Our Bible studies at Calvary Baptist Church have taken us into Jonah several times where we’ve been considering how Jonah ended up in the belly of a whale. Note that in Chapter 1 Jonah ended up in what he called the “belly of hell” [Ch 2:2] and in Matthew 12:40 Jesus referred to “Jonas in the whale’s belly” as a prefigure of himself three days and three nights in the earth. Which begs the question “was Jonah dead or alive”? Note also in [Ch 2:6] God can hear prayers from the darkest hell! In [Ch 2:9] notice where Salvation is exclusively “of the Lord” and NOT from other religions. From there let us consider [Ch 2:10] that Jonah found mercy! Amen! God is a God of Mercy! [2 Pet 3:9] “…Not willing that any should perish…but that all should come to repentance”. I wish some preachers would quit trying to redefine any and all! Anyway, Jonah found mercy! Are we all agreed on that? Yet notice that after he went and preached, the people of Nineveh did what many unstudied pastors say isn’t necessary – they begged God for mercy and turned from their wickedness! By the way that’s lost men and women begging God for mercy and turning from their wickedness. Dead in trespasses and sins has never meant too dead to beg God for mercy and turn from your wicked ways. Perhaps you’re wondering why the people of Nineveh did this when God had already said He was going to destroy them? Turn to the words of the King of Nineveh in Jonah 3:9 “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” Ahh yes! Now that’s good advice! Maybe you are in a horrible mess! Maybe you’re in the middle of a nightmare! Maybe you’ve all but begged God to deal with your rebellious attitude. I don’t know about you, but this King’s words encourage me! Change your ways! Humble yourself before God and just maybe He’ll reach down and lift you out of that pit you’re in. Maybe the great God of second chances will take pity on you! In Jonah 3:10 God saw their works which demonstrated their seriousness about seeking mercy and He didn’t destroy them. Praise God for mercy! Jonah is a crash course on MERCY! It’s the advanced level class on digging your own pit no doubt, but it’s also a crash course on Mercy. Let’s read ch 4:1 and notice Jonah was outraged that God spared Nineveh. Wow?! Outraged that someone got mercy?! Are you kidding? How can a man go through what Jonah went through and find the sea of God’s mercy but still not have any mercy for others? We find the word mercy 261 times in the Bible. Isn’t it just like a man to be so one sided? We expect mercy for our self but chastisement for others. God expects us to use mercy toward our fellow man. I wish it weren’t so but let me remind you that Jonah never did get his heart straightened out. His last recorded words to God concerning Nineveh were “I do well to be angry, even unto death”. God help us to remember to be merciful even when it isn’t deserved! For that is where God extended mercy to us!! This is pastor Malcolm Harrison inviting you to come visit with us at Calvary Baptist Church in Palestine on the loop across from Pizza Hut.
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In the book of Jonah Chapter 1 vs 1-14 we read that the prophet Jonah was told to go to the great and wicked city called Nineveh and preach against their wicked ways. *This would be an outrage in our day just as it was in Jonah’s day. No one wants to be told that there is a standard of right and wrong and no one wants to be told that certain behaviors are defiled and reprobate. But let’s move on. Jonah as you know decided that these Gentiles deserved God’s judgment, so he decided to leave them to their fate [Jonah 4:1-2]. In verse 3 Jonah went instead to Joppa {modern day Jaffa} and hired a boat to take him anywhere but Nineveh. *Remember this: When a Christian or lost person masquerading as a Christian has decided to leave church, any ‘ship’ {excuse} will do. Jonah’s decision prompts God to send a storm to ‘get Jonah’s attention’. *Notice that ‘some’, not all, storms may be God’s effort to get your attention. So here is something important: The Source of the Storm {by the way storms can take many forms – economic, domestic, health, financial et al} is in this case God. Note also that since all the universe belongs to God, He can of course do as He pleases with it. NEXT Note that while God is the source of Jonah’s storm, Jonah himself is the cause of the storm. By that I mean that God sent Jonah’s storm but Jonah himself caused this storm. So, here we see the SOURCE of the storm is God, but Jonah is the CAUSE of Jonah’s storm. For those of you who have ‘a meditative and reflecting mind’ I’d wager you know someone who has refused to submit to God’s decrees and divine expectations [which decrees and divine expectations are good and right and just 1st John 5:3, Romans 12:1-2]. God’s storms are good, right and a demonstration of love rather than wrath. These efforts of God are not for our hurt but for our good. When we, as Jonah, refuse and rebel against God’s guiding hand, we become the author of our own storms and we determine their severity. So, we have the source and we have the cause. Let’s see the solution. As you read onward in Jonah chapter 1 the storm became severe and the mariners discovered 1. The Source. 2. The Cause and then they asked Jonah for the Solution. Sound familiar? Have you not many times told someone the SOURCE and the CAUSE and when they asked, ‘the SOLUTION’ only to have them reject it out of hand? The mariners refused. To them the answer sounded crazy. They “rowed hard” [vs 13] to solve it on their own. Typical isn’t it? How many have I told plainly the solution to their storm only to see them continue on in rebellion. I wish we had more space and time to explore God’s storms but let us not forget that God not only has storms, but if storms don’t work, He has whales too. Some of you readers have seen the inside of your own whale and there learned the value of repentance. So, here at Calvary Baptist Church we encourage, we beseech, we urge you to keep sharing the gospel and maybe spare a Jonah from a storm. Perhaps you’ll spare a whale the indignity of having to eat a rebellious Christian. Bring your Bible and come to Calvary. On the Loop across from Pizza Hut.
David, a type of Christ, about whom God said ‘his heart was perfect’ [1st Kings 11:4 and 15:3] said “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the House of the Lord” [Psalm 122:1]. So what can we deduce from this? A few things, namely, that a man whom God said was perfect in his heart was for leaving one’s home and going to a local physical place known as a “house of God”. The phrase “The House of the Lord” is found 213 times in the Bible! Even the word grace is not found nearly so many times. Something God put in the Bible 213 times is obviously important. Let that soak in a moment. In John’s written record of Christ Jesus we find the Son of God “in the temple” [John 2:14] in Jerusalem. While there He did something very unacceptable among the robed genteel ‘seeker sensitive’ crowd: He ran people out of the church and told them to have their yard-sale fund raiser merchandise junk elsewhere. “And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise” [John 2:16]. Christ said plainly that, that the physical location in Jerusalem, that rock and stone building made with hands WAS His “Father’s house”. When the Lord went to Peter’s house [Matt 8] He didn’t turn over a single table, didn’t throw over any cages or whip anyone and He didn’t call it a temple even though there were believers gathered there. Not convinced? Well take Matthew 13:36 where Jesus is in a house with two of His disciples and some other believers – but he didn’t call it a temple and he didn’t do what He did at the temple in Jerusalem [John 2]. See a church has an ordained, trained, God called Pastor set over it by a parent church under authority. Can these ‘churches’ be ordained inside a regular house? Yes of course. But ONLY by a man sent under the authority of God, trained and approved by God called men who themselves were trained and ordained under authority. There is always a pastor, placed at its head by God. If you want to know what the qualifications are for a man to lead the church of God you can read it clear as glass in a King James Bible in 1st Timothy 3. Now back to John 2 and let’s consider verse 17. Seeing the “Son of God” toss the junk out and drive people who were there for the wrong reason out, the disciples remembered that it was written of the Lord, “…the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up”. Not zeal of McDonald’s. Not zeal for the bass boat or the horse corral. I’m afraid many today have more “zeal” for their lawn or their boat or their hobby [Luke 14:19] than for the “house of the Lord”. But Pastor, what if I am bedridden and cannot go to the “house of the Lord”? There is a clear difference between someone who wants to obey God but can’t VS someone who can but doesn’t have a zeal for things of God. Rather than hide this lack of zeal why not just ask God to give you back your zeal for what He wants in your life? This Sunday find your zeal for the things of God again and go to church! If you don’t have one, come visit with us at Calvary Baptist Church across from Pizza Hut on the Loop. 903-729-5924
Ezekiel Chapter 33 speaks of the uselessness of a ‘watchman’ who, seeing the enemy coming, doesn’t blow the trumpet and warn the people. Verse 6 says that if they perish, it’ll be for their own sins, but their blood will be required at the watchman’s hand. As such let me challenge us Christians to remember that we are the watchmen in our country, our jobs, our schools and our homes. Let us take up the trumpet [Ezekiel 33:2] and give warning. You may be thinking “well preacher, no one is listening to my warnings”. I know, it probably seems that way; nonetheless Ezekiel 33 says for us to give the warning and if people decide to ignore it – so be it, that’s on them. So this week lets look at another good warning. Turn in your Bible to the little book of Esther. I urge you to read the whole thing, its pretty short and very entertaining and this article won’t make much sense if you haven’t read Esther. In the book we find a fellow named Haman who is about as useless as screen doors on a submarine. He’s like the idiot the boss put in charge of things and it went to his head. One of the things this guy required was that if he came by you had to bow and show him reverence. But there was a Jewish fella named Mordecai and old Mordecai would’ve made a good Texan; he loves God and he won’t bow to no man especially a ‘hair in the biscuit’ like Haman. This of course makes Haman furious and he starts plotting to kill all the Jews and especially Mordecai. He even asked his wife and friends, none of whom are exactly intellectual giants, how to kill Mordecai and get the most enjoyment out of it. They all suggested a Gallows built in the living room of Haman’s house. Haman liked the idea and had a big Gallows built right in his living room. Long story short, things don’t work out to well for our arch-villain Haman and he’ll end up swinging from a rope on “his own Gallows” but all ten of his sons as well will be hanged on that Gallows. By now those of you who have a ‘meditative and reflective mind’ have surely seen numerous “life-lessons” and Biblical truths you can use to help people see. I would be interested to hear what you saw in how the devil used Haman’s own wife and his own friends against him. I also notice that often the parents will build the gallows on which their children will hang. By their own example they teach their children to hate God and all things decent and good. Did you find it rewarding to see Esther have the boldness to do right regardless of consequences? Did you notice that Mordecai prays about his actions and urges Esther to pray about her actions as well, but Haman makes his decisions by sheer ego and vanity? Remember the old axiom “it is better to sleep on a decision before hand than to cry over it later”. There is too much to point out but I hope you saw that people like Haman often get hung on their own gallows. Isn’t it long past time for you to bring your heart to Calvary? Come worship with us at Calvary Baptist Church in Palestine. Call for directions and service times 903-729-5924 across from Pizza Hut on the Loop.
For our study this week let me challenge you with Jeremiah Ch 14:1-22 where the “children of Israel” have, with their constant rebellion and disobedience to God’s words, finally provoked Him to anger. As a result, He brings them under the rod of discipline; and that discipline took the form of a terrible ‘derth’ [famine caused by drought]. It had been ongoing for so long that even the cattle were abandoning their newborn calves [14:5]. So, Jeremiah {the weeping prophet} went before God in prayer and begged Him to be merciful to the people and bless them with rain and food. In vs 7 Jeremiah confessed to God that the people had sinned but despite that sin, he pleaded that God would be merciful “for thy name’s sake”. God’s answer must have been completely shocking to Jeremiah! Let’s read it in Jeremiah 14:11-12, “Pray not for this people for their good” 12 “When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burn offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence”. You wouldn’t sell many Christian t-shirts or coffee mugs with that scripture verse printed on them! In fact, if you read vs 13-17 God’s rolling anger is clear and makes us want to turn away from the page in fear. But Jeremiah pleaded still for them vs 20-22. That sets the context for our text in Ch 15:1-2 which I want to bring to your attention. “Then said the Lord unto me, though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight and let them go forth.” Oh My! The implications are massive! Moses and Samuel are faithful men! Not perfect men, but to the best of their ability they were faithful. Here we have God himself endorsing them. If, in this case, Moses and Samuel could not have changed God’s mind, then it stands to reason that perhaps in other circumstances they might have! If they could prayerfully turn God’s mind and hand, then so might you! YOU might stand in the spirit before His throne of grace by faith and plead with him on behalf of those who otherwise HAVE NO MOSES, no Samuel, No Job, No Jeremiah to plead for them! Maybe you’re thinking “well preacher, I am no Moses and no Samuel”. No, but for the sake of those in your family who have no one else will you be faithful to the cross and intercede for those who have no one else? Daniel prayed [Dan 9:18] that God would bless and help the Jews; not because they deserved it – but because God is overflowing with great mercies. Someone you love needs a Moses, a Samuel, a Jeremiah to step in before God in their stead because of their failures. Will you intercede for them? Will you be the Moses who pleads for your friends? Your family? Your church? You church family? Someone must sanctify themselves and try to maintain their close walk with the Lord. Will it be you? I urge you this week to be by God’s grace a ready vessel fit for His use in the lives of those who have no Moses! I urge you this week to pray for our America like never before.
This past Sunday morning our text for Preaching time was Judges 11:1-24(a), with emphasis on verse 23 & 24 “So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it? 24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? The context of the chapter is, in and of itself, very interesting but for sake of time and space let me summarize it. The ‘Children Of Ammon” have come out to set themselves in battle formations against the children of Israel. Just as the wicked are setting themselves against Christians today huh?! The Children Of Israel had appointed a great captain over themselves who sent messengers to the Ammonites to ask them why they were confronting the children of Israel? Their answer, in short, was “you took our land and we want it back”. The Children if Israel replied ‘no, we didn’t take it from you, God gave it to us’! Moreover, since God gave it to us, should we then just hand it to you? Should we give away the precious gifts of God to you? Jepthah went on to ask them the question: “If your god gives you something will you not possess it?” Hey Christian, let me ask you something! Our Lord has given us many precious gifts, like hope in the finished work of Christ on the cross – should we instead put our hope in the world? Our God has given us the assurance of his eternal inheritance, his eternal salvation, his eternal redemption – shall we rather place our confidence, not in the eternal intercessor, which is Christ [Hebrews 7:25], but in man? Our God has given us confidence in prayer; shall we turn instead to the world, which offers no real answers, no loving sure plan for an expected end [Jeremiah 29:11] or to the Father of Mercy? Jepthah’s reply is bold and exudes confidence in God. “No! God has given this to us and you cannot have it!” Why then do so many Christians turn to the physical world for spiritual help, hope, acceptance, rescue and deliverance? Why do so many Christians conduct themselves as if the world were their redeemer? May I remind you that those things surrendered to the world; your testimony, your witness, your faith, your walk, your hope and your confidence – you likely won’t get back. Those things you surrender to the world, if you do ever get them back, it will be at great personal cost. As such why give them away? If your earthly father gave you a gift of great value, perhaps a family heirloom of immense importance, wouldn’t you cherish it? Wouldn’t you keep it protected and guard it with your life? If some lunatic came along who demanded that you hand it over to him, would you do so without so much as a whimper? I see Christians doing just that! Husbands handing over their children to the world. Mothers handing over their modesty to the world. Teenagers handing over their chastity to the peer pressure of dogs. Christians have much to be thankful for that should not be handed over to the world. Why hand your testimony over to the world and the devil? Why hand over to the enemy those precious things which God has given you? Let the world possess those things it’s god {Lucifer} gives it and let us possess those things which our God gives us!
This past Sunday morning our text for Preaching time was Judges 11:1-24(a), with emphasis on verses 23 & 24 “So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it? 24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? The context of the chapter is, in and of itself, very interesting but for sake of time and space let me summarize it. The ‘Children of Ammon’ have come out to set themselves in battle formations against the children of Israel. Just as the wicked are setting themselves against Christians today huh?! The Children of Israel had appointed a great captain over themselves who sent messengers to the Ammonites to ask them why they were confronting the children of Israel? Their answer, in short, was “you took our land and we want it back”. The Children of Israel replied ‘no, we didn’t take it from you, God gave it to us’! Moreover, since God gave it to us, should we then just hand it to you? Should we give away the precious gifts of God to you? Jepthah went on to ask them the question: “If your god gives you something will you not possess it?” Hey Christian, let me ask you something! Our Lord has given us many precious gifts, like hope in the finished work of Christ on the cross – should we instead put our hope in the world? Our God has given us the assurance of his eternal inheritance, his eternal salvation, his eternal redemption – shall we rather place our confidence, not in the eternal intercessor, which is Christ [Hebrews 7:25], but in man? Our God has given us confidence in prayer; shall we turn instead to the world, which offers no real answers, no loving sure plan for an expected end [Jeremiah 29:11] or to the Father of Mercy? Jepthah’s reply is bold and exudes confidence in God. “No! God has given this to us, and you cannot have it!” Why then do so many Christians turn to the physical world for spiritual help, hope, acceptance, rescue and deliverance? Why do so many Christians conduct themselves as if the world were their redeemer? May I remind you that those things surrendered to the world; your testimony, your witness, your faith, your walk, your hope and your confidence – you likely won’t get back. Those things you surrender to the world, if you do ever get them back, it will be at great personal cost. As such why give them away? If your earthly father gave you a gift of great value, perhaps a family heirloom of immense importance, wouldn’t you cherish it? Wouldn’t you keep it protected and guard it with your life? If some lunatic came along who demanded that you hand it over to him, would you do so without so much as a whimper? I see Christians doing just that! Husbands handing over their children to the world. Mothers handing over their modesty to the world. Teenagers handing over their chastity to the peer pressure of dogs. Christians have much to be thankful for that should not be handed over to the world. Why hand your testimony over to the world and the devil? Why hand over to the enemy those precious things which God has given you? Let the world possess those things its god {Lucifer} gives it and let us possess those things which our God gives us!
Hebrews Chapter 10 vs 4 tells us “For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins”. The “context” of the verse is referring to the fact that back in the Old Testament, the Jews, the Hebrews, came year in and year out to offer their sacrifices in atonement for sin {see Exodus-Numbers}. The Holy Spirit tells us that the Jews ‘had to come’ year after year and get ‘TEMPORARY pardon’ by the sacrifice of animals [specifically by the death and blood] of those animals. But, says the Holy Spirit, IF those sacrifices had been PERMANENTLY effectual to make ATONEMENT for sins then those who offered the sacrifices wouldn’t need to do so but one time. However, they had to do it over and over again. WHY? Because as our verse says “the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins! By the way, no one reading this article has his or her own ‘tabernacle of the congregation’ set up out in their back yard, no brazen altar on which to sacrifice bulls and goats. Why not? Because that was God’s ordained order for the Jews under the law {something we were never part of – Ephesians 2:11-12}. That is what God calls a “dispensation” [Col 1:25]. Some deny it, but there it is in the Bible just as plain as summer in Texas. God dealing with specific people a specific way. Anyway, sin has a price [Gen 2:17, Rom 6:23] and this was God’s way of teaching the Jews that price. They had to see it up close and it taught them how terrible sin is. That blood of bulls and goats was good for you if were a Jew under the Law. But, it ain’t worth a crippled mule to deal with sin in the New Testament. I don’t know about you but I am not interested in a temporary salvation! I like that “Eternal Salvation” Brother! Great Day In the Morning!” I’m glad God gave the world ONE ETERNAL LAMB who, voluntarily offered himself as payment ONCE FOR ALL [Hebrews 10:10]. The Bible tells us that the Son of God, because of His willingness to pay with His own blood for us, He was made the “author of ETERNAL SALVATION” [Hebrews 5:9]. Some say, well Brother do you ever blow it and commit a sin? Of course, and anyone who says he doesn’t is a liar. But praise the Good Lord I have a Lamb that saved me to the uttermost and if I do sin, the Bible says my Lamb ‘ever lives to make intercession’ for me! Amen it’s like having an eternal Lamb that gives forth eternal blood and that makes eternal atonement! I don’t have to guess or wonder or doubt. I just have to trust Jesus to do what bulls and goats never did and never could do. Really take away sin. I guess for some “take away sin” doesn’t really mean take away sin. But in my Bible it says that Jesus doesn’t just hide it for a while, no He takes it away and that forever more. Amen! What a hope! What a joy! That sound like something you want? You are encouraged to come get in your place at Calvary Baptist Church. Across from Pizza Hut on the loop. SS at 10:00, Morning Worship at 11:00.
For sake of time and space let’s summarize a few things which are, in and of themselves, worthy of far more extensive study. First: Scripture tells us that Christ {as a husband} is coming for His bride [2 Cor 11:2, Ephesians 5, John 14, John 3, Revelation 19]. His bride is the ‘Christian church’ [Ephesians 5:22-33] which is entered exclusively by being ‘born again’, saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus alone – it is blood bought. The bride, or church, is espoused to Christ [2 Cor 11:2]. When He comes, as we saw earlier in this study, He will call her out to meet him [1st Thessalonians 4:16-17]. The wedding happens in heaven at the Father’s house where [John 14] Jesus said we would go to be with Him. This IS the rapture of the bride and to miss it is to miss a massive truth in scripture. So as 1st Thessalonians 4:16 says, the church, will be “caught up” {English words derived from Latin ‘Raptura, Rapio, Rapere, Raptuso’}[1st Thessalonians 4:17]. This phrase “caught up” has long been known to have come to us from Latin AND that the Latin term is “RAPTUSO” {which sounds like rapture}. The church has merely adopted a word that encompasses this event = rapture. If we all knew Latin like we once did, we’d not be nearly so unused to the interchangeable terms. Why do so many in the body of Christ embrace this doctrine? Hopefully by now you realize that it is because to deny it is to deny scripture. How long has this been being taught? Since the verses were written. The book of John was written in roughly 31 A.D. and the Apostle John, it’s author, taught this doctrine to his followers like Polycarp (pastor of Smyrna), who taught it to his followers like Irenaeus, who wrote about the rapture in his teachings in 180-200 A.D. In fact, here is a quote from Irenaeus from between 180-200 A.D. “And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, there shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be”. Some on the internet and others on YouTube are saying that the Rapture doctrine was made up from thin air in the early 1800’s. However, Irenaeus lived and taught within 100 years after the Apostle John died of old age. Cyprian refers to the rapture in his writings in 250 A.D. No, I am afraid these doctrinal train-wrecks who deny the rapture must do so at the expense of ignoring church history and completely perverting the scriptures. Luke 17:34 tells us “I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. 35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. What should you do? What any excited young bride would do if she knew her betrothed husband might show up at any moment – you should be ready to go!
For the last three Wednesday evening Bible studies at Calvary, we have focused our attention on those “words” from which the Apostle Paul told us we should ‘comfort’ one another [1st Thessalonians 4:18]. The words to which he was referring, at the direction of the Holy Spirit, were those words concerning those who have passed from this life to the next. Especially our loved ones who had died trusting Christ. Many in Paul’s day still thought that the deceased are out in the cemetery snoring merrily in some sort of spiritual dreamland. They didn’t understand what happens when we die, and they really didn’t understand what is going to happen when Jesus returns for His bride. As such Paul, at the direction of the 3rd person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost {Acts 5:1-4}, writes these words of comfort to explain it in detail. Now, notice in 1st Thessalonians 4:17 in our “English” Bible {by which I always mean the A.V. 1611 King James Bible} we see the phrase “caught up”. Many have been trained to think that because ‘The Rapture’, as a term, isn’t in the Bible, that the doctrine likewise isn’t in the Bible. I’ve even read that some preacher claimed that Jesus didn’t believe in the Rapture! But, let me call to your recollection something you may have forgotten. English originates in Latin. So much so that you would probably be very surprised just how often you use terms which are Latin. Many English words are really Latin words, but no one remembers where we got them. Our phrase “caught up” here in 1st Thessalonians 4:17 is translated from the Greek word harpazo AND from the Latin word rapere both of which mean to “catch away, snatch up, carry off, seize quickly for oneself, grab”. The word RAPERE comes from the old Latin “Rapio” and “Raptuse” – from which the meaning and application are quite clear: to be spiritually raptured or suddenly and lovingly carried away. Again, we see the husband and the wife (Christ and the Bride) Ephesians 5. When we are saved, we are sealed unto the day of redemption. That redemption includes the change from the old tabernacle of flesh into the new glorified tabernacle like unto Christ’s. When will those who are with him now get their new glorified bodies? When will we who are yet living when the Bridegroom comes for His bride get our old bodies redeemed for new ones? The answer is here before you in the old King James Bible. The Harpazo \ Rapio \ Rapture = the sudden seizing of the bride! The sudden calling out of the bride will come like a thief in the night [1st Thess 5:2]. Some, perhaps many of you, may have been taught to think that this “rapture” or “rapio / harpazo” of the church / bride is a fabrication of men like C.I. Scofield or others in the mid 1800’s. You were taught incorrectly. The doctrine that the church will be “caught up” {harpazo / Rapio} is right in your Bible where it has been since AD 54 some 2000 years ago. This doctrine is not man made and it isn’t mid 1800 in origin. There is most definitely a Rapture coming! What a hope! If the Lord and the Herald Press permit, we will explore the timing of this blessed event in the article next week. Come study with us!
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