Bible Doctrine
Massive Earthquake In Utah Is The Latest Event In A Series Of Events That Began On January 1st And Is Starting To Look Like Matthew 24 Birth Pangs
Do events happening now signal the start of the end times beginning of sorrows Jesus tells us of in Matthew 24 regarding famine, wars and pestilence?
The fig tree in Matthew 24 is obviously the nation of Israel, and Jesus urges us to look for it to bloom in the end of time when the ‘beginning of sorrows’ takes place. It bloomed.
I was having lunch with my good friend, Christian brother and fellow bible ‘sword sharpener’ Andy yesterday, and like always, our lunchtime conversation was a bible study. In the course of what is probably our last lunch for the next few weeks due to the coronavirus, we got to talking about what a crazy, crazy year 2020 has been from the very first day. Regular listeners of our NTEB weekly radio bible study know that all through 2019, I called for 2020 to be a ‘year of incredible change’, and it is been that in spades.
“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Matthew 24:3-8 (KJB)
But as we started to recollect the myriad wild events that began on January 1st, which we will lay out here for you in detail, Andy and I noticed how similar what is happening right now is to the ‘beginning of sorrows’ Jesus tells us to watch for in Matthew 24. Incredible, actually, as you will see below. As you read our list, please remember that the majority of Matthew 24 is addressed to the Jews living in the time of Jacob’s trouble that leads into the Great Tribulation. When we rightly divide the scriptures, as Paul tells us to do, we can see what applies to us in the Church Age and what does not.
The Pretribulation Rapture of the Church is the main and primary event that will kick everything off, but since Matthew 24 is geared to Jews in the Tribulation it is not mentioned. What is mentioned is a ‘beginning of sorrows’ that precedes everything, and rightly dividing can certainly place that in the tail end of the Church Age.
Could it be that is happening right now? Read on and see.
Here now is our timeline of events that have taken place since the beginning of 2020, placed in context with scripture, and we ask you to study it through and let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
The 2020 Timeline Of End Time Events And The Matthew 24 ‘Beginning Of Sorrows’
- WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS: On January 1st, we told you about the joint war games between Russia, China and Iran, something that had never happened before in world history. During those games, they declared that the dominance of America in the Middle East was coming to an end. The very next day, President Trump ordered the death by drone of Iranian general Qassem Solemani, which led to an intense face-off between the United States and Iran with all the world wondering if WWIII was beginning. Britain sent warships to the Gulf as tensions soared right up to the brink. Iran then intentionally shot down a Ukrainian jet liner with 176 souls on-board. All this was just the first 13 days of January. “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars:…For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: “ Matthew 24:6,7 (KJB)
- SPIRITUAL DECEPTION: While WWIII was potentially waiting to break out, spiritual deception on a mass scale broke out as well. We told you all about the Kanye West Sunday Service end times false revival, and on January 13 it was announced that he would join the false teachers and heretics of the New Apostolic Reformation at the Sun Devil Stadium for a display of ‘signs, miracles and wonders‘. “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” Matthew 24:4,5 (KJB)
- FAMINE: ON January 16th, we brought you the story of how researchers are predicting that over 40% of the globe will experience civil unrest in 2020. Then the locusts started to swarm, and they haven’t stopped yet. The UN warned of an unprecedented threat to food security in a part of the world where millions face hunger, and the FAO estimated that 70,000 hectares of crops in Kenya and around 30,000 hectares in Ethiopia had been infested. It added that locusts had attacked coffee and tea crops that account for approximately 30% of Ethiopia’s exports. As of this writing today, a ‘biblical-sized’ swarm of locusts are preparing to descend on the Middle East just in time for Passover. The Times of Israel reported that “A plague of locusts the likes of which have been unseen for over 30 years is about to hit Africa and the Middle East. Adding to the perfect biblical storm, the current coronavirus pandemic is affecting travel of international experts and in-country gatherings for training to combat the locust threat, said Rome-based Senior Locust Forecasting Officer Keith Cressman on Monday.” “…and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” Matthew 24:7 (KJB)
- PESTILENCE: The entire world, right now, is on some degree of lockdown as the coronavirus pandemic is generating fear and panic that I have not witnessed in my 59 years upon this earth. Say what you will about how it started, where it started and why it started, the fact of the matter is that pestilence is the #1, all-consuming headline anywhere and everywhere you look. Nothing in the past 100 years has caused this level of consternation, so why now? Why is the coronavirus so different from all the others? “…and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” Matthew 24:7 (KJB)
- EARTHQUAKES: This morning in Utah, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Wasatch Front at 7:09 a.m., shaking homes from Logan down to Utah County. It was the state’s largest earthquake since 1992. It has caused damage to the Salt Lake City International Airport, downtown buildings and even the Salt Lake Temple, where the Angel Moroni statute has lost its trumpet. So far, there have been no reports of serious injuries. Dozens of aftershocks followed, with the strongest being a magnitude 4.6. It’s likely there will be hundreds of aftershocks in the days to come, Keith Koper, director of the University of Utah Seismograph Stations told FOX 13, and they could last for weeks. This earthquake is only one of dozens and dozens of ‘significant earthquakes’ to be recorded by the USGS since 2020 began. “…and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Matthew 24:7,8 (KJB)
- THE FIG TREE: The fig tree in Matthew 24 is obviously the nation of Israel, and Jesus urges us to look for it to bloom in the end of time when the ‘beginning of sorrows’ takes place. The ‘beginning of sorrows’ at the start of all these prophetical events needs to have the fig tree blooming, and it is. When we rightly divide, we see the following. Israel needs to become a nation again, the ‘beginning of sorrows’ starts, the Church is raptured out, the time of Jacob’s trouble begins when Antichrist shows up, 3.5 years of false peace and safety followed by 3.5 years of the Great Tribulation. At the end of all that, we return with Jesus on white horses, Revelation 19, to fight the battle of Armageddon after which King Jesus sets up His literal, visible, physical Kingdom of Heaven on the Throne of David in Jerusalem. And it all starts with the fig tree. “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matthew 24:32,33 (KJB)
On the one hand, you could easily dismiss any or all of these things as nothing special because none of them are new either to America or the world at large. But what is new, however, and what shocked Andy and I yesterday as we reviewed all these things, is how they are all starting firing simultaneous, one after the other, since day one of 2020. At the very least, it is an odd coincidence, so much so that the Lord put it on my heart to bring these things to your attention for your prayerful review and consideration.
The Pretribulation Rapture Is Scheduled For A Springtime Launch
But before we go, let me throw in an added ‘bonus feature’ to this list that while it does not appear in Matthew 24, it does take place in the springtime which is right around the corner. My very first article to start the NTEB 2020 season was one where I spoke about my fond hope that we would be raptured in 2020. Did you know that the Bible tells us that the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church takes place…in the Spring?!? I am not saying it will be this Spring, but it certainly looks like it will be in a Spring, either 2020 or another year.
Song of Solomon chapter 2, verses 8-14, is an amazing picture, in type, of Jesus Christ coming to snatch His Bride up and away from off the Earth in the Rapture. For starters, you will note that the bride’s beloved is pictured as being above her, as if He was coming down to get her:
“The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Song of Solomon 2:8-10 (KJB)
Secondly, He is looking at her “through the lattice” located “behind our wall”, which is exactly where Jesus is when He comes to get us. He is veiled to the rest of the world, mocking referred to as “the secret Rapture”, but He is clearly visible to us.
“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Song of Solomon 2:11-13 (KJV)
Solomon clearly puts the timing of when the Beloved comes for the Bride as being at a time of year, right after winter, when everything is blooming and the birds are singing. Birds sing in springtime, I noticed their song this morning for the first time all year. Also, please note that it is not just any Spring to which he refers, but to one that also has the “fig tree” in leaf. That would mean that Israel would be back in the land, which they are.
The Conclusion Of The Matter
We are living in exciting times if you’re a bible believer, watching a world where the fig tree has already bloomed and the where the beginning of sorrows could right now be taking place. Matthew 24 is primarily of tale of the Jews in the Tribulation, but there certainly seems to be a snippet or three that might apply to us in the Church Age, rightly divided of course. If you haven’t looked at Matthew 24 and the beginning of sorrows, now while you’re home on lockdown due to the coronavirus pestilence might be an excellent time to get acquainted or reacquainted with the prophecy of truth that must shortly come to pass. Flight #777 on Titus213 Airlines ready for takeoff!
Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last days before the Rapture of the Church
- HOW TO DONATE:Click here to view our GoFundMe page
When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. Even all the way to South Africa. We even restarted our weekly radio Bible study on Sunday nights again, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.
But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. If every one of the 13,862 people on our daily mailing list gave $4.50, we would reach our goal immediately. If every one of our 149,000 followers on Facebook gave $1.00 each, we would reach 300% of our goal. The same goes for our 14,800 followers on Twitter. But sadly, many will not give, so we need the ones who can and who will give to be generous. As generous as possible.
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJV)
“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our GoFundMe page
Bible Doctrine
The Amazing Way That The Letter ‘X’ Is Used In Your King James Bible As It Relates To The Antichrist And His Soon-Coming, Short-Lived 7-Year Kingdom
Let’s do a quick King James Bible study on the many appearances and inferences of the letter ‘x’ in relation to the Antichrist and his coming kingdom
On our Podcast this afternoon, we had a wonderful time going through our King James Bibles to discover some peculiar anomalies with the letter ‘x’ and verses related to the coming Antichrist and his short-lived, 7-year kingdom. It was so well received that I thought a quick follow-up on the topic was in order. Enjoy!
“And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.” Luke 4:5-7 (KJB)
The main theme of your Bible is the coming King, Jesus Christ, and the kingdom that will soon be given to Him at the Second Advent. Jesus is the ‘volume of the Book’ from Genesis 1 to the end of Revelation 22. But before that can take place, the Devil is going to get a throne for 7 short years, and will try his best to hold onto it. When we look closely at the following passages, some pretty weird things present themselves to us regarding words that either end or begin with the letter ‘x’. Please note the following:
- Rex – King, this is Antichrist the counterfeit king, a Xerox copy. “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” Revelation 6:2 (KJB). The Latin word for king is ‘rex’, and that’s exactly what the Antichrist is, a king, but with a catch. He’s not the actual Messiah, he’s a counterfeit, kind of like when you make a copy of something with a copying machine like, say, the industry-standard and iconic Xerox.
- Hex – a curse or magic spell. “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:” Revelation 13:16 (KJB). Now this counterfeit king, let’s call him Mr. Xerox, brings something when he arrives, and we call that a ‘hex’. It is something that curses the one who receives it, please see Revelation 14:9-11 (KJB). The Bible calls this ‘hex’ the Mark of the Beast.
- Pox – pus-filled, a pustule, blister, ulcer or vesicle. “And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.” Revelation 16:2 (KJB). So King Xerox gives out his hex and what does that produce? It produces a pox in the bodies of the people who received. Is it just me or is there a preponderance of the letter ‘x’? There is, and it gets better (worse?).
- χάραγμα cháragma – the Mark. “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:16,17 (KJB). I rarely go to the Greek, but today I did and what did I see? The Greek word for ‘mark’, as in the Mark of the Beast, and it’s χάραγμα, or cháragma in English. Do you notice how the Greek word begins with the letter ‘x’? Odd.
- χξϛ chx stigma – 666. “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” Revelation 13:18 (KJB). Here we have the words 600, 60 and 6 written out in Greek as χξϛ, or chx stigma in English. Did you notice what the first letter of that was? Yep, it’s an ‘x’. Amazing.
In math and science, ‘X’ stands for an unknown quantity, perhaps you recall ‘solving for x’ in your high school algebra classes. I cannot tell you the name of the coming Antichrist, no one can, he is truly Mr. X, but maybe his greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. From an end times perspective, seeing a large amounts of x’s should be setting off your prophetical ‘red flags’, and in 2023 we have buckets of them. Elon Musk just rebranded Twitter as X, and his opening goal is to take over a minimum of 50% of the global financial system. That’s a lot of ‘buying and selling’, don’t you think? Why don’t you mark that down for later? In the meantime, go listen to today’s Podcast on this very subject.
ORDER RUCKMAN’S BOOK ‘THE MARK OF THE BEAST’
Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
Please continue to pray for us, and for wisdom for me especially, as we continue taking steps to print the NTEB branded King James Bible for our free Bible and Bibles Behind Bars program. It is exciting and intimidating at the same time. If the Lord has prospered your financially, we ask you to donate to help us continue to send out free Bibles at this level, and even higher than we are at the moment. It takes a lot of prayer, and a lot of resources to do all this. Praise the Lord we are doing it, all of us together, labouring in the Lord’s harvest field. TO THE FIGHT!!!
When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.
But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)
“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB
Bible Doctrine
There Is No Such Thing As ‘Limited Atonement’ In Your King James Bible, Jesus Christ Paid For The Sins Of The Goats Just As Much As For The Sheep
No such thing as a limited atonement in the Bible as far as what Jesus did on the cross is concerned, the atonement God provided becomes self-limiting when it’s refused by a sinner who doesn’t want it.
John Calvin was a philosopher who created a system of biblical interpretation that ‘sounds good’ when you first hear it, but if you have any Bible knowledge at all, it falls apart pretty quickly. The theology of Calvinism has been immortalized in the acronym TULIP, which states the five essential doctrines of total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. With all that in mind, let’s take a look at limited atonement, shall we?
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 (KJB)
I went to a site supporting Calvinism and found this definition of limited atonement: The doctrine of limited atonement—the L in TULIP—teaches that Christ effectively redeems from every people “only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation” (Canons of Dort, II.8). As Ursinus explains in his commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, Christ’s death was for everyone “as it respects the sufficiency of satisfaction which he made, but not as it respects the application thereof.” In other words, the death of Christ was sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world, but it was God’s will that it should effectively redeem those and only those who were chosen from eternity and given to Christ by the Father. Particular redemption is often considered a more favorable term, because the point of the doctrine is not to limit the mercy of God, but to make clear that Jesus did not die in the place of every sinner on the earth, but for his particular people. source
So that’s the premise of limited atonement, that Jesus on the cross only paid the sin debt of the sheep who would believe, but no payment for the goats who rejected Him. Does that sound right to you? Sure doesn’t sound right to me, and your King James Bible is in agreement as well. Jesus on the cross paid for the sins of the whole world, everyone. He paid for the sins of Adolf Hitler, Buddha and the Ayatollah Khomeini just as much as He paid for the sins of Jim Elliot, DL Moody and Robert Sheffey.
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” 1 Timothy 2:3-6 (KJB)
Now John Calvin and John MacArthur teach that the “all men” is only referring to the elect, and not to ‘all men’ even though is says all men. But as you can clearly see, three times in the passage Paul is telling us that Jesus paid for the sins of all men. What would settle this debate, would be if we could find a verse showing that the Lord Jesus bought and paid for the sins of the people who rejected Him and who didn’t want His payment. Does such a verse exist? Yep, sure does.
“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” 2 Peter 2:1 (KJB)
Peter shows us a remarkable truth, that Jesus bought and paid for the sins of the people who rejected Him, who died in their sins as the entire chapter shows us, and went to Hell despite having their sins paid for. Wait a minute! If their sins were ‘bought and paid for’, how did they wind up in Hell? That’s a great question, it’s such a good question in fact that John MacArthur and all his many minions are unable to answer it. Your King James Bible doesn’t hesitate for even a nano second to answer it.
“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:22,23 (KJB)
“That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:12-14 (KJB)
Jesus died on the cross, shed God’s blood, and made a payment for the sins of the whole world. When a sinner hears the gospel, receives it and believes it, they are then ‘sealed unto the day of redemption’ and placed into the body of Christ, which the Bible says is the Church. Do you see what just happened there? Don’t miss it! A sinner is saved when they believe the gospel and then put into the body of Christ. How is that possible? Because Jesus made their payment on the cross. A payment for who? For all sinners. What happens to the sinners who hear the gospel and refuse it? They are not put into the body of Christ, they remain unsaved, die in their sins and spend eternity in Hell. So who are the elect? Glad you asked.
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” 1 Peter 1:2 (KJB)
“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” Romans 8:33 (KJB)
The elect are not a pre-determined group of people, meaning God did not preselect some to be saved and some to be lost, that’s not Bible doctrine. The elect in the Church Age are sinners who heard the gospel, believed it and became born again. Can anyone become part of the elect? Absolutely, happens all the time. In just the past few weeks, Amber, Shaun and Patricia prayed to get saved after considering the gospel for a period of time. Those 3 souls are part of the newly-elected body of Christ. But what about predestination, you cry?!? Glad you asked.
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Romans 8:29,30 (KJB)
Look carefully at those verses from Romans 8 I just gave you, what does it say? It says that God 1). foreknew who would believe the gospel and become born again, no question about it, God is omniscient. Now what did He predestinate those souls to do? God predetermined what would happen to all those souls who trusted in Him, the verse does not say He predetermined who those souls would be. This is where MacArthur, Sproul and even John Calvin hit the wall and crashed. An understanding of 6th grade English shows you that quite clearly.
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (KJB)
God foreknew who would receive the gospel, and predetermined what would happen to them after they got saved. All mapped out ahead of time. But if you cannot understand basic English, and know the difference between the subject and the object, then you will come to a wrong conclusion every time. No such thing as a limited atonement in the Bible as far as what Jesus did on the cross is concerned, the atonement God provided becomes self-limiting when it’s refused by a sinner who doesn’t want it.
Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
Please continue to pray for us, and for wisdom for me especially, as we continue taking steps to print the NTEB branded King James Bible for our free Bible and Bibles Behind Bars program. It is exciting and intimidating at the same time. If the Lord has prospered your financially, we ask you to donate to help us continue to send out free Bibles at this level, and even higher than we are at the moment. It takes a lot of prayer, and a lot of resources to do all this. Praise the Lord we are doing it, all of us together, labouring in the Lord’s harvest field. TO THE FIGHT!!!
When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.
But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)
“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB
Bible Doctrine
Contrary To What The Hyper-Dispensationalists Tell You, The Body Of Christ Began At The Cross And Not Somewhere In The Book Of Acts, And It’s Before Paul
The body of Christ started the same time the Church started, on the cross at Calvary where Jesus made a payment for sin in God’s shed blood.
Nothing like a King James Bible to clear up false teaching, and today we take a look at when the body of Christ, and the Church, actually began. The hyper-dispensationalists will try and tell you that it started in Acts with the commission of Paul, and nothing could be further from the truth. Paul himself tells you in Romans 16:7 that there were many people in the body of Christ before he was. In fact, the body of Christ doesn’t begin anywhere in the book of Acts, it begins on the cross at Calvary.
“And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:” Ephesians 2:16 (KJB)
What was Jesus doing on the cross? Lots of things. First of all, Jesus went to the cross to make a payment for sin, and that payment is the shed blood of God as we see in Acts 20:28. That payment is the thing that makes reconciliation between lost sinners and a holy and righteous God possible. Heretics like John MacArthur and the ‘reformed’ crowd will try and talk you out of it, but don’t you let them.
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” Ephesians 1:7 (KJB)
“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13 (KJB)
Secondly, Jesus shed blood on the cross established something on this earth the bible calls the body of Christ. What is the body of Christ? It is Jew and Gentile come together by faith in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross, and it is called the church, the called out assembly. On the day of Pentecost, this assembly, the Church, was placed into the body of Christ where it will remain for all eternity. Everyone who becomes born again by saving faith in what Jesus did on the cross, and receives that payment made in God’s blood, is placed into the body of Christ through the Church.
“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:22,23 (KJB)
By the time Paul meets Jesus on the road to Damascus, the Church is well established and made up exclusively of Jews and Jewish proselytes. But when the Holy Ghost is offering them the Kingdom of Heaven in Acts 7, all they have to do is believe and repent at the preaching of Stephen, they instead murder him, an act which simultaneously put the Kingdom of Heaven on a 2,000 year pause, and ushered in what we call the dispensation of the Church Age. From this point on, Jews will be side-by-side with Gentiles in a mystery called the body of Christ which Jesus will task Paul with revealing. It didn’t start with Paul, but the knowledge of it comes through Paul by the Spirit. It began on the cross at Calvary.
“For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.” Ephesians 3:1-7 (KJB)
Paul was given the job of revealing the mystery of the body of Christ, but it did not start with him as you can obviously see. The hyper-dispensationalists get it wrong, as they usually do, because they don’t understand what the ‘rightly dividing’ of 2 Timothy 2:15 actually is. True biblical rightly dividing is not a hammer to smash things with in large pieces, as evidenced in the ‘Romans to Philemon!!’ battle cry of the hypers. No, rightly dividing is done on a verse-by-verse-basis anywhere in the Bible, comparing what you read, in the context that you find it, to what God has written through the apostle Paul.
Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.
But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)
“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB
-
George Soros7 years ago
Proof Of George Soros Nazi Past Finally Comes To Light With Discovery Of Forgotten Interview
-
Election 20167 years ago
DEAD POOL DIVA: Huma Abedin Kept Those Hillary Emails That The FBI Found In A Folder Marked ‘Life Insurance’
-
Election 20167 years ago
Crooked Hillary Campaign Used A Green Screen At Today’s Low Turnout Rally In Coconut Creek FL
-
George Soros7 years ago
SORE LOSER: George Soros Declares War On America As Violent MoveOn.Org Protests Fill The Streets
-
Donald Trump7 years ago
Donald Trump Will Be 70 Years, 7 Months And 7 Days Old On First Full Day In Office As President
-
Headline News7 years ago
If Hillary Is Not Guilty, Then Why Are Her Supporters Asking Obama To Pardon Her? Hmm…
-
Election 20167 years ago
WikiLeaks Shows George Soros Controlling Vote With 16 States Using SmartMatic Voting Machines
-
End Times7 years ago
False Teacher Beth Moore Endorses The Late Term Partial-Birth Abortion Candidate Crooked Hillary