I do not agree with your marriage analogy of the 1st and the last rains as the historical two rain cycles in two seasons of the same year.
Dear APAK,
You said:
I do not agree with your marriage analogy of the 1st and the last rains as the historical two rain cycles in two seasons of the same year.
1Cor 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
The principle that Paul states above applies to more than just a natural body and a spiritual body.
The Old Covenant is natural and the New Testament is spiritual.
The same is true of the Law. Under the Old Covenant, the Law is written on tablets of stone (the natural). Under the New Covenant, it is written in the heart (the spiritual).
Also, all the OT events were natural events but they teach spiritual truths which are spiritually fulfilled within the Elect under the New Covenant (the spiritual).
Paul said this:
1Cor 10:11 Now all these things happened to them as types, and have been written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.
The "ends of the ages" (what Christ was teaching in Mat 24) come upon an Elect believer when they are converted. With their conversion, their spiritual blindness is healed and the OT events come alive to them because they can see how they were spiritually fulfilled within themselves.
The Early and Latter Rains of the OT are natural. But like the other events, they are spiritually fulfilled within the Elect under the New Covenant.
Also, Christ's coming to an unbeliever with the Early Rain is a natural visitation. The new believer is given a measure of faith at that time but they will remain spiritually blind. Because of their blindness, they can only see Christ
in the flesh (carnally/Christ and Him crucified). When Christ comes the second time to the same person with the Latter Rain, Christ will heal their blindness and appear to them spiritually.
Do you understand this scripture:
1John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
John is not talking about believers who deny that Christ literally came in the flesh and went to the cross. They would not have ever been believers if they denied Christ's literal physical coming which led Him to the cross. John is talking about believers who deny that Christ ever came to them in the flesh when He first called them out from the world (Early Rain). Nothing as changed in the apostate church even up to today. Apostate believers deny that Christ came to them in the flesh when He first gave them the Holy Spirit (Early Rain). Apostate believers say that when Christ first came to them to call them out, He did so like He did to the Jewish Elect on the Day of Pentecost. They deny the natural coming of Christ to them. This false belief the apostate believers hold comes from the deceptions of the spirit of anti-Christ .
Consider this scripture:
1Cor 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit.
When did the Apostles first call Jesus "Lord" and recognize Him as the Christ? Was it after they received the Latter Rain on the Day of Pentecost? Certainly not.
So how were they able to make a confession of faith before that time in light of what 1Cor 12:3 teaches?
The Apostles were able to make a confession of faith before the Day of Pentecost because they had received the Early Rain previously during Christ's ministry. After they received the Early Rain, the Apostles began a time of waiting for Christ to "come again" with the Latter Rain. And as Christ says in Revelation, He came "quickly" to them.
Christ's second coming is not a physically visible coming at the end of this age as is commonly taught.
Christ first comes to a person "in the flesh" after He gives them the Early Rain because they can only see Him carnally at that time. This is the natural. His second coming to the person with the Latter Rain is His spiritual coming. The only event that occurs at the literal end of this age is the bodily resurrection from the grave.
You asked:
I'm curious to know were you might have learned all this..
I was converted at age 44 on Oct 8th, 2005. It was a day like no other. My world was turned upside down. Spiritually speaking, there was thunder, lightning, earthquakes and trumpets. The sun was darkened and the moon turned to blood. My life has never been the same since that day and I had been in the "church" my entire life (mostly in the Church of Christ/Baptist/non-denomination).
My conversion testimony is presented on my website which is shown under my member name.
After my conversion, the Word of God opened up to my understanding. I learned a few basic truths from a teacher named Ray Smith but it was very limited. I quickly moved onto my own studies and over next few years I learned most of what I have been presenting to you here.
This scripture applies to how I learned from Christ:
Prov 2:1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
Since I was converted, I have not associated with any church or denomination because they are all apostate. Light does not fellowship with darkness. I was blessed to have my wife converted at the same time that I was. We both understand God's truth in the same way. I have met a few converted believers online during the years who also understand the truth as I do, but I have no teachers and no one to fellowship with locally.
The work that the Lord gave me to do is the
work of Elijah. I make the call of repentance to people in the apostate church (who dwell in the wilderness) so as to make the pathway "straight" for the Lord to come to them a second time with the Latter Rain.
This scripture applies:
James 5:17 Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. 19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one turns him back; 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Elijah's 3 1/2 years of natural drought is now occurring spiritually within a person between the time they receive the Early Rain of the Spirit and the time they receive Latter Rain of the Spirit. It is not literal time. This 3 1/2 year period is also the last 3 1/2 years of Daniel's Seventy Weeks prophecy. The OT is natural, so the first 69 1/2 years were fulfilled by literal time. But when Christ was "cut off" at the cross, the spiritual New Covenant began. With this change, the last 3 1/2 years of the prophecy are now being fulfilled spiritually within the Elect. After the last Elect person is converted in this age, Daniel's Seventy Weeks prophecy will be fulfilled.
Note: Anytime you see "time, times and half a time, 3 1/2 years, 42 months or 1260 days" in scripture, it is referring to the time a believer spends in between receiving the Early and Latter Rains (the time of drought). After a believer becomes apostate, they are experiencing their Day of Evil. This is the time of "great tribulation" that all believers will experience after receiving the Early Rain. The great tribulation is spiritual and does not happen out in the world at the end of this literal age as is commonly taught.
Joe
