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Christianity is grace without law. Grace without law, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the rapture together are known as the mystery or alternately they are each a mystery in the dispensation of mystery(grace). Today we are living in this dispensation of grace(mystery) (See 2. The Apostle Paul—Our Apostle—the Mystery and Regarding the Bible 12. What are Biblical Dspensations). Only the Pauline epistles and the other New Testament God inspired books written by men influenced by Paul’s grace message of mystery, are written to and about us today, Jew and Gentile(Greek) alike equally—“For He Himself is our greatest peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,” Ephesians 2:14—regarding Christianity(grace), the church, and the rapture (the gospel of grace mystery). This was a secret from old revealed by Jesus only to Paul on the road Damascus when the bright light shone down on Paul and he fell to the ground. The rest of the Bible is for our learning, but it is not written to and about us today in the dispensation of Christianity(grace/mystery).
Grace = God’s love for the world + the death burial and resurrection of Jesus to pay for our salvation, plus the Lord Jesus’ strength and help when you need it. (See John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8,9, Galatians 2:16, Isaiah 64:6, II Corinthians 12:9). This grace is an undeserved favor from God to us. Grace is an attribute of God. As such, it’s definition is hard to pin down and describe.
faith alone and the sudden surprising rapture together make Christianity truly a mystery—a mysterious undeserved favor from God. This is Christianity(grace). It is a faith, not a religion.
Rightly dividing takes thoughtful Bible study. Symbolically, you can think of rightly dividing as separating the Jewish Star of David from the Christian Cross. This is Judaism separated from and together with Christianity as Judeo-Christianity, where Jehovah in the Old Testament is Jesus in the New Testament. As mentioned earlier Jehovah is a Jewish name for Jesus. This is important to understand.
Rightly dividing is the separation of Judaism(law) from Christianity(grace), see II Timothy 2:15. In the original Greek it says cut straight. The NIV Bible mistranslates this as handle. Rightly dividing is the key to correctly interpreting the Bible. In separating Judaism(law) from Christianity(grace) it is important to remember that all the faithful Jews and Gentiles before Paul who believed in Jehovah/Jesus(God) are also saved by grace, just as Christians today are. Everyone from Adam and Eve all though history who believed/believes in Jehovah/Jesus(God) is saved by grace through faith, but only Christianity is faith alone grace without law. This is Judeo-Christianity. See Galatians 2:16
Rightly dividing is the separation of and difference between believing in Jehovah or believing in Jesus as God. Jehovah/Jesus is the same Person in the Trinity, the only begotten Son of God (begotten means uncreated(always was and always will be). Jehovah is a more Jewish name for Jesus. This is the separation of the Jewish Kingdom from the Christian church which is His body. This is the central thrust of rightly dividing. Where down through history, there are other dispensations. See, Blog(Book 6) Regarding the Bible 11. What are Biblical Dispensations?
In contrast to the post Acts New Testament books in the Bible about Christianity, is the post Acts New Testament book of Revelation, which is a post rapture, post Christianity Judaism prophetic book about the day of the Lord end times and a return to Judaism, where Christianity is a parentheses faith calling out between Old Testament Judaism and end times Judaism. (See 11. Eschatology—the Dual Eternal Kingdom of God, and the companion Blog(Book 3) The End Times—The Day of the Lord)
In my half paralyzed condition, I especially rely on God’s grace—“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” II Corinthians 12:9.
The rapture begins the day of the Lord (see Blog(Book 3) The End Times—the Day of the Lord)—“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,” II Thessalonians 2:3.—Note: “the falling away” is better translated as “the departing” ie. the Christian rapture of the church—“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” I Corinthians 15:51,52—at the rapture we are changed and our dead body is gone and not found, or our living mortal being just disappears from this world.
If you die before the rapture, at the rapture your grave will not only be empty but it will be open for everyone remaining to see, just as the Lord’s tomb was empty and the stone rolled away for all to see that His body was gone. Note: it was not necessary that the stone was rolled away for His resurrection because after His transformation to His immortal eternal body, He could pass through walls, so how your body is able to get out of its grave is not a concern, because when your body(dust) is transformed by being united with your spirit(breath of life) from God, you will be like Jesus and able to pass through walls ie. able to pass through your casket, vault, and the earth above that your body was buried beneath. Note: Jesus was not cremated, so I do not want to be cremated either. My body will be like a seed in the ground resurrecting to new life at the rapture.
Whether or not our disappearance at the rapture will actually be witness-able is speculation, as it will be instantaneous “in a moment in the twinkling of an eye,” I Corinthians 15:52. Our current body must somehow be a source in the transformation to our new incorruptible immortal being, but God knows your DNA along with every hair on your head and every cell in your body, so strictly speaking He can construct and create your new immortal eternal body from His mind alone without any information from your old dead or living body. Scientifically, information can physically neither be created nor destroyed. This is a fundamenrmtal law of thermodynamics, so even dissipated smoke, ashes, and dissipated heat energy can be an information source. Information only comes from a mind(the mind of the Creator). Your body’s DNA is is an information language and system. This is another reason why evolution naturalism is false and a lie.
All that can be speculated is that our current body must contain transformation information, such that, along with our spirit, we continue on as the same person(being) with a perfected thirty something body of who we are now, as Jesus was in His 30s when He was crucified and died. This will be a perfected thirty something body of who we are, so our transformed immortal eternal body will look like we did in our 30s, having memories of this life, so we will physically know who we are and who are our loved ones are in heaven after we are transformed to be in and with Jesus higher than the angels, eternally. The details of this are not given in the Bible, so that’s about all anyone can figure as to how the rapture transformation works. (Also see Blog(Book 5) Life and Death—Body, Spirit, and Soul)—“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” I Thessalonians 4:16,17—this is the rapture of Christian believers today as the body of Christ, ie. the church which is His body. This is not the second coming of Jesus, as Jesus does not set foot on earth on the Mount of Olives. That is later for the Old Testament Jews after the 7 year tribulation when Jesus comes in power, glory, and judgment, with His Saints and Archangels as King and Lord of the universe to end the tribulation.
To understand this end times eschatology you have to rightly divide the Bible between Judaism(law) and Christianity(grace) per II Timothy 2:15.
Per above and the rest of this bog(book), Christianity(grace) is a parenthesis faith within the religion of Judaism(law); though, everyone all through history since Adam and Eve is saved by grace. (See post(chapter) 11. Eschatology—the Dual Eternal Kingdom of God)
The Power and Omnipotence of the Lord is mind boggling to think about, and that He also is all Loving, Kind, all Knowing, and Understanding ie. Omniscient, as well as omnipresent. He is the Shepard, we are His sheep, created in His image. Another way to look at our relationship with Jesus is: He is the head and we are rest of the body. If you believe in Jesus, you will receive an immortal eternal body that conforms to His after you die and are resurrected, or are raptured alive.
We are saved by grace through faith alone in Jesus alone, no religion/works are involved. We learn this by reading and studying the Bible, and believing it—Ephesians 2:8,9, Galatians 2:16, Isaiah 64:6, John 3:16, Romans 10:9,10.
Note: you also have to rightly divide the Bible, per II Timothy 2:15, to understand why works have no bearing whatsoever in your salvation. For example, verses in the book of James could lead you to think works are necessary, but James is a Jew writing to the Jews during the time of Judaism(law), not to and bout us today during Christianity(grace). Jesus died in your place(your escape from death) as an undeserved favor. This is grace, and the gift of eternal life.
Note: today doing works to try to gain your salvation by trying to look good in the eyes of God is disobedience, not so unlike Cain doing his own thing by not bringing a blood sacrifice, like his brother Able did, as God commanded. Blood is a theme throughout the entire Bible. It goes back to the fall of Adam and Eve, and even before that when blood first came to be in the original creation before the first flood in Genesis 1:1,2. This is why God always demanded a blood sacrifice, same with the shed blood of Jesus on the cross to cleanse the sin of the world. (See Blog(Book 6) Regarding the Bible 19. It’s the Blood)
Regarding Jesus’ resurrected body, the Bible mentions flesh and bone, but not blood, so I believe that His resurrected body has just flesh and bone, no blood. I also interpret this to be what our new incorruptible immortal bodies will be like after our rapture. It then comes full circle with no blood, just flesh and bone in the eternal third heaven after our(Christian) rapture. This all means there are three creations: (1) the original, strictly dinosaur Lost World creation that Lucifer had rule over; (2) the subsequent new creation after “The earth was(became) without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:2—, without form, and void first flood destruction, where the face of the deep is the first flood destruction of the Lucifer defiled original dinosaur creation (from the original Hebrew translation “was” can also be translated as “became”), then after some unknown amount of time (maybe a few thousand years or so) came the new creation with Adam and Eve 6,000 years ago, and the subsequent cataclysmic worldwide flood in the day of Noah 4,000 years ago that again became a fallen world of blood and death (our fallen world since the fall of Adam and Eve), and; (3) the new heavens and new earth creation after the 1,000 year millennium. God is Omnipotent and eternal. Who knows how many creations went on in the eternal past, or will happen in the eternal future? It’s all speculation.
(See the companion Blog(Book 2) The I AM, Free Will and the Conscious Universe—Body, Spirit, and Soul 13. My Idea On Extra Terrestrial Life).
This repeated evil sin(death) is why Jesus had to come and die on the cross to finally end it all.
In and of itself, the truth of the literal 6 24 hour day Bible interpretation of creation has no bearing on a person’s salvation per se, but it is still important to distinguish for rationale as a potential first step.
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Personal:
I am a married family man and home owner with a wife and two grown sons. I am a man of math, science, computers, and exercise (golf, tennis, weight training, and lap swimming). I also like motorcycles and rock and roll music.
My Christian nondenominational doctrine hierarchy:
– Christian(Protestant)
– Evangelical
– Bible—Grace Movement, Berean Bible Church—rightly dividing ie. dispensational premillennialism based on John Nelson Darby’s Bible study interpretation, and C. I. Scofield’s study Bible popularization of it. (Using this Bible interpretation doctrine, Pastor Bultema broke away from the Christian Reformed Church, and started the Berean Church in Muskegon, Michigan
– Fellowship Bible Church, Pastor Otis Q. Sellers, (where a Moody Bible Institute graduate, maternal uncle of mine, my uncle Gary took over as Reverend. This church is where my parents met, and is where I get my doctrine on body spirit and soul, and death as the hell(grave).
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My Bible doctrine points:
(1) rightly dividing the Bible between Judaism(law) and Christianity(grace), see below ie. separating the Kingdom from the church, where Christianity is the gospel of grace mystery: the rapture of the church, salvation(escape from death), by grace through faith alone in Jesus alone (faith + nothing) see Ephesians 2:8,9, Galatians 2:16, John 3:16, Isiah 64:6; though, we should still try to live a Christian life, a life modeled on the life of Jesus;
(2) belief in: the (maybe imminent) sudden, surprising rapture of the body of Christ(the church which is His body) to heaven, and the subsequent 7 year tribulation, ending with the second coming of Jesus on the Mount of Olives, the final resurrection of all(the unsaved nonbelievers, and pre-Paul Jewish and grafted in Gentile believers), and the 1,000 year millennial Kingdom on earth for the nation of Israel Jews and Gentiles grafted in before Paul;
(3) belief in the literal 6 24 hour day supernatural creation including the initial immortality of Adam and Eve, as recorded in the book of Genesis;
(4) neither water baptism nor communion are appropriate or necessary today in the church age(dispensation) of grace(the mystery); rather, you are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ when you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, water baptism is a religious ritual that was instituted by John the Baptist as a showing of your faith during the time of Judaism(law), not cleansing of sin, it is unnecessary to grace through faith alone in Jesus alone, and turns Christianity into a religion rather than a faith; communion is is another ordinance like this. It is a throwback to Judaism and the Passover celebration, my further thought is: we were not there to witness or be directly told about Jesus and His crucifixion, so we can not have a mental image to remember as our remembrance, communion is a religious ritual that is unnecessary to grace through faith alone in Jesus alone, “eat my flesh and drink my blood” in John chapter 6 means reading and studying the Bible for Spiritual nourishment, not communion, see John 1:1,2 and John 1:14, where Jesus ‘is’ the Bible(the Word). (This is why the Bible is Holy);
(5) hell, Sheol, Hades, death, and grave are all synonymous, not a place of torment. Gehenna(the lake of fire) is the place of eternal torment (commonly thought of as hell) for the devil and the devil’s angels who are a spiritual creation, and can be tormented eternally;
(6) rejection of the Devil’s lie of eternal torment of unsaved nonbelievers, because body(dust) + spirit(breath) = soul(being), ie. you do not have a soul; rather, you are a soul, and when you die your spirits goes back to from Whom it came when you were born(conceived). Without a spirit a body is dead, not a soul and has no being to be alive and aware. Nowhere in the Bible does it say nonbelievers receive an eternal body, so a nonbeliever can not have immortal eternal being to be tormented eternally; rather, unbelievers are resurrected and judged, where their spirit(breath of life) will again go back to God, and their dead body will be cast into the lake of fire with the devil and the the angels who followed Lucifer are angels, a spiritual creation, able to be tormented eternally day and night with no rest.—“Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Revelation 20:14.
(7) when you die, you do not immediately go to heaven, or any other place, your body goes into the grave in know-nothing death(sleep) resting until the resurrection of your body(dust) when it is changed and reunites with your spirit(breath) and you are again are a living soul(being), in the meantime your spirit(breath) has gone back to God Who gave it, and you have no sense of time, so to you the person who died, it will seem like you are immediately in heaven, or at the great white throne judgment if you died as a nonbeliever. Your spirit is your breath of life and nothing more until it is united with your body, to be a soul(being) at: (1) creation, Adam and Eve; (2) birth(conception, when a unique DNA is formed identifying an individual), and; (3) resurrection;
(8) an understanding of the difference between foreknowledge and predestination, and that predestination means when you become a Christian you are predestined to eternal life in heaven with Jesus, not that you have been predestined to go to heaven;
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Pre-stroke hobby: reading books on various mathematics and science topics, and working on CAD computer code (3D surface model mesh generation/wrapping/flattening and draping, and surface scattered scan cloud data points rapid 3D search, and rapid 2D image color processing).
I have boxes full of books on various math, computer, and science subjects, including the nature of and arrow of time, subatomic physics, complexity, thermodynamics, and consciousness and the brain (curiously the last topic I read about before my stroke when I lost almost half my brain).
Here is an overview of my math and science background, and my computer software career which ended suddenly when I had a severe right brain stroke. I have been trained in mathematics and computer science. After college, and after a brief internship and then my first computer programming job, the first part of my career was in 3D and 2D CAD software engineering for 3D surface and solid modeling, especially patented 3D surface model mesh covering to simulate cloth fabric, and 2D image CAD computer software, as a programmer(senior software engineer) and project manager. This all fit perfectly with my interest and my college training. Then I got into web programming and database management. In the end I became a MCPD full stack e-commerce software developer subcontractor consultant.
This blog(book) is about rightly dividing the Bible, see II Timothy 2:15. Rightly dividing, most importantly, means separating Judaism(law) from Christianity(grace) ie. separating the Old Testament Jewish Kingdom from the New Testament church(the church which is His body). The four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are parallel eye witness accounts of the earthly ministry of Jesus (each takes a different perspective on Jesus to give a complete description of Him (there is a post(chapter) on this see the last post(chapter in Blog(Book 6) Regarding the Bible), including His death, burial, and resurrection during the time(dispensation) of Judaism(law) before the church age(dispensation) of Christianity(grace) that we live in today since Paul. These four gospel are the basis of Christianity; however, they are not about the Christianity grace mystery reveled only to Paul. The four gospels are written for our learning. Only the Pauline epistles and the books written by the apostles influenced by Paul and his message of mystery, are books written to and about us today as Christians. Rightly dividing also is about separating the entire Bible into progressive unfolding dispensations of the different ways God deals with man (see Blog(Book 6) Regarding The Bible 11. What are Dispensations?). God is Immutable and unchanging, but the way He deals with man changes dispensation by dispensation. For example: (1) Adam and Eve were not supposed to eat from a certain tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; (2) Noah had to build an ark; (3) Abraham had to build an alter and be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, until the last moment when God provided a lamb as a replacement instead of Abraham having to sacrifice his son. There are more dispensations and more tests. Today we believe in Jesus alone. See Blog(Book 6) Regarding the Bible 11. What are Dispensations?, The Scofield Study Bible, and Dispensational Relationships by C. F. Baker.
For years some of my acquaintances thought I was an atheist, agnostic, or deist, rather than a theist Christian, because I strictly studied and espoused math and science, but when I suddenly had a sever stroke and became half paralyzed a guy named Chuck befriended me in the locker room of the pool where we swam laps in the morning before work. He got me started on science and the Bible. After that my mother took over and refreshed me on my upbringing Bible study doctrine by way of phone call and email questions and answers. Now I know my Bible study doctrine better than ever—“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” II Corinthians 12:9.
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(A theist is a Christian because Jesus is the only true God. The third Person in Triune Godhead)
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It is my primary concern in this book to be understanding of the different views that the reader may have on historical science hypothesis about our supposed evolutionary origins, and overall Bible interpretation doctrine, while being true to what I believe based on what the Bible says when you read it literally. If you do not read the Bible literally where appropriate, you are on a slippery slope of open interpretation, putting man’s ideas ahead of God’s Word; and, rightly divide it between the Kingdom and the church ie. rightly divide the Bible between Judaism(law) and Christianity(grace). Meaning, you have to separate out the church as a parenthesis faith (that begins with Paul), from within the religion of Judaism()law); otherwise, you will interpret verses that conflict, and you will have a false doctrine. Regarding origins, I am thinking of the hypothesis of millions/billions of years of evolution/macroevolution naturalism ie. putting man’s ideas of deep time evolution naturalism ahead of God’s Word that the creation was a 6 24 hour day supernatural creation 6,000 years ago, Recorded in Genesis 1; meaning, you want to tell God what He did and how He did it; rather than letting God tell you what He did. Whenever the term evolution is used in this blog(book), unless specifically qualified, it means the myth of inter-kind macroevolution, as opposed to the fact of intra-kind microevolution variation within created kinds, that we see happening around us all the time. Microevolution causes people to falsely think that macroevolution is how we got here. Macroevolution has never been observed. It is just an interpretation of the past from bones in the ground, and observing microevolution in the world around us in the present. Thus making macroevolution a hypothesis myth not a theory.
The book of Acts is a transitionary book about the transition from Judaism(law) to Christianity(grace). I make the transition separation late in the book at Acts 28:28,29. In doing this, I believe water baptism is not appropriate for us today as Christians. It along with bread and wine communion turn Christianity into a religion of rituals, rather than simply a faith mystery. This is my late in the book of Acts rightly dividing doctrine. If you rightly divide earlier in the book or not at all, you probably believe you should get baptized with water to show your faith. Water baptism is not necessary for becoming a Christian and salvation. It is a matter of personal choice; regardless, water baptism does not cleanse sin. I believe bread and wine communion is a throwback to the Judaism Passover celebration and is thus a ritual not appropriate to the pure faith of Christianity. These ritual points are included later on in my Christianity doctrine list.
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References:
www.answers.tv – Ken Ham, creation history and science.
Terry Mortenson, https://youtu.be/5CQT5q_Vhg0
YouTube: Dr. Jason Lisle, science and creation: https://youtu.be/aQ_UxcV-xcM
https://youtu.be/14XOKncrix8,
https://youtu.be/bEejUyEyhhg, Dr. Terry Mortenson, operation science and origins science https://youtu.be/_V58ma6ykP0;
Books: all Bible verse references are from the New King James Version (NKJV) Bible, also see the old Scofield KJV Study Bible, annotated by C. I. Scofield, and Dispensational Relationships, by C. F. Baker;
Les Feldick – Oklahoma rancher and excellent Bible explainer:
Twitter: follow @lesfeldickdaily @lesfeldick, @lesfeldickbible;
Web and TV: Les Feldick channel (channel also on Roku);
Grace Christian University(Grace Bible College), formerly Milwaukee Bible College;
Moody Bible Institute, Chicago;
YouTube: John MacArthur, rightly dividing premillennial dispensationalism;
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Thank you for reading my book. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful.
Comments and questions are welcomed.
I will be doing editing as long as I can.
Randy
Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth 