Dear bling,
That is quite a list of questions. I will try to answer them the best I can.
Are you a universalist (Believing everyone will be saved at some point?)
I don't fit into any group or church denomination. From what I wrote in my post, you should be able to see that I believe Christ is the Savior of the world. That is the mission the Father sent Him to accomplish. Since God is Love and Love never fails, it is a certainty that everyone who "died in Adam" will be "made alive in Christ". Can that possibly leave anyone out? Christ even made this statement to some of the Pharisees who crucified Him:
Matt 21:31 Which of the two was obeying his father?" They replied, "The first, of course." Then Jesus explained his meaning: "I assure you, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do.
If there was an eternal hell, don't you think that Christ would have told them that they would spend eternity there??? But instead, Christ only told them that tax collectors and prostitutes would get into the Kingdom of Heaven before they do. You have to remember how much contempt the Jews had for tax collectors and prostitutes. They would be the worst of the worst in those Pharisees' self righteous minds. But with Christ, it is not a matter of whether or not those Pharisees would be saved. It was only a matter of WHEN. The "when" is answered by the story of the Prodigal Son. The first will be last and the last will be first. All the gentiles will be saved before Christ starts His work of saving the Jewish nation.
What is the second death and who experiences it?
Remember, Christ's words are spirit and have meanings "different from what man's wisdom teaches". Christ words teach on spiritual things - things that happen "within" mankind. That is where Christ does His work. When Christ speaks of "death", He is referring to our spiritual death (the true penalty of sin) which we all owe to Him (He purchased our sin debt on the cross). In this age, this spiritual "death" happens to the Elect. They are the FIRST Fruits and are first to be judged. Though the term is not in scripture, their judgment could be referred to as the "first death". Christ's judgment falls on their Old Man (carnal nature) when He comes to them a second time with the Latter Rain. When His judgment is complete "within" them, their Old Man is ground to powder and is utterly destroyed. So because their Old Man has already been judged and destroyed, they will not have to experience the Lake of Fire judgment which is the second death. Their names will be found in the Lamb's Book of Life. All those not found in the Book will be cast into the Lake of Fire which is the "second death". That judgment will likewise destroy the carnal natures of those experiencing it. When that judgment is finished, all that will be left within those individuals will be their new nature in Christ.
Also, keep in mind that "fire" is also a spiritual term. It represents Christ's judgment. It is not literal fire. Plus the Greek word "aion" is commonly translated wrong. It can never mean "for ever and ever". It means “age” or “eon”. In Rev 20:10, the verse should read:
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night to the age (aion) of the ages (aion) .
Here is proof of that translation:
In Rev 11:15 the same Greek phrase (aion aion) is used to describe how long Christ will reign. When properly translated, it will read:
Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign to the age of the ages.
Christ only reigns over mankind during the ages. Once everyone is saved and the last enemy is destroyed, the ages will come to an end. Christ’s reign will also then come to an end and He will deliver up the Kingdom to the Father.
1Cor 15:24-28 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. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 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. 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.
Can you describe your personal Damascus Road experience and your wife’s?
You are speaking of the Early Rain. You have experienced it, too I'm sure. For me, I believe it occurred in my late 20's even though I was brought up in church and was baptized in water when I was twelve. There is not a dramatic point in time that I can remember. All I can remember is finally coming to the decision that I truly believed in Christ and wanted to know Him and be saved. But like everyone else after receiving the Early Rain, I was quickly deceived by Satan and spent the next 15-20 years wandering in the wilderness under Satan's deceptions. At that time, I believed in the mainstream doctrines of the church and went to church regularly. My greatest passion was End-time prophecy, but of course, I did not correctly understand them back then. I was completely deceived and had become a Man of Sin - but of course, I did not realize it while I was under Satan's deceptions. It was only when Christ came to me with the Latter Rain that He revealed to me who the Man of Sin was.
A short time after receiving the Latter Rain, I learned that the Man of Sin whom I had become was a product of the religious aspect of my carnal nature (Mystery Babylon the Great). Under Satan's deception, I grew into a Man of Sin. When Christ came with the Latter Rain, He destroyed Mystery Babylon the Great from within me and the Man of Sin along with it. In happened quickly, in "one hour" and I could see the smoke of her burning from the distance:
Rev 18:8-10 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day (the Day of the Lord, the Latter Rain), death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Mine and my wife's Latter Rain testimony is posted in my profile and was very dramatic for both of us.
Do you believe God has free will?
Yes. But all His actions are within the scope of His Holy and loving nature. He does not change.
If like you said: “mankind is experiencing how God reproduces Himself in His children.” And God has free will, when will we obtain free will?
God the Father will always be our God. He will always be greater in authority than us. The same holds true for Christ, too. So from that stand point, our "will" will always be subservient to His "will", just as it is now.
Did Christ at one time experience sin?
Scripture does not teach anything concerning how Christ was created by God the Father and became His Son. The only hint in scripture is:
Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Christ knows "good and evil". To state how He knows them would only be speculation. However, I will expand on this subject when I answer your question below on whether I still sin.
Was Christ a created being who went through this process to become God’s Son?
We can assume that Christ was created by the Father at some point prior to this creation because "all things" come from God the Father. In addition, sons don't come into existence before their fathers do -fathers give birth to sons, therefore sons have a beginning. But how Christ was created is not stated in scripture and I won't speculate about it .
Here is what scripture tells us:
1Cor 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.
God the Father is Christ's Father and God:
2Cor 11:31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
The Trinity Doctrine is false.
Can you show me with scripture Christ’s “second coming”, being this Baptism of the Holy Spirit?
There are several places in scripture where it is shown. I will show you two of them here which I don't believe I've mentioned yet. If you still would like to see more, I can show you in another post.
1) The healing of the Blind Man
Mark 8:15-21 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. 16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. 17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? 18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? 19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. 20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. 21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?
In these verses, Christ is giving His disciples a lesson on spiritual language - His language. At this point in time (before Pentecost), the disciples have not received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and were spiritually blind. They simply could not understand what Christ was teaching them. After Christ’s short lesson, He ends it by asking them this question: “How is it that ye do not understand”? No response is recorded in scripture, however, Christ answers His own question in the very next 4 verses.
Mark 8:22-25 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. 24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
Christ speaks to us not only through His words which are recorded in scripture but also by the things that He did. In answering the question that He proposed to the disciples in verse 21, He goes to Bethsaida and gives us His answer through the type and shadow of His healing of a blind man.
In these verses, Christ leads a blind man out of the city. Once outside the city, Christ places spit on his eyes and touches him with His hands. These actions occur as the blind man is looking down which symbolizes that the blind man remains carnally minded. The “spit” (water) symbolizes the blind man receiving the Early Rain of the Spirit with its accompanying vision (eyes, understanding). After Christ asks him what he could see, the blind man looks up and says that he could see men walking as trees. "Walking as trees" is a symbol for Called Out believers of which the blind man is now one. The man’s blindness was not total any longer but he was still very near-sighted. This “first healing” of the blind man reflects our spiritual condition when we first enter the Church. At that time, we are left carnally minded and spiritually near-sighted. Peter says this condition is the same as being blind:
2Pet 4:19 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
In the final verse of the story, Christ lays His hands upon the man’s eyes again but this time, Christ has the man “look up”. This second healing represents the Latter Rain of the Spirit (second coming of Christ) when true spiritual vision is given to the believer. The man’s upward gaze represents this heavenly aspect of the healing in contrast to the carnal aspect when the blind man was looking down. From that moment onward, we know that the blind man is a Called and Chosen believer. We can now know that the blind man is one of Christ’s Elect, a First Fruit of the harvest of mankind.
Continued on the next post.