Introduction
“He who obeys God needs no other authority.” Peter Chelcicky
“If the guilt of sin is so great that nothing can satisfy it but the blood of Jesus; and the filth of sin is so great that nothing can fetch out the stain thereof but the blood of Jesus, how great, how heinous, how sinful must the evil of sin be.” William Throsby Bridges
Show 41 416 Has Jesus Returned – part X
October 14th 2014
Live from the Mecca of Mormonism, this is HEART OF THE MATTER where Institutionalized Religion Meets Jesus Christ Face to Face. And I’m your host, Shawn McCraney.
The Evolution of the Ministry
You know we want to welcome all the new viewers to the show and ministry that have come along over the years. If you have been with us for more than 18 months you know that we used to focus almost solely on Mormonism – with an occasional jab at modern Evangelicalism. But we were airing on a Christian owned station and were warned on numerous occasions that if we didn’t back off (from guys like Binny Hinn and the like) we were gonna get yanked.
The final straw was my going after the local largest churches for things I believed were unsuited to churches that ought to be building believers in the word and within a week the pastors around the state got me yanked from that Christian station. What seemed at the time like a great setback has proven to have been nothing but a launching pad for the ministry and me personally.
So while we feel believers in the State have suffered a loss of good information that was coming into their homes weekly through the former station we have seen how the Lord has taken the ministry to many places outside of Utah ever since and in greater and greater numbers – places like Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Japan, the Czech Republic – really anywhere where people are investigating either Mormonism or the truth about many traditional Christian teachings. So we welcome all of you – and challenge you (now that you’re here) to test all things and hold fast to what is good.
Special Offer for Viewers
Okay, before we get to our message tonight and the phone lines, “that season” is coming up and we try to think of ways we can get you to take inventory off our hands and get it into the hands of you, your family and your friends. Have we got a deal we are going to start running tonight and will run through the end of the year. Ready?
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ALL four full music CD’s that have put the Word of God to music – nearly a hundred verses set to fantastic tunes for learning and listening to the Word of God. Retail value $40.00. A copy of Girl, a wonderful short film dedicated to the subject of premarital sex among teens (retail value $20.00) and finally our pledge to send anyone who takes advantage of this package deal a first edition of our forthcoming book due out in Spring of 2015 titled: “Giving God a Chance to Make Sense”.
The retail value of all five books, four CD’s, and one short film – that’s 10 gifts – is over $130.00. But we’ll send a box to you full of these things – with free shipping – for any amount over $49.00 – that’s right folks – off our shelves and into your hands – no shipping – any amount $49.00 and above. If you are interested go to www.hotm.tv and go to the store or click on the icon for the Winter Stock Clearing Deal.
And with that piece of capitalist propaganda (but it is a very good deal) let’s have a word of prayer.
Conclusion
PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER
PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER
So we have associated the “last days,” and “the end of the world” (or age) with
The Second Coming of Jesus
This is a correct association – it’s what scripture itself does. In other words, when we are able to identify the last days spoken of in scripture, and when we are able to identify the end of the age,” spoken of in scripture (which we did last week) we will discover the Second Coming of Jesus Christ – and vice versa.
I think we have more than proved that the two events (end of time and end of the age) occurred in the first century at 70 AD. Because of Jesus words He HAD to have returned at that time or His words were false and He was wrong. I don’t think so. He came as promised and did exactly as He said He would. This I trust.
Anyone who does not believe what He promised in scripture has occurred has to answer the content of Matthew 24 especially verse 34. But there are a few other things that we naturally associate with the return of Jesus – Judgment is one of them.
Association with Judgment
This too is a correct association because scripture associates His second coming with Judgment. So flipping it around, if we can say when scripture says judgment will occur we can then say when Jesus Second Coming would be. Get it?
Of course, most churches today teach that the Second Coming is out in our future so this means that they also are teaching that judgment is out there in the same place – the future. At that time (as it is taught) all of humanity will be judged – the good and the evil.
Now, I realize that there are some twists out there in Christianity about this judgment –that some say (because this is what I used to say) that Christians will not be judged with everyone else (since our judgment came at the cross) but I am 1), not so sure this is true and 2), know a lot of Christians who reject this and believe there is only one judgment waiting us all – so I am going to teach as if this was the standard – as it is what I believe the Bible teaches.
The Nature of Judgment
Now this judgment will not occur from God’s mind but will be according to what is written about each person in the books. Now, not just those who are living will be recorded in the books, but everyone who has ever lived, past, present, and future – gathered and waiting for their case to be found, read, and judgment passed down – eternal life or an eternal visit to the house of pain (otherwise known as the Lake of Fire).
This is standard fare for most Christian churches (again, the exception are those who say Christians go directly to heaven and pass judgment at death but I’m unclear where they are able to get such a teaching). But the story doesn’t end here. Christianity also generally teaches that at our individual deaths the “immortal soul” of believers go to heaven (not a biblical term), unbelievers go to hell, but then, ALL who have ever died will in the future when Jesus actually comes, will have their long decayed natural bodies rise from the grave, they will enter their bodies again, and then that massive meeting for judgment begins.
Has any of this ever been clear to you or have you fumbled around for decades like me sort of mumbling when people want to know the specifics of these murky events? Think about this – just for a minute, okay? A man one thousand four hundred years ago dies as a sold-out believer in Christ. Ok? Pastors would tell you he went directly to heaven, right? So he goes to heaven, and has been waiting there for 1400 years only to have to leave heaven stand before God and be judged – because we are still waiting for the judgment that comes with Jesus' return, right?
Was the man sent to heaven in error in the first place 1400 years ago? I mean, that is where we say he has been, right? And then after the judgment of everyone (that happens when Jesus finally returns) is it possible that it will be discovered that he has spent the past 1400 in heaven wrongly because when he is judged out of the books he is found to deserve the Lake of Fire?
This makes no sense whatsoever, folks. This stuff is implausible. So what do we do?
Judgment in Scripture
First of all, I would suggest that when we read of judgment and the judgment in scripture it clearly means Jesus passed judgment on Jerusalem in 70. To not see judgment as having taken place at that time makes all the passages that speak of judgment unintelligible. But when we see them in their correct context, that Jesus and the Apostles were warning and speaking of a judgment to fall on Israel at Jerusalem the light will begin to break over our minds. And since judgment is always associated with “the last days,” in scripture and “the end of the World or age” and we can see that those are past, we can also see that judgment is passed. It’s history.
So let’s discuss this for a minute. Jesus – as the Messiah to the House of Israel to whom He came in His earthly ministry – came both in the role as Savior and as Judge. These roles of His are reiterated over and over again toward the House of Israel – Savior (Messiah) and Judge. To some of the House of Israel He was Savior and to others He was judge. We know the utter frustration God had with the House of Israel all through the Old Testament. There was continued disobedience, following after other gods, and forsaking Him. Jesus tells parables about this; about how God sent prophets into the vineyard whom they ignored, and abused and even killed. Hundreds of years before Christ God sent most of His people (ten tribes) into Assyrian bondage from where they never returned as a people. Right? Then the remainder called Judah lived in all sorts of captivity and foreign rule. When the promised Messiah came to them they were under Roman rule.
Judah and the Messiah
But there in Judea God kept Judah together until their Messiah came, born of that tribe. In other words, “LAST OF ALL HE SENT HIS SON.” And what did they do to Him? Rejected and killed Him – and God’s patience was exhausted – judgment was coming upon the nation. I mean what else was God going to do, send MORE prophets (like the LDS suggest) send Himself again? The arrival and rejection and death of His only begotten was the END OF THE LINE of a long history of God dealing with a recalcitrant people. Judgment was coming and it was judgment on them – they had the law, they had the promises, they had the actual Messiah, they had the living God who was their God, and they were His people, and all outreaches were exhausted. Judgment was to come and it was to come when His Son returned – and the only remaining portion of the House of Israel – Judah, gathered there in Judea, was wiped out – their temple, their priesthood, their genealogies, their city of David, all of it – destroyed and if not destroyed – scattered.
The Destruction of Judah
The destruction of Judah in Judea by the Romans was the coming judgment described in the Old and New Testaments. How can I prove this? By a reasonable, non-manipulated reading of the Bible. The last book of the Old Testament is Malachi. He was a prophet of doom. 400 years before the birth of Christ God (through Malachi) was accusing His people of great evil and rebellion. Their response to these accusations from God? “Wherein have we wearied God?” “When did we rob Him?” So Malachi ends his short book with a prophecy – and He says: “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” (Malachi 4:1) I would suggest that when God says, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch,” speaks to the utter destruction of all the genealogies that burned up in the temple destruction – and the nation was left without ANY genealogical tree from which to prove heritage. But as we also know, God is merciful and always reaching, and in the very next verse He says (to those who are faithful): “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” (Malachi 4:2) This “Sun of Righteousness” speaks to the Son of God coming and healing and saving those who
The Prophetic Message in Malachi and Its Fulfillment
In verse four of Malachi, God adds a message to the faithful who, four hundred years later, would be looking for the Messiah. He says to them: “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.” (Malachi 4:4) And then He says in verse five: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” What is this “great and dreadful day of the Lord?” It’s the same day as when the Lord would “leave the house of Israel without root or branch.” This is a horrible way to end the Old Testament, with God – fed up with the sins and rebellious hearts of His people – warning them that the end of the line is coming.
Then we have 400 years between Malachi and the opening of the Book of Matthew. And what does Matthew open up with in one of his first narratives? The story of a man named John the Baptist. What does the Baptist come preaching? The same message that Malachi left off with, saying: “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (in the Greek, “the wrath that is about to come”).
The Role of John the Baptist
John appealed to more of Malachi’s words, and said in Matthew 3:10: “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” And then in verse 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.” All the emphasized words are included in Malachi’s warning. Now, Malachi said that the merciful God would send Elijah the prophet to them BEFORE the dreadful day of the Lord. Did He do this or are we still waiting on Elijah to return?
In Matthew 11:12-15, Jesus said these revealing, prophecy-fulfilling words of Malachi: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias (that’s the Greek way to say, Elijah), which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” And John the Baptist, the promised Elijah, came, preaching “the wrath to (shortly) come,” asking how the religious rulers would escape becoming burned stubble, and chaff. These words are the very same words Jesus used in His parable of the wheat and the tares – “fire, stubble, chaff.”
The Judgment Day
Peter describes the event as fervent heat and melting elements – all verses depicting the judgment day approaching them, which was the utter desolation of Judah in the land of Judea. Now, we can take all of this and see it reasonably and applicable to the context and people to whom it was given OR we can say utterly unreasonable things like: “We’ll, John the Baptist was the promised Elijah (cannot be disputed by the Bible) but we are STILL waiting for judgment to come – knowing that the best straight-forward application of all these facts deals with the destruction of Jerusalem. What kind of sign is it that Malachi gave that God would send Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord if his coming was some 2000 years ago? Again – you want to believe fairy tales and myths of man – have at it – I won’t argue or dismiss you as my brother or sister.
The Prophet Joel also prophesied of the great and terrible day of the Lord. This is what the Lord said through him: “I will pour my spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 2:28) then in verse 31 adds, “Before the great and terrible day of the Lord.” Of course, Peter, on the day of Pentecost, used the text of Joel and said in Acts 2:16: But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. So the outpouring of His spirit upon all flesh (as prophesied by Joel) was fulfilled there and then, (and once again this was before, “the great and terrible “day” of the Lord.
Understanding the Importance of the Word "Mello" in Biblical Context
Again, God promised that before the great and dreadful day He would send Elijah. And Elijah came and within 40 years fell the Great and Terrible day of the Lord. And Again, God promised through Joel to pour His spirit out on all flesh – which He did at Pentecost (according to Peter) BEFORE THE GREAT and TERRIBLE day of the Lord, which again, came within that generation.
Significance of Biblical Signs
AGAIN – if these were the signs given and the Judgment has yet to come WHAT KIND OF SIGNS ARE THEY – WHAT GOOD ARE THEY? But if we read them in context, and see how vitally important they were as signs to those Jews who received Christ then, we can see what tremendous signs they were at that time BEFORE the destruction of Jerusalem.
Now, let me revisit a word from the Greek – mello – like the song Mello Yellow by Donovan. The word does not mean a long way off – and the use of it would and could NEVER pertain to our day and age. Unfortunately, the King James Translators were not consistent in their translation of the word and when we read it in this version we are led to believe that things are NOT about to happen. But the Word Mello means “about to happen,” or “shortly will happen.”
For example, in Luke 7:2 where it says: “And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.” Ready to is mello. John 4:47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.” At the point of is Mello. Where it says in Acts 18:14 that Paul was about to open his mouth, “about to is?????” That’s right – mello. Acts 20:3 “and he was about to sail . . .” mello. Acts 20:7 “ready to depart” Mello. And “when the seven days were almost ended” Acts 21:27 . . . MELLO.
Examples of "Mello" in Judgement Context
So how about some passages where writers are speaking of coming judgment? The word in ALL of these examples is MELLO but because the King James was translated many years later by people who believed that judgment was still to come, the quickness of the Greek mello was discarded. For example:
Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Mello would say “from the APPROACHING vengeance,” not “the wrath to come.”) Acts 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (MELLO would say, “he has appointed a day in which He is about to judge the inhabitants) Acts 23:3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, (MELLO would say, God is about to smite you) thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?
Acts 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come (MELLO – about to come), Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. 2nd Timothy 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge (MELLO – who is about to judge) the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Hebrews 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall (MELLO – which is about to) devour the adversaries.
All of these verses put Judgment in the proper REAL time frame of the original language of the Bible. And all of them undermine the stance that judgment is still headed our way BUT all of them read contrary to the meaning of the word MELLO. Let me step away from the MELLO YELLO argument and just give you some plain old straight up English? Ready? James said this plainly to believers alive in His day: James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it,
The Impending Judgment
Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. Behold, the Judge standeth before the door. Can we get more emphatic than this? Or, “For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh!” (James 5:8). That phrase "draweth nigh" means "is at hand" in the Greek, which is why the King James translators translated it into the English words "Draweth nigh."
Is the judge still drawing nigh two thousand years later? Listen to what Peter said in 1st Peter chapter four: First, speaking of he said in verse 5: 1st Peter 4:5 Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. And then in verse 7 adds: “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” Did you hear this? The words of Peter the apostle to those living in HIS DAY and HIS AGE? “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.”
Judgment and Its Relevance Today
How do Christians take these words and apply them to our day in a physical sense? It’s sheer non-sense. But Peter is not done! He adds in verse 17: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” And here we have ONLY been talking about what scripture means when it speaks of judgment. Now, before we open up the phone lines, we know that all of these verses speak to Israel, their time, the end of the age (or world) and their Judge coming back to render to every one either blessing or curse.
Spiritual Interpretation of Judgment
How do these passages apply to us today? EXACTLY IN THE SAME WAY AS THEY APPLIED TO THE RECIPIENTS OF THE WORDS THEN – but only spiritually to us in this age and day. So where the House of Israel was promised a great and terrible day of the Lord physically, every single individual will too will have their own great and/or terrible day of the Lord – experienced spiritually – meaning when we die. Like the Jews in Judea we too will be judged at that time – those faithful will be blessed by being taken up and those unfaithful will be cursed by going to hell. At this time our world will come to an end just as their age did. The time is “away’s at hand for all of us” because none of us knows the day nor the hour.
I hope all of this is becoming clear. Why do I hope for this? First, because it's true, but secondly to know the truth we are set free. And I hope to free anyone who is in bondage to the traditions of man – no matter where they come from.
