Contending for the Faith: From Pentecost to the Rapture

By E. Daisy Rodriguez

Contending for the Faith invites readers to explore two millennia of church history and to learn how God works through the churchs ministry to spread the gospel of Gods kingdom and, in the end, to defeat the forces working to oppose him. E. Daisy Rodriguez combines dramatic retellings of the biblical narrative, direct citations from the Scriptures, and reflections that connect the lives and ministries of contemporary Christians with Gods work in the church throughout its history.

Various chapters treat topics like Gods commission, the church, Christs gifts, historical critique, prophetic vision, and assurance of Gods victory. The tone is approachable and energetic, blending together explanations of the biblical background and the historical record with sections that speak to the contemporary mission of the church and its future mission. Like a lighthouse, the church has and will continue to light the way for a world lost in the darkness.

If you have asked yourself what Gods plan is for his people and wondered how to interpret the threats made by forces opposed to God and the church, then Contending for the Faith will give you both a helpful introduction to the sweep of history from the churchs birth to Christs return in power. Gods people can be encouraged and trust that God, in the end, will carry out his plans for the church, the body of Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491746509

E. Daisy Rodriguez

E. Daisy Rodriguez supports Christian missionaries who serve the churches of countries in the developing world. She and her family live in Florida’s Palm Beach County.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-4651-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-4650-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014917290

iUniverse rev. date: 10/08/2014

Contents

A Message from the Author: Jude 3

Introduction: Sin and Redemption

The Messiah’s Kingdom

A New Leader and A New Covenant

He is Alive!

In Him—the Body of Christ

The New Testament Church— Fulfilling the Commission

The Gospel of the Kingdom Penetrating the World

The Church—A Cycle of Life

Christ’s Gifts for the Body

Gift of Leadership: God’s Pattern and Order

Times of Turmoil Bring a New Order

From Martyrdom to Idolatry

Constantine’s Vision: Was it a Blessing or a Curse?

The Imperial Church In all its Power

The Floodgates of Reform Opened

Wars, Chaos, and Reformation Gripping Europe

The Incomplete Reformthe Apostasy

Israel and the Church At the End of Time

Not the Body of Christ, but the Bride of Christ

Epilogue A New Reformation—back to Pentecost

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

END NOTES

Dedication

This book is dedicated to our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ who have given their lives for the Gospel of the Kingdom.

A Message from the Author: Jude 3

After writing the last book, Beyond Armageddon, I presumed that I was finished with the work of informing the believers concerning the blessings that await all who will be part of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom and of the ages to come. I had written a previous book, Mud on the Eyes of a Blind Man, describing the last seven years of this world system when the antichrist will be permitted to take total control of the earth. Later, when I wrote the book, Beyond Armageddon, it was meant to complete the end-time story foretold by the prophets of the Old and New Testament—or so I thought.

A verse in the short epistle of Jude was brought to my attention and for some time, I wrestled with the meaning of the powerful warning the apostle gave to the church two thousand years ago. This is what Jude wrote: Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once given to the saints Jude 3 (NKJV). What was the apostle discerning when he wrote this admonition to the believers that so alarmed him?

Well, the mystery prompted the history teacher in me and the end-time watchman in me to seek the meaning of the apostle’s warning. I began a thorough study of the Word of God regarding the beginning of the church and the many problems it faced in its infancy. Since the Bible only gives information about the church up to the time of the apostle John at the end of the first century, I continued my research using the works of professional historians who have spent years studying the development of the church. As I started to connect the dots, a picture began to develop of church history, and I discovered that what Jude saw was only the tip of the iceberg.

When the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle to write this epistle with the warning to contend for the faith, it was not intended to be for that period of time only, but for all the generations of believers who have made up the two thousand years of church history. The faith that was given to the church at the time of the first apostles has been sustained over a trail of blood shed by countless Christian martyrs who have died contending for the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even today, the purity of the gospel is under great attack and we still hear the warning from Jude encouraging the church to continue defending the same faith that the original believers received.

Contending for the Faith, along with the two previously mentioned books, brings into the light the whole story of the church. It began at Pentecost and will end when the Lord Jesus comes to rapture the believers just before he administers the wrath of God on this rebellious world. But even beyond that time, the books continue with the story of the people of God, as they go into the Millennial Kingdom and into the ages to come. Seekers of end-time revelation will be challenged, as I was, by all the truth exposed in this book: Contending for the Faith.

E. Daisy Rodriguez

A worker in God’s end-time harvest

Introduction:

Sin and Redemption

The Almighty God reigns in his everlasting kingdom and he sits on his throne ruling over the spiritual reality and the material reality in his never-ending dominion. God’s kingdom has no beginning and no end; it has no frontiers; it has no official name; it is ever-existing. All the material reality of the universe and the spiritual reality exist within God’s everlasting kingdom. As humans with our finite, time-oriented mentality, it is an impossible task to even begin to comprehend the truth of God’s never-ending kingdom. However, if we so choose, we can accept what the sovereign God declares in the Scriptures about himself, and believe it by faith for it is paramount for us humans to understand our position within God’s kingdom. The sovereign God has already willed before the foundation of the world that we can become part of his everlasting spiritual kingdom and live with him for eternity. This book tells the story of how God has prepared a way for his people to live with him in a reality without end—children of the King in his eternal kingdom.

As we begin this extraordinary story of the Almighty God and his human creation, we are going to see a continuous theme that runs through the whole story: God is love and he loves his human creation so much that he sent his only Son to die a terrible death on the cross in order to undo something that happened in the Garden of Eden. The sovereign God did not only create the human race, but he had also created his angelic host before the foundation of the world. God loves his angelic creation and they are ever before his throne serving him, adoring him, and worshiping him. The prophet Isaiah had a vision of the glory of God in his throne room, and in his vision we can see how God’s angelic host is endlessly worshiping and proclaiming God’s glory before his throne:

I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!"

—Isaiah 6:1-3 (NKJV)

The Angelic Rebellion

But something happened in God’s perfect everlasting kingdom—actually to his angelic creation—sin entered in! Lucifer, one of God’s most powerful and gifted archangels, instigated a rebellion against the mighty God among the angelic host. Lucifer was a beautiful archangel and he had the honored position of covering God’s glory while leading the angelic worship and adoration of God in his heavenly throne room. But that was not enough for this exceptional and beautiful angelic creature because he looked at his own beauty and power and he took his eyes off the omnipotent God. He began to envy God’s glory and the worship given to the Almighty God—he began to desire all that for himself. What was the result? Pride and rebellion developed in Lucifer’s heart and sin was birthed.

Consequently, the very moment sin originated in him, Lucifer disconnected from the life of the ever-living God since the holy God does not accept sin in his presence. As he separated from God’s goodness and holiness, evil began to control this created angelic being and all kinds of diabolical conditions started to govern him. Lucifer became good at deception and he was transformed into the father of lying, as Jesus declared (see John 8:44). With this new evil skill of deception, he turned to the angelic host and convinced a third of them that he could become the Most High God. The deceived angels followed Lucifer/Satan/the devil in his malevolent plan and un-knowingly condemned themselves to their own everlasting destruction (see 2 Peter 2:4; Revelation 12:4). The prophet Ezekiel wrote an insightful message of what happened at the moment of the revolt in God’s heavenly realm, as the sovereign God speaks to Lucifer and his rebellious angels:

"You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you;

You were on the holy mountain of God;

You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.

You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,

Till iniquity was found in you.

You became filled with violence within,

And you sinned;

Therefore I cast you as a profane thing

Out of the mountain of God;

And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.

"Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;

You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;

I cast you to the ground" Ezekiel 28:14-17 (NKJV).

The holy and just God does not accept sinful rebellion from those who serve him; therefore, Lucifer/Satan and his treacherous angels were removed from the presence of God and from his heavenly spiritual realm. They were cast down to the ground! But what was the ground that they were being sent to? Satan and his angels were all spiritual beings and they were going to be part of another dimension that the Almighty God had just created not long before—the universe—the material reality of God’s everlasting kingdom (see Genesis 1, 2).

God selected a small planet, later named Earth, within the material reality of his newly-created universe, and on that planet he made an awesome beautiful world with plants, animals, and human beings. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were caught up in the being and the eternal life of God. Adam and Eve walked with God and by being in the life of the holy God, they were innocent in all their ways with no concept of evil. Even so, in this beautiful perfect place God had created for them, Adam and Eve were given one commandment: God told them not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and he warned them that at the moment they would eat of it, they would surely die. They could eat of every other tree in the Garden of Eden, but not of that one since there would be deadly consequences for the breaking of this one and only commandment (see Genesis 2:15-17).

The timing of what happened next is not clear since the Bible is silent as to when Satan and his rebellious angels arrived on the material realm of God’s everlasting kingdom. Nevertheless, one thing is certain: the devil in the form of a serpent was there at just the right time to pass on to Eve and so on to Adam the seed of sin and rebellion that had birthed within his evil heart. The enemy used the same lying seduction that was successful with the rebellious angels, as he took the truth of God’s words and he twisted it into a perfect deception that did not come out as a lie. The hearts of Adam and Eve were ready to receive what Satan was giving them, and thus were willing to rebel against their creator by eating of the tree they were not permitted to eat of. They broke the only commandment the sovereign God had given them!

Then, at the moment the seed of sin and rebellion from Satan entered Adam and Eve, they were disconnected from the holy God who cannot accept sin. As a direct result of their rebellion and sin, death came into their spirits because they were no longer connected to the eternal life of God. Adam and Eve did not die a physical death, like Satan had so masterfully purported, but they died spiritually and they did not even know it. Paul explains what happened at that moment and what the end result the rebellion brought to the human race from that time on: Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned Romans 5:12 (NKJV). The seed of sin and rebellion Adam and Eve received from the devil spread to all the succeeding generations of humans after them; and the spiritual death they received when they disconnected from the eternal life of God was also extended to all the generations of humans that followed them.

God’s Plan of Redemption

Did these events, which occurred in his everlasting kingdom, take the omniscient God by surprise? No they didn’t!

The all-knowing, all-seeing, wise God knew all that his angelic creation was going to do before they rebelled. He knew what Satan was up to and what was going to take place in his wicked heart before it even developed. God knew how this seed of sin and rebellion that had birthed in the devil’s evil heart was going to affect his human creation also, and he knew how Adam and Eve were going to respond to the enemy’s seductive deception.

But how are we so sure the powerful God knew all before it happened?

We know because the Scriptures reveal that God had already made plans before the foundation of the world to undo or change what the deceiver Satan was going to bring to his human creation. The sovereign God had already prepared a perfect lamb that would be offered as a sacrifice to pay the sin debt humans would bring upon themselves. Even before humans had sinned and separated from him, the merciful God had already made preparations to reconcile humanity to himself (see 2 Corinthians 5:18-19). His Son, Jesus Christ, would be the sacrificial lamb chosen to die before the foundation of the world in order