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I have been asked what this 'being saved' business is all about. It was not something I planned or contrived. I simply came to see that the Bible was
suddenly hugely more believable once I was taught how to view it dispensationally. The mid-Acts dispensational position has beauty, simplicity and truth.
Once I saw it, a major reorganisation of everything I thought I knew about the Bible and God, started rumbling through my brain like a rapidly melting
glacier.
A new dispensation of God was introduced through the apostle Paul mid-way through the historical book
of Acts. Critics of mid-Acts dispensationalism point out that you have to “read between the lines” in
the book of Acts to come to such a conclusion. No you don’t. You just need the tiniest little bit of
common sense. Paul told us that the dispensation of the grace of God was given to him, by the revelation
of Jesus Christ, to pass on to us Gentiles. Paul was saved in Acts 9 so the dispensation of the grace
of God CANNOT HAVE BEGUN PRIOR TO ACTS 9.
“But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither
received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:11-12 AV)
“For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation
of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery;
(as I wrote afore in few words,” (Ephesians 3:1-3 AV)
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Mid-Acts dispensationalism led me to the word of God that is intended for us Gentiles in this era - the
preaching of Christ according to the revelation of the mystery; given only to the apostle Paul; sent
specifically to us Gentiles by the risen, glorified Lord. The moment I REPENTED OF MY IGNORANCE AND
ACKNOWLEDGED THIS TRUTH, I was saved by the grace of God.
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"In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth;" (2 Timothy 2:25 AV)
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I am still learning about my new position
but the most immediate and noticeable change was a sense of totally undeserved righteousness. I have
been saved from a most deserved trip to hell and can look forward to a future in heavenly places.
The lyrics of my songs and the content of my writings below owe a great deal to
those from whom I initially learned about mid-Acts dispensationalism. Although
I have been led to challenge some of the strongly held views of former teachers, there is no progress without
friction. A certain amount of argument and debate seems to have been integral to our apostle's ministry and I
would never have been saved in the first place if my local teacher had not been tough enough to calmly respond
to my initial, angry objections to mid-Acts dispensationalism.
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The Holy Spirit of promise and the body of Christ (May 2012, last updated April 10th, 2013)
It is my understanding that the body of Christ has never been anything more
or less than the body of people on earth indwelt by the Holy Spirit of promise.
Since the Holy Spirit of promise first arrived in Acts 2 then it follows that
the body of Christ first began at that time.
My understanding has recently been challenged by a very knowledgeable brother in Christ.
I had to broaden my understanding in response to the brother's
argument that by my understanding, the body of Christ should have begun at John 20:22.
I did not have a ready answer for this at the time. My understanding that the salvation power of
the Holy Spirit of promise was not available until AFTER the Lord's death, burial and resurrection
had to be broadened to include the Lord's EXALTATION to the right hand of the Father.
I am grateful to the brother that I have been given occasion to include this
missing element in my case for beginning the body of Christ with the arrival of the
Holy Spirit of promise. I have decided to lay out my understanding in as simple a
manner as possible as an aid to my case in future exchanges.
The Holy Spirit of promise and the body of Christ (PDF)
The Holy Spirit of promise and the body of Christ (HTML)
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The seven ways of being dead (November 2011, last updated December 13th, 2011)
For us human beings there is no death in the sense of extinction. There is only death
in the sense of SEPARATION from God, and/or SEPARATION from our bodies and/or
SEPARATION from the world. We are spirits that continue to exist apart from God,
and/or our bodies and/or the world.
I can thank Charles
Caldwell Ryrie for this clarification in his notes about Romans 6:2 in my Ryrie Study
Bible. In a matter of fact way he says "Death is SEPARATION, not extinction".
This new (to me) understanding of the meaning of the English words 'dead' and 'death'
has been like a KEY to unlocking many mysteries of the Bible. The context of the biblical
use of 'dead' or 'death' determines the kind of separation. We are always dead either
to God or to the world or both.
The seven ways of being dead (PDF)
The seven ways of being dead (HTML)
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Are we spiritual Israel? (August 2011, last updated January 2nd, 2013)
This is a question that requires addressing. There is a lot of controversy about it.
As with all of my studies I will tackle it FOR MY OWN EDIFICATION and have put it online
in case others may find it useful. Are we spiritual Israel? By WE I mean present-day
believers who are in Christ and in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells - i.e. present-day
members of the Church, the body of Christ.
Are we spiritual Israel? (PDF)
Are we spiritual Israel? (HTML)
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FAITH IN CHRIST VS THE FAITH OF CHRIST (March 2011, last updated April 29th, 2013)
There is an article by Pastor Russell S. Miller of the Berean Bible Society in which he confidently
states that the FAITH of Ephesians 2:8-9 is NOT the gift of God.
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"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not
of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9 AV)
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Once again I am compelled to disagree with a pastor of the Berean Bible Society - not for the
sake of disagreeing but because their teaching does not align with my salvation experience or
the scriptures.
Faith IN Christ vs the faith OF Christ. (PDF)
Faith IN Christ vs the faith OF Christ. (HTML)
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WHAT WAS "THIS GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM"? (March 2011, last updated January 4th, 2013)
Gospel means GOOD NEWS. What was THIS GOSPEL of the kingdom that was to be preached in all the world?
What GOOD NEWS of the kingdom did Jesus preach to the poor?
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"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;
and then shall the end come." (Matthew 24:14 AV)
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;
he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year
of the Lord." (Luke 4:18-19 AV)
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Water baptism is NOT good news. Repentance is NOT good news. Keeping the commandments is NOT good
news. WHAT WAS THE GOOD NEWS?
What was "this gospel of the kingdom"? (PDF)
What was "this gospel of the kingdom"? (HTML)
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WHO MADE WHO? (January 2011, last updated November 9th, 2011)
I have always assumed that this AC/DC song was promoting atheism in much the same way as the
large billboards promoting atheism in our cities - "IN THE BEGINNING MAN CREATED GOD". On
closer inspection I may have made a wrong assumption about the AC/DC song. Might be about
something else entirely. But its a good title for an exploration of how I know "WHO MADE WHO".
WHO MADE WHO? (PDF)
WHO MADE WHO? (HTML)
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THE LORD'S PRAYER VIEWED DISPENSATIONALLY (January 2011, last updated February 3rd, 2011)
There is an article by Pastor Paul Sadler of the Berean Bible Society in which he gives
the Lord’s prayer a mid-Acts ‘going over’. The resulting impression is that the prayer is
exclusively a prayer for 'Israel in the tribulation' and almost entirely inappropriate
for believers today. Even "Our Father" is not OUR Father any more.
This is a common and beloved prayer of millions of Christians. I was taught it as a child.
The Lord who gave this prayer to Israel is the same Lord who is now seated in glory at
the right hand of the Father. The dispensation has changed. Israel is partially blinded.
The Lord in his heavenly ministry sent the apostle Paul to us Gentiles. But rather than
alienate the millions who use this prayer I believe we should try to find as much common
ground in it as possible rather than as many differences as possible. The author of the
prayer is also the author of our eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:9 and 12:2).
The Lord's Prayer viewed dispensationally (PDF)
The Lord's Prayer viewed dispensationally (HTML)
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GOD THE PROGRAMMER (January 2011, last updated July 9th, 2012)
Certain scriptures seemed much more believable to me when I likened God's 6-day creation of the heaven,
the earth, and all things therein, to the method by which a computer games programmer (or a team of them)
goes about creating a virtual universe suited to the people who (through their avatars) will live
and do battle in it. God created all things by his Word. Games programmers create their universes
and all things in them using a programming language - words of power or commands.
I recently took the analogy a step further. Because the Lord Jesus Christ had glory with the Father
BEFORE THE WORLD WAS (John 17:5) and because it is generally agreed among Bible scholars that the pre
& post-incarnate Jesus is often referred to as THE Angel of the Lord (e.g. Genesis 22:11, Acts 12:7), another
similarity occurred to me. Jesus, as the Angel of the Lord, existed prior to the heaven and the earth.
All things were made BY HIM, THROUGH HIM and FOR HIM (Romans 11:34-36, Colossians 1:16). Although the
Angel of the Lord is not flesh and blood, he is like a man because the first humans were made IN HIS
IMAGE (Genesis 1:27, 1 Corinthians 11:7).
It is as though God created his universe from the point of view of a human inhabitant of his universe,
as a games programmer, in order to create a universe that will be exciting for his players, must put
himself in the point of view of a player. (This study is lifted from Chapter 6 of "Salvation for the
Belief-Challenged".)
God the Programmer (PDF)
God the Programmer (HTML)
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PUTTING RIGHT THE ERRORS OF MID-ACTS DISPENSATIONALISM (December 2010, last updated March 3rd, 2013)
I would like to see mid-Acts dispensationalism lose the ultra-dispensationalism or hyper-dispensationalism
tags and become the MAINSTREAM understanding of Christianity. Several false dogmas have become
widespread among mid-Acts dispensationalists and an overhaul of mid-Acts understanding is required to halt
the drift toward its errors becoming solidified into yet another denomination. Cutting edge bible doctrine
must always be responsive to a more perfect understanding of the scriptures and can NEVER solidify into
a denomination.
I have put together a list of corrections that will help to put the mid-Acts ship back on course.
I have kept the list brief but have included enough scripture references to support each case.
There is more in-depth explanation of my understanding in other writings of mine.
Putting right the errors of mid-Acts dispensationalism (PDF)
Putting right the errors of mid-Acts dispensationalism (HTML)
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WHY WE GRACE AGE GENTILE SAINTS ARE PARTAKERS OF THE NEW COVENANT (November 2010, last updated October 26th, 2012)
Our little grace fellowship met last Sunday and discussed the contents of a
booklet about dispensationalism written by David W. Reid and titled "Are There Contradictions
in the Bible?"
All went well and we were all in agreement with his teaching until we reached
his QUESTION 15: "Are we living under the New Testament?" His answer was;
" NO. Although we are living after the cross, we are not living in the
New Testament. We are living in a different dispensation, the dispensation of grace."
I know it is a difficult subject and I used to think along similar lines - that the dispensation
of grace has REPLACED Israel's New Covenant dispensation.
The trouble with this is that we Gentiles are "made nigh by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13)" - the blood of
sprinkling of the New Covenant (Hebrews 12:24). If God withdrew the spiritual blessings made
available to us by the blood of Christ - there would be NOTHING for him to bless us with.
Therefore I am now of the opinion that the dispensation of the grace of God has not REPLACED
the New Covenant but that Paul's gospel of the grace of God is the vehicle by which God is
making Israel's spiritual things, his New Covenant spiritual blessings, available to us Gentiles.
Why we grace age Gentile saints are partakers of the New Covenant (PDF)
Why we grace age Gentile saints are partakers of the New Covenant (HTML)
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THE SAINTS SHALL JUDGE THE WORLD (August 2010, last updated February 12th, 2011)
After an exchange of emails with Pastor Ricky Kurth of the Berean Bible Society I was made
aware of a possible flaw in my understanding regarding this declaration by Paul. I was told
that Paul was addressing a different bunch of saints in 1 Corinthians 6:2 to those he was
including himself in and addressing in 1 Corinthians 6:3.
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"Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you,
are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?" (1 Corinthians 6:2 AV)
"Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?"
(1 Corinthians 6:3 AV)
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I really try hard not to be an argumentative pain in the butt, and I greatly respect the
collective understanding of the pastors at the Berean Bible Society, so I first thought
"How clever of him. Why did I not see that?" But I now believe that my earlier understanding
is the simple and glaringly obvious understanding that Paul intended. He was addressing
THE SAINTS (in general) in both verses. Pastor Ricky's explanation is a wonderful
example of the scriptural tap-dancing necessary to keep the grace age saints totally separate
from Israel's kingdom and God's prophetic program.
We must accept the picture that is dictated by the scriptures, regardless of the ramifications
to our pet dogmas - in this case the dogma that the saints of this present age are in no way
involved in God's prophetic program. This scripture alone totally sinks this particular dogma.
Rather than just accept this, our doctrinal leaders encourage us to make tweaks to the obvious intended
meaning of the scriptures.
The Saints Shall Judge the World (PDF)
The Saints Shall Judge the World (HTML)
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PROGRESSIVE REVELATION AND THE REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY (Oct 2008. Last updated November 4th, 2012.)
Soon after the stoning of Spirit-filled Stephen there was a flurry of heavenly activity.
The risen and glorified Lord returned to earth to recruit a new apostle and then through
heavenly visions arranged a very important meeting between his chief apostle and a Roman
centurion called Cornelius.
These heavenly interferences in the normal course of events
mark stages in the Lord's introduction of the new mystery dispensation of grace.
He later revealed to Paul what it all meant. I fully realise that some mid-Acts experts
will disagree with some of my conclusions regarding the introduction of the new dispensation.
I would appreciate the opportunity to persuade or be persuaded. The June 2009 update places
greater emphasis on Paul's involuntary and unmerited salvation as being the first of its kind.
The July 2011 update includes a segment on the introduction of component 4 of the mystery -
the indwelling Christ. (This is a stand-alone version of chapter 7 of "Salvation for the
Belief-Challenged")
Progressive Revelation and the Revelation of the Mystery (PDF)
Progressive Revelation and the Revelation of the Mystery (HTML)
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WHY NO SIGNS AND WONDERS? (Aug 2008. Last updated October 3rd, 2012)
This is a short study which reflects my current understanding of the absence
of signs and wonders. The scriptures that declared what Christians would be
able to do once the Lord had ascended to the Father were a major cause of
my disappointment and unbelief in Christianity. (See Mark 16:17-18 and John
14:12-13)
If Israel as a nation had recieved the promise of the Holy Ghost after the Lord's ascension
then Mark 16:17-18 and John 14:12 would have come to pass. Believers would be
walking on water and keeping dangerous snakes as pets.
Because Israel rejected his Holy Ghost of promise, God put the whole
prophetic program on hold and introduced his mystery dispensation
of grace - his plan kept secret since the world began (Romans 16:25).
The signs of Mark 16 persisted among believers in some measure
for as long as the Lord (through Paul) persisted in trying to persuade Israel to
come on board.
Why no signs and wonders? (PDF)
Why no signs and wonders? (HTML)
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WHY PAUL, NOT PETER, IS OUR APOSTLE (July 2008, last updated April 20th, 2012)
In answer to an email regarding the requirement or not of water baptism, I found it helpful to first establish from scripture that Paul is our apostle, not
Peter. The scriptural thread of my case can be read at one of the links below. This is a major rewrite of my first effort in November 2007.
Why Paul, not Peter, is our apostle (PDF)
Why Paul, not Peter, is our apostle (HTML)
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SALVATION FOR THE BELIEF-CHALLENGED (Dec 2006. Last updated May 2nd, 2013.)
This is a major rewrite of my first effort to expound my salvation understanding in December 2006. It is a much longer work with actual Bible quotations
rather than references. I am still a relative novice in my Bible knowledge and would greatly appreciate it if you could contact me regarding any errors you
detect. There are areas of both mystery and prophecy that I still don't fully understand and I have tried to avoid 'wresting things I don't understand to my
own destruction (2 Peter 3:16)'
Salvation for the Belief-Challenged (PDF)
Salvation for the Belief-Challenged (HTML)
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PAUL AND THE RESURRECTED, ASCENDED, GLORIFIED LORD JESUS CHRIST (May 2008. Last Updated February 19th, 2012.)
Unbelieving Israel persecuted our Apostle Paul throughout his ministry. And who is it that will
always attack today's grace believers with the old refrain - "You worship Paul but we worship Christ"?
It is those who put themselves in the audience of JESUS AFTER THE FLESH; when he came
to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel". They are yet to truly believe that CHRIST IS RISEN;
that he continues to minister from heaven and that he chose a new APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES and sent
him to us in a greatly significant act of his heavenly ministry.
Therefore those who cling solely to the words of the pre-ascension Jesus cannot possibly be taking
his resurrection and ascension seriously. They are therefore unbelievers and have replaced
unbelieving Israel as the chief persecutors of the Lord's heavenly church.
This short study connects the lack of belief in the resurrection and the subsequent lack of interest in what Paul had to say - with a lack of salvation.
Paul and the Resurrected, Ascended, Glorified Lord Jesus Christ (PDF)
Paul and the Resurrected, Ascended, Glorified Lord Jesus Christ (HTML)
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