Death precedes life … and with life comes judgment

The Bible is spiritually understood through typology, through the night/day, darkness/light metaphor, which has death preceding life. With life comes judgment, which is today upon the household of God (1 Pet 4:17 — baptism is into the death of the old self, crucified with Christ Jesus). Sin or lawlessness (1 John 3:4) requires death. The man Jesus of Nazareth was sacrificed at Calvary as the paschal Lamb of God. He who had no sin was made sin by taking on the lawlessness of the world, consigned to disobedience for a season (Rom 11:32). Thus, drawn or called sons of disobedience are made holy through the sacrifice of the Lamb. These drawn sons of disobedience are the many who are called (Matt 22:14); they are the invited guests to the wedding supper. But the called sons of disobedience can be likened to the physically circumcised nation that left Egypt. This nation didn't enter God's rest, but was rejected because of unbelief that became disobedience (Ps 95:10–11; Heb 3:16-4:11). Likewise, the old self or nature of the called son of disobedience, crucified with Christ Jesus in baptism, must die in a spiritual Wilderness of Sin. The new man, a son of God born-from-above into the same tabernacle or tent of flesh possessed by the crucified old man, will cross the Jordan and enter Judea, a mental landscape determined by Sabbath observance, where he will live as a spiritual Judean. This son of God is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, free nor bond—all of these traits pertain to the tent of flesh. Again, it is the tent that's plumbed male or female, that's physically circumcised or physically uncircumcised (the meaning of Jew and Greek), that's slave or free. The person living inside the tent of flesh, spiritually dead before being born-from-above, was defined by the tent in the natural world; the old self had an intimate relationship with the tent. But the son of God born into this tent is not defined by the tent. Rather, definition comes from the Oedipus-like act of breaking the legs of the crucified old self, of mentally crossing the Jordan, and living in the mental topography of spiritual Judea, the capital of which is the Jerusalem above. Disciples are to pull the stakes of their fleshy tents, cross into Judea where the new son of God is spiritually circumcised as uncircumcised Israelites under Joshua were circumcised before taking the Passover (Josh 5:2-7). This new son of God will begin living as a Judean, repeated for emphasis for failure is live as Judeans is the error that the greater Church has inherited through historical exegesis.

Observing the Sabbath

The Apostle Paul wrote to the saints at Philippi, "Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things" (3:17-19 ESV usedthroughout). And two principles become immediately apparent: first, imitate Paul; and second, do not set one's mind on earthly things.

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matt chaps 5-7) can be identified as the spiritual equivalent to YHWH, Israel's Elohim, delivering the Decalogue from atop Mount Sinai [Horeb]. And in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus did not "magnify" the commandments, but showed how two of the commandments are applicable to disciples when the law of God is written on two tablets of flesh, the heart and mind. He said, "`You have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment." But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, "You fool!" will be liable to the hell of fire"' (Matt 5:21-22).

Jesus quoted from the Decalogue (Ex 20:13; Deut 5:17), which were the living words addressed to Moses but heard by all Israel, with these words inscribed on two tablets of stone by the finger of God and lugged off the mountain by Moses. Under the second covenant, the commandments of God are written on the hearts and minds of Israel, inscribed there by the soft Breath of God. Thus, under the new covenant what was inscribed on stone moves inward to become inscribed on tablets of flesh—this movement is from hand to heart, body to mind. Murder is committed with the hand, and is committed outside the person. Anger is an emotion of the heart and occurs fully within the flesh of the person. Likewise, adultery (Jesus' other example – Matt 5:27-28) is an action of the body, whereas lust occurs within the mind and can remain fully concealed within the flesh of the person.

The commandments written on stone are earthly things. The commandments written on hearts and minds are spiritual. Paul calls the law spiritual, holy, righteous, and good (Rom 7:12 et al). So the law isn't the problem. The weakness of the flesh is.

The Sabbath commandment is part of the law, and the Sabbath commandment pertains to no other day of the week but the seventh day. So when the law moves from regulating the outward activities of a person—the acts of the hands and of the body—to regulating the desires of the heart and the thoughts of the mind, a person's thoughts are not set on earthly things on the Sabbath, but are set on the things of God.

Now, how to apply this setting of thoughts on the things of God? What about feeding ducks? What are the person's thoughts and desires when feeding ducks in a park with his or her child? Are they on God? Or are they on making sure that the child doesn't wander off, or get too close to the edge of the pond or river? And it is here when discernment enters: whatever a person can do on the Sabbath and keep his or her thought and desires focused on God is an appropriate activity. Whatever distracts a person's thoughts and desires from God is an inappropriate activity. If a person can listen to music and still keep his or her thoughts on God, then listening to music is an appropriate activity. Otherwise, it is not.

Any list of do's and not to do's is necessarily a listing of earthly things—the list itself is an earthly thing, and the product of someone who no longer walks by faith but with a yardstick as a walking stick, measuring the perceived righteousness of everyone the person encounters. Therefore, as salvation is a personal matter, so too is what constitutes appropriate Sabbath activity. Paul said not to forsake assembling together, but finding those of like-mind to assemble with in this era of lawless Christianity is extremely difficult. In most places and for most disciples who have been truly born of Spirit, there is no one near with whom they can assemble. Certainly there is a church on almost every street corner, and in rural areas, in every township, but the person who, by faith, keeps the precepts of the law and has his or her uncircumcision counted as circumcision (Rom 2:26) has no fellowship with those who set a lawless table and eat the fruit of lawlessness (paraphrasing 1 Cor 10:20-22).

Perhaps the most appropriate Sabbath activity is to expound the reason for one's hope to whomever will listen—most are not interested in listening, though. But expounding the reason for one's hope will certainly keep the person's mind focused on the things of God.

Spiritual Food - Where's the Beef?

The Apostle Paul could not address the saints at Corinth, even after he had been among them for two years, as spiritual people (3:1) … if Paul could not address the saints at Corinth as spiritual people, and if the writer of Hebrews could not address these Jewish converts as spiritual people (Heb 5:11-14), and if all who were in Asia had left Paul while he was in Rome (2 Tim 1:15), where are spiritual people addressed in Scripture? About this answer, [quoting the writer of Hebrews] “we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you [Israelites] have become dull of hearing” (5:11). And what we would say first is that endtime Christians, even after Christ as been among them for two millennia, cannot be addressed as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

Paul fed the saints at Corinth spiritual milk, not solid food. The epistles of Paul are spiritual milk, not solid food. The person who argues for sola scriptura argues for a milk diet, not for spiritual meat. And after two millennia of not being weaned, endtime Christians are still not ready for solid food as evidenced by the identifying names of denominations: Mennonites (i.e., followers of Menno Simon); Amish (i.e., followers of Jacob Amen); Lutherans (i.e., followers of Martin Luther). If the name of an individual is not used, an aspect of the practice of the faith is: Methodists; Baptists; Friends. Some will claim to be of God: Assembly of God; Church of God; Church of Christ; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints. But of all that claim to be of God, there is not agreement about how God should be worshipped, or even when He should be worshipped.

All that the many names of the thousands of denominations establish is that Christendom is an extremely divided and divisive house, with disagreements about which teachers to follow, disagreements about what practices to follow, disagreements about how to identity the Body of Christ, disagreements about whether the commandments should or should not be kept and why they should or should not be, disagreements about what day God should be worshiped, disagreements about whether God is one, two, or three, disagreements about what it means to be born of Spirit. The situation Paul addresses at Corinth was child’s play compared to the present situation where tens of thousands of schisms have developed within fractured Christendom, with additional thousands emerging almost daily. Thus, if ever a situation existed when restoration of the faith once delivered was absolutely necessary—when a people was not ready for solid food—that situation exists today among endtime disciples.

The concept that underpinned the Protestant Reformation and the Radical Reformers [Anabaptists] was that of restoration … their contention was that at some point in history, the Church had taken a wrong turn that needed to be corrected by reformers. There was, however, no agreement about when this wrong turn was taken. Most of protesting Christendom only wanted to undo the excesses of the preceding few decades or centuries; they wanted to return “the old Church” to the path it left when salvation became a matter of works, of laps around a rosary, of pilgrimages, of purchasing relics. The Radical Reformers wanted to step around “the old Church” and return to the period when Church and State were not co-joined, but the Church in 311 CE was not substantially different than it was in 312 CE when Emperor Constantine allegedly saw the chi-rho sign in the sky. Returning, then, to any period earlier than the apostolic era would be only a partial restoration. But Paul wrote that everyone in Asia had left him (again, 1 Tim 1:15), and Jewish converts were trying to kill him (Acts 21:20-24); so where was even a normative church in this mid 1St-Century period when the first disciples were still in Jerusalem? And we have returned to that initial question asked: where in Scripture are spiritual people addressed? Where is the beef, as the Cattlemen’s television commercials of a few decades ago asked? Where is the meat, the real substance of what it means to be spiritual and spiritually minded?

The more enlightened of the Radical Reformers, such as Andreas Fischer, did not look far enough back into history to find when the Church made a wrong turn: Fischer wanted to return to the time when the Church ceased keeping the “moral law,” the Decalogue. But was the wrong turn made when the “Church” ceased keeping the Sabbath? Or better, was a wrong turn ever made?

Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Brother, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things” (3:17-19) … minds set on earthly things—here is an address to the spiritually minded. All who have minds set on earthly things, including looking for a visible wrong turn made by the Church, do not walk as Paul walked; do not walk as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6); do not walk as Peter or John walked. The mind that is set on earthly things looks to prophecy to see what happens to physical nations. The mind set on earthly things looks to physical Jerusalem and reconstruction of a physical temple. The mind set on earthly things looks for a physical king of the North in a European Union controlled by the Roman Church and for a physical king of the South coming from Islamic nations. The mind set on earthly things utters spiritual drivel about an endtime revival of the Roman or Holy Roman Empire. Yes, the mind set on earthly things sees only earthly or physical things, and does not see that biblical prophecy is about what happens in the heavenly realm where humankind cannot go to make observations or measurements. The mind set on earthly things sees a Christendom that is divided, but alive and more loudly and effectively than ever delivering a message about a man that they neither know nor believe.

The restoration of all things will again have the kingdom of God among men.

Free to Keep the Law …

Understand this! When a person is born-of-Spirit, there is no condemnation of the “new self,” the infant son of God (Rom 8:2), for God does through spiritual birth what the law could never do (v. 3). This new self is born free. This new self, unlike the “old man,” is not born consigned to disobedience, but is free to keep the commandments of God. The “old man” was, from birth, consigned to disobedience (again, Rom 11:32), and was utterly unable to keep the commandments. And every person descended from the first Adam however many times removed—prior to the birth of the man Jesus whose father was the Theos of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and not the first Adam—was born in bondage to the prince of this world. This is why Jesus told the Pharisees that none of them kept the law (John 7:19): none of them could keep the law, for they were all still bondservants of Satan. Only when a person is born-of-Spirit [i.e., receives a second birth that is not of this world] can the person escape disobedience. Only when a person is born of the last Adam (1 Cor 15:45) can this person be truly free to keep the commandments. But if Satan can cause this person to return to disobedience, then this son of God, like the angels that followed Satan into rebellion against God, will perish in the lake of fire; for inside of time, even Satan will perish (Ezek 28:18-19). And no person will escape from this physical realm until Jesus gives life to the person as the Father gave life to the person (John 5:21). Both must give life, for all judgment has been given to the Son.

What Did Jesus Promise The Thief?

A comma, a late addition to the Greek text, introduced by a medieval scribe in an obscure scriptorium provides half of the scriptural support for endtime disciples believing that they will immediately go to heaven upon death. But the textual logic imbedded throughout Scripture will not have a thief preceding Jesus into heaven. So a popular passage must be read without the punctuation that was added to help “clarify” meaning.

All of humanity is represented at Calvary in the three individuals crucified on the Preparation day for Passover in the 31st year of this Common Era (an argument can be made for it being 30 CE instead of 31). On either side of Jesus was a lawbreaker, one of whom blasphemed Christ, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39). This criminal wanted down from the cross before he died; he wanted to save his physical life. He did not really believe that Jesus was the Christ, hence his mocking question. And he received nothing from Jesus, not even an acknowledgement of his existence.

The second thief was more honorable than the first to speak: he rebuked the other, for he believed that Jesus was the Christ. He asked the first if the first did not fear God, and he acknowledged that the two criminals were worthy of death, that they were receiving their just due for their transgressions of the law. But he said that Jesus had done nothing wrong. He then turned to Jesus and said, as Luke recorded the account in a literal transcription: “And he said to Jesus, Remember me, Lord, when you come in the kingdom of you” (Luke 23:42).

Jesus heard this second criminal acknowledge his own transgressions of the law and that the law is good, and Jesus heard this second criminal acknowledge Him as God and express belief that He would be resurrected back to life to receive the kingdom of heaven. Thus, Jesus tells this second criminal that he will receive everlasting life: “And said to him Jesus, Truly I say to you[,] today with me you will be in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

The problematic comma is bracketed. Again, this comma is not in the earliest manuscripts that do not have punctuation, accents, or even the letters broken into words. And if it were placed on the other side of “today” the statement Jesus made would read, I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise, which now agrees with the fact that Jesus would not “that day” be in paradise, but would be dead and buried in the Garden Tomb. Jesus does not ascend to heaven until the morning of the fourth day (John 20:17); so it is textually impossible for this criminal to be in paradise with Jesus the day of their crucifixion.

An overlooked detail? By the majority of Christendom, yes!

Jesus said that He would give one sign concerning His identity: ‘“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth’” (Matt 12:40). Jesus and the two criminals were crucified on the Preparation Day for the high Sabbath (John 19:31). The high Sabbath was the 15th of Abib (Lev 23:5-7), with the Passover lamb to be sacrificed at even between the 14th and the 15th. The Pharisees in 1st-Century Judea reckoned between the evenings to mean 3:00 pm in the afternoon. Jesus died about 3:00 pm (Matt 27:45-50) on the 14th. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took the body of Jesus from the cross and at dusk, placed it in the Garden Tomb (John 19:38-42). So by Jesus’ words, the count of the three days and three nights begins with the high Sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of Abib. Jesus is in the heart of the earth all of the 15th, all of the 16th, and all of the 17th, the weekly Sabbath. Then at the beginning of the 18th, the first day of the week, He is resurrected, and He is gone before daybreak (John 20:1). Thus, Jesus was crucified on Wednesday the 14th of Abib. He had entered Jerusalem on the 10th of Abib, the weekly Sabbath, when the Passover lambs were selected. He entered Jerusalem on the Sabbath as both the selected Passover Lamb for the household of God, and as the future high priest of Israel. He was cutoff mid week as prophesied (both mid calendar week and in the middle of seven years of ministry), and fulfilled the only sign He gave as proof that He was of God. He was three days and threes nights in the heart of the heart, and He had not ascended to heaven prior to when Mary Magdalene saw Him the morning of the first day of the week. Therefore, the criminal could not be with Jesus in paradise on the 14th of Abib.

Heaven is timeless. From the perspective of the heavenly realm, everything that happens occurs on the same day. So if an argument is made that “today” references the unchanging moment that would be “the present” in the heavenly realm, then not only would Jesus ascend to His God and Father today but the resurrection of disciples upon Jesus’ return two millennia later would also be today, the same day. Thus, confining the narrative perspective to within time, the criminal to whom Jesus promised everlasting life did not ascend into heaven on the 14th of Abib, the day when Jesus promised that he would be with Jesus in paradise; for Jesus did not ascend to paradise that day. The comma is misplaced.

The cross kills by suffocation (and by shock as modern research has shown). A crucified person loses his or her breath; thus, the cross serves as a representative for all means of death from loss of breath. It is the apt symbol representing death. Therefore, being raised up on the cross symbolizes short term life after death, for a person doesn’t immediately die when crucified. As such, the two criminals live after they are dead in a symbolic sense. Once raised on a cross no one was going to come down alive. Death was declared when the person was raised up. So the two criminals serve as lively shadows for all who will appear before God in the great White Throne Judgment, when every person who has not previously been born of Spirit will receive “a second birth” through resurrection from death. And as the first thief mocked Christ, many who are returned to life will want to save their physical lives. Some will acknowledge that they were worthy of death and will be like the second thief—and it will be this latter group that will receive everlasting life when resurrected in the great White Throne Judgment. It will take no longer for those who are returned to life to determine their fate than it took for the two thieves.

A misplaced comma did not send the second criminal into heaven on the 14th of Abib 31 CE. He is not there yet from the perspective of being within time, for no one will precede another except for the man Jesus who came down from heaven. All who have received the promise of eternal life, and all who have been born of Spirit will be resurrected upon Christ Jesus’ return (1 Cor 4:5), with those who have been born of Spirit being either resurrected to life or to condemnation (John 5:28-29). It is merely wishful thinking to believe that a misplaced comma made a thief the last Adam.

Jesus’ promise to the thief, made while both still lived physically, was the inheritance of eternal life when judgments are revealed. He would have extended the same promise to the lawyer (Luke 10:25) and to the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18) if the lawyer had put into practice what the lawyer knew to do, and if the young ruler had sold all he had, given his wealth to the poor, and followed Jesus. Neither was willing to extend love or faith. The second thief was willing to extend both.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
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Leaving Babylon …

Leaving Babylon occurred in the 16th-Century when reformers sought to rebuild the Church that produced the Borgias. But leaving spiritual Babylon requires leaving civil governance to the spiritual king of Persia. The followers of Martin Luther used civil government to wage war against the Holy Roman Emperor. The Swiss Reform Movement also used civil government to enforce its reforms, leaving only the Radical Reformers—the Anabaptists—to actually separate themselves from the spiritual prince of Persia, an agent of the king of spiritual Babylon. And the price in blood paid by these Radical Reformers was too great for them to continue their aggressive evangelism: they became “quiet” folk, as the Amish are today. They compare nicely to natural Israelites living Beyond the River, still subjects of the kings of Persia but free to worship God with a little bit of autonomy. Today’s “plain folk” that come from the Radical Reformers are spiritually lifeless shadows of their Anabaptist ancestors. They are apologizing agents for the “enthusiasm” of their ancestors, and of my ancestors—and it was the enthusiasm of the Radical Reformers that nearly turned the world upside down before it was time for Christ Jesus to return. It is now time to return to that enthusiasm, and to quit being spiritually lifeless dolls that the Adversary plays with whenever he is bored.

No Christian leaves spiritual Babylon and the administration of Satan over this world when that Christian participates in civil governance. The preacher who uses his pulpit to preach against civil officials—even against the political corruption of these officials—makes himself an agent of the prince of this world, who reigns over a divided kingdom that is presently embroiled in internal strife.

If Jesus’ kingdom, the kingdom of God [or of heaven], is not of this world or from this world, then His kingdom can only be “other worldly,” meaning that Jesus’ kingdom is not like kingdoms of men, whether secular or theocracies. It is, again, the same kingdom that the prince of this world presently reigns over through being “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at world in the sons of disobedience” (Eph 2:2 – emphasis added). Halfway through the seven endtime years, this prince of the air will be cast from heaven and into time (Rev 12:9-10). Then the One who will rule the kingdom of God will be the life-giving Spirit, Christ Jesus, the last Adam (1 Cor 15:45). And the kingdom of heaven will be a kingdom in heaven, where human beings who have been born of Spirit have life. Thus, even when Christ Jesus returns, His kingdom will not be of this world, or even on this earth. Rather, it will be “over” this earth through reigning over the mental topography from which thoughts of humankind sprout, take root, and grow as weeds or wheat. He will rule over the “inside of the cup,” which when clean makes the whole cup clean. Hence, He will reign not with physical means or through physical force, but by imparting His mind and His nature into human beings just as Satan now imparts his nature and mind into humankind.

The Question of Baptism

Although meaning has traditionally been taken from Scripture through the study of how early theologians understood the Greek and Hebrew texts (grammatico-historical exegesis), the Apostle Paul wrote that the visible things of this world reveal the invisible things of God (Rom 1:20), and that the physical things of this world precede the spiritual things of God (1 Cor 15:46). Paul advocated typological exegesis. And in addressing infant baptism, about which Scripture is silent except for saying that the Philippian jailer and his entire household were baptized (Acts 16:31-34) as well as Cornelius and his household (Acts 11:14), with the assumption being that not all within the household of the jailer or within the household of Cornelius were adults, the traditional practices of the State Church cannot be accepted as authoritative. For typological exegesis holds that the physical birth and maturation of a former son of disobedience reveals and precedes the invisible spiritual birth and maturation of this same person when this person, born of Spirit as an infant son of God, has been set free from bondage to sin. This person’s physical birth and maturation will occur before this same person’s spiritual birth and maturation. Therefore, the son of disobedience who has not yet been born of Spirit—who has not yet been twice born—has no life but that which comes from the cellular oxidation of sugars. This person consists of flesh and shallow breath: soma [σομα] and psuche [ψυχε] (Matt 10:28 – read this in the original Greek; the first disciples had not yet received the Holy Spirit). This person is described by Solomon:

I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from dust, and to dust all return. (Eccl 3:18-20 – emphasis added)

The twice born disciple consists of “deep breath,” shallow breath, and flesh: pneuma [πνευμα], psuche, and soma (1 Thess 5:23). Until a son of disobedience is born of the Holy Spirit [Pneuma ’Agion], this person does not have within him or herself eternal life, the gift of God (Rom 6:23). To say otherwise is calling God a liar.

The human infant is born as a son of disobedience (Eph 2:2-3), consigned to disobedience (Rom 11:32) by the sin of the first Adam, through whom death entered this world (Rom 5:12-14). There is no child of God within the tent of flesh into which newborn physical life came through the water of the womb, for being born of Spirit will not precede being born of water.

If the baptism of an infant is not valid, then throughout the practice of infant baptism by the Universal Church, heavenly Jerusalem was as empty as physical Jerusalem was during the seventy years when all of Israel was in Babylon, the captive peoples of its human king. The Church, spiritual Israel, because of its lawlessness was sent by God into captivity in spiritual Babylon, the king of which is the prince of this world (Isa 14:4-21). The Church, the spiritual Body of Christ, would have been as dead as was the physical body of Christ during the three days and three nights that Jesus laid in the garden tomb. And as the grave would not prevail against Jesus’ physical body, the gates of hell would not prevail against the spiritual Body. As the physical body was resurrected during the dark portion of the first day of the week, the fourth day of Passover week, the spiritual Body was or will be resurrected during the dark portion of the fourth day of the spiritual creation week.

When and where “Believers’ Baptism” or adult re-baptism began has been the subject of considerable study, with three concepts emerging: “monogenesis,” “polygenesis,” and the continuation of marginalized apostolic practices through a differing but valid apostolic succession. Monogenesis holds that adult re-baptism began January 21, 1525, when Conrad Grebel baptized Georg Blaurock. Under monogenesis, Israel was taken captive by the prince of this world at the Council of Nicea in 325 CE, and twelve centuries later, a remnant of Israel left Babylon in 1525 to rebuild the house of God in the Jerusalem above. Twelve centuries has about it echoes of the seventy years physical Israel was in physical Babylon. Thus, the seventy weeks prophecy will also apply to the reconstruction of the spiritual temple.

Polygenesis holds that adult re-baptism began over a period of several decades, or even longer, and in several locations throughout Europe. The lack of a unified Anabaptist doctrine supports the concept of multiple fellowships beginning the practice of adult re-baptism as if a divine Zeit Geist caused many to rush from spiritual Babylon to rebuild the heavenly temple.

The teaching that adult baptism continued from the apostolic era into the 16th-Century has within it the flaws found by Sabbatarian disciples who seek to show that Sabbath observance continued in marginalized fellowships from the apostolic era forward. The existence of these marginalized fellowships becomes an article of faith, for no evidence remains of their practices and beliefs. Where evidence does exist, the evidence has not supported the conclusions drawn. Therefore, until apostolic succession can be shown, the teaching should be avoided. It, like the concept of church eras, smacks of deceit.

If the captivity of both houses of Israel forms the lively shadow of the spiritual captivity of the Church, both the school at Ephesus [the northern house] and the school at Alexandria [the southern house], then disciples should expect to find a remnant of Israel returning from the Babylonian captivity of the southern house beginning a long theological trek back across the 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Centuries, a trek that can be visualized as a journey across the desert sands of western Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, with entrance into Judea coming when those making this trek return to Sabbath observance. A few early Anabaptists crossed into spiritual Judea, God’s rest (cf. Ps 95:10-11; Heb 3:16-4:11; Num chap 14), in the 16th-Century, but they were truly trailblazers. The remnant of the remnant (several times removed) didn’t reach the heavenly city until early in the 20th-Century, and only more recently has construction begun again on the foundation that Paul laid (1 Cor 3:10-11) in this heavenly city.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."