When does the kingdom come

[Oseas]

1 Timothy 6:3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth . . .

Note also:

2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

2 Timothy 4:1 ¶I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.



1 Timothy 6:20 . . . avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science [gnosis] falsely so called:
21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith . . .

The right knowledge/knowing (Greek: gnosis/ginosko) is necessary for people to be saved (John 17:3; 1 John 5:20; 2 Corinthians 4:6; 2 John 1:1b; 2 Peter 1:5,10-11, Luke 1:77).

But 1 Timothy 6:20b means that what Gnosticism teaches is a knowledge (gnosis) falsely so called (1 Timothy 6:20b; see the original Greek).

Gnostic writings are rejected by Biblical Christians as being not from God. For Gnosticism reviles YHWH, the God of the Bible, as an evil god, while Jesus Christ affirms that YHWH is the one true God (Mark 12:29-31, quoting from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18). Also, Gnosticism denies that Christ is in the flesh (2 John 1:7), while Jesus Christ affirms that He is in the flesh (Luke 24:39, John 1:14, Romans 1:3, Hebrews 2:16-17). Also, Gnosticism claims that the Old Testament is false because it was written by YHWH and His followers, while Jesus Christ affirms that the Old Testament is true (Matthew 5:17-18, Luke 24:44-48). Also, even where Gnostic writings teach something not in the Bible which doesn't contradict anything which Jesus taught, the Gnostic writings still don't pass the test of Biblical Christians being able to recognize if something said is from Jesus (John 10:4,27), or only from "a stranger" (John 10:5). Biblical Christians are able to do this because they have received a measure of God's own Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:11-13), Jesus Christ's own mind (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Gnosticism was one of the greatest enemies of the early Church. And Gnostic ideas will be revived worldwide by the future Antichrist, who will make war against Biblical Christians (not in hiding), and physically overcome them in every nation (Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6, Matthew 24:9-13). As a Gnostic, the Antichrist will utterly revile YHWH (Revelation 13:6, Daniel 11:36). And he will deny that Christ is in the flesh (1 John 4:3). The Antichrist will also deny that Jesus is the Christ (1 John 2:22).

Again, the "gnosis" of Gnosticism is the so-called "knowledge" which Christians must be careful not to be deceived by: "avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of gnosis falsely so called" (1 Timothy 6:20; see the original Greek).



1 Timothy 4:1 ¶Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
6 ¶If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

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1 Timothy 4:1 means that some people who have faith in Jesus Christ and His Gospel will depart from that faith (Luke 8:13; 2 Timothy 4:2-4, Hebrews 6:4-8).

1 Timothy 4:1-3 will be fulfilled in our future during the reign of the Antichrist, who will teach Gnosticism (1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7), which requires celibacy and vegetarianism.

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It is sometimes asked: "But wasn't man originally vegetarian?"

The answer is Yes, insofar as in the earliest days of mankind described in the Bible, God allowed man to eat only plants (Genesis 1:29). It was only after Noah's Flood that God allowed Noah and his family to start eating animals as well as plants, and they could eat any animal that moved (Genesis 9:3).

Also, in the future, on the New Earth, God will miraculously make it so all animals will be herbivores (Isaiah 65:17,25).

But beware the idea (which is sometimes put forth) that Christians must be vegetarians:

1 Timothy 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Here the enforced vegetarianism, like the enforced non-marriage ("Forbidding to marry" in 1 Timothy 4:3), refers to what the future Antichrist will bring upon the world. For he will be a Gnostic (1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7), and Gnosticism forbids eating animals, and forbids marriage.

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Regarding forbidding marriage, it is sometimes asked: "Since it is wrong for Christians to be against miscegenation, isn't it also wrong for them to be against same-sex marriage?"

The answer is No, for while the Bible isn't against miscegenation (Numbers 12), it is against homosexuality (Romans 1:26-27). So when the U.S. government struck down anti-miscegenation state laws in the southern U.S., it wasn't going against Biblical Christianity. But if the government ever forces Christians to support same-sex marriages, it will be going against the Bible. And so it will become anti-Christian, helping to prepare the way for the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast"), and his Satanic, one-world religion (Revelation 13:4-18).

One part of the future Antichrist's (Gnostic) religion will be to forbid marriages outright (1 Timothy 4:3). And legalizing same-sex marriage is just the first step toward this goal. For the next step will be to legalize polygamy, that is, to allow whatever number of people, whether male or female, in any combination, to enter "group marriages" (for example, consisting of 3 women, or 3 men, or 6 women and 4 men, etc.). Then the next step will be to declare the whole idea of marriage as "obsolete". Indeed, it will even be declared to be "evil" from the Gnostic (that is, the Antichrist) point of view (cf. 1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7), which sees the whole idea of a physical existence, especially one which forms new people into physical bodies (that is, which forms offspring through marriages) as an abomination.

This isn't to say that all people who support same-sex marriages are Satanic Gnostics. Instead, some people could simply (yet still mistakenly) think that God supports homosexuality, just as many U.S. Southerners of old simply (yet still mistakenly) thought that God supports racism.

This says the Word of God. At midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut. - Yea, the door was shut, sais He that has the key of David, he that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens.
Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Yea, I KNOW YOU NOT.

And more: The Word of God warns: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Many will say to me in that Day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Yea, depart from me, you that work iniquity. Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.THIS PROPHETIC WORD WILL FULFIL ITSELF LITERALLY IN THE PRESENT TIME, AUTOMATICALLY.

And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. These Words of God will fulfil literally in the present time.

 

[Bible2+]

jgr said in post #340:

The power consumption demands alone of the electrical and electronic infrastructure required to implement such a scheme render it unattainable . . .

Note that it would require not much more electrical power than is already being employed today in cell phone, internet, and TV systems, which would simply be hijacked at regular intervals in order to facilitate the worldwide worship of the image of the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") (Revelation 13:15).

jgr said in post #340:

. . . not to mention the vulnerability to failure in power generation infrastructure, hacking, EMP attack . . .

Good point.

So someone might ask: "What about a non-technological image, and a Pol Pot-type Antichrist?"

The irony is that technology could bring about the end of technology. For the Antichrist and his worldwide Satanist cabal could detonate nuclear bombs just outside the earth's atmosphere, all around the earth, so that the nuclear bombs' intense electromagnetic bursts, in a mere instant, will fry all the electrical components in all orbiting satellites, and in all power stations, electrical-distribution systems, telephone systems, cable systems, factories, cars, trucks, tractors, smartphones, tablets, laptops, PCs, and every other (non-fiber-optic) electrical device on the surface of the earth.

This would suddenly send mankind, in effect, back to the 19th century. The Antichrist could then arise on the world stage and declare himself initially as like a global Pol Pot, or a most-extreme environmentalist (that is, wanting to completely forestall any further global warming), by sending the world (as he could say) "back to the land", "back to unity with Gaia", back to a completely-natural, pastoral civilization And the Antichrist wouldn't need any advanced surveillance technology in order to monitor and subjugate everyone on the earth, just as Stalin didn't need any advanced surveillance technology in order to monitor and subjugate everyone in the USSR and eastern Europe. For dictatorships (not to mention democracies) can secretly set up human-based "security" services which are able to surveil, infiltrate, bully, bribe, and misinform the masses into complete submission.

But this can happen only so long as a nation's lawmakers are willing to cotton to the tyranny of these "security" services, and make what they do "legal". The Stasi comes to mind. That is, even East Germany was called the German Democratic Republic. And no doubt its legislature fully believed that the Stasi's total surveillance of all East German citizens was necessary and important for East Germany's "national security".

jgr said in post #340:

. . . solar activity . . .

At the 4th vial, which will be part of the final stage (Revelation 16) of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, mankind will be scorched with fire shot out from the sun (Revelation 16:8). This would be a solar-flare coronal mass ejection of solar plasma, which could make its way down to the surface of the earth due to the earth's magnetic field being disrupted during a magnetic-pole reversal which could occur near the end of the future Tribulation.

jgr said in post #340:

How would antichrist impose its will on Bedouin nomads in the midst of the Arabian desert?

In the same way that Riyadh does today.

jgr said in post #340:

Or reindeer herders in the remote reaches of Siberia?

In the same way that Moscow does today.

jgr said in post #340:

Or sparse settlements on the plethora of small islands scattered across the world's oceans?

In the same way that they are all under some government's control today.

jgr said in post #340:

Scripture informs us in John's epistles that antichrist is an exclusively human spiritual condition which has afflicted the true Church since its establishment.

Note that nothing requires that it be exclusively spiritual. For the future Antichrist will also physically rule the earth (Revelation 13:7).

jgr said in post #340:

Speculation about a technologically impossible antichrist finds no mention or support in the word of God.

Note that nothing which has been presented is in any way technologically impossible. Indeed, already-existing technologies will simply be hijacked in order to facilitate the whole unsaved world's worship of the future Antichrist (Revelation 13:8).

 

[Bible2+]

Oseas said in post #341:

At midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

Note that the 10 virgins parable (Matthew 25:1-13) shows that the marriage of the Church to Jesus Christ won't occur until His Second Coming (Matthew 25:10), which Jesus had just finished saying won't occur until "immediately after the tribulation" (Matthew 24:29-31), just as Revelation 19:7 shows the marriage won't occur until after the future Tribulation, shown in Revelation chapters 6 to 18. The parable's extra oil (Matthew 25:4,9b) could represent the continued good works of Christians, by which they will be able to pass the judgment of the Church by Jesus (Matthew 25:19-30, Romans 2:6-8) and enter the marriage of the Church to Jesus at His Second Coming (Matthew 25:10, Revelation 19:7-21).

The marriage supper (Revelation 19:9) won't have yet begun by the time of Revelation 19, which won't begin until after the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (cf. Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8). For regarding the Church, the marriage supper will be a literal feast in the earthly Jerusalem, after the resurrection and marriage of the Church at Jesus Christ's Second Coming (Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:54, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16; 1 Corinthians 15:21-23,51-54). While the Church will enjoy a feast "of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined" (Isaiah 25:6), the birds will feast on the corpses of the world's armies defeated by Jesus Himself at His Second Coming (Revelation 19:17-21).

Also, regarding the 10 virgins parable, in Matthew 25:6 "midnight" could represent mid-tribulation, when the abomination of desolation (possibly a standing, android image of the future Antichrist) could be set up in the holy place (the inner sanctum) of a future, 3rd Jewish temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15, Daniel 11:31). So when it says: "at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh" (Matthew 25:6), this could mean at the mid-tribulation point when the abomination of desolation is set up, the Church will be given the knowledge of the date (as in the year, month and day) of Jesus Christ's Second Coming. This date could be the 1,335th day after the abomination of desolation is set up (Daniel 12:11-12, cf. Revelation 16:15).

Oseas said in post #341:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Many will say to me in that Day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Matthew 7:21 ¶Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

This shows that both faith and obedience to God are required for Christians to enter ultimate salvation (Romans 2:6-8, Hebrews 5:9, James 2:24). But there is no assurance that Christians will choose to obey (Matthew 25:26,30, Luke 12:45-46).

Regarding Matthew 7:23a, it could be hyperbole, like Matthew 23:24b is hyperbole. For Matthew 7:22 could refer to Christians, believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, John 20:31), who had repented from their sins (1 John 3:6) and performed many wonderful works for Jesus to the end (John 15:4-5). But at some point subsequent to their initial repentance they'd fallen back into some unrepentant sin (Matthew 7:23b; 2 Peter 2:20-22), so they had to be rejected by Jesus in the end despite their continued faith and good works (1 Corinthians 9:27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Hebrews 10:26-29).

Regarding the ability to cast out demons (Matthew 7:22), that is one of the signs that people are Christians, believers in the Gospel (Mark 16:17). People must be careful not to fall into the unforgivable presumption of Mark 3:22-30.

Oseas said in post #341:

Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. THIS PROPHETIC WORD WILL FULFIL ITSELF LITERALLY IN THE PRESENT TIME, AUTOMATICALLY.

Note that Matthew 25:41 can't happen presently, but must wait until Revelation 20:15, after the future Millennium (Revelation 20:7-15).

For regarding the sheep and goat judgment, note that Matthew 25:31 doesn't even mean that Matthew 25:32-46 (just as 2 Peter 3:10a doesn't mean that 2 Peter 3:10b) will happen immediately at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming, only that it will happen sometime subsequent to His Second Coming, at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), after the future Millennium and subsequent events (Revelation 20:7-15).

Matthew 25:32-46 refers to when the "nations" will be finally-judged by their works at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:12-13), whereas at Jesus' Second Coming, He will finally-judge only those in the Church (Psalms 50:3-5, cf. Mark 13:27; Matthew 25:19-30). Also, Matthew 25:41,46 refers to when non-Christians of all times, whether Jews or Gentiles, will be sent into the everlasting suffering of the lake of fire and brimstone at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:15), whereas at the Second Coming only the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") and his False Prophet will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20). The saved "sheep" at the sheep/goat judgment will include those, whether Jews or Gentiles, who will become Christians during the future Millennium (Isaiah 66:19-21). Matthew 25:34 refers to obedient Christians inheriting the Kingdom of God the Father in New Jerusalem, the Father's house, on the future, New Earth (Revelation 21:1-7, John 14:2).