Archive for Right Hand of Father

Accept God’s Grace… Rodna Epley

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Gospel, Rodna Epley with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on December 14, 2021 by paulthepoke

There is someone out there today whom God, our Father in heaven, wants to know that He can forgive you and He wants to more than anything. He already sees and knows every detail about your life all the way back to when He created you until now, even to the end of your life if you have an end.

He still loves you, immensely, intensely, more than you may ever realize in this life. Please do not give up. He can fix anything literally, no matter how bad, no matter how hurtful, no matter how impossible it seems. What seems unbearable and unforgiveable in this moment can change in an instant. No matter how many sins you have committed, especially the ones you think passed the threshold of God being able to forgive. All can be forgiven. Nothing is too hard for Him.

If you have written yourself off, God has written you back in. He is a good Father who will do anything to bring His son or daughter back home. Your sins which are many and too hurtful to even think about. Or perhaps you have lost feeling over them and that worries you, can be forgiven, all of them instantly. The entire weight of it all, no matter how heavy or ugly, is lifted off you. You will feel it go too. The weight of it gone, just like that.

Your Father loves you more than you can imagine. He is not condemning you. He wants to heal you completely, and He is the Healer. That is why He sent Jesus. That is why the Father walked this earth through His Son Jesus and took man to his worst end so that he can bring man to his best end, forever reconciled to Him.

Though it is a mystery, Jesus gave up His life so that the old nature of sin and the propensity toward sin can be put to death in you. He rose from the dead by the glory of the Father so that His life. The new nature of His own glory can be imparted to you. This is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

But He does not leave you in a state of only hope that can be disappointed. His glory wakes up within you as He fills you with His Spirit and the new nature of His own glory begins to operate in you.

Jesus went to be with the Father, and He showed you the way to the Father, and He sat down at the Father’s right hand on the very throne of glory, so that you can be seated there with Him right now and forever.

Allow yourself to be forgiven. Dare to see just how far God’s grace and glory can reach and transform. What have you got to lose? The very moment I decided to give God a 100% chance show me who He is, is the very moment He showed up. He was always there, but He showed me that He was there. He did not wait to interact with me. He only briefly waited for me to show a genuine attempt to know Him.

If this is for you, know that you are not alone, and that I am praying for you. Your Father in heaven does love you and can fix literally anything. All suffering is meant for His glory. The greater the suffering the more His glory is about to be released. It is at the point of being released. Please give Him that chance. In fact, the more you have sinned, the more you will be able to love God, because the depth of our ability to love corresponds to the depth of His forgiveness toward us.

Luke 7:45-47 Jesus said, “You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore, I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

If this is for you, pray this with me,

“Father in heaven, thank you for giving me this chance to be forgiven. My sins, which are many, I give to you. Thank you for giving your Son Jesus to die for me on the cross and take my place. Thank you for raising Him from the dead by your own glory and raising me from the dead with Him. Thank you for seating Jesus at your right hand on the throne of glory and seating me there with Him. I know I do not deserve that and there is no way I can earn that position in Christ, but I receive it by faith. Your word says that I have access into your presence through the door of Christ and through your promises to me. Thank you that you loved me so much that you died for me even while I was still a sinner. You believed this day would happen when I would come to you and finally surrender my life to you. Without Christ I know that I can do nothing, but with Christ nothing is impossible, and all things are possible. I am trusting that your word is true and that you can make something wonderful of my life. I promise that if you give me all of you then I will give you all of me to the best that I know how. Baptize me in your Spirit and fill me with your glory Father. I believe that Jesus died for my sins and that Christ in me put to death the old nature in me. I believe that Jesus rose from the dead by the glory of the Father and raised me up with Him. I believe that Jesus went to be with the Father and brought me there with Him. I choose You Papa because You first chose me. I love You Father because You first loved me. Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for your favor. Thank you for giving me your Spirit and making me perfect on the inside in the inner man. Thank you for the daily transformation of my mind that is to come as I make your word my home and you teach me how to be your child and to operate in your glory, which is Christ in me that I am learning to wear on me on the outside. Thank you for eternal life and for all that you will do in me from here on out. Thank you that you are strength in my weakness, that you are filling me with joy and taking away my sorrow, that you are imparting to me your vision for me so that I can know my life has meaning. I give you all of me because you gave me all of you. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray, Amen.”

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ONE Kingdom and Christ is the King… Rodna Epley

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Rodna Epley with tags , , , , , , , , , , on October 20, 2021 by paulthepoke

The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are describing the same kingdom—the kingdom of glory, where the presence of our Father saturates the atmosphere, and where Christ Jesus is the King of glory sitting on the throne of glory at the Father’s right hand of glory. Jesus proves it here when He compared His kingdom to something.

“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” (Matthew 13:33)

“To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” (Luke 13:20-21)

The different phrasing was used because Matthew was writing to the Hebrews who had a concept of heaven, and Luke was writing to the Greeks who had a concept of god.

These are not two separate kingdoms, and the devil most certainly does not have control or authority over our Father’s kingdom. Jesus stripped the devil of any authority over us, that we had given the enemy through sin, and He placed us in Himself (in Christ) where He is seated in heavenly places now at the right hand of the Father of glory, with the earth as His footstool and the enemy under our feet. We are the righteousness of God “in Christ“.

And this parable is not talking about bad yeast either. Jesus was talking about good baker’s yeast, the yeast of the Father’s glory that raised the bread of life, that raises the dead to life in Christ, and that multiplies any batch of dough it is worked into.

Watch some videos on making bread with good baker’s yeast; it will give the proper imaging of this parable.

Compare it with what is bad yeast. Jesus said, “Beware of yeast of the Pharisees”. This is bad yeast which is doctrine that cannot produce life, and it cannot multiply in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus did not say, beware of the yeast of heaven. We want that kind of yeast!

Blessings to everyone! Have a beautiful day!

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Along The Way… Rodna Epley

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Rodna Epley with tags , , , , , , , , , on April 1, 2021 by paulthepoke
Photo: Wikipedia

If someone isn’t experiencing much change in their behavior and thinking after giving their lives to Jesus, then it’s because they stopped somewhere along the Way, but didn’t make it all the Way to glory—to the Father.

They thought perhaps Jesus was the Way to the cross, or the Way to the resurrection. They never understood that those are only “points” along the Way.

But the destination is the Father. Jesus is the Way to the Father. Jesus never said He was the Way to the cross. He went to the cross, and we too have to go through the cross as we die to the old nature, but Jesus didn’t stay at the cross. The glory of the Father raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 6:4), and the same glory raises us too…right now, not some day.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

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We are seated in heaven in places in Christ now. Jesus always said His destination was the Father, and that is where He went to make our place so that we can be with Him where He is…right now. It’s not only a place for when we die and leave this earth, but a place where we are to live NOW while still here (John 14:3).

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:3)

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It’s okay if we didn’t know that; God is not condemning anyone. But it’s time to see everything from the position of Christ, the One who already overcame the world and even death.

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Revelation 3:21)

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Even just knowing this begins to activate the glory of the Father in us and it activates the new nature. We will feel it happening and hope will rise up within us that all things truly are possible. The imagination of the child is restored instantly (Matthew 8:13).

And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. (Matthew 8:13)

Everything in our lives now begins to change, beginning with our perspective from above rather than beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13).

And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them… (Deuteronomy 28:13)

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We are seated in Christ right now where He is on the throne of glory, restored to the Father. No one can take us out of Jesus’ hand or the Father’s hand (John 10:28-30).

…and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30)

Nothing can separate us from His love whom have been separated unto Him (Romans 8:38-39, John 17:19).

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17:19)

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His throne is in you (Acts 2:3), His power is in you (Ephesians 3:20), His kingdom is in you (Luke 17:21), heaven is in you; therefore your ability to accomplish anything already lives in you and is awaiting your command.

The Spirit of glory living in you will teach you how to separate darkness from light in every situation you encounter, even the secret ones in your mind, and you will help Him divide the old nature from the new through your spoken words. He may also show you something that you need to do in some cases. His words and works weigh the same and both will release His glory.

…but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:38).

See also Mark 2:8-12.

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All the Way Up! Rodna Epley

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Rodna Epley with tags , , , , , , , , , , on September 30, 2020 by paulthepoke

John 16:28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.

Jesus went to be with the Father where He is today at the Father’s right hand—as the Father’s right hand. He is the King of glory siting on the throne of glory in the Kingdom of Glory—the Kingdom of Heaven. Everything that Jesus did along the way to His destination, the Father, was all a part of the Father’s plan to restore us to Himself by placing us in Christ.

Jesus is the way to the Father (John 14:6). He came down from the Father and went back up to the Father. He finished the work the Father gave Him to do (John 17:4). He lived a perfect, sinless, obedient life as a Man born under the Old Covenant (John 8:46). He restored the glory of the Old Covenant and released the glory of the New Covenant which is greater. He proved the Father sent Him and was working through Him by the words He spoke and the works He did.

As the Lamb of God, He took all of our sins and sicknesses upon His own body as He was crucified until death on the cross. He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. He ascended to heaven as our High Priest presenting Himself to the Father as the Wave Sheaf offering. He preached the kingdom of heaven on earth for forty days afterward. And then He ascended in His glorified body to the Father to sit at the Father’s right hand where He is now. Those of us who put our faith in Jesus are there now too with Him where He is. Not if or when we die, but now.

From the position of the Father is where Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father upon us and gave the same glory He had with the Father since the foundation of the world to make us One with the Father as He is One with the Father (John 17:5, 22-23). When we know that we are seated in Christ and Christ is with the Father, we can operate in “greater works” which come from the Father. We do the works that we see Jesus do and greater works because He is with the Father (John 14:12).

Our minds are being transformed into the image of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). We are promoted from one level of glory to another level of glory as we overcome one suffering to another turning all darkness that we face into light as we are taught and led by the Holy Spirit in each experience (Romans 8:18). So, learning to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and to “separate the precious from the vile” is extremely important (Jeremiah 15:19, 2 Timothy 2:15).

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Suffering For God’s Glory… Rodna Epley

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Rodna Epley with tags , , , , , , on July 29, 2020 by paulthepoke

All suffering is meant for God’s glory. Whether we caused the suffering, someone else did, or it’s no one’s fault, suffering is suffering and it’s always meant for God’s glory to SOON be revealed. Suffering is not meant to be held onto for life. It’s meant for God’s glory to be released and revealed on earth in the realms in which He has assigned us to operate in and live in, which means the suffering ends and the promise of God is revealed and manifested in THIS life.

The longest time-frame from the examples that we have in the Bible that Jesus waited to turn a suffering into glory was four days when He purposely waited to raise Lazarus from the dead.

Most of the sufferings He encountered were transformed into glory within a few moments of encountering them, e.g., turning water to wine, opening blind eyes, straightened a crooked back, healing leprosy, walking on water, causing a paralyzed man to walk, raising the dead, etc.

If anyone has been sick or hurting for a long time, it’s okay, there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). The people in the Bible whom Jesus encountered were usually sick and hurting for a long time until He encountered them. But once He encountered them they were almost instantly well or the problem was almost instantly flipped.

Think of the time when someone was trying to accuse Jesus of not paying taxes to Caesar. Jesus had Peter go catch a fish out of the water. The first fish he caught had a coin in its mouth that was enough to pay taxes for both Jesus and Peter. So the time it took Peter to catch the first fish was how long it took the suffering to turn to glory.

So it doesn’t matter how long we’ve suffered. We only need revelation of the Word of God from the Holy Spirit that we are healed, or He has supplied all of our needs, etc. Then when we act on the instructions given to us by the Holy Spirit or we speak the anointed words the Holy Spirit gives us to say, our miracle manifests or our need is supplied in the natural. Remain in the Word and let His Word remain in you and your Father will give you the revelation so that you can act on it. Don’t worry, it will come. When it comes, you will know.

Most Christians have had encounters with the Holy Spirit where we’ve experience miracles in our lives, but they are usually hit or miss and we don’t really know how to encounter Him again. Knowing that Jesus went to be with the Father and that we are seated in heavenly places in Him, in Christ, right now in the place where He is that He prepared for us changes this hit or miss into a permanent residence. It changes a believer into a disciple. It changes only sometimes having joy and peace to always having it. It locks us down in Him and fastens us in permanently. It changes not knowing what to do to completely trusting that our heavenly Father will show us and guide us because He loves us in the very same way He loves Jesus, and He proves it by backing up our words and works which manifest in the natural because the two became one like hydrogen and oxygen (two gases) make a physical property: water. When what the Holy Spirit speaks and what we speak are done together for any situation, it manifests in the natural.

The Perfect One is the Father and the Father was Jesus’ destination. He’s our destination too and it’s now. We are seated in Christ who is in the Father now, not someday after we die, and Christ is in us now and the Father is in Christ now. We are One with them now. Christ is in us and we are in Christ—full circle back to the Father. From this perspective everything in our lives change and transform.

Blessings to everyone. May the perfect peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. May all your suffering turn to glory in this life. It pleases our Father in heaven for suffering to end and His glory to be revealed. It is His will.

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In Christ… Rodna Epley

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Rodna Epley with tags , , , , , on April 8, 2020 by paulthepoke

Get caught up in the rivers of living water that Jesus gives. These are streams of the Father’s glory. To be received by all and released by all who are called by His name.

Galatians 3:28 There is no male or female in Christ, no Jew nor Greek, no slave nor free, but all are ONE in Christ.

“In Christ” is the key. It means the activated state of the Father’s glory. All wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of His glory, all favor, blessing, perfect peace, perfect love, joy unspeakable and full of glory is available in His Presence.

It begins by knowing Jesus went to be with the Father and we are seated in Christ now. We are where He is right now—not someday. In Christ is where we all should want to be. It’s where we were all created to be even as we walk this earth. It is our home.

Many Christians have invited Christ to be in them, but they have not yet accepted the key to His place and stepped into Christ. Because the gospel everywhere has mostly fallen short of the glory—it has stopped after the resurrection. But the full gospel ascends all the way back up to the Father where Jesus sits as King of glory on the throne of glory. And we are seated in Him as joint heirs of glory. We are heirs now, not someday. Jesus already died to make it possible. If we truly accepted His ONE death, we don’t have to die too to make it effective. It’s effective now. We have been given the very same glory Jesus has always had with the Father (carefully read Jesus’ prayer of John 17). And the Father loves us in the very same way He loves Jesus. He proves it by always hearing us and always answering our prayers and declarations. Our words always manifest. Our works always prosper. Because we are ONE with His glory. Jesus reconciled us to the Father now.

Jesus prayed, “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was…that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us…And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. (John 17:5,22-24)

It is so important to know that Jesus went to be with the Father, and that the place He made for us is with the Father NOW, not someday after we die. All we have to do is know this and we have access to the “greater works” Jesus promised we would operate in. The greater works is anything you can imagine while in Christ. This is what Jesus always tried to teach us, but his disciples didn’t begin to understand until the end (John 16:25-30).

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Jesus, The Way to The Father -Rodna Epley

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Rodna Epley with tags , , , , on March 4, 2020 by paulthepoke

rodnalight“Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” – John 14:11-12

He who believes (aka whosoever) in Jesus will do the works we see Him do. Imagine all the works Jesus did in the Bible—we are to be doing those; AND greater works. The greater works come from the Father where Jesus went and where we are seated in Him.
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“I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.” – John 16:28-30

jesus-right-hand-1

Jesus started with the Father and ended with the Father. He didn’t sit down on the ground outside the tomb after the resurrection. He sat down on the throne after He ascended to the Father’s right hand of glory where we are seated in Him NOW. Our perspective must change to where we sit now. Not from the earth as a victim looking up with only a hope of glory. But we are seated in Christ now in the Father looking down with all principalities and powers and rulers of darkness under our feet, victorious and able to go in and out of the Father’s Presence taking “home” with us everywhere we go in the realm Jesus has assigned us to operate in on earth. We do the works Jesus did and greater works (which is way more than saving people’s souls but it does include that) because The Father loves us in the very same way He loves Jesus. The words we speak and works we do are powered by the Father so they manifest and prosper where He sends them.
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“And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” – Ephesians 2:6

Where is Christ Jesus? In the Father! We are seated with Christ as joint-heirs.
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Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. – John 14:6

Jesus is the Way to what? He is the Way to the Father. And He leads us there NOW, not after we die. He does lead us there after we die if we want to be a “Resurrection Christian”—Christ in us, the hope of glory. But if we want to be a “Living Christian” then we can go to the Father now—us in Christ, He is our Lord of glory. That’s what it means to be “in Christ”.
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Straight Talk, Where Is Jesus Today??? Featuring Rodna Epley

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Gospel with tags , , , , on August 14, 2019 by paulthepoke

Where is Jesus today?

After He was crucified and the glory of the Father raised Jesus from the dead, in bodily form, where did Jesus go after that? There is a very specific place where He went and knowing this actually wakes up the glory of God in us where the rapid transformation of the mind into the Mind of Christ can begin. This knowledge of where He is begins to fully wake up the body of Christ. There’s another piece to it too but the answer to this one has to be established forever in our thinking first.

It’s true that Jesus Christ is in our hearts—Christ is in us, the hope of glory; and yes God’s Spirit and Presence is everywhere, He is omnipresent. 

But where literally is the Man Jesus right now? His location is so vital to the body of Christ and the whole world actually, because this knowledge releases God’s glory in the earth. 

It’s clear in Scripture where He went. Jesus talked about it all the time and people even saw Him go there. His current location is the ultimate reason He came to earth and did all that He did for us.

So yes Jesus Christ is in us, but the reason He is able to be in all of us is because of where He is right now.

In light of that…Where is Jesus today?

Physically where is He because that will also provide the answer to where He is spiritually located. The main half of the answer anyway. He’s in a very specific location. The Holy Spirit gave me this question yesterday morning and wanted me to ask people, because hardly anyone actually knows where Jesus went after He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. Not even most Christians know and this is a huge problem because that also means Christians don’t know the purpose for the gospel. 

Answer: Jesus is “in” the Father. He is ONE with the Father, and at the right hand of the “Father of glory”. (John 14:7-14; 16:5-10; 17:5, 11, 21-22; Acts 2:33; 7:55-56; Hebrews 1:1-3; et al)



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Trend Update: Sanhedrin, September 2015

Posted in Gospel, Sanhedrin, Trend Update with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 26, 2015 by paulthepoke

Matthew 26:59 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death.

sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin of Israel is back in the news, August 2015. The Sanhedrin reconvened in 2005 after a 1,600 year absence. They oversee legal matters and future construction of the pending third temple.

http://www.heisnear.com/Sanhedrin.html

The Greek word for Sanhedrin is sunedrion. It is frequently translated as “Council” in the New Testament (Strong’s Concordance).

Who is/was the Sanhedrin? They are/were a group of 71 members. The group was made up of members from the Pharisees and Sadducees back in the day. The Sanhedrin was lead by the High Priest in the past  (Holman Bible Dictionary).

This is the same Sanhedrin who illegally arrested, tried, and convicted Jesus (Luke 22:66, Mark 14:55-56). They pressured Pilate for Jesus’ death on a cross (Mark 15:1-15).

In another sense, they are not the same Sanhedrin of Jesus’s time. They now have their own website.

http://www.thesanhedrin.org/en/index.php?title=The_Re-established_Jewish_Sanhedrin

On September 9, 2015, Pope Francis, President Obama and others are ordered by Israeli’s Sanhedrin to come before the Council. They are being charged with a poor policy toward Jerusalem. Below is a statement of the official charge.

The People Israel VS. 1. Pope Francis, Head of the Catholic Church, the Vatican 2. President of the United States, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama 3. Secretary of State Mr. John Kerry, The White House, Washington, D.C. United States of America 4. The signatory nations to the Iran Nuclear Agreement; “The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action”, (the US, Great Britain, Russia, Germany, France and China) 5. The United Nations Security Council 6. UNESCO 7. The Supreme Court of the United States of America 8. The Human Rights Court in The Hague, Netherlands 9. The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands 10. The European Union Collectively and each individually stand accused of:

Conspiracy to conduct theft of the Land of Israel from the People of Israel

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/17443#.Vd6IKflVhBc

As of August 2015, there is no current High Priest in Jerusalem, Israel. There is no Temple. There is much debate. Who will appoint the High Priest? Will the High Priest be appointed by the Sanhedrin, the Messiah, or the King?

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/994923/jewish/How-Is-a-High-Priest-Selected.htm

But…there is a High Priest. His name is Jesus. He is seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. Hebrews 8:1-2 Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

Jesus is the King. 1 Timothy 6:14b-15 …until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords…

Jesus is the Messiah. John 20:31 But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name. 

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What the Hell…Not with Jesus

Posted in Gospel, Hell, Prophecy with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 26, 2015 by paulthepoke

We all know what happened to Jesus’s body after He died on the cross. He was taken off of the cross. The body was prepared and buried in a rich man’s tomb. What about the soul and spirit? Where did the Spirit of Christ go? Luke 23:46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last. See also Matthew 27:50, John 19:30.

The Greek word for “commit” is paratithemi. Per Strong’s Concordance:  to place beside or near or set before; to deposit; to entrust or commit to one’s charge.

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Jesus trusted the Father to place His Spirit near Him.  The Father is in Heaven per the Lord’s Prayer.

One of the men on his cross next to Jesus believed He was the Messiah. Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross next to him verify His destination. Luke 23:43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

The Greek for “Paradise” is paradeisos. Per Strong’s Concordance paradeisos means: a garden, pleasure ground; Heaven; the part of Hades which was thought by the later Jews to be the abode of the souls of pious until the resurrection; the upper regions of the heavens. According to the early church Fathers, the paradise in which our first parents dwelt before the fall still exists, either on the earth or in the heavens, but above and beyond the world.

1 Peter 3:18-20 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; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.

Note, Jesus’ Spirit remains alive and does not see death at the cross.

The Apostle Peter notes Christ visited “spirits” or “pneuma” in the Greek after His physical death. The “spirits” could refer to fallen angels and/or dead humanity. Peter discusses both parties in his epistles. These “spirits” are in prison (phulake in the Greek: of the place where captives are kept, a prison, a guarding).

With the resurrection of Christ, Psalm 16:10 was fulfilled. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. Jesus did not stay in Sheol/Hades (see Ephesians 8-10). He was resurrected on the third day. Acts 2:31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY.

Currently He is alive in a resurrected body at the right hand of the God the Father in Heaven. Hebrews 10:12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD…

Romans 8:34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Ephesians 1:20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places…

For other references of Jesus at the right hand of the Father: Acts 7:55-56; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1; Hebrews 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22; Revelation 3:21; Matthew 22:44; Acts 2:33.

Today, with Jesus at the right hand of the Father, what happens to believers in Christ when they experience bodily death? Where do the soul and spirit go? 2 Corinthians 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Home is in Heaven with the Father and Son.

Revelation 1:18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. –Jesus

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