David Meade and the End of the World, 2018 Edition
Here we go again. David Meade is once again in the news predicting the rapture will take place on 23 April 2018, according to AJC article “Is the world ending on April 23? No, but here’s what that Planet X conspiracy is all about“. This comes after his failed attempt to predict the end of the world last April, later updated to the fall. Now, we have the end of the world, 2018 edition.
When will people ever learn?
Granted, at least this time, he is only predicting “the rapture“, an unbiblical belief that Christ will secretly return and spirit off believers into Heaven before the Great Tribulation and before His real “second” coming, but those can count would realize it really would be His third coming.
Most of all, when are we going to learn that we can know when the time is near, much like the seasons, but not really know the exact time until events start unfolding in a specific way?
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
~ Mt 24:36
Do people really think they know more than Christ did when He made this statement? Those words were written for not just those standing there at that time but for us as well!
The problem with mainstream Christianity is that they claim to “believe” but they don’t really believe God or the Bible.
John D,
You concluded your blog saying: “The problem with mainstream Christianity is that they claim to “believe” but they don’t really believe God or the Bible.”
And they really can’t even help themselves. Mainstream Christianity not only doesn’t believe God or the Bible, but they really don’t even know God:
Jesus Christ said this:
“O righteous Father, the world hath NOT known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.” John 17:25
Jesus Christ did not lie to us.
Many of the xcogs believe God is some sort of a twinity. Most professing religious people think God is some Trinity. Whether twinity or trinity: no beginning and no end, eternal existence, but send them to Deuteronomy and ask them who said the following?
Deut 32:40 39 “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.”
:40 “For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.”
There is no hint of plural gods in those verses, and life goes on.
John
John G wrote: “There is no hint of plural gods in those verses, and life goes on.”
Actually, Jn 17:25 does hint at a plurality. The world did not know the Father because Jesus came to reveal the Father.
No one has seen God the Father except Christ, and that includes Moses.
Yet, the Bible makes it clear that Moses did see God when He passed by Him (Ex 33:20-23). So, who did MOses see? The only thing we can logically do is to believe the Bible when it claims that Jesus not only came from God but is God.
John D,
When I said “There is no hint of plural gods in those verses, and life goes on,” I was referring to the verses just mentioned, Deut 32:39-40, and I was not referring to John 17:25. I apologize for the confusion there.
Jesus Christ had a beginning and the Word had a beginning; God, The God, we know as the Father has no beginning. Neither the Word, nor Jesus Christ, back in the time Deut 32 was written could never say: “For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.”
As an aside there are dozens of places in the New Testament KJV where the definite article “the” is not shown in front of the word God, but it should be there.
For example, using John 1:1, the KJV says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
In actuality it should read as follows: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with THE God, and the Word was God.”
Many years ago, I read an article, which stated the following:
******
…Now let’s look at John 1:1.
** **** ** * ***** *** * ***** ** **** *** **** *** **** ** * ***** (John 1:1)
Translated in the same word order this reads:
“In beginning was the Word and the Word was WITH the God and God was the Word.”
The expression “with the God” is the Greek phrase “PROS TON THEON”, the Accusative case…
******
The actual Greek characters of the words making up this verse in John 1:1 will not print out here. That phrase for TON THEON is in more than a 100 places in the New Testament. John 1:1 is only one example. Deut 32:39-40 reveals words using the personal pronoun “I” over and over again…as though there were only one God, not 2 or more gods.
I Tim 1:16, “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.”, is a reference to God the Father, who has life within Himself and He gave life to Jesus Christ, who did not have it.
John 5:26 “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;”
John
John G quoted: God was the Word
This is proof that western nations are sorely lacking in proper education and thinking skills. The above phrase clearly says God = the Word. In logic and in math, two sides that are equal can be stated in either order. Therefore, the Word = God.
Jesus Christ was and is God.
“Jesus Christ had a beginning and the Word had a beginning; God, The God, we know as the Father has no beginning.”
Therefore, John contradicted himself and is not a reliable witness. If Jesus had a beginning, that makes Him a created being, and, therefore, is not God. Furthermore, if He created everything, then how did He create Himself?
If He were a mere man, then He could only at best die for one other person. That means Jesus is either God or we are still dead in our sins.
John D replied with saying: “…If Jesus had a beginning, that makes Him a created being, and, therefore, is not God….”
True, that makes Jesus a created being. He became the Son of God, but He is not “The God.”
Furthermore, you asked: “… if He created everything, then how did He create Himself?…”
He did not create everything. For example, Jesus did not create The God, His Father. Jesus was created in a beginning and He was the first in a series of things that were created. You may read of some of the interaction between these two in Proverbs 8:
22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
John D wrote: “…If He were a mere man, then He could only at best die for one other person. That means Jesus is either God or we are still dead in our sins….”
Where in the Bible does it say that Jesus, made flesh, a partaker of flesh and blood, like us, would have a life only worth one other person? After all, God did sent His Son to save the world…not to condemn the world.
It is not necessary that Jesus be God to take us our of our sins. That was never God’s Plan. That Plan was the Word be made flesh, mortal, human…etc. Why will you not remain dead? The resurrection of Jesus Christ by The God, The Father, the One without beginning or ending, as part of God’s Plan of Salvation is the key:
I Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
The God raised up His Son. Thank God, The God, for that! Jesus, who of Himself as a human being knew He could do nothing without His Father, The God, thanks His Father and His Will was and is being done.
Incidentally, many verses refer to God the Father as a Saviour, and many verses refer to Christ as a Saviour. Of course, The God is working out things through His Son (I Cor 8:6 “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
“), but more saviours are coming in the future:
“And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.” Obadiah 21
John
John G wrote:
He did not create God the Father because God the Father is an uncreated being, not created by anyone or anything else. Even you must admit that He is the self-existing one. However, “I Am” verses throughout the Bible apply to the Christ as well as the Father. Furthermore, you still have not answered the question. We are plainly told that Christ created everything. If He is a created being, then how did He create Himself?
The fact that He sent His Son into the world to save the world means He was not originally part of this world. The fact that He was and is God’s Son proves He is not an angel but an uncreated being.
As to whether nor not a mere man can atone for more than one person, do you think God is unjust? Is God unfair? Does God mean what He says?
When God gave His Law, He decreed:
God also instituted a way of life that enforces just weights and measures throughout the OT. Jesus came to fulfill the penalty of the Law. It would have had to have been a just fulfillment, else God is unjust. A man’s life is clearly worth a man’s life. No more, no less. Only God’s life is worth an infinite number of lives.
Yes, it really is. My life is worthless. Your life is worthless. If Jesus was not God, then His life was worth only one life. Furthermore, if He gave up that one life for another, then He Himself would not be worth resurrecting. IOW, if He gave up His life, being only a man, then His life is by definition worthless.
John D,
[[General comment, first: I don’t quite understand something: your website for several days at end of page was/is saying “An error has occurred, which probably means the feed is down. Try again later.” So my reply to your reply of 21 May is placed here in an attempt to post it someplace on the page.]]
You replied with: “…We are plainly told that Christ created everything. If He is a created being, then how did He create Himself?…”
As mentioned in another previous post: He, Christ, didn’t create himself.
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelation 4:11
The Lord mentioned there is a reference to The God, the One we know now as the Father, who created all things!
Proverbs 8:22 ¶ The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
The above shows 2 Beings, One creating the other…”from the beginning.”
The LORD mentioned there in verse 22 is a reference to The God, the One we know now as the Father, who created all things! The Word was created. The God worked through the created Word, who later was, in “another beginning,” made flesh: Jesus Christ.
You may want to research words (set up, brought forth, brought up, etc.) like: “possessed” in verse 22, because God created “something” before “His works of old.”
You may also want to consider the following:
“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;” Revelation 3:14
And look up the word “beginning;” it means: the first person or thing in a series. If the Word wasn’t created, then the Word would not have been made flesh, …and you and I would probably never have existed.
The creation had a beginning. God the Father, The God, has no beginning. God is working out His Plan of Salvation decently and in order…and it too has a beginning!
“But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” 1 Corinthians 8:6
I Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Ultimately, even Jesus Christ will “be subject” unto Him, His Father, The Creator, and our Father! And, why not?
Obviously, John D, what I am convinced and convicted of, you very well may not agree with, and that is okay!
John