Sunday, December 22, 2024

The Apostolic Timeline

The timeline never changed for the apostles. As per Daniel's prophecy and many others in the Old Testament, their expectation and hope was that Israel would eventually repent nationally, the Tribulation would begin as per the prophecies of Daniel's Seventieth Week spoken of in Daniel 9:24 and Matthew 24:15, and culminate with the Christ's Second Coming, the establishment of the kingdom, and them sitting on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel just as they were promised  in Matthew 19:28. This is reflected in all their writings without exception. This apparently remained a hope until the eventual destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the death of John: the last apostle. One would do well to remember this when they are reading anything between Hebrews and Revelation. They were always addressing the believing Jews and preparing them for the tribulation that they fully expected to come in their lifetimes.

Spearman, H. Dwayne. The Book of Acts Rightly Divided (p. 7). Directional Bible Ministries. Kindle Edition. 

Saturday, December 21, 2024

Bad Interpretation

Think about the things that are taught today regarding losing one's salvation, the need to stay faithful until the end, baptism as a requirement for salvation (baptismal regeneration), works to be saved or stay saved, the church is now Israel (replacement theology), amillennialism, and postmillennialism. Where do these teachings come from? The Gospels! Again, the Gospels were about a Jewish Messiah that came to a Jewish people to proclaim that a Jewish kingdom was at hand! See the problem?

Spearman, H. Dwayne. The Book of Acts Rightly Divided (p. 2). Directional Bible Ministries. Kindle Edition. 

Saturday, December 7, 2024

Another Gospel

Galatians 1:6-7: I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 

Notice ye are so soon removed from him that called you. The question is who is the him in this verse? Some say that it is God (cf. NASB) while others say that it is Paul himself. The Greek simply says the one. The context (verse 9) seems to dictate that it is referring to a man; most likely Paul himself. If so, that would mean that he was speaking in the third person. 

There is a compare and contrast happening with the grace of Christ and another gospel. The gospel given to Paul was the grace of Christ or what he often referred to it as his gospel (cf. Romans 2:16; Romans 16:25; 1 Timothy 1:11; 2Timothy 2:8). Paul is the only one who ever claimed that the grace gospel was his. Of course, there was a reason for that.   

The other gospel was a perversion of that gospel that required works, i.e., no gospel (good news) at all. Paul also warned the Corinthians of this in 2 Corinthians 11:4 when he wrote, For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. Sadly, the other gospel could not save them. I believe that this other gospel was a mixing of the kingdom and the grace gospels that formed no gospel at all because, when mixed, they cancel one another out. One clearly teaches a salvation by works, while the other does not.