LAST DAYS of the Body-Church VS the LATTER TIMES of Israel

[GARY WALKER]

HERE IS A TOPIC I WILL COVER FRIDAY (10-26-07) WATCH FOR IT! ... sorry, was doin Hubby stuff.

[Christine]

Oh gooodie....I know this will be GOOOOOOD if its from our GARY! Yeeeee haw

[GARY WALKER]

FIRST TIMOTHY 4:1 [EWNT]* [1] To de pneuma rhetos legei hoti en husterois kairois aspostesontai tines tes pisteos prossechontes pneumasin planois kai didaskaliais daimonion.

             ENGLISH TRANS. But the Spirit expressly says, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, paying attention to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons.

                                                                                     The words "latter times" convey the idea of the last days concerning the final time that the Church will be on earth. The word "some" are certain ones (out of the whole) who are going to depart/separate from THE FAITH.

"The Faith" here means that which is believed, the body of Truth that constitutes the MYSTERY, a special revelation of truth given TO Paul Only (Col.1:25-27; 2 Tim.2:2). The deceiving spirits refer to human false teachers (Eph. 2:2). The teachings of the demons refer to the source of their teachings. Separation from Paul's revelation of Truth is a step down in a downward spiral.

FIRST there is a vacuum; they are wide-open to being deceived.

SECOND, they accept doctrines that come from demons.

THIRD, they fall prey to the hypocrisy of men speaking lies. In the Spiritual sphere there is NO neutral ground;  to reject God's Truth revealed through the Apostle Paul for us TODAY, is to succumb to the Devil's lies via his lying hypocrites.

FOURTH, those who depart from THE FAITH, the Gospel of the Grace of God (Acts 20:24), will fall prey to men whose conscience were seared. The truth & the moral principles of the Mystery as dispensed by the Apostle Paul, are necessary for building a good conscience in these last days (1 TIM.1:5, 19).

FIFTH, those who depart from THE FAITH, that which establishes believers (ROM.16:25), spiral downward to the place where they prevent others from doing certain things, like marrying, or eating certain foods.

                                                                                        SECOND TIMOTHY 3:1 [EWNT]*  [1] Touto de ginoske hoti en eschatais hemerais enstesontai kairoi chalepoi.

              ENGLISH TRANS.  But this you know, that in the last days difficult times will be present.

                                                                                      The word "last" conveys the idea of being last or at the end, hence, final days. So Paul when he wrote this, believed that he was in the final days that have NOW expanded to 1970+ yrs. of this present Church Age.

 Observe what conditions will exist in the last days. Paul predicts the "difficult times will be present". "You know" (Gr. ginosko) is a present tense imperative (command). Timothy was to command the church to pay attention to the  hard, grievous, fierce times around them.  "will be present" or "will occur", is a future indicative (fact). The word "times" designates a limited period of time, a short season. When used in the plural, successive periods of time. "Last days" and "hard times" both extend over the same period of time.

************************************************************* [*NOTE] : The  EWNT in this study is from my yet unpublished Manuscript of a Greek-English NT.                                                                                       [[** 2nd NOTE :  in the Greek (transliterated to English), the "underscore" ( _ ) under the letter designated, tells you its a LONG VOWEL,  " ee ". and "oo".]].

[GARY WALKER]

  C. R. Stam in his commentary Pastoral Epistles says, "Paul refers, in 1 Timothy 4:1, not to the latter times of prophecy, but to the latter times of the present dispensation of Grace.....The dispensation of grace is timeless and signless in character. Nothing whatsoever is said as to how long it will last, or when it will be brought to a close"[pg.87]. "when Paul speaks of the "latter times", then, he refers to the latter times of the present dispensation of grace, speaking of trends rather than of specific events, and leaving the coming of Christ for His saints always imminent and the evangelization and salvation of the lost most urgent (2 Cor.6:1, 2; Eph.5:15-17). [Pg.88].