\n

Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.<\/p>\n

Mat 16: 13-14 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, WHOM do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.<\/p>\n

Greetings Brothers,<\/p>\n

These two above passages trouble me. It appears that the first one gives the message that at least this person being talked about was something before he was born – indeed before he was in the womb. And the second one gives me the impression that it wasn’t uncommon for people at that time to believe in reincarnation.<\/p>\n

No hurry.<\/p>\n

Thanks again for all of your hard work. Peace,<\/p>\n

S____<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hi S____,<\/p>\n

Job was guilty of trying to justify himself at God’s expense:<\/p>\n

Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine<\/b><\/u> integrity from me<\/u><\/b>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God would have none of this. So He asked Job:<\/p>\n

Job 40:6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
\nJob 40:7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
\nJob 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To give Job a proper perspective as to just how important he was of himself God had earlier asked Job:<\/p>\n

Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
\nJob 38:2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
\nJob 38:3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee<\/b>, and answer thou me.
\nJob 38:4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?<\/b> declare, if thou hast understanding.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God goes on for four chapters showing Job just how ignorant Job is. When God has had His say with Job, this is Job’s response:<\/p>\n

Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
\nJob 42:2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
\nJob 42:3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not;<\/b> things too wonderful for me, which I knew not<\/u><\/b>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Job says “I knew not… I understood not… where he was when God laid the foundations of the earth.” J. Preston Eby may not know what Job admits to here, But Job was well aware that the reason God asked him where he was at that time, was to remind him that he did not even exist at that time. Mr. Eby teaches his unscriptural ‘doctrine of circularity.’ He actually believes that Job could very well have said to God, ‘Well, I was right there at your right hand when you laid the foundations of the earth.’ But Job knew better:<\/p>\n

I uttered that I understood not;<\/b> things too wonderful for me, which I knew not<\/u><\/b>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We are dust. Don’t buy into any lie to the contrary. When we<\/u> die, we are dead, and we<\/u><\/b>” return to the dust from which we were taken.” Without a resurrection we<\/u><\/b> are “perished.” That is scripture right from the mouth of Christ. Believe Him and let every man be a liar.<\/p>\n

Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. <\/p>\n

Man HAS a spirit, just as do all living creatures. But man is not spirit, and without a resurrection he is perished:<\/p>\n

1Co 15:17 And if Christ be not raised [from the dead], your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
\n1Co 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished<\/u><\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mankind is not immortal, as the false doctrine of “the law of circularity” teaches. Mankind must yet “put on immortality” only after being raised up from among the dead:<\/p>\n

1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal<\/strong> [Greek: subject to death] must put on immortality<\/strong>.
\n1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality<\/strong>, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
\n1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Paul is telling us that without a resurrection everyone who is dead in Christ is perished, but through the resurrection of those who are dead, “this mortal must put on immortality”.<\/p>\n

Genesis and Job tell us what we are and what becomes of us without a resurrection:<\/p>\n

Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art [not spirit], and unto dust shalt thou return. <\/p>\n

Job 34:15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As for the people thinking that Christ was “John the Baptist, Elias, Jeremias or one of the prophets,” what the people thought is not what constitutes Truth. It is most likely that they thought that Christ had come “in the spirit and power of Elijah”, not that He was actually Elijah or one of the prophets.<\/p>\n

Luk 1:17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias,<\/b> to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I hope this clears this up in your mind.<\/p>\n

Mike<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Mat 16: 13-14 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, WHOM do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[332],"tags":[32,851,36,850,44],"class_list":["post-3070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faqs","tag-biblical-concepts","tag-circularity","tag-dust","tag-reincarnation","tag-resurrections","series-biblical-concepts","series-circularity","series-dust","series-reincarnation","series-resurrections"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server1.xploreseo.com\/iswasandwillbe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server1.xploreseo.com\/iswasandwillbe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server1.xploreseo.com\/iswasandwillbe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server1.xploreseo.com\/iswasandwillbe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server1.xploreseo.com\/iswasandwillbe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3070"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/server1.xploreseo.com\/iswasandwillbe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15235,"href":"https:\/\/server1.xploreseo.com\/iswasandwillbe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3070\/revisions\/15235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server1.xploreseo.com\/iswasandwillbe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server1.xploreseo.com\/iswasandwillbe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server1.xploreseo.com\/iswasandwillbe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}