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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Examining Prophecies--He will come in the flesh

When I questioned how Ahnsahnghong can be proven to be the Christ, I was told to look at the prophecies. Just as how it might be hard to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, looking at the prophecies He fulfilled is very convincing. In the same way, the World Mission Society Church of God says, there are prophecies about the return of Jesus, and if Ahnsahnghong fulfills those prophecies, then he must be the second coming Christ, even if it seems unlikely just by the looks of things.

With Jesus, there are numerous, SPECIFIC prophecies that He fulfilled, like...
He will be descended from David - 2 Sam. 7:16
He will be born in Bethlehem - Micah 5:2
He will be pierced - Zech. 12:10
He will enter Jerusalem on a donkey - Zech. 9:9
Even the time of His appearing - Daniel 9
and those are just a few. They can be used to narrow down a list of potential Messiahs to pinpoint the One.

For Ahnsahnghong, it may be easy to say he is the Christ and then find "prophecies" that he supposedly fulfilled. But what if you just look at those so-called prophecies and see if they can pinpoint Ahnsahnghong as the one-and-only second coming Christ? If they are valid prophecies, and if Ahnsahnghong is "the One", then that is exactly what should happen. Does it?...

I'll examine these prophecies (the same ones the WMSCOG uses) one by one.

When the second-coming Christ appears:
He will appear in the flesh, as at His first coming.
Christ will come on the clouds:
Luke 21:27-28; Matt 24:30; Rev. 1:7
“Cloud” is symbolic of flesh (people):
Heb. 12:1; Jude 1:12
Therefore, the second coming Christ will be born in the flesh as a baby.

I disagree with the interpretation of "clouds" equaling "flesh", and I will show that through the Bible another time. But let’s just say for the sake of argument that this is a correctly interpreted prophecy. How can that help us narrow down the possibilities of who the second coming Christ could be? Hmmm, who has been born in the flesh…? Yes, Ahnsahnghong has fulfilled that prophecy...along with every single person on earth. So this prophecy does nothing to show that Ahnsahnghong (or anyone else) is the second coming Christ. This prophecy is so unhelpful that I think it shouldn’t count at all. … Oh wait, yes, it can be helpful—interpreted this way, it rules out any being appearing in a supernatural way, such as riding on an actual cloud.

On the other hand, Acts 1:9-11 says
"Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.  And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”"

The WMSCOG says that "in the same way" (NIV) means that he will be in the flesh, just as he ascended in the flesh. But the Greek word that is translated "in the same way" or "in like manner" has to do with action, manner, the way something is done. The angels are therefore referring to the action of Jesus ascending into the sky, not His appearance, as in what He was wearing or what He looked like.

Please note that Christians do believe in a physical return of Christ, but when the WMSCOG talks of Jesus returning in the flesh, they don't just mean a physical return, they mean that He will be born again as a baby--a much different idea.

It is reasonable to look for Christ to return from the sky or on the clouds. But if you followed the WMSCOG interpretation and looked for someone born in the flesh, anybody can fulfill that!

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