tulsa 2011
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- Dec 18, 2010
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Spiritual Death and Spiritual Life
"And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
8. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified..........And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them." Revelation 11: 7-8, 11
"Their dead bodies lie in the street of that great city..." This is not literal. Their physical bodies do not lie in the streets of literal, physical Jerusalem over in the Middle East. They "lie" as spiritually dead people in something which is called Jerusalem here, but the reference to Sodom and Egypt point to a Jerusalem which is not the heavenly Jerusalem of Hebrews 12: 22, or the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21: 2.
"For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." Galatians 4: 25-26
The literal Jerusalem in the Middle East is in bondage to the Old Covenant and to a physical Israel majority which rejected Christ and is therefore of the spirit of anti-Christ. But the heavenly Jerusalem of Hebrews 12: 22 is above, or spiritual, is free of bondage and it is this Jerusalem which is the mother of all the elect of God. Jerusalem is used as a metaphor.
The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit is a fallen angel, or represents Satan and fallen angels. Revelation 9: 1-2, says "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 2. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit...........And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 11. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon."
A fallen angel does not literally and physically kill a flesh and blood person as dispensationalism would have you believe. Satan and his fallen angels inspire the many false prophets to teach another Gospel, a set of false doctrines, which spiritually "kill" those who believe them. But in Revelation 11: 11 they are brought to spiritual life by the Spirit of life from the Lord which enters into them.
Revelation 11: 8, and Revelation 18: 2-5 describe the spiritual death caused by the many false prophets of Matthew 24: 11, who in II Peter 2: 1-3, bring in damnable heresies, and with feigned words make merchandise of you." The huge number of false prophets speak with their mouths (and also write), the flood of lies that the Serpent-Dragon casts out of his mouth in Revelation 12: 15-17. In Revelation 12: 17 the remnant is said to have the testimony of Jesus Christ, even though the Serpent-Dragon is inspiring the army of false prophets to speak falsehood and deception.
In Revelation 11: 7 the "Two Witnesses" which is metaphoric for many, are shown to become spiritually dead. But in verse 11 the Spirit of life from God enters into them and they become spiritually alive.
The condition of spiritual death is seen in I Corinthians 2: 14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
The natural man, not born again in Christ, cannot fully hear the messages of metaphoric Bible prophecy, though he can more easily hear a simple literal interpretation of the prophecy.
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God........... Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God........Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3: 3, 5, 7
Being born of water does not mean that a person is made spiritually alive, from having been spiritually dead, by the act of baptism. Baptism is an outward confirmation of a transformation in the inner spiritual life of a person which has already taken place. Being born of water means a person was born in the flesh from a woman's womb.
But the false prophets teach that a person can be saved while remaining in the spiritual condition of the natural man who cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. This is a deadly deception.
"The kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17: 21 "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3: 3
False doctrines are stumbing blocks which hinder your receiving of the mind of Christ (Philippians 2: 5) and of Christ being formed in you (Galatians 4: 19).
Galatians 4: 19: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,"
Philippians 2: 5: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:"
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? " II Corinthians 13: 5
You become spiritually alive by a transformation, and this transformation is your receiving Christ in you. Christ begins to be formed in you, by the Holy Spirit. You receive something of the mind of Christ.
Romans 8: 1 deals with what happens when you are born again and the outcome of becoming spiritually alive by receiving Christ in you. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." You are in Christ and he is in you, you no longer walk totally after the flesh, but follow the Holy Spirit. But the Westcott-Hort Greek reduces down Romans 8: 1, to saying only "ουδεν αρα νυν κατακριμα τοις εν χριστω ιησου." The Textus Receptus says "ουδεν αρα νυν κατακριμα τοις εν χριστω ιησου μη κατα σαρκα περιπατουσιν αλλα κατα πνευμα." In following Westcott-Hort, many newer Bible versions leave out parts of Romans 8: 1 which are in the Tyndale, Geneva Bible and the King James Version. For example, the NIV says for Romans 8: 1, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
"Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," is not found in the NIV for Romans 8: 1. A part of the Gospel is left out.
The 1526 Tyndale Bible, which is the first English translation of the New Testament from the Textus Receptus, says for Romans 8: 1, correcting the old English spellings, "There is then no damnation to them which are in Christ Jesus which walk not after ye flesh: but after ye spirit.".
There are some changes that happen when you are born again by receiving Christ. You can now understand better the things of the Spirit, when I Corinthians 2: 14 says the natural man, who is spiritually dead, cannot receive.
"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." II Thessalonians 2: 10-12
Those in whom Christ is being formed have a love of the truth, and this can protect them from accepting other Gospels taught by the false prophets of Matthew 24: 11, II Peter 2: 1-3 and elsewhere.
In Revelation 11; 11 life does not mean mere physical existence in a human body; it means spiritual life. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10: 10
He came to bring abundant spiritual life. Yet Luke 9: 54 says "And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55. But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 56. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."
Christ brought a large change in Israel by requiring Israel to become born again in him. For example, in Luke 9: 52-56 James and John wanted Christ to call fire down from heaven on a village which rejected him. They were following the mind-set and spiritual condition of Old Covenant Israel, to kill those who opposed their belief system. But Christ said, no, now under the New Covenant, we do not kill people, but want to save them. By saying in Luke 9: 56 that we do not destroy men's lives, Christ is also saying that he came to bring life in the flesh, though, while in the flesh we must be born again to see the kingdom of God, which is a big change in our spiritual inner life.
"And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
8. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified..........And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them." Revelation 11: 7-8, 11
"Their dead bodies lie in the street of that great city..." This is not literal. Their physical bodies do not lie in the streets of literal, physical Jerusalem over in the Middle East. They "lie" as spiritually dead people in something which is called Jerusalem here, but the reference to Sodom and Egypt point to a Jerusalem which is not the heavenly Jerusalem of Hebrews 12: 22, or the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21: 2.
"For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." Galatians 4: 25-26
The literal Jerusalem in the Middle East is in bondage to the Old Covenant and to a physical Israel majority which rejected Christ and is therefore of the spirit of anti-Christ. But the heavenly Jerusalem of Hebrews 12: 22 is above, or spiritual, is free of bondage and it is this Jerusalem which is the mother of all the elect of God. Jerusalem is used as a metaphor.
The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit is a fallen angel, or represents Satan and fallen angels. Revelation 9: 1-2, says "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 2. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit...........And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 11. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon."
A fallen angel does not literally and physically kill a flesh and blood person as dispensationalism would have you believe. Satan and his fallen angels inspire the many false prophets to teach another Gospel, a set of false doctrines, which spiritually "kill" those who believe them. But in Revelation 11: 11 they are brought to spiritual life by the Spirit of life from the Lord which enters into them.
Revelation 11: 8, and Revelation 18: 2-5 describe the spiritual death caused by the many false prophets of Matthew 24: 11, who in II Peter 2: 1-3, bring in damnable heresies, and with feigned words make merchandise of you." The huge number of false prophets speak with their mouths (and also write), the flood of lies that the Serpent-Dragon casts out of his mouth in Revelation 12: 15-17. In Revelation 12: 17 the remnant is said to have the testimony of Jesus Christ, even though the Serpent-Dragon is inspiring the army of false prophets to speak falsehood and deception.
In Revelation 11: 7 the "Two Witnesses" which is metaphoric for many, are shown to become spiritually dead. But in verse 11 the Spirit of life from God enters into them and they become spiritually alive.
The condition of spiritual death is seen in I Corinthians 2: 14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
The natural man, not born again in Christ, cannot fully hear the messages of metaphoric Bible prophecy, though he can more easily hear a simple literal interpretation of the prophecy.
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God........... Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God........Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3: 3, 5, 7
Being born of water does not mean that a person is made spiritually alive, from having been spiritually dead, by the act of baptism. Baptism is an outward confirmation of a transformation in the inner spiritual life of a person which has already taken place. Being born of water means a person was born in the flesh from a woman's womb.
But the false prophets teach that a person can be saved while remaining in the spiritual condition of the natural man who cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. This is a deadly deception.
"The kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17: 21 "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3: 3
False doctrines are stumbing blocks which hinder your receiving of the mind of Christ (Philippians 2: 5) and of Christ being formed in you (Galatians 4: 19).
Galatians 4: 19: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,"
Philippians 2: 5: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:"
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? " II Corinthians 13: 5
You become spiritually alive by a transformation, and this transformation is your receiving Christ in you. Christ begins to be formed in you, by the Holy Spirit. You receive something of the mind of Christ.
Romans 8: 1 deals with what happens when you are born again and the outcome of becoming spiritually alive by receiving Christ in you. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." You are in Christ and he is in you, you no longer walk totally after the flesh, but follow the Holy Spirit. But the Westcott-Hort Greek reduces down Romans 8: 1, to saying only "ουδεν αρα νυν κατακριμα τοις εν χριστω ιησου." The Textus Receptus says "ουδεν αρα νυν κατακριμα τοις εν χριστω ιησου μη κατα σαρκα περιπατουσιν αλλα κατα πνευμα." In following Westcott-Hort, many newer Bible versions leave out parts of Romans 8: 1 which are in the Tyndale, Geneva Bible and the King James Version. For example, the NIV says for Romans 8: 1, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
"Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," is not found in the NIV for Romans 8: 1. A part of the Gospel is left out.
The 1526 Tyndale Bible, which is the first English translation of the New Testament from the Textus Receptus, says for Romans 8: 1, correcting the old English spellings, "There is then no damnation to them which are in Christ Jesus which walk not after ye flesh: but after ye spirit.".
There are some changes that happen when you are born again by receiving Christ. You can now understand better the things of the Spirit, when I Corinthians 2: 14 says the natural man, who is spiritually dead, cannot receive.
"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." II Thessalonians 2: 10-12
Those in whom Christ is being formed have a love of the truth, and this can protect them from accepting other Gospels taught by the false prophets of Matthew 24: 11, II Peter 2: 1-3 and elsewhere.
In Revelation 11; 11 life does not mean mere physical existence in a human body; it means spiritual life. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10: 10
He came to bring abundant spiritual life. Yet Luke 9: 54 says "And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55. But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 56. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."
Christ brought a large change in Israel by requiring Israel to become born again in him. For example, in Luke 9: 52-56 James and John wanted Christ to call fire down from heaven on a village which rejected him. They were following the mind-set and spiritual condition of Old Covenant Israel, to kill those who opposed their belief system. But Christ said, no, now under the New Covenant, we do not kill people, but want to save them. By saying in Luke 9: 56 that we do not destroy men's lives, Christ is also saying that he came to bring life in the flesh, though, while in the flesh we must be born again to see the kingdom of God, which is a big change in our spiritual inner life.
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