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Welcome
to the First Fruits Website
The
purpose of this website is to encourage Christians across the world to
draw close to and live in faithful obedience to God, for we are now living in
the very last days of the Church age.
It is our observation that there are many Christians today that do
not have a close relationship with God and are not following Him as commanded
by Jesus in the Bible. These
Christians have experienced a belief in Jesus Christ as Savior and
they are saved by grace for eternity, but they may not be
living the holy and righteous life that God has commanded for all
believers.
Any
Christians in the world that are currently failing to live righteously
as God
commands in the Holy Bible, are soon going to be tested and refined by
having to endure the terrors and
persecution of the first 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation.
They could experience loss of home and employment, torture, extreme
living conditions, being persecuted as a Christian and even death.
At the mid point of the Tribulation, they will have been sufficiently
tested to show their love for and faith in Jesus.
He will then take them to heaven in the Main Harvest Rapture (
Preparation for the Day of The Lord).
Most believers will have been refined in the fire of persecution and
their faith will prove true. If
you are currently a lukewarm follower of Christ, the following article
will describe the testing during the Tribulation you will need to
experience to become a worthy follower of His:
Christians Left Behind.
If
you want to escape the fires and testing of the Tribulation by
now living a righteous life for Christ, here's how:
How to Crucify Self.
Christians that are
currently
denying any selfish instincts and following Jesus with all their strength will
be taken to Heaven (
The Separation)
in the First Fruits Rapture (
The Coming Rapture)
just before the beginning of the Tribulation.
These are small groups of Christians
that are now studying and obeying the truth found in their Bibles, and they are
praying and encouraging each other to be faithful to Jesus.
They will be actively looking for and praying for the return of Jesus.
He will be the most important person in their lives.
In
detail, we will show you that these statements are true by referencing and
explaining scripture from Revelation, the Epistles, the Gospels and from the
Old Testament.
Most Christians have been told by their pastors and via books, websites
and by television preachers that all believers will escape via the Rapture
all seven years of the Tribulation.
This is not true for most believers; it is only true for the most
faithful followers of Christ.
A
Person Is
We
believe that a person consists of three components: body, soul and spirit.
You understand the body; it is your arms, legs,
head, internal organs, blood, etc. When we die, or are raptured to heaven
by Jesus, every believer in Christ is given a
glorified body. This wonderful body can never get sick, become tired or
be hurt. Read through the gospels to understand what Jesus could do in
His resurrection body. We will do the same in our new bodies. This
body will last forever.
The
spirit is the connection to God through the Holy
Spirit. If you have faith in
Jesus, then your spirit is saved
forever; just read the verses in Ephesians
2:8-9 (NET).
For by grace you are
saved through faith; and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it
is not from works, so that no one can boast.
Click verse to display full Bible chapter.
There is nothing you can do
to earn or to lose your spirit salvation. We
are encouraged by the Holy Spirit to do what is right and to avoid what is
evil. When we pray, our prayers are taken to God by the Holy Spirit and
when we can't verbalize our prayers very well at times, the Holy Spirit
intercedes for us, inserting the perfect words that will make our prayer
complete.
The
soul of a person is one of the most misunderstood
concepts in the Bible. At your church you have probably been told or it has
been assumed that the soul of a person is the same as the spirit of a person.
Well, we do not believe that the soul and spirit are the same. We
believe that the soul is the emotions, mind and personality of a person.
We believe and will show you through scripture in articles on this
website that it is possible for you to lose the salvation of your soul.
The salvation of your soul depends on how you receive
and obey the gospel in the Holy Bible.
You can be very seriously hurt by not living the righteous life that Jesus
commands in the Holy Scripture.
If
the soul and spirit are the same, why are they not equated in the Holy
Scripture? Paul says they are not
the same in the following passage from I Thessalonians 5:23:
And
the very God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole
spirit and soul and body
be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (KJV)
May
God Himself, the God of peace sanctify you through and through. May your
whole spirit, soul and
body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. (NIV)
Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your
spirit and soul and body
be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (NET)
Soul
Salvation
If
you have read the Holy Bible very much, you have probably been bewildered at
times with seeming contradictions in the scripture. With some passages,
you read that salvation is a gift from God that we receive by grace through
faith, and your salvation can never be lost (Eph 2:8-9).
Other scriptures leave us worried sometimes--can I lose my salvation by
committing the unpardonable sin? One such passage is Hebrews
6:4-6:
For it is impossible for
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were
made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of
God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away,
to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son
of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
However,
there is no contradiction in the Holy Bible. What the scripture is
describing in Hebrews, and in many other verses in the New Testament, is
soul salvation. On this website we discuss in detail
soul salvation and what you must do as a Christian to earn it. (For a
detailed explanation of Hebrews 6:4-6, read
Impossible to Bring to Repentance.)
Here
is a scripture that describes what a Christian needs to do to earn
soul salvation (James 1:21):
Wherefore
lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with
meekness the engrafted word, which
is able to save your souls. (KJV)
Therefore,
get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept
the word planted in you, which can save you. (NIV)
So
put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted
within you, which is able
to save your souls. (NET)
Wherefore
putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with
meekness the implanted word, which is able to save
your souls. (ASV)
If
the salvation of a person is totally by grace, then what does this verse mean?
The scripture verse in James says that we have to accomplish
something to save our souls, doesn't it? The
verse simply states that in order to have our souls saved, we need to stop
sinning and with humility accept and obey the word of God written in the
Holy Bible. This reading and acceptance of scripture will lead us to live
a righteous life for God. The scripture states that it is
possible for our souls to be saved
by living a righteous life, but that it is our responsibility
to follow the Holy Spirit so we can accomplish any righteousness that God has
planned for us.
Ephesians
2:8-9 referenced above is quoted very often in churches and it is
absolutely true that we are saved by grace through faith. However, the
very next verse in Ephesians is infrequently mentioned:
For
we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for
good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. (NET--Eph
2:10).
Paul
confidently states that God has saved us and is remaking us in the image of
Jesus Christ so we may perform good works (righteousness) that He has prepared
for us to accomplish. The verse asserts that once we are
saved, we need to be attentive to persue any opportunities for good works that
come across our path, doesn't it? If we ignore this verse, that we need
to live a righteous life for Christ, then we will be disobeying God and there
are serious consequences for this disobedience.
In
Hebrews 10:38-39 we have more on living by faith
and obtaining soul salvation:
Now
the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are
not of them who draw back unto perdition;
but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. (KJV)
But
my righteous one will live by faith,
and if he shrinks back, I take no pleasure in him.
But we are not among those who shrink back and
thus perish, but are among those who have faith and
preserve their souls.
(NET)
We
describe in detail this salvation of the soul and the need to
repent and live faithfully for God in the articles:
Soul vs Spirit Salvation and
Is Repentance a Condition for Salvation?.
If you lose the salvation of your soul, you will be cast into
Outer Darkness,
and miss entry into the Millenium Kingdom of Christ; your name will also be
blotted out of
The Book of Life.
For a detailed discussion about your soul perishing or being saved, read
To Perish or Not to Perish.
If you are
skeptical about the possibility of losing the salvation of your soul if you
are living an unrighteous life, then we suggest that you click on the links
above and read the articles. You can then determine for yourself what the
scripture means and if it is important
to obey all of the commandments of Jesus and
thus save your souls. We challenge you to follow the example of the
Berean Christians of the first century and determine in your own minds if what
we are saying is really true:
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for
they received the message with great eagerness and examined
the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (NIV--Acts 17:11)
Content
This
website is somewhat different from most websites that describe end time events
and the Tribulation. Although the
terrifying events of the seven seals of Revelation are important to know about,
and we do describe the events of these seals in detail, it is even more
important to know God's opinion of and plans for the end time believer.
So this is not just an intellectual exercise to try to determine what
the symbols in Revelation mean, but rather to admonish all unenthusiastic
Christians to repent of their selfish and self-centered ways and to live
for Christ now! Jesus in the book
of Revelation shows each type of church member exactly what their spiritual
failures are and how to correct for them and to get on track as a true servant
of God (
The Seven Churches in Revelation).
If you follow the commands and admonishment of Jesus given in the
scripture, you will then be taken by Him to Heaven in the First Fruits
Rapture.
On
this site are many articles drawn from the book of Revelation and other
prophetic scriptures. In these
articles we describe the glory and power of Jesus; his admonishment to the
reader; the spiritual condition of
the seven churches; the seven seals that Jesus opens; the painful testing of
the unfaithful Christian; the testing of the people of God, the Jews;
the wrath of God upon the non-believer; the thousand year reign of
Jesus; the final judgment; and eternity. You
will want to be a member of the church of Philadelphia
(Philadelphia Christian)--members
of this church congregation will be taken by Jesus to heaven in the First
Fruits Rapture just before the ordeal of the Tribulation starts.
Members of this church are currently walking with Jesus now.
We also have articles on prophecy from Jesus in the Gospels, articles
from the letters in the New Testament and articles about prophecy from books in
the Old Testament, such as Daniel, Isaiah and Genesis.
Article
Selection
In
the PULLDOWN menu near the top of this webpage,
just move your mouse over any of the titles and a list of articles will appear
in your web browser. Scroll down the list and
click on a title to view the article. We suggest that you
start reading the articles that are under the SALVATION
option.
Permission is given
to use all of the articles on this website.
Please do not
change the articles in any way.
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