The title of this teaching article is not a poke at people that are overweight. I hope you will read on to see that. As have been my last few postings, this article is also a commentary that I have written purposed for another project I am working on. This passage below is just one of many that are in the New Testament that reference the rapture of the church.
“Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control”
(Philippians 3:17-21, NLT).
Paul builds up to his message in the passage
above by warning the Philippian church to watch out for those that teach the
church that adhering to certain aspects of Judaism is what is needed to be
saved; like getting circumcised (3:2c). The Gentiles in the early church had to
contend with the group called the Judaizers (Titus 1:10). This group were
labeled as false teachers, they are the forerunners of the many teachers of
deception throughout the church-age. False teachers are rampant in todays
church—the apostle Peter did not have a kind word for fake teachers who deceive
at any point throughout the church-age (2 Pet. 2:1-22). Paul calls these
teachers of deception, dogs (3:2a). He was not meaning the type of dog that
civilized society today have as pets, but rather he was referring to the
scavenger type animal that will kill and devour any other living thing for
food. That is what false teachers and false prophets do, they devour people in
the church to gain a following. They will ferociously attack anyone in the
church, even outside of it, if they challenge their teachings or the words,
they prophecy.
The Judaizers were false teachers trying to gain a following in the early church by teaching that Christ and his sacrifice was not enough to receive salvation—their message to the Gentiles was that they had to have their ערלה {transliteration is orlah, and is pronounced as or-law'} circumcised in order to be saved. The Hebrew term orlah in the English language is, foreskin. Paul declared that circumcision is of the heart – done by the Holy Spirit – and if a Jew is only circumcised outwardly and not of the heart then he is not a real Jew (Rom. 2:28-29). When a Jew or a Gentile gets saved Christ circumcises the spirit portion of their being; the heart metaphor (Col. 2:9-14). The body of Christ, whether the person is a Jew or a Gentile, are the true circumcised of the spirit group, and we should put no confidence in having our foreskin cut. For it does not matter whether our foreskin is cut or uncut, what really matters is the new creation, those whose spirit has been circumcised—the body of Christ (Gal. 6:15). If anyone that is circumcised outwardly has anything to boast about it is the apostle Paul (3:4b-6).
Compared to Jesus Christ; Paul’s prosperous Hebraic heritage, and Judaic resume, is nothing more than impoverishment (3:7). Weighing up his past to now gaining Christ is the difference between living on a dunghill, or trash heap, and living in a king’s castle; for by faith the apostle came to know Christ thereby obtaining God’ righteousness (3:8-9). While living in his earthly body he had not become perfect, by no means, so he knew that he had to keep pressing forward to acquire the reward to which he was chosen because he was predestined[1] for eternal life—he knew that it was ahead of him, and it would be then he would be made perfect (3:12-14). He knew that while he was still in his earthly dwelling he had to live by the standard of Christ, keep pushing forward past the progress he had already attained when he wrote this letter, keep striving toward maturity—the church must follow this example (3:16). Some will be more mature than others, but if anyone is not comprehending the methodology, that the believer must move forward to their heavenly calling (eternal life), then the Spirit of God will reveal it to them if they are willing to stay the course (3:15).
Paul urges the church to follow his example (3:17a), and to aspire to do like those that do as they have been instructed and are already following the apostle’s pattern of Christ-like behavior (3:17b). He reminds the Philippian believers that there are many that are not following Christ honestly, but are actual enemies of the cross of Christ, possibly meaning his atoning work of salvation (3:18)—Paul is probably referring to the Judaizer’s from earlier in this chapter, the false teachers. His statement would also pertain to the false teachers/prophets in today’s church. These enemies of the cross are wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15). These false teachers are forfeiting their gift of grace, their opportunity to gain eternal life, and because of it they are headed for destruction {apōleia is the Greek transliteration for the English term destruction} (3:19a). Apōleia is also translated as the English term perdition, and can refer to eternal misery. It is also presumed that apōleia is a derivative of the Greek term ἀπόλλυμι, the transliteration is apollymi, and it is pronounced ap-ol'-loo-mee. The Greek term apollymi when translated in English can mean, perish. Sometimes it is translated as, destroy. So, when Paul writes that the false teachers are “headed for destruction” he was likely referring to eternal misery, an eternity without Christ.
Those that do not sincerely follow Christ after being given the grace and opportunity to do so, are resistant because they hold onto other gods from their former life and continue to follow them; one is their koilia (3:19b). Koilia is the Greek transliteration for the English word belly. The translation I used above (NLT) translates koilia as the English word, appetite. My guess is that the writers of the New Living Translation, and other versions that have translated koilia this way, may have done so to just get right to the point, and/or their translations are based on the “formal-equivalence” or the “dynamic-equivalence” or a mixture of both forms of translations.[2] The translator may have tried to get into the mind of Paul and then transcribed what he thought was on the apostle’s mind. I am not a gastrologist, but if I am not mistaken, the belly is the place we get the desire to eat. Our appetite for sustenance comes from within the belly, especially an empty one—our tummy sends a signal to the brain to eat food. Many times, the belly is not even empty but it cries out for edibles anyways. An appetite is “an inherent craving” according to Merriam-Webster online.[3] The stomach has an appetite for anything that will satisfy its hunger. Google’s English dictionary, provided by Oxford Languages, defines appetite as: “a strong desire or liking for something.” It provides some similar definitions like: craving, longing, yearning, passion, lust, addiction, and desire, to name just a few. Keeping these similar definitions of the term ‘appetite’ in mind, Paul may not have meant literally that a person’s physical stomach is the god of those that resist truly following Christ,[4] he may have used the Greek term koilia (belly) as an analogy, to symbolically describe how just like the belly can make a person crave for something to satisfy its hunger, so can a person’s appetite for other gods make them crave or lust for what that god has to offer. And since in this same verse the Scripture says those headed for destruction “only think about life on this earth” (3:19d), then I may not be off in saying that their god might be the things of this world instead of Christ. Possibly he could be referring to material things but could it be he might also have had in mind their god is their flesh, their sinful nature? Maybe he was referring to both. Their appetite for everything but Christ is their god. Everything else is more important to those who resist Christ because their appetite for the things of this world is more important to them. The Christian who has his heart and mind set on earthly things have made this world their god. Paul urged the Colossian believers to set their mind on the heavenly realm instead of the things on the earth (Col. 3:2). Christians that only think of the things on the earth do so because they only live for this world. They live to please their sinful nature and have a lust for all this world has to offer them. Their god is made clear by what they strive for.
The apostle reminds the Philippian believers that they are citizens of heaven, where our Savior resides (3:20a). This next statement is one that is supposed to be true for all those who are born-again: We eagerly wait for Christ to come and get us from heaven—this is referring to the pre-tribulation rapture of the body of Christ (3:20b; Jn. 14:2-3). I say that the believer is supposed to be eagerly waiting to be raptured out of this world, but sadly many are not waiting, let alone eagerly. Instead, too many would prefer the rapture not happen until they pass away physically. This group wants to live out a full life in this world before going to heaven. Some even want to live in their physical bodies for very long lives, just like the Antediluvian (before the great flood) people. Many of you know what I am talking about. Even with the globalists ready to implement their Great Reset, where only the global elites will own everything and everyone else will be their surfs, still some Christians prefer to live as old as Methuselah (Gen. 5:27). Do you really want to be a slave to Klaus Schwab, or Yuval Noah Harari?
There is a recent movement within the church now that is believing there is going to be a world-wide revival. They believe that as a result of this revival there will be a shift in world power, where the power-hungry politicians and greedy corporate leaders will be replaced with godly people (there are false prophets teaching the church that this is going to happen). These false teachers are saying that the world’s wealth will be transferred to the church once the shift has happened, and then the church can live in peace here on earth. They also prophesy that Jesus will come back to the earth once the church has defeated the darkness. One of the problems with this doctrine is that it leaves the Christian with a false sense of God’s prophetic timetable. Todays Christian has been robbed of the knowledge of what generation they are living in. This is the generation when the church-age ends, and then God will focus on the redemption of the remnant Jews. That is the main reason for the seven-year Tribulation Period/Seventieth-week of Israel. But those seeking God for world-wide revival just do not get it—they are praying for something that is of a selfish nature. They want very long lives combined with peace and prosperity while Israel remains lost, without the knowledge that Yeshua is their Messiah. It is prophesied that Israel will be redeemed and will acknowledge Yeshua at the end of their seventieth-week.[5] Some will say the revival is for the salvation of souls, but the souls that have been saved already have been neglected for an extremely long time, and to add insult to injury, today’s church is not being adequately discipled. In today’s church, if you are not part of the church clique then you are left alone and made to feel like you are not worthy. Today’s church does not even know how to count others other better than themselves, or how to love as commanded, so how do these revivalists expect to feed and disciple anyone else if their world-wide revival agenda were to happen?
The generation of (primarily) Jews that witnessed the rebirth of the state of Israel will still be alive to see the rapture of the church, and then the seven-year Tribulation Period/Seventieth-week of Israel, and then the second appearance of Jesus when he sets his feet on the Mount of Olives. They will then witness his one-thousand-year earthly reign from the city of Jerusalem. The Tribulation Period/Seventieth-week of Israel must happen just as the Revelation prophesies and the Old Testament prophets proclaimed. The globalist great reset is synonymous with the Tribulation Period/Seventieth-week of Israel. What the globalist’s have planned in their reset agenda is exactly how the Antichrist will govern the world during the seven-year Tribulation. The Scriptures prophesy that as the church-age comes to an end people will fall away from the faith—the apostacy is already happening (2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1-2; 2 Tim. 3:1-3; 4:3-4) {See the video, Circus Church Is Here, to see how far the church has fallen}.[6]
You have heard the numerous excuses some believers give to why the rapture will not happen in this lifetime. It makes me think about how certain individuals made excuses of why they could not immediately follow Jesus (Lk. 9:57-62). When Jesus asked one man to follow him the man said he had to go bury his father first. The Scripture does not let us know if the man’s father was already dead or not, just that the man’s priority was his father and not Jesus. The Lord had told his disciples that any man that loves his father or mother more than him is not worthy to follow him (Matt. 10:37). Any man that does not do the will of God is not worthy of the Lord (Matt. 10:38). If a man wants to be the Lord’s disciple, he must not be selfish, he must deny himself of the pleasures of this world, do God’s will, and then he can follow Jesus (Matt. 10:24). Whoever lives for this life will end up in eternal misery, but whoever loses his life for the Lord’s sake will enter eternal life (Matt. 10:39). The believer that focuses on the things of this earth is not waiting for the rapture to happen because their attention is on this world and all it has to offer—the world is their belly.
When the rapture of the body of Christ happens, the Holy Spirit will transform our frail mortal bodies of flesh and supernaturally metamorphose them into the same type of heavenly body Jesus now possesses, a glorious body (3:21; 1 Cor. 15:49-53)—the Holy Spirit’s dynamis (Greek transliteration for the English terms: power, miracle, mighty work, etc.) is the demonstration of strength behind every miracle of God that allows him to subdue all things. The believer’s body of flesh will be transformed into a glorious spiritual body, and that will allow us to live in the eternal realm and even frequent the physical realm. Angels can do this now in the angelic flesh they are clothed with. So how much more will the raptured body of Christ be able since we will be clothed with the same type of heavenly body as our Lord Jesus Christ.
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[1] The apostle was predestined (appointed) to eternal
life because the omniscient God in his foreknowledge knew that Paul would in
his lifetime eventually surrender his will to Jesus Christ and get born-again.
[2] Translation Philosophy and Methodology
https://www.blueletterbible.org/bibles/preface-to-the-new-living-translation.cfm
(Accessed 12/30/2022)
[3] Appetite definition #2
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/appetite
(Accessed 12/29/2022)
[4] Some people have made a god out of their physical
stomach.
[5] Daniel 9:24
[6] Circus Church Is Here!
https://rumble.com/v23dgkg-circus-church-is-here-prophecy-update.html
(Accessed 1/03/23)
