I do not consider myself a Bible teacher, but a reporter that
watches the signs of the times and quotes Scripture. Everyone of us must
test all things we see and hear by Scripture regardless of whether
we're seminary trained or not. Each of us is a workman that needs to
study to show ourselves approved unto God, rightly dividing the Word of
Truth. We do not let others do our thinking for us.
So when I
heard a Bible teacher quote this verse and rightly interpret that the
Restrainer is indeed the Holy Spirit, I was surprised when he followed
that up with saying that the Holy Spirit will be removed from His
dwelling within us believers and would return to how He operated before
Pentecost, by merely being upon and not in the saint. He said that when
the Restrainer is 'removed' the Church stays behind to face the
antichrist.
"And now you know what is restraining, that he may be
revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at
work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the
way. And then the lawless one will be revealed..." - 2Th 2:6-8a
That is a frightening and unbiblical thought. There are so many NT
passages that show that the Holy Spirit is a guarantee of our redemption
and that without the Holy Spirit, we are none of His.
"Now He
who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also
sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.
(down-payment) - 2 Cor 1:21-22
"Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." - Eph 4:30
"In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel
of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the
Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance,
with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of
His glory." - Eph 1:13-14
We've been sealed and God is not going
to unseal us and leave us helpless to face the antichrist (a judgment
upon a Christ-rejecting world) without the protection of His indwelling
Spirit. I love how Chuck Smith used to put it -- No Groom is going to
beat up the Bride before the wedding.
The point I am making is
that no matter how impressive your favorite teacher might be -- don't
let your guard down - test everything s/he teaches - hold fast to that
which is good and scriptural. In this dark hour of the Great Apostasy,
no man's teaching is to be accepted unless it passes muster with "thus
saith the LORD." Remember the Bereans.
Keep on the alert!!
"But as it is written: 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit
searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the
things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so
no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have
received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,
that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God."
- 1 Cor. 2:9-12
Don't ever tire of defending the Truth of God's Word. It's a
thankless job but one all of us are assigned to do. (Jude 3) It's not
some specialized ministry; but defending the Gospel is equally as
important as proclaiming it.
This week in cyberspace, I was kept
busy doing just that. In retrospect, a lot of opposition to the doctrine
of solo-Scriptura (by Scripture alone) came at the hands of those who
lay claim to the Reformers, ( particularly Martin Luther) who termed all
the 'solas' in the first place. Now these Reformers are defending
Tradition and putting it on equal par with God's Word. (See this week's
discussions with Chris Rosebrough.)
On a blog I monitor, there
was a post about all the suffering of believers and the need for
intercession for our brothers and sisters who are hurting. I affirmed
that, agreeing wholeheartedly that we need to pray for one another. Then
I added my own lament, "This world needs the Lord to come and set up
His Kingdom in Zion!" An emergent blogger responded to me, "For
years I've rejected the notion that The Kingdom is anything other than
present because The King is inescapably present and we’re His subjects."
I chimed in, "...When Jesus rules from the Throne of David in Jerusalem
– they’ll be no terrorists, no unsolved murders, no street crime, and
even the animal kingdom will live in harmony,. Let’s see you do that!
Until you can, you better keep on praying “'THY Kingdom Come.'"
Then a blogger who uses the moniker MLD (Martin Luther's Disciple) got
in on the action, saying: "If you read St Peter in Acts 2 you will see
that he clearly states that Jesus is already sitting on and ruling from
David’s throne. How did you miss that?"
My response: "MLD – Keep
reading – the next chapter Acts 3:19-21 — He sits on the throne in
heaven until the time of restoration when He will then sit on His throne
in Jerusalem. He rules in our hearts – not in the unbeliever’s heart –
He will come back with His saints who will rule and reign together with
Christ on the restored earth, ie “the time of restoration'"...
The emergent guy, still trying to straighten me out responded,
"Apocalyptic language is metaphorical and not definitive. The figure is
of Jesus continuing His present reign, one He clearly established during
his pre ascension presence. If Jesus is not present King and we His
present ambassadors and agents of redemption then you’re missing out on
the glory of His Kingdom."
As you can see, I did not even refer
to any Apocalyptic book, but to the book of Acts. Jesus certainly does
rule in the hearts of the believer, His ambassadors, but the idea that
that fulfills all the promises of Him setting up His earthly Millennial
Kingdom, and we saints returning with Him to rule and reign with Him, is
irrational.
This morning as I was reading the Bible (currently
in the books of Psalms and Romans), this verse struck me as a
confirmation that I used the right term when I said that Jesus would
return and set up "His Kingdom in Zion."
"The Mighty One, God the LORD, Has spoken and called the earth From the rising of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; A fire shall devour before Him, And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, And to the earth, that He may judge His people:" -Ps. 50:1-4
This is not merely speaking of Christ's first coming since nothing very
tempestuous was in the manger in Bethlehem. God confirmed His Word that
it would indeed be "Out of Zion" that all the rest would be fulfilled.
A-Mills, Preterists, and Kingdom-Now people cannot sway those of us who
hear the Master's voice away from the promises in the Bible. We await
the fulfillment of every jot and tittle.
Until then, keep your Ephesians armor on tight.
"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenly places." Eph 6:11-12
"Repent therefore and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come
from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who
was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of
restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His
holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:19-21
"Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me. But to the wicked God says: 'What right have you to declare My statutes, Or take My covenant in your mouth, Seeing you hate instruction And cast My words behind you?'" - Ps. 50:15-17
This morning while I was going before the LORD in prayer, my son's
voice interrupted me. "Come here quick mom," he said. I groaned, not
wanting to break my focus on what the LORD was laying on my heart. He
pointed out the dining room window to a deer laying in the bushes
between our house and the neighbor's. "She's hurt. She has a gash in her
leg. She limped there and laid down and could not put any weight on
that back leg; it has a gash in it."
I called the police to see
if they could help her. The dispatcher said to me, "I'll send an officer
there to put her down." The officer came within a minute and said,
"I've been looking for her since yesterday. She was hit by a car as she
was slipping on the icy road. I can't get a good shot at her at this
angle." Just then my cat got out of the house and wanted to see what we
were looking at. We couldn't stop her and she scared the deer to her
three hooves. The deer had nowhere to go - a shut gate on one side and a
police officer on the other. On his instructions I went out my back
door and opened the gate and she hobbled through it and through the yard
into the woods. He said she has a chance to mend since there doesn't
seem to be any internal injuries - she'll just either die or live with a
bad leg.
So how does this illustrate what I was about to share
this morning? you may ask. I may be stretching the analogy, but what was
on my heart this morning was my fellow sheep who have been wounded by
abusive leaders and are now hurt and on their own. I know the pain of
isolation from a church fellowship. Being cut off from fellow sheep due
to an injury sustained by an under-shepherd at the instigation of a goat
in the flock happens way too often. I might compare the lies of the
goat to the icy condition and the careless leader to the car that hit
the deer. Now that poor deer is more vulnerable to the elements and the
wounded Christian in this comparison will be scarred for life or
possibly even lose the faith, which would be comparable to dying,
spiritually-speaking.
I don't know if you've noticed, but the
condition of the church, now that the goats are in control and the sheep
are scattered, is close to self-annihilation. The sad story I shared
yesterday about the empty church buildings all over Europe give
testimony to the failure of institutional churchianity. But Jesus had
His own people in those places - as He said to the seven churches in
Revelation - there are some who have not defiled their garments. He
follows that with the command to "Come out from among her, My people."
I believe we're almost there, if not there already. The watchmen have
done their duty to reveal hidden dangers, expose evil, and confront
abusive leaders. And yet the people still flock to the hirelings and
fill up the pews in the buildings where they eat up all the wood, hay
and stubble. And the sheep are not welcome among them.
What more
can be done? God will soon stop all His warnings and the judgment that
will fall upon the church before He takes it to the world will be great.
The ax will fall. At this point 'there is no remedy.'
Let's stay connected in cyberspace. Especially for those who are no longer welcome in the circle of merry-makers.
Even so, LORD come!
"And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers,
rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people,
and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and
despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the
LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy." - 2 Chr
36:15-16
"Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be
ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed
through the sea;...But with many of them God was not well pleased: for
they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our
examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they
also lusted...Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and
they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world
are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he
fall." 1 Cor 10:1,5-6,11-12
