Here are the comments posted on Paul's blog site:
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Jerry
says:
2016-04-07 at 10:41 pm
I am reading your ‘The Rapture Theory’ PDF and am on page 7. I wanted to comment about the ‘tares’ and the ‘wheat’ and share something about the real differences between them that many do not know. When these two plants are young (immature), they look the same but only as they mature do the differences come into clear focus.
The kernel of the wheat, when mature, is heavy and causes the stalk to bow down. The kernel of the tares (darnel) are black in color and very light-weight which causes their stalk to stand upright, making it very easy to recognize and remove. The tares kernel is also poisonous and not for human consumption.
Jerry
says:
2016-04-07 at 11:35 pm
Another comment regarding your referenced message ‘The Rapture Theory’. On page 13 of your PDF, the 1,260 days is mentioned which is often referenced by those who seek to prove a 3/5 year period. What is interesting is that in some places in the book of Revelations, their interpretations speak of ‘figurative or spiritual’ perspectives while other places, they choose to reference it as ‘literal’.
Now when we look at the Daniel 9 interpretations of days, we all know this is referring to a ‘prophetic’ interpretation where years are spoken in terms of ‘days’. This was established in both the books of Daniel and Ezekiel as God defines years as days.
Yet, these same ‘rules’ of prophetic interpretation are not applied in the book of Revelation for some unknown reason as this book is also considered a prophetic book speaking of times yet to come at the time of its writing.
If God uses days to describe years and has established this as HIS definition of the prophetic, why would He deviate from this same language He has already established. Those beasts of Revelation are not taken as literal beasts but speaks ‘spiritually or figuratively’ of nations just as they were spoken of in the OT prophets.
This apparent ‘hodgepodge’ of ‘cookie-cutting’ of God’s prophetic word in Revelations is VERY TROUBLING to me and I cannot, in all good conscience, accept it.
When we begin reading in the 1st chapter of Revelations, we see a word that is constantly ‘ignored’. Because the things of heaven have no ‘real’ natural equivalent, John uses the word ‘like’ to describe what he is seeing. Today, we may see something unusual and for the lack of knowing what it is we are seeing or how to accurately describe it, we may say something like: “It floated from the sky ‘like’ a feather.” The object we are describing is NOT a feather but its characteristics in falling or floating down to the ground is similar to an observed action of an object we ARE familiar with…a ‘feather’.
It is with this same concept that John writes of those things He is witnessing in his vision. God gives us ‘clues’ as to what the meaning of these ‘likenesses’ John has seen in the scriptures.
When we see a beast ‘like’ a leopard, we see the same equivalency in the OT prophets in describing a particular nation. When John sees a ‘woman riding a dragon’, he is not speaking of something with a literal interpretation or we would most certainly be looking for this but his speaking of what he saw is giving us a ‘spiritual or figurative’ interpretation, NOT to be taken literally and yet, whenever we see the time frames of 1,260 days or 42 months or 3.5 years, we take this to mean literal days, months and years and at no point are these time frames given, taken as they are interpreted in the OT prophets. Hmmmmm. If those ‘theories’ cannot be made to fit the ‘already established’ prophetic time interpretation, then we take the ‘liberty’ to ‘change’ the rules to make them fit the narrative.
THIS is exactly what the deceiver continues to do each and every day as he seeks to have us draw our conclusions from our natural mind instead of by the Spirit of the Lord.
I say all this, not to try to challenge your message as I have not yet read further than page 13. My desire is to reveal a known discrepancy I’ve long seen in the false narratives being propagated by the deceiver to espouse fear and doubt among the saints.
It is ‘time’ for us all to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance and teachings of all things regarding our walk with Him and His revealing of His truth that makes us free. It is time to cast off the ‘sayings and teachings’ that pull things out of their context and defy the established rules of interpretation of prophetic events in order to ‘make’ them fit a narrative which is obviously not born of the Spirit of God as it contradicts the teachings of Jesus and His Word.
Thank you Paul. I am enjoying this message immensely and, after completing my reading of it, will seek your permission to share the link to your PDF on my website.
Jerry
says:
2016-04-07 at 11:42 pm
A quick follow up from pages 13-14 is regarding that phrase Jesus spoke “of that day, no man knows the hour or the day…”
On my site, I have a message which I’ve shared from another site which reveals this phrase as a Jewish idiom of which Jesus and the Jews of that day knew fully well.
Here is my link to this message which will aid tremendously in understanding the meaning of this idiom Jesus spoke. Currently my ‘jerrysundberg.com’ is in the process of migrating to a new hosting provider and is not available at this writing, I am linking to my mirror site:
www.hiddenmanna.us/2015/10/no-one-knows-day-and-houra-jewish-idiom.htmlThis message will further bring clarity, I believe, to all that Jesus was saying when He used that idiom to describe His return.
Jerry
says:
2016-04-07 at 11:59 pm
On page 17, you are speaking about another ‘stolen snippet’ of scripture regarding those ‘taken’ and leaving the other behind (Matthew 24:40-41).
Where most say this is speaking of the ‘rapture’, the language Jesus used does not reflect this thought at all. The word translated ‘taken’ is not a ‘catching away or escape’ but a term of judgment. One is ‘taken’ in their sin does not denote a release or escape from their sin but a definitive judgment taking place where they face the consequences of judgment for their sin.
Jesus is not speaking here about the ‘rapture’ but of certain judgment especially when you understand the parable of the tares and the wheat. It is the tares which are gathered up FIRST to be bound and cast into the fire. The WHEAT will remain.
Since Jesus was not in the habit of contradicting Himself, we can rightly understand that He is not contradicting Himself in this verse as well. Just as in that word translated in the OT to ‘cut off’ as being a term of judgment, so does this word in the NT, ‘taken’ is defined as a judgment term. Yet, many CHOOSE to put their own interpretation and definition to that word in order to ‘prove’ their false narrative.
Jerry
says:
2016-04-08 at 12:29 am
Just to add to your thoughts and teaching about the ‘fig tree’ ending on page 27…
Notice that the first mention of the fig tree was of its leaf. Adam and Eve covered their nakedness using the leaves from the fig tree. If the fig tree was to be used as a type and shadow, then here, it represents a type and shadow of man’s attempt at hiding their shame. It is what ‘religion’ is all about. Man’s attempt at covering up their shame but notice that God did not use the same thing to cover their nakedness but shed the blood of an animal and used that animal’s skin as clothing to cover their shame.
Also, when Paul speaks of that fiery trial that will come to ‘try’ in what manner the kingdom of God is built in our lives, he uses that type and shadow of ‘wood, hay, stubble, gold, silver, precious stones’. The wood, hay, and stubble, I believe, represents the flesh as the fiery trial will ‘burn these up’ leaving those who built with these materials, nothing. However the gold, silver and precious stones would not be destroyed by the fire but further refined.
Jesus was prophesied to be ‘hung on a tree’ as the wood from the tree is symbolic of a curse, as in, ‘cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree’.
Now, when Jesus spoke of being the ‘vine’ and we who believe being the ‘branches’, He is not speaking of this in regards of this being a curse but showing the kind of connection a branch has to the vine where the branch without the vine cannot produce fruit.
We must be very careful how we ‘interpret’ what the Spirit of the Lord is saying and must NEVER try to understand through the natural or carnal mind. We are to understand according to the Spirit as being taught by God’s Holy Spirit for He is the ONLY One who knows of what He is speaking and is able to show us, through revelation knowledge, what truth He is revealing to us.
Paul Benson
says:
2016-04-08 at 7:42 am
Jerry;
Good points on the difference between true and false brethren. I can see the standing up straight and bowing down as symbolic of pride and humility. Thanks for commenting Let’s. continue the discussion of the book by email if we could. I’d like to try (loosely) to keep the comment section fairly relevant to the individual posts. I can see the need to provide a means for commenting on my books (as I definitely want to hear feedback), but I’m not sure yet how to go about it. Please bear with me as this is a new site and I am quite new to website construction and design. I’ll pray and work on this issue. Blessings. I’ll email you after work tonight.
Jerry
says:
2016-04-08 at 11:39 am
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Thanks. I also prefer the email commentary for the same reason. How about I copy my responses to my computer and then give you the go ahead to remove those comments in order to keep everything relevant to your post?
