LBC QnA of the Week.

QUESTION:
There was this assertion a friend made …, and I  quote, “the mind of God is more important than the hand work of God.......therefore we should long to know His mind” Could you please explain the veracity or falsity of this?  

 ANSWER:

Well from the scriptures, it’s obvious; the Mind of God is different from the Hand of God. But let me deviate from answering to help us fully understand the implication of the case in point. To begin with, to think of God as having hand, feet, finger, et al as men do is quite misleading and doctrinally erroneous. God has no body or form (except the body of Christ which was not revealed until after the incarnation). Wouldn’t it be a contradiction to say an invisible, indefinite and infinite God has a definite and a finite form? If God is such a composition or form then there is someone greater than Him, because, the composed will obviously have a composer and the former is less of the latter. The reference to any of the above of God (as in hand, mind, etc) is merely connotative and not otherwise. We can later discuss what Israel and Moses saw on Mount Sinai but now let’s look at your friend’s point. I cannot tell the reason your friend cited but I wonder why anyone will focus on the Mind of God more than the Hand of the same or vice versa, I will particularly not advice that. Now the mind of God speaks of His intent, purpose, and plans, in sum, His counsel and will. This is clear from the scriptures: (Rom 8:27, 11:34, 1 Cor 2:16, Lev 24:12), among others. On the other hand, His Hand bespeaks of His might, authority, power, but primarily of His works. E.g. the Hand of God was on Judah, Egypt was judged by His finger (the finger is part of the hand), Christ is sitting at the right Hand of the Father (the right Hand talks of authority and power not a place or location), and all of creation, the Bible says, are the works of His hand. (1 Sam 5:11, Eccl. 2:24, 9:1, Ps. 28:5, 111:7). Etc. To submit an opinion, thus if I have one, I will say that as much as possible, we should focus equally on both. Of course the Mind of God precedes His Hand but I do not believe the former is more important than the latter; thoughts like this have done the Body a lot of harm, though they may sound and seem logical. The Mind is a cause and the Hand is the effect, cause is nothing if there is no effect and there is no effect if there is no cause. God’s Mind is the cause of His Hand which is the effect. The neglect of His ways has led many ministries to several spiritual wilderness. Strange things are done and approved in churches today because it is either those who fall to this error are not aware of any of the two or both or better still are aware of one but not both. God’s Mind is not more important than His Hand; they are mutually in-exclusive and thus complement each other.

LBC QnA OF THE WEEK

  A RESPONSE TO A QUESTION ON THE ANTICHRIST

...will the antichrist come before the rapture of the church?

 
Answer:

 Firstly , let's settle this score that there is going to be a universal world ruler, the Bible calls him ''the antichrist''. Some confuse themselves with what 1Jn 2:18-20 ('' even now many antichrists are with you'') means, supposing it to mean that the antichrist(s) is/are already with us. In fact,what that simply means is that, the many antichrists who are and will be show that the spirit of the antichrist will precede the eventual appearance of a definite man, him the Bible calls ''the antichrist'' (note the use of ''the'' in the same text), he is also known as the son of perdition, man of sin, the wicked one, the beast, etc (2 Thess 2:3-8, see also Rev 13-17).

The word rapture is not in our Bible but undoubtedly its concept is clearly evident in the scriptures. Many so-called Bible believers do not believe in any such thing as rapture and even those who do, do so with strict adherence to a peculiar understanding widely distant from what is generally accepted by the majority. Well I am not here emphasizing on popular view nor affirming majority decision, no! Majority cannot always be right. If majority of the world's population decide that that there is no God, it will mean there is no God, alright? I don't believe in democracy anyway, majority can be wrong, and in most cases do get it wrong, you know? Interestingly, I see a similar phenomenon in the canon of teachings in the body specifically on the doctrine of the Rapture. Apart from the fact that many are teaching that there is no rapture whatsoever, the few others who do, majority of them affirmatively tend to emphasize a singular precipitous catching-up or seizing-away of the Church; this orthodox concept and teaching I find to be errorneous.

Let me point out clearly, as per my understanding of the Word of God, submitting this to the sundry of believers who drear in their spirits to see the true Word being preached to judge this that there is no one rapture, there are indeed conglomerations of raptures in the Bible.

The word ''rapture is taken from the vulgate (Latin version of the Bible) and it means to seize away, catch-up/away, take away, pluck/pull off/from; it's from the Greek ''harpazo''. The phrases above are scattered throughout the scriptures but should not be mixed up with others events as translations, resurrection, etc, since sometimes the word ''harpazo'' is used to refer to such encounters. Paul in 2 Cor. 12 cannot therefore be referred to as having been raptured. The concept of rapture in the Bible is a concept of harvest and if any one understand the three harvest seasons of the Hebrews (that of barley, wheat and grape), understanding the rapture becomes an added effect.

We must also understand the comings of Christ to help us understand the harvests and the raptures. From now on, we are expecting the visible and the invisible coming of Christ. Invisibly, He shall come in the night as a thief and ''steal away'' a section of the Church (1 Thess 5:2-3, 2 Pet 3:10). This will happen before the advent of the antichrist and explains the first rapture known as the rapture of the ''man-child'' in Rev 12:1-It is at this time that the devil gets to know his time is short, some believe the man child are the 144, 000 but I believe otherwise (can't explain futher now).

Visibly, He shall come and all will see Him, even those who pierced Him. Here He comes with trumpet shouts with innumerable company of angels and this events takes place at the last trumpet. The last trumpet here refers to the seven trumpets in the Book of Revelation and it is at this time that the mysteries of God would be finished, 1 Cor. 15:52, Rev. 10:7. This explains the post tribulation rapture which post-cedes the Great tribulation and precedes armaggeddon.

But in between these two comings, there would be another rapture of a group of people. In Rev 7:9-17, we see a multitude who were caught-up to the throne room of God and the Bibles says they came out of the Great tribulation. This explains the rapture of the tribulation saints. Time and space will fail us to talk about the ministry of the angels with ''everlasting gospel to preach''; their work too reveals something significant to our knowledge on the rapture. You may read further, 1Thess 4:15-17, 1 Cor 15:50-, etc.

All these raptures, happen in different circumstances and time. If, for instance, it takes less than a year for the antichrist to be revealed after the first rapture, and it takes less than a year for Christ to come after the tribulation, it means that, the raptures aforementioned will span within a period not less than seven years.

The answer to the question therefore becomes clear, a section of the Church would be raptured before the beast comes (Rev 12), to some he will come to meet (eg the Laodicean Church, Rev 3:14-), and others he will leave before them whilst they abide.

Maranatha!! come oh Lord! come!!

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