The Rapture Conspiracy Explained, page 13

[Part 1 at bottom of Page 12]

You must forgive me if I allow Jesus Christ to be my ‘Teacher,’ as His commands to Paul AFTER His ascension (visions and revelations of the Lord = 2Cor. 12:1) sanctify and separate me from the likes of someone with NO FAITH like you. All of Paul’s Epistles to the Gentiles begin the same way with “I Paul . . .”. Paul addresses himself as “Paul” seven times in the First Epistle To The Corinthians alone, saying,

“Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ." 1Cor. 1:12.

“Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” 1Cor. 1:13.

“For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not mere men?” 1 Cor. 3:4.

“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.” 1Cor. 3:5.

“. . . whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you . . .”. 1Cor. 3:22.

“The greeting is in my own hand—Paul.”1Cor. 16:21.

Shall we go through and list every instance of Paul addressing himself as Paul to make Mr. Flyer here happy? You must forgive me for taking the time to read Paul’s Epistles well over a hundred times and for my failure to keep from being heavily influenced by the Spirit of God living and active within His Word. I am very confident that Paul had his share of hecklers in his day for doing the same exact thing you complain about in my writing. “Look at this Paul idiot speaking of himself in the third person seven times in one letter. He is just like that Jesus Christ idiot doing the same thing!” Part of the reason our Bible principals speak in the third person about themselves is to avoid the constant use of “I, I, I” that takes the third party reader’s eye off the ‘word of the Lord’ and places it upon the writer himself. Addressing yourself in the third person places the reader among those hearing his message, so the “Lord’s Commandment” (1Cor. 14:37+38) is being received by us all.

Another reason is that Christ is living inside of Paul (Gal. 1:15-17) AND inside of those with the ‘faith of Jesus’ (Rom. 3:26) within their own souls (Christ in you = Col. 1:27). After decades of the new inner man (Rom. 7:22, 2Cor. 4:16) enlarging within our beings, that new voice of conscience is recognized as “Christ” Himself speaking from the innermost chambers of our very own hearts. He is the One speaking to us ‘through’ Paul, while including him among those receiving His commands. He is also the One speaking to you in many of these posts with His finger pointing at you AND at me. Those truly hearing the Lord’s Commands through Paul are unaffected by these third person references, because they hunger for the substance of the truth in his words. However, those who lack the faith of Jesus within themselves might find these things very annoying indeed. My work is like spiritual honey to those with Christ in them and like coarse sandpaper to everyone else. Let’s assume you fall into the ‘everyone else’ category.

My writing conforms to the patterns of Scripture, and God knows I cannot help it.

In Christ Jesus,

Terral

[edit on 11-10-2006 by Terral]