The Trinity

There are many disagreements in the body of Christ. That’s nothing new, Paul and Barnabas had sharp contention between them and parted ways over it – even in the early days of Christianity (Acts 15:39).

I come from a Christian family where we have staunch Catholics, evangelical Pentecostals, Baptists, and seeming agnostics throughout my siblings. Maybe that’s why I question everything.

But, in my opintion, nothing is so divisive as the subject of the Trinity. In case you haven’t heard or seen the (extensive) videos, there are actual 2-3 hour debates on whether or not there is a Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – three ‘persons’ in one). Those who oppose say that the Holy Spirit is simply an extension of the Father and not a separate being.

I was raised Catholic so of course, by tradition, I had the proclivity to be a believer in the concept of a Trinity. And I realize this is a touchy subject because to either side it seems to be a very foundation of belief – so don’t upset the proverbial apple cart.

But, like I said, I question everything. It is belief…When we are first converted, we have a belief in God based on our upbringing and/or what we have heard. Are we condemned because we are believing wrongly? No, we are not.

But once we come to knowledge(s) of the truth, we have to cast aside the errors of our thinking and go on, in faith, to even deeper knowledge(s) of the truth.

However, it is not so on this subject – for me, anyway. I go back and forth like a pendulum in a grandfather clock. This is due to my insistent nature of digging into theologies and opinions and really trying to see both sides of the argument. And I want to know the truth.

Is this being tossed back and forth by the winds of doctrine? I don’t think it is because, #1 – I am not doubting my belief in God, and #2 – this is not a doctrine but a core belief in Whom we are communicating with on our very path to heaven’s gates.

Some may be thinking, “Don’t even bring it up then if it is so divisive..” and I would agree, except that I believe we can come to a better understanding of our Creator and His functions if we look at the Word closely – and then hopefully come to a settled knowing of what we believe. God will honor that. I know He will.

But if you are fine with your understanding of the Trinity and their functions, I’m happy for you. We all (or most of us) know the traditional thought: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three different ‘entities’ (for lack of a better word) operating as One.

⁵ Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

⁶ This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.

⁷ For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

⁸ And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. (1 John 5)

Why can’t everything be this simple? But is it?

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says “one” (Strong’s G1520 in verse 7 and 8) has 2 meanings. The first meaning is “one” as in the number, “in contrast to many”. The second meaning is metaphorically “union” and “concord”. They are united in agreement, per se.

Now here’s the interesting part: A respected biblical scholar (I can’t remember who) stated that the “are one” of verse 7 was added later into the margin of the manuscript and thus put into scripture; however, verse 8 “agree in one” was always there. I don’t know if that is the absolute truth but that was what his research revealed.

What IS interesting about this is that Vine’s does not even list the “are one” as being in verse 7 (along with all of the uses of “one” G1520 in the New Testament) but it does give a definition for verse 8, saying “and the three are into one,” i.e., united in “one” and the same witness.

Witnesses attest to a fact. The fact, contextually speaking, is referring back to verse 6 – which is the Spirit bearing witness. Could “these three are one” have been added by someone later? Who knows.

I’ll leave it here, but that’s not the final thought on this subject. It’s too important.

Truth or Tradition

In my last post, Ethereal Meals, I left off with an ambiguous conclusion – so I took it out. I should know better, because when something has me scratching my head I know I won’t be able to move on in my understanding until I ‘flesh it out’.

I’ve been going through the book of Hebrews line by line, precept upon precept, because of new scriptural information that has come my way. You see, I am not one to listen to a pastor and nod emphatically, or one to subscribe to a teaching on some platform and become one of their ‘disciples’.

I guess I’m a Berean. I’ll give a teacher a chance, dig into it because my conscience won’t let me accept or reject just on principle or my trustworthy (?) discernment. But rest assured I will go straight to the scriptures and ask the Almighty, “Did you hear what they said? Is that true?”

He is faithful to then lead me to the right passage or book so I can study it out. Is what I say or write about 100% accurate? No, I’m sure I make mistakes. But that’s why I always say – this is interesting and is something to think about.

There have been scads of teachings since time began, some heretical and some spot on. That’s why we have the Bible. But even then we know that books have been removed over the centuries and even different countries used to and still do have different books they count as scripture.

The guys who took out Enoch and Jubilees and the Apocrypha – how did they know those messianic, prophetical books weren’t God-breathed? Isn’t it funny how those usually have references to a coming Messiah and are also apocalyptic in nature? Hmmm.

So now that things have settled down for me, I have a new place to live where I am part of society once again (ugh – lol), have a couple part-time jobs (yay!), and a schedule that allows the resuming of much study time with the Lord, I am able to look into these things once again and bring them to you to say with me…hmmm.

I guess this is just an interlude of thought as I resume my study of the book of Hebrews. I will include some of these ideas to ponder on as we weed out truth vs. tradition in the days to come.

Ethereal Meals

Isaiah 6 is undoubtedly one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. In a few short verses, the prophet Isaiah captures so much detail – and controversy.

It seems benign enough…he has a simple but glorious vision of the Lord sitting on the throne in heaven surrounded by seraphim. Sounds ethereal, right?

Well, it’s really not. There are real, tangible elements that Isaiah witnesses that tell us a lot about what is going on up there that we can’t see.

¹ In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

He sees “the Lord”, Strong’s H136 adonay, “used only of God” (this word is not H3068, which is Yahweh/Yehovah), sitting on a throne. He also sees His train (hem) filling the temple.

So here is the heavenly throne in the heavenly throne room of the heavenly temple. A real object in a real place.

² Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

We can assume these are real angels, seraphim, flying and crying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (verse 3).

In the next verse, the posts of the door wavers and shakes (see Strong’s definitions) and the whole place fills with smoke. Why smoke? Because there is a smoldering fire:

6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

It’s a real coal from a real fire on a real altar that not even the seraphim can pick up. That means it’s hot. Hot coals are real.

What happens next is fascinating:

7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

What?? An angel that takes away sin?? No.

We need to look at verse 5 (I purposefully left it out until now):

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Who does Isaiah see? “The King, the Lord of hosts.” This word, King, is H4428, melek. If we look deeper in Gesenius, it is “a king; Jehovah’s (Yahweh’s) king; the king of Israel [Messiah] appointed by Jehovah (Yahweh)”

He sees the Messiah, who existed in the “old testament” with the Father, as He was present at the creation of the world.

Why is the Messiah sitting by a bed of coals? What were they burning? Were they doing as described in Leviticus 22, a practice that was taught to Moses on the mountain as a copy of heavenly things? But didn’t Jesus become the High Priest in the order of Melchizedek (means king-priest) after His resurrection?

Yes, but Hebrews 6 says Jesus is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek because He “entereth within the veil”, something He could clearly do before He arrived down here… but let’s continue…

So this bed of coals from this assumptive priestly sacrificial fire purged Isaiah’s sins in the presence of the Messiah. It would have to be a priestly sacrificial atoning fire if it were to take away his iniquity and purge his sin, right? Isn’t that God’s way? (Or are we talking about symbolism again?)

I don’t want to view heaven as “symbolic” or even ethereal. When I die, I don’t want to go to a vapory mystical dimension where I float around and continue to question the meaning of life and eternity.

No, Jesus came here, died, and received a real resurrected body – one that ate and talked and smiled. He, our High Priest, went back up to heaven – up to the temple – and sat down (not floated down) next to the Father on a real throne.

Nuggets, not Nonsense

I’m not sure if you noticed, but I had to take a hiatus from writing this blog. I had to.

I noticed I was not headed in a linear direction and it bothered me. Do I take back anything I have written? No. But I needed to redirect – to focus – amidst all the hype and hyperbole that was surrounding where we had been and what that spelled out for where we (humanity as a collective) are headed.

I admit it…I got caught up in the hype (maybe not the hyperbole).

Hype: Promoting an idea and exaggerating its importance

Hyperbole: Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally

I’ll try to explain. A lot of my posts were surrounding “Eschatology” – The study of the end-times. The “end-times” are concepts such as the book of the Revelation unfolding and the time when Jesus Christ returns.

I can’t exaggerate enough how important this concept is. I can’t. And this event can be taken literally…and should.

And now that many more people are noticing what so many of us have been saying, I feel that this is their time to decide it’s importance in their lives and destiny.

Hence the break. I had to re-evaluate and ask myself, “Where are we in this timeline really?”

Here’s where a lot of people won’t agree with me (that’s okay). What happened in the world 4-5 years ago was unprecedented. It made us all stand up and say, “What the heck?” Everyone had a chance to form their opinion(s) on what was transpiring – physically, mentally, biblically (et al).

The hype created eager audiences, some ready to believe just about anything. That’s scary. And the bigger the audience, the more content and the more the risk of ‘getting into the weeds’. Let’s just say we all can get carried away in our convictions.

All that hype is still rubbing off (in good and bad ways) but there is a new awareness to the times in which we live. Are we at the end? Isn’t there still much more to do? Does the world we live in really sound like the horrific conditions spelled out in the Bible? I’m not so sure. There are still many, many confused people – people who want to know the truth but it’s just now forming into coherent and discoverable data. (I’m still scratching my head at times.)

This blog was always intended to be a study of the Word of God, and not opinions or persuasive theology. I named it Professing Christians because those of us who profess to be Christians should know what it is we are professing…and live by it.

I want to get back to breaking down the word of God, examining truths, finding nuggets that we didn’t know were there, holding them up to the light with all their shininess, and thanking God for a deeper knowledge of who He is.

Are we in the end-times? Yeah, and we’ve been there a long time. Are the bad guys trying to steer us into slavery under evil dictatorship ran by the head baddy himself? Yeah to that, too. As Paul says in Ephesians 5:

11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

I’m kind of tired of talking about what they are trying to do. Let’s get back to what God is doing, and has done for us.

So, I’ll post as I’m led, hopefully more frequently than every six months…Oh, and if you were following what was going on – yes, I moved into town, away from my cabin in the wilderness, and am working almost full time. The Lord made some big changes in my life – of which I am ever so grateful – and things have settled down a bit.

In case you were wondering…

So Thankful

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

^100:1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
² Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
³ Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

⁴ Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
⁵ For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

Free Willy

I focus a lot on deconstructing the Bible on this blog, and I know it. I think it’s important to dig into the scriptures as one mines for gold. The Bible is a treasure, with depth that no one can fathom.

I never get tired of learning new things about the words and the lives of those great men and women that were worthy enough to get their names recorded there. And there were so many more that lived for God that didn’t even get a mention. The world has largely forgotten about them, but God hasn’t.

There is a place that is just as real if not realer (haha, I know: more real), than this place where we walk and talk every day. It’s collectively known as eternity; but has subparts like heaven, hell, paradise, sheol, etc.

I struggle with the concept that some people we love will go to a place of punishment or torment. I think everyone has a problem with that. “How could a loving God send anyone there?”…”They send themselves there by their rejection of Him…” These are sentences/thoughts repeated often.

I still shudder at the thought…

I have loved ones that are in rebellion right now (as most of us do). It seems the whole world is in rebellion, doesn’t it? Or am I the only one who thinks that?

God is Love. Yes, He is. God (the I AM) came down here to His creation in the form of a Man and died to save us from our rebellion. Like, He did willingly what we all have to do eventually, but in such a way as to defeat death and hell itself – basically to shove holiness in Satan’s face and say, “Eat this! Your power over My creation has been nullified!” (I would have said more, like call him a bunch of expletives, but that’s just me.)

So, the power that the devil has over our loved ones is actually no power at all. It’s merely a suggestion, if you will. The devil suggests we do this and that (through temptation). We don’t have to do it.

Like if I went up to a person and said, “I would suggest you take that 5-hour energy drink from off that convenience store counter because you really need it right now and life has shorted you and you are broke.” (This example is just a figment of my imagination. Any semblance to a real-life event is purely coincidental.)

That person would look at me and think, “Shut up, stranger.” But when a demon does it, some people listen. Why? We could say it’s because those thoughts have some kind of power over us.

Bu then again, when our conscience (aka our spirit, created by God, with supernatural elements used during the creation of creation with only elements that were God-like) tells us, “No, don’t do it!” (now this could be an angel or the Holy Spirit intervening, too), why is that suggestion ignored? They are both invisible, are they not?

This is what is called Free Will. (Not Free Willy, that is a movie.)

The Almighty gave us Free Will when we were created. We have to exercise that Free Will like we exercise our bodies. It’s a spiritual muscle. And in a lot of people it’s flabby and weak. (I just came back from the gym.)

So what’s my point in today’s blog? Not sure…I don’t even have a proper title for all these thoughts.

Calling Fire Down From Heaven

Every now and then I get to thinking about the baptism of fire that Jesus will bring. John the Baptist talked about this early on in his ministry:

¹¹ I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

¹² Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3)

The debate has always been there on whether this is a good fire or a bad fire. I still think it is both: good to the good and bad to the bad.

But anyway, I recently realized why John the Baptist would know about this fire baptism – he had the spirit of Elijah. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah challenged King Ahab to send 850 of the prophets of Baal and the other gods to Mount Caramel for a showdown.

You remember the story…Elijah set up two bulls on wood, with no fire under them, and challenged the false prophets to have their gods send fire to consume the sacrifice. But of course their gods could not do it. Even after a whole day of shouting and blood-letting…no answer.

Elijah then takes his bullock and sets it up on an altar, builds a trench around it, drenches it with water three times, says a few reverent words to the Almighty, and – BOOM. Fire falls…

³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

³⁹ And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God. (1 Kings 18)

Was the fire good in the eyes of Elijah? Yes. Was it bad in the eyes of the wicked? Yes.

This then is the spirit of Elijah. But if John the Baptist had the spirit of Elijah, why didn’t John call fire down when they captured him and beheaded him? It wasn’t time.

Why didn’t Jesus call fire down from heaven when they put Him on the cross? It wasn’t time.

Let’s look at one more thing:

⁵ And if any man will hurt them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devours their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. (Revelation 11)

Do you know who we are talking about here? Here’s another clue:

⁶ These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. (Revelation 11)

It’s Elijah…and Moses. The two witnesses. They had their day when they smote the earth with plagues and shut up heaven that it rain not…and other miraculous things they did, besides stand with Jesus, transfigured.

Others will do the same – the greater works. Have we seen this happen yet? No. It’s not time.

A Forerunner For Our Time

The last six years have been quite a roller coaster. Let me tell you a little story…

I left my hometown in 2009 after the divorce from my first husband, my kids’ dad, because the pain here was just too much. The memories kept me in a constant state of reflection on what went wrong. I thought I had to leave to begin the healing process.

I moved and moved, and then re-met a childhood acquaintance from my younger years in a different state, and then got married a second time. I found myself living in that state, and six years into that marriage the Lord stepped in and switched on the light. I saw what was really going on: I had to make changes to remain in His will.

Things began to unfold that year, 2018, that I did write in journals…and for the next year and a half the Lord showed me that I had to return home…alone. (This was not a surprise to my 2nd husband and we split amicably.)

What does this have to do with this blog? Well, the next part might not be believable by some readers, but here goes anyway…

The slant of this blog is the result of these past six years. In 2018, I was frequenting a denominational church with said 2nd husband because of his mom. She was Lutheran and elderly so that’s the church we took her to. Now, there is nothing wrong with being Lutheran – don’t get me wrong – it’s just that I am non-denominational and, since I got born again in 1985, the Lord has said to me to only belong to Spirit-filled churches.

I tested this church and the Spirit was not active there. The Lord set out to either make it active or pull me out. (Basically it was not active in my marriage, either.)

In September of 2017, the Lord started moving. I can’t describe it, but one day I noticed everything started clearing up…like cleaning a dirty window. In January of 2018, He woke me up in the middle of the night and I was spiritually in a courtroom…and I was the one on trial.

In the spring of 2018, my husband and I were at our second property we recently bought and were renovating. One morning there I woke up to the words, “William Branham” being spoken in my ear. I didn’t know who that was. So I did a search, and wow, what a testimony that guy had!

I felt this guy was significant to the Lord, so I looked more into his life later. I then bought his biography collection (3 books) and read them a few years ago. I am reading them again now.

This guy was a faith healer in the 1940s that started off all the other faith healers of that era. (Yes, he got smeared by the press in his later years.) His hundreds of thousands of supernatural healings and deliverance are well documented. It truly is an amazing story.

Basically, he was visited by an angel of the Lord when he was in his 20s and was told he was a forerunner like John the Baptist, who was as Elijah:

¹³ For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

¹⁴ And if you will receive it, this is Elijah, which was for to come.

¹⁵ He that has ears to hear, let him hear. (Jesus’ words in Matthew 11)

What does that have to do with this blog? Well, just last week in my post, Greater Works, I talked about John the Baptist and the Elijah mantle. Yesterday as I was reading book two, William Branham explains how there will be three comings of Jesus Christ but many “comings” (manifestations) of the spirit of Elijah (pp. 145-146). *William Branham was a forerunner to this last day generation in that he had that same mantle, the last days’ mantle of healing and deliverance, like Jesus said would come.

This is as the Greater Works mantle that will precede the final coming of our Lord. His first coming was as God in human form 2,000 years ago. Mr. Branham described how He will also come for His Gentile bride and then a final time to Jerusalem, when He sets His feet down on the Mount of Olives.

It certainly seems like we are coming up to that Day, and what happened in history before sure does point to a day when we’ll need those same giftings.

In the meantime, however, I am going into my 7th year of revelations and healing and can finally say I am at peace with all the stuff that happened in my life to get me back here.

I feel like I am entering a sabbath rest. And I am glad.

*If you want to check out an amazing story about what that will look like, I can’t recommend his biography enough. The series is titled, Supernatural: The Life of William Branham by Owen Jorgensen.

Greater Works

Those of us that have tuned into the end times prophecies have wondered greatly about the “Greater Works” that Jesus spoke about in John 14:

¹² Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

I know I have always wondered about this. I mean, how can we do greater works than Jesus did?? Well, the Word gives us some clues as to how this might come to pass.

First, we have the works of the patriarchs and the prophets. Those were some pretty great works (think Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jacob…etc.) And Elijah! My, oh, my…Elijah stopped the rain and called down fire from heaven and raised a dead little boy back to life. Then he passed his mantle to Elisha who also raised the dead and some other pretty amazing things.

But Jesus demonstrated other wonders such as casting out evil spirits and healing the sick. Luke 9 tells us that Jesus gave this power and authority to his 12 disciples, and they were able to do it! The ruler, Herod, was confused because he thought it was maybe John the Baptist who was doing this (or the only one able to?), but John had been beheaded! Then, some were saying that maybe it was Elijah back from the dead…

Now, why would they think that? Because Elijah DID raise the dead. But why John the Baptist? Remember, Jesus even said:

¹³ For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. ¹⁴ And if ye will receive it, this is Elias (Elijah), which was for to come. (Matthew 11)

Elijah was a type of forerunner to the coming of the Lord in the miracles he performed. Then we have John the Baptist. The archangel Gabriel comes to Zacharias and tells him just who and what his son will be:

¹⁷ And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias (Elijah), to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1)

John the Baptist was the immediate forerunner to the first coming of the Lord – so says Gabriel. That’s why Jesus said John was Elijah, because John had the same spirit, or mantle, that Elijah had. Whether or not John did those same things we’ll never know. It’s not recorded in scripture. (Just because it’s not there doesn’t mean it never happened.)

But, Jesus said John was like unto Elijah and I believe Him. Now back to Luke…

In Luke 10 it says that Jesus appointed 70 people to go and preach the kingdom and heal the sick. So they did. And when they came back, they said,

¹⁷ And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.

No one apparently raised the dead, but, hey, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad!

Are these the “Greater Works” that Jesus is talking about? I think so. And I also think that Moses and Elijah, the two witnesses, also bring a forerunner mantle that will be released during the harvest to announce the second arrival of Christ.

I believe that is when we’ll see these greater works…but only through the power and authority that Christ bestows.

The Glorifying of the Elect

There is an event coming in the end times of the glorifying of the Elect:

²⁶ And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

²⁷ And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. (Mark 13)

When does this happen? Look at the preceding verses:

²⁴ But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,

²⁵ And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

Who are the Elect? For the sake of brevity, see Isaiah 42:1, Isaiah 45:4, and Isaiah 65:9 and 22. The Elect are God’s chosen.

But back to the end days:

²² And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

²³ Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

²⁴ For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Matthew 24)

Here we have an information sandwich…verses 22 and 24 tell us about this chosen-ness of the Elect – they are special. In fact, the meat (if you will) of this sandwich is verse 23: They will look like Christ.

False Christs and prophets will arise – but they won’t fool the Elect. Why not? Because the Elect are already being conformed in their bodies to be glorified like their firstborn brother, the real Christ, Jesus.

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

²⁹ 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.

³⁰ 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)

Those of us drawn to study the Bible have seen this mysterious verse – you know, the one about those being predestinated. Did God sprinkle a Calvin verse into an Armenian gospel? Is this contradictory to the Message?

No, it isn’t. There is a group, who are “the called according to His purpose”, that are foreordained in a body like unto our Christ’s…

Paul explains obtaining Christ again in another place:

⁸ Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

⁹ And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (Philippians 3)

Did Paul lose Christ that he had to win Him again? No, Paul’s goal is to be found IN Christ with God’s righteousness…that is the win. But Why?

¹⁰ That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

¹¹ If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

But, aren’t we all going to be resurrected when we die? This isn’t the same resurrection that he is talking about. This is the glorifying of the Elect:

¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Still Phil. 3)

This word, mark, is a complicated word. It is a word made out of other words, but put together it means, “peer about, watch, conceal, a sentry, a goal” and comes from words that mean a covering, roofing, shelter, rainment (covering garment), dig, hollow out, A Watcher. This, to me, is the description of a group of people that have a purpose on this earth during the end times.

So it makes sense to me that they, the Elect, would need a body like Christ’s – a glorified body…

²⁰ For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

²¹ Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Jesus the Christ could do it all alone, but He doesn’t want to. He is all about relationship.

So, where do we see, in the end times scriptures, a group of people having all this actually happen to them? If it’s true, that the Elect will be glorified, because then in Matthew 24:31 Jesus comes to get them, where do we see this being played out?

I only see one place where this happens…with the 144,000…

⁴ And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel…

¹³ And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

¹⁴ And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7)

Came out of the tribulation (Mk. 13:24), arrayed in white robes (the covering raiment-mark-sealed)…And when Jesus gathers them (Mt 24:31)?

¹ And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads…

³ And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

⁴ These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. (Revelation 14)

Chosen…Elect…and glorified.