Do we want to hear, “Well done My good and faithful servant?”, or not. Knowing that even if we escape hell, we have basically failed to walk out His specific gifts and will for us in this life? The difference ENTIRELY DEPENDS on whether or not we have successfully overcome the influence of the flesh (the natural man apart from the presence of the Holy Spirit).
"Dispensationalism," is the Zionist doctrine of Jewish supremacy in the covenant intent of the Father. And the pre-tribulation "rapture" of the church was invented by Zionists claiming that the body of Christ will be removed prior to the resurrection of ALL the saints (why?) in order for the Father to test the Israelites during the 3.5 years of "Great Tribulation," and then redeem the remaining, overcoming "saints" of Israel on the "last day" resurrection of all the saints of all time who will then be grafted in to the Father's covenant fulfilled to national, ethnic Israel on that same day. (Or some other fantasy driven, Satanically inspired scenario).
Paul's prophetic instructions to his disciple, Timothy, though they applied to Timothy's generation, are revealed to be specifically and prophetically related to the end times body of Christ who have been, are now, and will be powerfully impacted by whether or not we hear and respond to these instructions.
The answer may not be what you think, and those who qualify may not be whom you might expect to qualify... Those who are "friends of the Lord," are, in the Lord's own words, those who hear, understand, and obey His voice spoken into their hearts (spirit-mind connection) by the Spirit of truth. What this produces, then, is the correct "rhema" understanding of the truth, covenant promises, and commands of the Lord resulting in the manifestation of acts of faith. Thus, it may be helpful to be trained in Hebrew and Greek, but no amount of intellectual training apart from "hearing" and "seeing" by the Spirit of truth will produce faith in our thoughts or our actions. It is, then, those who "hear" His truth, His covenant promises, and His commands" and, in intimate obedience, do what they hear by faith, His "bondservants" and "friends."
I fly the flag on July 4th. I remove my cap and place my right hand over my heart with the emotion of national pride rising in my heart as I repeat the pledge of allegiance or hear the national anthem being sung. But I am not deceived. The mythology of the United States of America as being a “Christian” nation conformed to God’s moral law and the rule of law “under God,” as the pledge states, remains, but the reality of it does not. And this is a conundrum for Christian believers in America.
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power…(authority)… is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore,…(in My authority)… and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe…(understand and obey)…all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world…(age)…. Amen.…Matthew 28:18-20 KJV (insert is the author’s)
Why was the Lord tested in the wilderness? And why does God ordain our similar testing?
Paul's explanation concerning how we are transformed from mere flesh upon receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is expanded in his description of how we are progressively transformed in this relationship as disciples and bondservants of the Lord as looking into a mirror and not seeing our own image, but the image of Christ as He begins to manifest in us and through us.
All Christian believers go through times of testing, just as our Lord also went through times of testing. This is ordained by God so that we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds to become obedient men and women of faith who manifest the ministry assignments of our Lord, Jesus Christ, through our revelatory understanding of the truth, promises, and commands of our Lord. We are also tested through active faith to overcome all of the flesh instincts that hinder our relationship with the Lord, as well as various Satanic bondages, including the bondage of false, flesh-impowered understandings of the written Word, the Bible.
A prophecy recorded in Hagai 2:7-9 reveals a synoptic view of the end times related to the "Latter House" of God, the body of Christ. This prophecy reveals that the overcoming saints of the body of Christ a.k.a. the "wise virgins" and the "144,000" in the Lord's prophecy recorded in Matthew 24 and 25 will overcome all of the assaults of the beast kingdom during the 4th-6th seals identified as "tribulation." These, then, will be sealed (fully redeemed) immediately prior to the opening of the 7th seal of "great tribulation." And it it these fully redeemed saints in their resurrection bodies, the "firstfruits" of those who will resurrected at the "last day," led by Michael, the archangel of the covenant, who will bring in the multitude from every nation, tribe, and tongue in the face of the worst Satan can do through his beast kingdom.
