It Is Finished: Believe the Unbelievable

By Jeff Mitchell

Could it be that the religious institutions got it wrong? Could it be that the answers are written in the Bible yet have been overlooked or dismissed for various reasons? What did Jesus mean when he said, "It is finished"? Why did Jesus come in the first century, and what did he actually accomplish? Paul said in Colossians 1:26 that the mystery had been hidden for ages but now has been revealed. What is that mystery that was revealed in the first century? Could it be that Paul was explaining the universal reconciliation of all mankind, or is that just too unbelievable? Paul said just six verses earlier in Colossians 1:20 that God (through Jesus) reconciled all things in heaven and earth to himself by making peace at the cross.

In this book, you will read a detailed explanation of God's plan of reconciliation from the full preterist perspective as described in the Bible. This is a good news message that will take you on an emotional roller coaster, but will leave you in a place of great comfort and peace, as you realize God's love is more powerful than any mistake you ever made. Get ready to discover the love of God and his plan of redemption like you have never heard before while also learning to

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798889820000

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Preface

Chapter 1: The End

Chapter 2: A New Hope

Chapter 3: 40 Years

Chapter 4: The Final Enemy

Chapter 5: The Revelation

Chapter 6: A Heavenly Vision

Chapter 7: The Good News

Chapter 8: New Heaven and Earth

Chapter 9: It's Unbelievable

Chapter 10: Rebuilding

About the Author

cover.jpg

It Is Finished

Believe the Unbelievable

Jeff Mitchell

Copyright © 2023 Jeff Mitchell

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2023

ISBN 979-8-88731-999-5 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88982-000-0 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Preface

This book very well could be one of the most positive influences in your life, if you will just allow it. For some people, they will not be able to accept the possibility that they have misunderstood God's plan of salvation for their whole lives. But for those of us who have a hard time believing God is as unloving and judgmental as portrayed by the mainstream Christian narrative, this book will lead you to a path of understanding and peace. This book will lay the foundation of love and understanding. I believe the Bible reveals many hidden truths, but I believe the churches and scholars are predominantly wrong in their interpretation of it. Many people want to throw out Paul's letters or even claim that Jehovah, God of the Old Testament, was a wicked god or even Satan. I spent about twenty-five years in the Church of Christ, but after being rebuked and chastised over and over, I no longer attend any Christian denomination. This book is not a denominational perspective of any kind. This book is my unique perspective. Since I have stopped attending church services, I believe God has been speaking to me louder than ever. If you can open your mind and consider an alternative view, then you may come to know what I consider to be the true nature of God, which is love and forgiveness. I know a lot of churches use those words, but they follow them up with completely unloving and judgmental doctrines. Do you believe in hell? Do you believe God will torture souls for eternity? If so, then your preachers are not teaching love and forgiveness, even if they use the words. If you can actually read and consider the things written in this book, you will likely struggle to tear down your traditional beliefs, but the recovery will be well worth it.

Let me share a little of my life with you. When I was a child, I would go to church periodically and primarily to a Church of Christ, in accordance with my family traditions. When I got my driver's license at age sixteen, all the other kids my age seemed to want to cruise the town at night with their windows down and radios blasting. I tried that out, but I was more interested in driving myself to church. Even at that age, I felt a strong desire for a relationship with God. Before my seventeenth birthday, I decided to get baptized for the remission of my sins. This decision was debated within my household, but before the close of the day, I had been baptized. I attended small, narrow-minded churches because I was convinced that the big churches had compromised their faith for money and influence. I was actively involved in all aspects of the church. I was on fire for the Lord, you might say. God was certainly working on me, and I could tell many stories, but I need to focus on the highlights now.

A pivotal moment happened when I was thirty years old. I was asked to preach a sermon, and I prepared a sermon titled Are We the Only Ones Going to Heaven. Now my conclusion was not what they wanted to hear. They actually thought you must agree with their doctrines to go to heaven. So I was essentially throwing myself into the fiery furnace, but I have never been one to shy away from conviction. Needless to say, it wasn't long after that sermon I was looking for a new church. I started to realize this particular type of church was too narrow-minded for me, so I would consider new options but still within the same denomination. My life was very chaotic, and I was moving my wife and children around the country, trying to find a stable job within my career. I felt like God was toying with me, similar to how he dealt with Job in the Bible. I had periods of unemployment and great stress and instability, but God was molding me like a potter molds clay. I have always envied people who could have a stable job and homelife, but God has demonstrated to me that he has purposes that supersede my desires, and honestly, I am very grateful to feel God directing my steps in that way. Just as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10, But by the grace of God, I am what I am. I will quote many scriptures throughout this book, but in order not to infringe on copyright laws for Bible translations, I will be quoting from the World English Bible (WEB). The WEB version is in the public domain, which means it can be quoted freely without concern for copyright violations. I have never really referenced the WEB version before, but rest assured, I will clarify my interpretation.

Another critical moment occurred at about the age of forty. I had been aware of what I called the AD 70 doctrine for many years, but I was taught to deny it and reject it. I still have my personal notes on why I rejected it, but I just laugh at myself when I read them now. On September 23, 2017, there was an event in the constellations that was certainly a potential sign from God. It was the woman from Revelation 12:1–2, A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth. Jupiter spent about nine months inside the womb of the constellation Virgo, while the nine stars of Leo combined with three planets at the head of Virgo and the sun and moon were also positioned perfectly to match the Revelation 12 woman. Now I was watching this closely, as well as some guy on YouTube who was predicting either the rapture of the church or the return of Jesus, but something big was supposed to happen. Well, the date came and went, and there were no huge events of any kind. You might say I trolled the YouTube false prophet a bit, but I never received a response. Then I came across Don Preston on YouTube.

Mr. Preston is the president of the Preterist Research Institute in Ardmore, Oklahoma. I watched Mr. Preston debate futurists on YouTube, and Mr. Preston was certainly winning those debates in my mind. A futurist is someone who believes Jesus is going to return in the future, while a preterist is one who believes Jesus returned in AD 70. I went through the process of challenging all my traditions and opening my mind to new possibilities, and I am so glad I did. The Bible makes so much more sense now because I can actually believe what it says instead of making excuses as to why it doesn't really mean what it says. For example, Jesus said in Matthew 16:27–28, For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds. Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom. There was no way I could satisfactorily explain that verse away in my mind. I knew what it was saying when I first read it as a teenager. You know what it is saying, but churches deny it and convince you to deny it also. You see, I am willing to go where God takes me, even if I have to go alone, but I know God is with me. This book is for people who are willing to go where God takes them. Are you ready to stand up in the face of adversity? I want to share what God has revealed to me, but if God opens your eyes to this message, then be prepared for great adversity from traditionalists.

Finally, I want to be very clear that my motivation is not to save your soul. I believe God has already done that through Jesus. My goal here is to reveal truth and understanding, but most of all, the love of God. What I am offering is peace with God and a deep relationship with the Almighty Father, which is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find in the traditional views. Do you believe God loves you exactly the way you are today, or do you feel like God wants you to change before he can love you? Do you feel like you need to repent, ask forgiveness, and obey commands in order to avoid eternal damnation? God already set you free from bondage through his plan of salvation, but you just don't realize it. I want to help you see the love of God. The problems arise when people are taught to doubt God's goodness. It is time to break down those barriers and recognize that we are children of God, and he is our loving Father.

Chapter 1

The End

The Bible tells us the history of the relationship between God and man. The Bible story begins with the origin of light and darkness on day 1; the sky on day 2; the land, sea, and vegetation on day 3; the sun, moon, and stars on day 4; the fish and birds on day 5, the land animals and humans on day 6; and then God rested on day 7. In Genesis 1:28, God blessed his male and female humans. God blessed them. God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.' God only had one law for Adam and Eve. In Genesis 2:16–17, Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.' This law was the beginning of the end.

We have the benefit of looking back on the whole story to understand the beginning from the end, but God (in his sovereignty) understood the end from the beginning. Every detail of God's plan was meticulously predetermined, and nothing could ever alter God's plans. Paul tells us in Romans 4:15, For the law produces wrath; for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience. Why did God put that tree in the garden? Why did God tell them they could eat every tree except that one tree? Was it a test? Was it part of God's plan? When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it too (Genesis 3:6). On that day, both Adam and Eve died.

Herein we have a dilemma. Adam and Eve did not physically die on that literal day. Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves (Genesis 3:7). Adam and Eve immediately understood things they did not know before. They felt fear, shame, and deceit for the first time. They were kicked out of the garden and given punishments such as severe pains in childbearing for Eve, and the ground produced thorns and thistles for Adam. So did God lie about his certain punishment, or should we learn more about this death that they died on the day they ate the forbidden fruit? Many people incorrectly apply 2 Peter 3:8, which says, But don't forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Some people conclude, since Adam did not die until he was 930 years old, what God really meant was Adam and Eve would die within a thousand years. Second Peter 3:8 is not a mathematical formula for converting Earth time to heaven time. This verse is simply saying God is not restricted by time at all. Time makes no difference to God. Time is only an earthly observation. Revelation

Reviews for It Is Finished

[allsetsouthern · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Quote from book : "Jesus is worthy of praise, but Jesus is not God" = Antichrist