'Kingdom Now'--not

“Charles Dickens didn’t believe in the deity of Christ or the resurrection of Christ but he called himself and argued that he was a Christian. You say, 'In what way could he be a Christian if he didn’t believe in those things?' That’s called ‘Christendumb,’ but that’s the mainstay of Christianity.

Zechariah 14: [4] And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

“When Jesus Christ comes back, the first place His feet are going to touch the ground is the mount of Olives. That’s real. If that isn’t real, the resurrection of Christ isn’t real.

“People spend volumes of books and hours of time studying and refuting evolution and they believe the doctrine that denies the resurrection of Christ," says Richard Jordan.

Isaiah 9: [6] For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

[7] Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

“That sounds real to me. It hasn’t happened yet, so unless God changes His mind or forgot what He said or lied, that’s what’s ahead."

*****

Here's an outtake from the Grace Life Podcast (May 4) found on YouTube at the channel Fellowship Bible Church Orlando:

Preacher Joel Hayes: "Paul says about the Rapture, 'Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.'

"When Paul says 'in the twinkling of an eye,' that is the reflection of light in the eyeball which is the speed of light, which is literally a billionth of a second. That's how fast we will change into our new bodies.

"It has always been entangled in Paul's epistles that we emulate the doctrine of imminence in the sense that we are consistently and continually looking for 'that blessed hope.' Not just because of the fact it is our hope and we abound in this hope and can't wait for it, but we continue to look for it because it inspires us to serve Him. And when that hope comes there will also come judgment.

Preacher Hal Beckemeyer: "I think it's a shame the Rapture is a doctrine that's falling on disfavor. It is a doctrine that is the product of the dispensational movement. Even early on, Acts 2 dispensationalists understood the truth of the Rapture, and yet now you're seeing in modern theology, even in groups that were somewhat fundamental, and I use that term loosely . . .

The Rapture would have been one of the fundamentals of the Christian faith but again, it's become this 'Kingdom Now' stuff and, 'We're bringing in the kingdom'; you see that becoming much more prevalent.

"In fact, I've been reading we're 'selfish'! We're selfish because we want to be escape artists. We just want to get out of here. We don't want to roll up our sleeves and do the work of 'bringing in the kingdom.'

Hayes: "Where in the entire Bible is it that we are going to usher in the kingdom?! Where is that ever mentioned? I mean, this goes even beyond just dispensational distinctions. Nowhere in the entire Bible is it that the church would bring in the kingdom. The Lord's going to bring that kingdom in at His Second Coming, period, end of story. And it's only going to get worse until He comes back."

(new post tomorrow)