capacity for indignation. We are experts at putting off decisiveness simply because we don’t want to act.

Sometimes we are too blinded by friendship to stand against wrong. When a Christian spoke out against E J Carnell’s book ‘The Case For Orthodoxy’ because it argued against the inspiration of the Scriptures, a friend of the author said ‘Well you do not know him personally as I do. He is a gracious gentleman, a godly man.’

Jay Adams was right when he said ‘In some circles, the fear of controversy is so great that preachers and congregations following after them will settle for peace at any cost – even the cost of the truth – God’s truth. The idea is that peace is all- important. Peace is a biblical ideal … but so is purity. The peace of the church may never be bought at the price of the purity of the church. The price is too dear.’

Let’s all get together. Don’t do or say anything to rock the boat. Doctrine divides, they say. What we need is unity. What we really need is to contend earnestly for the faith in a day when it is being attacked, diluted and denied. We will be tolerant in matters of indifference but intolerant of departure from the truth of God. With Luther, ‘Here we stand. We can do no other.’

Bishop J C Ryle also wrote:

Controversy in religion is a hateful thing. It is hard enough to fight the devil, the world and the flesh without private differences in our own camp – but there is one thing which is even worse than controversy and that is false doctrine being tolerated, allowed and permitted without protest or molestation …

Three things there are which men ought never to trifle with:

A little poison

A little false doctrine

A little sin.

~by William MacDonald

The Christian life, the Christian walk should be characterized by the virtues taught in the Word of God. We have said that love embodies all of these virtues, and that a life of perfect love would necessarily be an entirely virtuous one. Such was the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

During His tenure on this earth, He embodied and exemplified the love of God, and by His own example, facing the same difficulties of life which we face (yet to a far more intense degree, Heb.4:15), He gave us a pattern to model ourselves by, footsteps, by which if we should only follow them, we would be lead by the straight road to a virtuous life well-pleasing to God (1Pet.2:21-25; cf. Matt.16:24; Jn.13:15).

The Bible is about Jesus Christ (Jn.5:39), about the love of God demonstrated in His gift of Jesus Christ (Jn.3:16), for love comes from God and God is love (1Jn.4:7-8). In this sense then, every page of the Bible reflects the character of God and the love of Christ, and we should try to retain this perspective as we study the scriptures. Spiritual growth, as we have seen, is a process of transformation, and the ideal goal of that process is the formation of the character of Jesus Christ within each one of us (Gal.4:19).

To accomplish this heady goal, we need to “imitate Christ” (1Cor.11:1) and “put on Christ” (Rm.13:14) until He “dwells in our hearts” (Eph.3:16-17). The contexts of each of these passages show that this reproduction of Christ’s character is part and parcel of this transformation of our thinking which we have been discussing. In 1st Corinthians 11:1, the command to “imitate Christ” is given in a context of self-sacrifice, of giving others more consideration than ourselves when it comes to their spiritual advance (1Cor.10:23-33).

The command to “put on Christ” in Rm.13:14 is given in a context of rejecting the vices of the sin nature so that we may conduct our spiritual “walk” in a decent way. Lastly, Paul’s prayer for Christ to “dwell in our hearts” (Eph.3:16-17) is accomplished “by faith” and is predicated on our prior “internal strengthening in the inner man by the Holy Spirit”, a process as we have seen involving the adjustment of our thinking to the principles of truth taught in God’s Word.

Emulating the character of our Lord is only possible when we begin thinking as He did, putting the spiritual welfare of others before ourselves, rejecting the claims of the sin nature, and turning to the Word and the Spirit of God for our strength.

What is the doctrine of Christ? It is the doctrine which Christ taught or guided the Apostles to teach. If Christ or the Apostles did not teach it then it cannot be the doctrine of Christ. John warned. The “gospel” or so called kerygma is one of the DOCTRINES of Christ: Jesus taught it and it is doctrine. You cannot disparage doctrine without disparaging the Christ whose teaching are the purpose for receiving A new spirit by request at baptism. If the doctrine of Christ is mistranslated to mean the doctrine ABOUT Christ then the false teachers are at liberty to dismiss most of the Bible and put themselves in the role of revealing NEW DOCTRINE to “better fit our changed culture.” That is why the claim to PREACH only a crucified Christ and mistranslate Paul who said that they have to KNOW only a crucified suffering servant or they will make the Word of God worthless. These you have with you always. Here is the text:

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 2 Jn.1:9

If we love JESUS we will keep His commandments which are laws. If we love others we will bear their burdens as we can. When we stop in the middle of the street, get out, and help the old lady carry her burden across then we have fulfilled the Law. The cop will forgive us for PARKING in the intersection.

A parallel statement is:

Bear ye one anothers burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Gal 6:2

The doctrine of Christ is that which Christ taught in the same way that the law of Christ is that which Jesus commanded. Jesus and Paul insisted that “ministers” devote their lives to bearing the burdens of THE LAMBS and not making the lambs feed them.

Fulfill is to FILL UP the meaning of the Law which taught righteousness and justice. However, loving others did not forgive you for violating ANOTHER law.

Anapleroo (g378) an-ap-lay-ro’-o; from 303 and 4137; to complete; by impl. to occupy, supply; fig. to accomplish (by coincidence or obedience): – fill up, fulfill, occupy, supply.

The Law of Christ is whatever Christ commanded:

Nomos (g3511) nom’-os; from a prim. nemo , (to parcel out, espec. food or grazing to animals); law (through the idea of prescriptive usage), gen. (regulation), spec. (of Moses [includ. the volume]; also of the Gospel), or fig. (a principle): – law

Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me. Ph.2:30

We do not live under the Law of Moses or the Mayflower Compact. However, a law is a statement of cause and effect: if thou jumpest off the building thou shalt die. Laws are to protect and not burden. So, maybe we had not invent a LIST with one step on it.

God always lays down a MARK for identifying false teachers: if they do not speak according to the Words of God it is because “there is no truth in them.”

What possible motive would people have for utterly REPUDIATING the doctrines which Jesus TAUGHT and which He as Spirit revealed to the Apostles and who Peter said “left us an example” which means a written record which Peter wrote.?

The Doctrine of Christ meant that “Jesus paid it all.” He assuredly paid the “temple tax” and declared that God cannot be worshipped in houses or by hands. If that is a fact then one cannot build mega-houses with massive staff infection which deliberately strips the honest evangelist of subsistence WITHOUT preaching JUST JESUS (which they also will define–for a price)

The doctrine of Christ Paul repeated and the church practiced was there THERE IS NO LAW OF GIVING. Maybe that is why they tell people that the apostels were divided and wrote divisive epistles.

The Iamblichus See also Arnobius II

There are some, however, who suppose there is likewise, the subject-race of a tricky nature, artful, and assuming all shapes, turning many ways, that personates gods and dæmons and souls of the dead like actors on the stage; and that through these everything that seems to be good or bad is possible. They are led to form this judgment because these subject-spirits are not able to contribute anything really beneficial as relates to the soul, nor even to perceive such things; but on the other hand, they ill treat, deride, and often impede those who are returning to virtue.

They are likewise full of conceit, and take delight in vapors and sacrifices.

5. Because the begging priest with open mouth attempts in many ways to raise our expectations. Note 13

13. The agurtes or begging priest generally belonged to the worship of Rhea [ZOE] or Cybele, the Mother. He is frequently depicted in a most unfavorable light. Apuleius speaks of a company of these emasculate priests in the eighth book of the Metamorphoses. They are also described in the Republic of Plato:
“Agurtæ and Mantics frequent the houses of the rich and persuade them that they possess a power granted by the gods to expiate,
by sacrifices and chants any unjust act that has been committed and that they induce the gods by blandishments and magic rites to help them. They collected money in this way, and they also followed the selling of nostrums and telling of fortunes.”

G726 harpazÿ har-pad’-zo From a derivative of G138 ; to seize (in various applications): catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force).
Agur-tês
A. collector, esp. begging priest of Cybele, Gallois
2. vagabond, kai manteis

Gallos, ho,A. priest of Cybele, II. eunuch. USED WITH: Pempô, 2. pompên p. conduct, or take part in, a procession, chorous move in dancing procession, phallos Dionusôim

Jesus cast out the musical ministers “like dung” and repudiated the doctors of the law for “taking away the key to knowledge.” The clergy “piping” hoping Jesus would sing and dance proves that the doctrine TAUGHT BY Christ repudiated the emotionally and sexually abnormal have the “talent” and propensity to live like wolves or dogs.

Max Weber: Of even greater importance is charisma, which stands in absolute contrast to tradition. In its simplest form, charisma is defined by Weber as “a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is considered extraordinary and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities” (Weber 1978: 242)

The extraordinary figures who inspire such unreasoning devotion are imagined by Weber to be, in their typical form, berserk warriors, pirates and demagogues. They reveal their capacities through a highly intensified and emotionally labile state of consciousness that excites and awes the onlookers, and jolts them from the everyday 6. The primary type, from which the others spring, is the epileptoid magician-shaman who can incorporate the Gods and display divine powers primarily through convulsions, trembling and intense effusions of excitement (Weber 1972: 327, 1978: 401) 7. Through his capacity for epileptoid states, the shaman served both as an exemplar of ecstasy and as the leader in the rituals of communal intoxication and orgy Weber took as the original sacred experience (Weber 1978: 401, 539).

Plato Cratylus:
Her. What do you say of edone (pleasure), lupe (pain), epithumia (desire), and the like, Socrates?
The PLEASURING Paul outlawed in Romans 15 has the same meaning as HEDONE: Hedone.
The leader of the vulgar, charismatic religion as a “spiritual” army:

Dêmagôgeô , to be a leader of the people, kalôs d. Isoc.2.16 ; têi men exousiai turannôn, tais d’ euergesiais dêmagôgôn Id.10.37 ; cf. dêmagôgei: stratêgei, Hsch.: usu. in bad sense, Ar.Ra.423, etc.

turanneuô: to be a turannos, an absolute sovereign or despot, and in aor. to become such, Hdt., etc.: to be a prince or princess, Eur.

The dêmagôgeô continued: 2. c. acc. pers., d. andras curry favour with, X.An.7.6.4 , cf. Arist.Pol. 1305b26, al.:–Pass., to be won over, conciliated by popular arts, J.AJ 16.2.5.

hêdonê , 3. Pl., desires after pleasure, pleasant lusts, X.Mem.1.2.23, Ep.Tit.3.3, al. dêmêgorein

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. Tit 3:3

Hedone (g2237) hay-don-ay’; from handano, (to please); sensual delight; by impl. desire: – lust, pleasure

Rejecting DOCTRINE makes way for abnormal males who make way for abnormal females.

God is “father” and the Logos is “son.” That repudiates the doctrine of the Mother of the Gods and the Daughter: the DOVE is a DOCTRINE those who reject DOCTRINE will never grasp.

The invisible Deity expressed Himself in many ways. For this discussion we should understand that Father, Son and Spirit are not NAMES. Classical trinitarians never saw the Godhead cut up into sections but that FULL DEITY dwelled in the man Jesus of Nazareth. The doctrine that God is ONE GOD and not three beings but as Paul explained in 1 Cor 2 a complex Being explained by we His creatures consisting of body, soul (life) and spirit.

Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts (Mal. 3:7b).

The return of the Lord that is most important today involves men and women first returning to the Lord. He has promised to return to live in those who return to Him with their whole heart.

In past generations, Christians have looked to the future, bodily return of Christ Jesus for much of what is already available to believers now. Some Scripture, which applies to the coming of Christ Jesus now in believers, has been for centuries interpreted as referring to only the bodily return.

In the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, the men translating the Bible into English and other languages were of the strong persuasion that the bodily return of Jesus was the only hope of Christians to overcome the evil in the world. Their translation work bears the mark of their persuasion.

Many words that should have been translated to refer to the manifestation of the indwelling Christ within believers were erroneously translated to refer toward the future bodily return.

The Manifesting Christ

(I encourage you to take the time to understand the following study of the Greek words behind these verses.)

Several different Greek words are translated “coming” in the New Testament. The word “coming” occurs 125 times in the New King James Version of the New Testament. Most of those occurrences are translated from the Greek word “erchomai” (er’-khom-ahee). However, on 22 occasions the word “parousia” (par-oo-see’-ah) is also translated “coming”; but on two other occasions “parousia” is translated “presence.” In the two verses speaking of Paul, “parousia” is translated “presence.”

The primary meaning of parousia is “a being near.” It comes from the word “pareimi”* (par’-i-mee), which means “to be near” as “at hand,” and comes from two words “para” meaning “near,” and “eimi” (i-mee’) meaning an emphatic “I exist.” The primary meaning of parousia is presence.

Every usage of the word “parousia” that involves Christ is translated “coming,” which sounds future, instead of “presence,” which gives the impression of being present. Coming is an acceptable translation in some verses, which actually do refer to the visible bodily return of Jesus. But there are others that refer to the victorious appearing or manifesting of Jesus Christ now in believers. These should have been translated presence or manifest. Aparently, the translators had no understanding at that time as to how Christ could be present or manifest except to bodily return.

The following verse, I Thess. 3:13, is a typical example of this slant in translation. We know that Christ Jesus is with believers now to perfect holiness. He is purifying our hearts now as His presence manifests in our lives.

1 Thes 3:13: so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming (parousia) of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

The word “at” is the Greek word “en” and could be translated a number of different ways including “in” or “by.” And of course, “coming” should be “presence.” The word “all” is “pas” and could also be translated many different ways including, “any,” “every,” “everyone,” and “whosoever.”

This verse should read: “That He may establish your hearts blameless before our God and Father by the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ within all His saints.”

The English translations makes it seem certain that the verse is referring only to a future coming of Jesus when He is bringing the departed saints with Him. This does fit with other verses, which do say that Christ will bodily return and will bring those that have died with Him. However, take a closer look at the Greek and it becomes clear that the verse is speaking of the manifestation of Christ within all His saints in this age.

2 Thes 1:11-12: Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Perhaps there is no scripture more explicit in distinguishing the bodily return of Christ and the day of the Lord than 1 Thessalonians 4:13 to 4:18, and 5:1 to 5:11. The subject changes from the future visible return of Christ, to the present day of the Lord, at chapter 5, verse 1.

(Scripture about the bodily return of Christ)

1 Thes 4:13-18: But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

These verses very clearly refer to the bodily return of Christ. Now observe the shift as we begin Chapter Five.

(Scripture about the manifestation of Christ in His saints)

In the first verse of chapter five (1 Thess. 5:1) the shift is obvious. Paul begins with the word “But.” “But concerning the times and the seasons.” The word translated “the” is translated into many articles and could be translated “this” or “these.” The word translated “seasons” is “kairon,” the plural form of “kairos” (kahee-ros’), which means set or proper time. Thus, this portion could read: “But concerning these times and these specific seasons,” referring to the current times and seasons.

1 Thes 5:1-4: But concerning the (these) times and the (these) seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief.

The great and terrible day of the Lord, which comes as a thief in the night, is very different from the joyous celebration of the visible, bodily return of the Lord. As we have seen earlier, the day of the Lord is occurring and the visible return is yet future. The day of the Lord is great because of the promises of God coming forth in His subsequently purified people; and it is terrible because of the great destruction coming forth upon the wicked.

It is not necessary that anyone be lost!

Salvation is available for everyone. Salvation includes the new birth, deliverance, and healing for the repentant believer who will spiritually sell out everything for the one important thing–to be a dwelling place for the Spirit of Christ Jesus. Jesus is more than the most important thing in life. He is the life! There is no life apart from Him. Proud and lofty works of man, no matter how great they are in man’s eyes, cannot bring real life. We should seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness within us now. “Christ in you the hope of Glory”.

The kingdom of God is “at hand.”

Though the potential for the kingdom of God way of life has been available for around 2000 years, since the time when Jesus returned in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the time is now for the full restoration of the revelation of the kingdom.

Over the centuries man has used his ingenuity in a failed attempt to successfully do life his way. The failure of man exhausting all of his ways finally leads to accepting God’s ways of life. The potential of the kingdom that has been with us since Pentecost is being more fully revealed in this season.

The error of thinking that only the bodily return of Jesus would bring forth the power to overcome evil is melting away. The return of the anointed Christ within believers is having an impact in the world. However, this error remains firmly locked into our English translations of the New Testament.

Praying for Holy Spirit revelation while studying the New Testament in the Greek language will help bring forth truth. However, the study of commentaries from the past, which include man’s opinions of the Word and what it says, will not help in this matter. The major commentaries that are available all reflect this same erroneous persuasion as those of the English New Testament translations.

What is lacking on God’s part for His kingdom to manifest on earth?

Now that Christ is present on earth within His people, what potential for overcoming evil is lacking? There is nothing lacking on God’s part. There is nothing that Jesus will bring with Him at His visible return that will be more than is available now for establishing His kingdom. The only things standing in the way of Christ being revealed to overcome evil in our world are on man’s part.

Christ does not need to visibly bodily return to overcome evil and establish God’s ways on earth.

MAN IS THE ONE THAT MUST RETURN. MAN MUST RETURN TO CHIRST JESUS. The fire of God is available to flow through Christ in man to cleanse and heal our world.

Love and unity are key factors.

Love, that brings faith and unity, is a key factor in the puzzle of cleansing and restoring our world. No one person has all of Christ. Many godly people coming together in unity will reveal a greater fullness of the presence of Christ to meet the needs of the world for cleansing and restoration to God’s rule. Disunity caused by unlove is an enemy of the revealing of Christ and the releasing of His power. Only God’s love in His people can melt the intellectual and cultural strife of a segmented Body of Christ in the world.

Religion with its sectarianism is an enemy to the work of God restoring the earth. Faith and power cannot grow in disunity. Disunity cannot be cured by compromising intellectual positions or religious doctrines. Unity can only come by laying down our lives, including our religion. Taking up our cross and denying self is the road to the love of God and unity, which will produce faith to reveal Christ and His power to the world to save, heal, deliver, and restore.

The fire of God will increasingly manifest as more and more individuals lose their own self focused life and come together in the love of God. The power and love of Christ to change the world with faith that moves mountains awaits the agreement and unity of God’s people.

Heb 12:29: For our God is a consuming fire.

As God’s people come into unity in Christ those who trouble them will be repaid with tribulation from God.

2 Thes 1:6-8: …since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Many interpret the above passage as referring only to the visible return of Jesus. However, the rest of this passage makes it clear that it deals with the power of Christ in his saints, not the bodily return of Jesus.

2 Thes 1:10-12: when He comes, in that day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed. Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus revealed from heaven in His saints, coming together with His mighty angels (ministering spirits), with spiritual fire is the true church experience in this day, the day of the Lord.

Heb 1:7: And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.

The True Church – The New Jerusalem Assembly

The Scripture speaks clearly of the heavenly Jerusalem, the spiritual church of Jesus, coming together in the presence of God, with Jesus, the holy angels, and the spirits of mature believers cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Many are now beginning to grasp the reality of the presence of God, Jesus, and holy angels together with us in union worshiping and serving God.

Scriptures that have been veiled in the fog of religion or futurity are now opening to many and becoming crystal clear revelation and a present reality. When the writer of Hebrews wrote Hebrews 12:22-24, he was speaking to the believers at hand and not just future generations. He was writing of characteristics of the first-century church and the restored present day body of Christ in this season.

Heb. 12:22-24: But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

The purifying work of Christ in His people

The Greek word for Christ in the New Testament is “Christos” meaning “anointed” or “anointed One.” The anointed Jesus flowing through His people is a flaming fire of spiritual ministry and a consuming fire against wickedness. The word translated angels is “aggelos” (ang’-el-os), meaning to bring tidings, a messenger, ministering spirits or preacher.

Psa 104:4: Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.

The people of God are now beginning to grasp the significance of Christ living in them. We have begun to touch the fringes of the potential power of God available to the pure-hearted believer. Even in our wildest dreams, we have not imagined the fullness of the reality of faith and power available to the purified sons of God.

As the purifying fires of God do their work, people will be amazed at the level of love, faith, and power released in the sons of God.

The practical reality of the kingdom of God is coming forth now. As the purifying fires are burning and the glory of the Lord is manifesting, an army of people are coming forth who live only for God, and who speak not of their own but speak words from heaven as the oracles of God. The Spirit of Christ within them directly connects with Christ at the right hand of the throne of God. Through that pure unfiltered communication with the throne of God, powerful, world-changing words are spoken into the earth.

The purification of the planet

The entire world and heavens around the world will be shaken by the fire of God flowing from Christ through His sons. It is not wise to fail to hear and respond to the voice of God. Everything that can be shaken is being shaken; only the truth of God and His ways will remain.

Heb 12:25-28: See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”

Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear

Keep on pursuing Love. Love never fails
and His kingdom never ends.

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

Demons flee , blessings come ,

For you flow “AS” My kingdom ,

There is no truth greater to know ,

Then being one with me and My glory show !

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Ephesians 4:15

Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

Colossians 3:15-17
15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

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