Archive for Restrainer

Rapture: Consideration…The Holy Spirit

Posted in Gospel, Prophecy, Rapture with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 1, 2016 by paulthepoke

The focus of this post is the consideration of the Holy Spirit in regards to the rapture. What are the ramifications to the Holy Spirit if the rapture is anything other than pre tribulation?

There are at least 16 verses in the Bible that proclaim believers in Jesus Christ are indwelled with the Holy Spirit. Below are a few examples.

http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Indwelling-Of-The-Holy-Spirit

The giving of the Holy Spirit is fulfilled prophecy.

Ezekiel 36:27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

2 Timothy 1:14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Since the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost/Shavuot in 33 AD, believers have received the Spirit of God. Today in the summer of 2016, believers in Jesus Christ have the Holy Spirit. Today, the Spirit resides on planet earth.

Believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit as well. There are at least 12 verses that state believers are sealed with the Spirit of God. Below are a few examples.

http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/The-Sealing-Of-The-Holy-Spirit

2 Corinthians 2:5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

The pledge is the redemption of our bodies.

Ephesians 4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

A believer’s body is redeemed and glorified at the resurrection or rapture depending on the body’s condition. The sealing of the Spirit is a statement that we belong to God.

The Spirit is the One who holds back the antichrist. 2 Thessalonians 2:6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.

The Greek word for “restrains” is katecho. Per Strong’s Concordance, it means: to hold back, detain, retain; from going away; to restrain, hinder. The present tense verb indicates the action is continual. As long as Spirit indwelled believers are on Earth, the evil of the antichrist will be restrained. If the Spirit is still present on the Earth, how can the antichrist be revealed?

If humanity indwelled with the Holy Spirit is present on Earth during the Tribulation (mid or post), then God the Father is bringing judgment and wrath upon His Spirit. Judgment upon the Spirit would mean sin would be judged twice.

Romans 6:10a For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all…

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit…

Hebrews 10:10 And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

There is a Greek word for “once for all”. It is hapax or ἅπαξ.

Was Christ’s death the first time not enough? Did Jesus do enough at the cross for sin? Was sin paid for or not? If the indwelled Spirit comes under wrath or judgment during the Tribulation, Jesus did not do the job at the cross the first time.

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Trend Update, Revived Roman Empire, May 2014

Posted in Prophecy with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 28, 2014 by paulthepoke

Memorial Day weekend proved to be an interesting time in the Holy Land. The Pope, Francis, visited the Middle East. There are many who think the Pope will be the Anti-Christ. The Roman Empire is being revived, so they say. Many have identified the Pope as the Anti-Christ. I would also encourage everyone to remember the Roman Empire had an eastern leg which included modern day Turkey, Iraq, and Syria.

The Pope had an interesting trip. He called for interfaith toleration and unity between the Muslims and the Jewish people. He visited the Muslim Dome on the Temple Mount and the Jewish Western Wall. He endorsed dividing the land and acknowledging a Palestinian state. With all due to respect to the pontiff, I would encourage him to read the Book of Joel. God says, “Do not divide My land.” This is not a good idea and not in accordance with God’s will.

The Pope has requested a peace meeting or summit next month (June 2014) at the Vatican between the Muslims and the Jews. I expect the Pope or somebody to invoke Father Abraham as a bridge to peace at some point in the future.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming…

Scripture tells us the Anti-Christ will NOT be revealed until the resurrection of the dead believers in Christ and the living believers in Christ are raptured into the clouds to meet Jesus. There is a lot of debate about the word “apostasy”. It is the word apostasia in the Greek. The word is transliterated. It can mean the following in the original Greek: a falling away, defection, or apostasy. The word is used one other time in the New Testament.

The key to the passage is noted later in these verses with the restrainer. Many take this “restrainer” to be the Holy Spirit who is indwelled in Christians. The restrainer will be removed when Christians are snatched into the clouds at the rapture by Jesus. Then, the Anti-Christ will be revealed and present himself to the world.

This passage also notes there will be a Jewish Temple. The Anti-Christ will present himself as being God in the temple. Currently, there is no Jewish Temple. But if we wake up one morning and there has been an agreement to rebuild the Temple…

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