Matthew 11:25 Berean Literal Bible
At that time, Jesus answering said, "I fully consent to You, Father, Lord of the heaven and the earth, that You did hide these things from the wise and learned,
and did reveal them to little children.
Here I ask a little boy: Curly, who is Jesus!
I have never told this Little Boy who Jesus is, or that Jesus is not GOD, and so what he tells us in this video, is what he believes.
The Little Boy says: Jesus is the Son of GOD.
I then ask him: Is Jesus GOD?
NO! he tells us.
Well done I say to him.
The simple question is, how does this simple little boy, know the simple truth of Jesus, when most Christians do not know or believe the simple truth of Jesus, and say Jesus is BOTH GOD and the SON, which would mean GOD is the Son of Himself!
The truth is:
God the SON, is a false Christ, 1 John 2:22.
The SON of GOD, is the true Christ, John 10:36.
Jesus can't be both, GOD and the SON when Jesus was Begotten from GOD!
If Jesus were GOD, that would simply mean GOD Begot and gave Himself.
When John 3:16 clearly and plainly tells us how GOD gave His own Begotten SON, and NOT Himself.
That false doctrine (GOD the SON) makes a false Christ!
1 John 5:5 tells us: Now who is the one overcoming the world, except the one believing that Jesus is the Son of God?
Notice how we do NOT read: Now who is the one overcoming the world, except the one believing that Jesus is God? But the SON of GOD.
Watch this video on You Tube by clicking HERE, or on the image below:
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Hidden in plain sight.
Some thoughts on what we miss when reading the Bible, by reading with the blinkers of tradition fixed in place.
Ken Osborne.
It is my contention and firm belief that over the years I have read my Bible with a certain expectation of what I will see in the print. Biased reading.
We can fall into the trap of reading and seeing what we already understand based on teaching of others, what we have read or heard in the past and tradition. In my opinion now this is akin to religion, a fixed mind afraid of bumps in the night and holding to the notion of the mystery of God as in “God works in mysterious ways.”
It is in the form of misunderstandings where our thought life is attacked and hijacked in our reading of what scripture says and in our understanding of what was written in the original language and in the minds of the ancient writers. This is something studying the work of Dr. Mike Heiser has shown me. Our own modern notion of scripture and the world becomes entrenched and when someone like me comes and tries to point something else out, it creates a threat to our pride and a reaction. The untruths are just twisted truths, not obvious aberrations, that’s how the enemy works, smoke mirrors and wool.
I say we can get entrenched once we lock down on a piece of belief we favour, which might be built on a single verse, or what we have been taught.
I will try to address just the heaven issue for example in this essay. That is the question. "where is our future destination and home?"
However, we have to start somewhere else to begin to see who we really are, so we can understand the differences in the people groups being addressed in scripture. And therefore who we are as the pronoun being spoken to in any part of scripture. (thats the "you" "us" "we" 'them" addressees being spoken to) (Note1; we have a bad habit of reading the mail sent to someone else in our Bibles. e.g. We can draw examples and understanding from scripture addressed to Hebrew people in the past, but it is not direct instruction to us the church. It can be used as examples of how God dealt with Israel in the OT, but it is not speaking direct to us as instruction because Israel was the people of the covenant, the path to the Messiah, we are not Israel, we are that new group Paul tells us about in the Epistles, the Body of Christ. Jesus fulfilled the law on the cross. All things changed at that point. God played his master stroke, a new people group we call the Church, which is taken from the Greek word Ekklesia which means a group. not a religious institution.)
[NOTE2: important to keep in mind. God spoke direct to Man (before Israel) preflood and until Abraham. After Abrahams time God spoke through the prophets, leaders and men of God in most of the rest of the OT, the Hebrew scriptures. (Heb 1:1”…in these last days He speaks through His son” to us the Ekklesia, church)
In the Gospels, Jesus spoke his Fathers message to Israel about the Kingdom being at hand ( He was a Jew speaking to Jews under the law of Moses, Christians were not present nor were in existence until after Pentecost, at least until after the crucifixion). After Pentecost Peter, Luke, and Paul especially, and others, spoke to the Body of Christ, Christians, from Acts to Jude. Jesus through John speaks again to Israel in Revelation. So the heart of direct teaching to the Church is Acts to Jude inclusive. This, as recorded to us, is mostly Pauls teaching.]
Now to the heart of misunderstandings; In Romans, Corinthians, etc but mainly in Ephesians and especially in Ephesians 3, we hear about a Mystery.
This is at the centre of Pauls Epistles and teaching and is at core that ‘special revelation given him in the spirit’ which is peculiar to Paul and his immediate disciples like Timothy, but clearly understood in Peters later writings. i.e. things Peter did and said recorded after Pentecost.
Paul says "assuming you have heard of the stewardship of Gods grace that was given to me for you, how the Mystery was made known to me by revelation,..." so here we see Paul is not saying God is a mystery, like most Christians do, Paul is revealing something that is translated “mystery” in our Bibles from the Greek word Musterion. The Greek word Musterion means a secret, it was transliterated to "mystery" in our Bibles, not a direct translation. Its something which has been made known by God through Jesus, to Paul, who then tells us all as members of that “Ekklasia” (group) who are the body, and is the thing the apostles had to all get their heads around in Jerusalem when Paul came back from his journey. (a “mystery”, by the English meaning, can not be known. A secret can be known, and told to everyone so they all then know it, which Paul is doing on his travels and all through the Epistles, and it is mentioned many times as what has been revealed to Paul to pass on to the Body.)
In verse 5 Paul says "it (the secret) was not made known to the sons of God in former days" Think carefully about that wording. Sons of God? Paul also says in V9 "a mystery Hidden in God." ( A “secret” hidden in the mind of God.) What he is saying is that this was not foretold in the OT, or known even by the angelic ones in the heavenly realm (sons of God) in the beginning, the “former days” referred to above.
That secret is further revealed in V6 where it is shown that the Gentiles are included with the Jews in Gods promise and favour in this new group of people, the Body of Christ. Back in Eph 2:15 we read "by abolishing in His flesh........that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two,..." (the two being Jew and Gentile)
And elsewhere (to save me looking up as I write this in my dressing gown at 6am) "Neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female" and we also see this described as "a new creation". And again we have a popular old chorus singing 'I’m a new creation, I’m a brand new man, old things have passed away, I’ve been born again." And this is where the wool is thrown over our eyes by the enemy, by limiting the understanding here in these verses and in the old chorus. We read and think we understand that we have been lifted from those old sins of our earlier life, the petty things we did and the bad, and made into a Christian with a future promise. The promise of Heaven. This is as far as we go usually in church settings, and no further, but it’s just the beginning. The shell of the matter. Its all about “The Nations” the “sons of God” and their rebellion and Gods plan to bring everyone back to Himself through the sacrifice of the lamb.
That limited view we stop at is partly correct, but is only a small part of what Paul is saying. The message of Paul here is on a grander scale. He is addressing the plan of God (which was that secret hidden in God), in creating a new creation, the Body of Christ, the Church. Even that can be undervalued in our understanding, most will grasp this, but then stop there. The old chorus is talking about the result of Gods secretly held plan to call all the nations back to Himself. He disowned them at Babel remember, (Deut32:8) and now in this secret Paul reveals God creates a third people group (us who accept the offer in Christ, the Church), neither Jew nor Gentile, who will be given the same status as His son Jesus, raised and glorified in the same eternal bodies as Jesus Christ currently has, and administer the Kingdom with Him. To "conquer and Rule the nations with Christ." (its in Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians etc) To be raised to "meet Him in the air and to be then always with Him," (1Thes4:16 etc) And have authority and dominion "over all powers and principalities etc" (that’s the angelic realm, the old “Sons of God.”) Paul says; "dont you know you will rule over angels?" So we see there is more to that old chorus than just some bad things forgiven for us and a new leaf turned in our lives.
What has all this to do with whether we live in heaven when we die? Its in the message seen in places like the bold portion above where it says ..and to be always with Him. Ask yourself, where will Jesus be after he returns? Scripture tells us we will be with Jesus our Lord and Head. Our battle chief and war leader. Our brother and Lord. We will be always with him. He will be King, we will be the kings immediate family, ruling with Him as it is written. We help administer the Kingdom (yet to come, its not now, its coming in promise when He returns. "The kingdom is within me" another old chorus line, is prophetic promise, it is within us by Gods intention i.e. the future) and will “rule the nations.” And where will that Kingdom be and with Christ as King ruling from a throne? In Jerusalem!!!! (Rev and old prophecies in Daniel etc) Its still to come! (“The meek will inherit the earth” ?!!!)
In Jerusalem it says he will be ruling Messiah for 1000 years, and His Body (us) ruling with him over the whole world being subdued and turned into the paradise promised to the patriarchs and even to the thief on the cross, (who is currently still asleep in the dust, along with all the Patriachs see Acts2:20 onwards) and we are with Jesus. See? This is our future paradise (life in the world to come) and position in the millennial realm for the thousand years prophesied, and then the new heavens and new earth when God will again walk with His people and above the original sons of God, the angelic, and also above and overseeing those still in earthly bodies who survive the Tribulation and those born in the thousand years of that kingdom paradise, while we rule with him. Its all there written as plain as I am stating it. Its not some spiritual disembodied kingdom “In Heaven” it’s on this earth under restoration. Paradise regained, then in the new heaven and earth in the final chapter of Rev, we see our Gods original plan for Eden continued and restored. Mission complete.
Our future is with Jesus who for 1000 years at least will be ruling from Jerusalem, and then afterwards we will be with Jesus in the new heavens and earth, after he hands it back to God as it says in 1 Cor15:28, so “that God might be all in all,” doing what ever God has in store. Its not an ephemeral existence in heaven. Heaven is Gods spiritual place now and if we do go there it will be only for the period of the tribulation IF the rapture is pre trib. And it will come about when 1 Thes 4:16 comes to pass when "the dead in Christ rise first, then those of us remaining alive will be caught up to be with Him in the air." (And it is us included in his army when he returns) All Christians dead or alive are lifted at once, and changed in "the twinkling of an eye," not there already or arriving in dribs and drabs as they die.
Some scripture to ponder.
Ps 146:3-4 .".do not trust in mortal man, his spirit (Heb Ruach = "breath") departs, he returns to the earth and his thoughts perish"
Ps 115:17 "the dead do not praise the Lord"
Dan 12:2 "sleep in the dust"
Ps 104:29 "take away their spirit (Heb Ruach = breath)
Eccl 3:19-20 "...sons of man and beasts are the same. as one dies so dies the other indeed all have the same breath (Ruach) and there is no advantage of man over beast"
Eccl 9:5 "the dead know nothing"
Acts 2:29, 34, "...I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day... for it was not David who ascended into heaven" (here it is Peter talking and pointing out that king Davids tomb, and his body still dead, are still with them and this is spoken about three months after Christ was raised. i.e. David should, by our church tradition, be up there in heaven from when Christ rose, but Peter in scripture says the opposite, and he said this some weeks after Christ rose.)
Rev16:3 "every living soul in the sea died" (i.e. a soul is a living creature)
The thief on the cross. Jesus said "today you will be with me in paradise" but then he went to Hades (place of the dead) for three days and nights, (means he was dead) so…. I ask you…. did Christ drop the thief off in heaven on the way? No. You shift the comma one word to the right, where Jesus said "I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise." (paradise = future reign from Jerusalem for 1000 yrs) Greek doesn't have punctuation like English. Some translators made the decision to place the comma before "today" making the promise for that day, a time frame. Where Jesus was using "today" as a statement to emphasize he is "SAYING IT TODAY" like he often says "Verily Verily" or "I tell you the truth." “I tell you TODAY, you will be with me in paradise (future kingdom). Not heaven that day because Jesus didn’t go to heaven and the Father till the Father raised him three days and nights later, when Jesus was raised from THE DEAD. The thief is still dead and waiting the resurrection into the kingdom which Christ has not yet returned to set up.
2 Cor 5:8 "absent from the body and at home with the Lord" often recited, is taken out of context (context; 2Cor ch5 is about resurrection) where Paul is not hoping to become a disembodied soul; he is looking for the resurrection at Christ’s return. It is future resurrection Paul is looking forward to, a very Hebrew concept.
All over the old testament we see references to "sleeping with their fathers" and "Asleep in the grave," and the verse used at funerals "dust to dust and ashes to ashes."
The true biblical concept is that of resurrection from the dead. In Bible speak, in the understanding of the Hebrew mind, we very often see claims stated both past and present as if they are past facts when they actually are still future. This is a Hebrew idiom of stressing certainty, but we apply modern English idiom to it and so miss read the truth, creating a fiction.
Where are the dead now? Paul reassures the Thessalonians some decades after Christ rose, the hope is stated most strongly in 1Thes 4:16 ".. the dead in Christ rise first and then those of us still alive.." This is dead Christians being referred to, recreated out of their dust. Dead in Christ. Remembered as treasure in heaven, hidden in God. Wouldn’t it have been logical for Paul to say "they are with the Lord in heaven now" but he doesn’t. And that is telling.
He points forward to a future hope, that those who have died are remembered and their remembrance and deeds are stored up like "treasures in Heaven" for the day when God resurrects them, because God is fully able to remember and record and restore every hair on their head. That is the essence of scripture in many places, and our great hope. Continued valued life in the eternal plan and ages to come.
They are currently dead (asleep in old Hebrew speak) in the dust. They wont be conscious of the time, just like when we sleep, we seem to immediately awake to the next day. Just so with the dead. They will all awake at once as if no time had passed and those still alive will join them. So from the perspective of those dead it will seem instant at point of death, its only for our emotions that we want to imagine them looking over the balustrade at what we are doing, or floating about with harps.
Religion is what we have slipped into through not fully digging into scripture, but looking for little messages or hidden codes in scripture, instead of seeing the over arching context.
Ken Osborne.
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