Proverbs 23:23, “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.”
I love books, they are invaluable. Many Bible commentaries are available online, but you need to be very careful, because many commentaries are corrupt, written by unsaved infidels. For example: In Matthew Henry's (1662-1714) commentary:
“It is probable that Christ had an eye to the ordinance of baptism, which John had used and he himself had begun to use, "You must be born again of the Spirit,’’ which regeneration by the Spirit should be signified by washing with water, as the visible sign of that spiritual grace: not that all they, and they only, that are baptized, are saved; but without that new birth which is wrought by the Spirit, and signified by baptism, none shall be looked upon as the protected privileged subjects of the kingdom of heaven.” [emphasis added]
SOURCE: John 3 - Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible
BLASPHEMY!!! Matthew Henry is teaching the damnable heresy of Baptismal Regeneration. Lest you have any doubts, please read my full article exposing Matthew Henry as a total heretic. No one in the Old Testament was water baptized as part of being saved. The repentant thief on the cross was never water baptized. The same Apostle John whom God used to pen the Gospel of John to show us how to be saved (John 20:31), also penned the Epistle of First John to show us how to know we are saved (1st John 5:13; 3:24). Yet, not once does John mention any form of baptism in his Epistle of First John. Clearly, this evidences biblically that water baptism is not necessary to get to Heaven. Water baptism is simply one's public profession of faith; an outward snapshot of what has happened inwardly. The act of water baptism symbolizes Jesus' death, burial and resurrection (i.e., the Gospel), by which all who BELIEVE IT are saved.
I specifically bought George William's Bible commentary to find out what his views are regarding the Rapture and Bible prophecy. So far I am pleased. The following commentary is what George has to say about one of the most difficult and controversial passages of Scripture to interpret, from 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-3. ...
2 Thessalonians II.—Having at once quieted their hearts as to their present sufferings, the Apostle now proceeds to prove to them that “the Day of The Lord” with its terrors and judgments had not then set in. He had told them in his First Epistle (ch. v. 4) that they should be raptured to Heaven prior to those judgments, and that when the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to execute them they would appear with Him (iii. 13 and Col. iii. 4). So they were shaken in mind and troubled (v. 2); for if the Day of the Lord had set in, the Apostle's teaching about the hope of the Rapture was false, and if he erred on so important a matter, what security had they that his Gospel was infallible?
But Paul reminds them of what he was accustomed to tell them when with them (v. 5) of certain events which must happen before the Day of the Lord opens. The first event will be the Apostasy when both the Hebrew Church and Christendom will reject the God of the Bible and will accept the Anti christ as the true Messiah (v. 3).
...in former days they waited for God's Son from heaven (I Thess. i. 10), but false teaching had shaken and troubled them with respect to their gathering together unto Him (vs. 1 and 2). This secret counsel of iniquity (v. 7) already works unseen, for Satan occupies a position in the heavens (v. 7) from whence he operates on earth as a spiritual potentiality in antagonism to the Holy Spirit. But he will be ejected out of the Middle Heavens (v. 7 and Rev. xii. 7-9) and then he will call up out of the abyss the Wicked Prince that is to come. (Rev. xiii. 1.).
So having set out these facts the Apostles encouraged their converts to “stand fast” (v. 15), and only to receive as traditions what they had been taught by Apostolic lips and or letters. This injunction destroys the Romish theory of tradition.
For the third time this beloved Church is comforted with respect to the Lord's coming (I Thess. iv. 18, v. II. and Thess. ii. 17).
...To understand these Apostolic communications the distinction between the “gathering together unto Him” (v. 1) and “the Day of the Lord” (v. 2) should be recognised. The one has relation to the Rapture of the Church; the other concerns the coming of the Lord together with the Church in judgment to the earth.
SOURCE: George Williams, The Complete Bible Commentary, pp. 949-950
Amen and amen. It is clear from the preceding Bible commentary that George Williams taught a Pretribulation Rapture, which is also what I humbly believe and teach. Paul's epistles to the church at Thessalonica were the first among his writings. Only Galatians (48 AD) preceded 1st Thessalonians in chronology. Paul penned 1st Thessalonians in 49-51 AD, and then 2nd Thessalonians roughly 6-months to a year later in 51-52 AD. It had only been about 20 years since Jesus had been crucified on a cross, was properly buried by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, and then supernaturally resurrected from the dead, ascending into Heaven as our High Priest (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:15-16).
The Apostle Paul taught (both orally and in writing) his new converts at Thessalonica about the Rapture (as evidenced by 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18). Evidently they either didn't pay close enough attention to what Paul had taught them about the Rapture, or perhaps they had been shaken by false teachers among them. We know this because Paul mentions it in 2nd Thessalonians 2:5, “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?” So, Paul writes a second epistle to help clarify his first letter. We have the disadvantage of not knowing what Paul had spoken to them orally. But it is clear from 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 that the doctrine of the Rapture was intended to “comfort one another” (1st Thessalonians 4:18). Certainly, there would be no comfort at all if believers had to suffer through the horrors of the future Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21; Revelation chapters 9 and 16).
The book of Acts was penned by the Apostle Luke (a medical doctor) in roughly 62 AD. I cannot help but be reminded of Luke's words in Acts 17:10-11, “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” The Thessalonians had a bad reputation for not listening very well, confirming Paul's experience with them just 12 years earlier. But those of Beroea (aka, the Bereans) SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES daily.
Sadly, 99% of churchgoers today merely follow whatever their pastor teaches them, having no clue as to whether it is truth or heresy. Dr. Cucuzza says it well...
“The Devil is doing his greatest work behind pulpits. [I] hate to say it, but that's the truth; because people have the presupposition that when you come to church, and somebody gets up to speak, that person is speaking truth. That's the way we've been raised.” —Pastor Thomas M. Cucuzza, “Important Truths Satan Does Not Want You to Know”
I challenge you dear reader to QUESTION AUTHORITY! I used to dislike that bumper sticker when I was 20 years old, because I thought it was a bad attitude toward authority; but now that I have grown older and am 56 years old, I cannot recommend enough that you definitely should QUESTION AUTHORITY. It's not the unquestioned answers that bother me, it's the unquestioned answers! Think about that statement, and I am sure you will agree. We are being lied to on nearly every front today in American society—from the lying federal government, to the lying newsmedia, to the lying Federal Reserve banks, to the lying greedy crooked attorney, to lying fake Bibles, to the lying pastor at your local church. Satan is a beautiful liar (John 8:44). The best way to expose the darkness is to shine the light of truth. John 8:32and 36, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. ...If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
I am happy with my new Bible commentary. I did check George William's commentary for John 3:5, to make sure that he wasn't teaching Baptismal Regeneration like Matthew Henry does.
