The Value of Evangelism in Reform Theology

I have been offering commentary in the context of the "sheep" metaphor that God uses for Israel. You have taken the position that it, the sheep metaphor, is applied to the church and to gentiles as well and it has no special and prophetic significance because of it. if I understand your theology, you do not see any "ages" after the church age when God will take up his cause in these people. I have quoted a number of passages from the OT where that metaphor is established for these people and the Messiah is prophesied to come and gather them back from the mountains and hills where they have been driven because of past unfaithful shepherds. It is in that sense that these Jewish Christian epistles have a dual application.

If I see no ages beyond the church age where God is dealing with Jewish people in a particularly Jewish manner with restored sacrificial and ritualistic practices it is because the New Testament does not teach any such thing

Rather the bible teaches universal resurrection, rapture and judgment at Christs return

And I follow the principle of hermeneutical priority of the New Testament

As the New Testament revelation is the clearest revelation we have; old testament prophesy should be understood within the context of it

Further restoration of the old testament sacrificial and it's relational practices fly in the face of Christs once and for all sacrifice which is the true reality the old testament economy pointed to

It was but a shadow which pointed to the true reality

Having established the reality why go back to what was described as beggarly

Gal. 4:9 —KJV
“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?”

In any case what you extoll appears to be Scofield dispensationalism
 
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So, how does God love the world? Like this: everyone who believes in Jesus Christ will be saved, which is exactly what I posted.


You have made two unwarranted assumptions here.

1) You have assumed what "not very from any one" means, without providing any evidence for your claim and without considering any other possibilities.

2) You have assumed that God has wants that he cannot fulfil (i.e. wishful thinking).

I assume nothing! ἑνὸς ἑκάστου ἡμῶν means "each one of us", which can only mean every single one of us, us meaning all human beings, because Paul is not referring to only believers in context, but each one, each member of the human race!

And God loves the world, which means the whole of mankind, by sending his only Son to all of mankind, so that whoever of all mankind believes in the given Son, will not perish but have everlasting life.


Doug
 
So, how does God love the world? Like this: everyone who believes in Jesus Christ will be saved, which is exactly what I posted.

By giving his son for the world

John 3:16 —KJV
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

John 6:51 —KJV
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
 
I have not been presenting an argument about dispensationalism, I have been presenting an argument about word meanings and context. You seem confused about this.

So you are taking a well known talking point method when you make a statement like this following.

"an inconsistent ever changing invention of a few men"

The real change in the scriptures by the addition of doctrinal words and phrases that cannot be found in any bible, even the really bad ones. Take a look.

total depravity
irresistible grace
sovereign election
sovereign grace
limited atonement
unconditional election
original sin
determinism
solas
sovereign

I could go on but God says none of these things and here you are presenting yourself as the smartest person in the room because you believe things God has never said. It is God's words that he is asking us to believe, not yours.

I reject your claim of superiority as the chosen of God above all others and your practice of adding to the word of God.
I am asking you to believe the words without changing them and to honor context. That is all.
Are you dispensational ? yes or no
 
Rather the bible teaches universal resurrection, rapture and judgment at Christs return
No, it does not teach that at all. The resurrection is pictured in the scriptures as a harvest after a growing season. In the OT physical harvest there was a first fruits of the harvest, a main harvest, and the gleanings. The spiritual harvest will follow the pattern given in the types and will consist of the 3 parts of one resurrection for all the saved and justified believers. We already have the firstfruits of the harvest. here

Matt 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

Here is the order and the complete whole ina single passage, if you will receive it.

1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.


The trinitarian signature is on all God's handiwork and the denial of modern day churchianity of his magnificent wisdom is clouded greatly by it's doctrines. The OT feasts of Israel with 7 feasts and 3 festivals making one complete teaches the whole of NT truth.

1) Passover
2) Unleavened bread
3) Firstfruits

Festival

4) Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)

Festival

5) Trumpets
6) Day of Atonement
7) Tabernacles

Festival

This is the OT picture of the NT truths. Spring, summer, and fall. Four of these feasts have been fulfilled. The harvest is all that is lacking.


1) Jesus Christ came to die for sinners and rises from the dead -
2) He comes in the air in the clouds for the church, his bride
3) he comes with his bride to put down anarchy and establish his earthly kingdom through the chief nation, Israel.

The next feast day is trumpets. The day is far spent.

God always paints spiritual truths with a physical paint brush. That is the way of God.
 
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No, it does not teach that at all.
Well lets see

Resurrection is on the last day

John 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of hall that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who look's on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 11:24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Whoever believes on the son is raised up at the last day

It is at the last Trumpet

1 Cor. 15:51–54 —ESV
“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.””

at Christ's return

1 Cor. 15:22–23 —ESV
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

1 Th. 4:15–17 —ESV
“For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

and the living will be caught up as well at that time
 
In the prologue of the book Deconstructing Calvinism by Hudson Smelley, is found this statement:

Calvinism completely compasses God's redemptive plan and teaches that God saves a small percentage of humanity based on His elective determination before creation and passes over the rest. Since God's redemptive plan excludes most people, there is no basis for us to tell a lost person that God loves them, that Jesus died for them, that they should believe in Christ for salvation, or that there is hope beyond the grave. If the lost person is not elect, we would be misleading them if we said any of those things. Indeed, it is difficult to see how we could make any honest gospel presentation knowing most people are by God's purposes not savable. Not only that, since salvation hangs on God's elective determination before creation and not on a present decision for Christ, we must make this TULIP reality personal. We must come to grips with the fact that many of those we know, and perhaps some of those closest to us, have no possibility of being reconciled to God because they are not elect.

What caught my eye is the idea that "there is no basis for us to tell a lost person that God loves them, that Jesus died for them, that they should believe in Christ for salvation, or that there is hope beyond the grave. If the lost person is not elect, we would be misleading them if we said any of those things."

I had always thought the Calvinistic evangelism was like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack,, the rare Elect person in the mass of reprobates, but had never thought of the effect of the presentation of the gospel to those who would never be able to experience it. Smelley terms it "misleading" them to think that they might be savable, when in fact, there isn't a sliver of hope that this would happen.

What are your thoughts, either pro or con to Smelley's thought?


Doug
It is not necessarily true that God loves everyone. Read Psalm 5:5; 11:5.

Furthermore, given the verses in Psalms, you don't know if God loves anybody that you are speaking with.

Finally, I witness a great deal and I simply say Jesus died for sinners. I tell them that they need to repent and believe in Christ. All of the statements are true. If, in God's great mercy, he opens their mind to understand the truth and receive Christ (Acts 16:14), then they will be justified by faith... Same as anyone who trusts in Christ.
 
It is not necessarily true that God loves everyone. Read Psalm 5:5; 11:5.

Furthermore, given the verses in Psalms, you don't know if God loves anybody that you are speaking with.

Finally, I witness a great deal and I simply say Jesus died for sinners. I tell them that they need to repent and believe in Christ. All of the statements are true. If, in God's great mercy, he opens their mind to understand the truth and receive Christ (Acts 16:14), then they will be justified by faith... Same as anyone who trusts in Christ.
As a note John Piper of desiring God seems to think he does

 
It is not necessarily true that God loves everyone. Read Psalm 5:5; 11:5

Matt, thank you for chiming in on my thread, I appreciate it.

With all do respect, I think you're reading to much into the meaning of the Psalmist's words. I hate it when those in my life do wrong things with arrogant pride, but that does mean that I don't desire better of and for them, that I don't sincerely desire them to change.

The thieves on the cross with Jesus are a good example. The one showed remorse and acceptance of his guilt and punishment, the other remained arrogant and belligerent. But this doesn't mean that Jesus didn't want to speak to the second thief the way he did to the first. God can hate the way we live our lives and yet desire better and love them for what he intended and wants them to be.

I think the tenor of Psm 5:5 and 11:5 are ultimate endings, not necessarily the current state of activity. God certainly will hate those who ultimately choose to be arrogant and hateful as their way of life, and he will destroy all liars in the end, but this does not necessitate a lack of love for them as they are going through life. You are, I think, logically forced into your conclusion because of the decreed, and not by the language of scripture directly, for I don't think these verses in Psalms carry the meaning you portray in them.

I have no doubt that you do a great deal of evangelizing, or that there is sincerity in your efforts. I just think that you are practicing better than your theology allows, and that you have to temper your message to eliminate the very motivation that point prices the gospel that we share and preach, that God showed his love of the world of mankind by the gift of his Son. There is no gospel sans the love of God, and that is the one thing you cannot say with certainty to those you to which you preach.

Thank you for your perspective, I am truly grateful,

Doug
 
Td

And God loves the world, which means the whole of mankind

Could not be further from the truth. God hates all the workers of iniquity Ps 5:5

The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity
 
Td



Could not be further from the truth. God hates all the workers of iniquity Ps 5:5

The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity
Here is a rule that will help determine the historical and prophetical context in the psalms. If you are reading about the King, then most likely you are reading of a time when our Lord is prosecuting his office on the earth as King. You will notice in Ps 5 that David says the Lord will destroy them that speak leasing. Since the earthly kingdom of Christ is described by the prophets of Israel as a glorious and peaceful, and as a righteous kingdom and that rebels and unbelievers are destroyed through great tribulation and by the second coming of Jesus Christ before it's institution, it is perfectly reasonable and logical for the psalmist to foresee a kingdom without rebels in it as citizens.

We have this context in Psa 5;

2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

This is a Psalm of David. He is a prophet and his songs are prophetic.

Acts 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

History shows that our Lord Jesus occupies 3 offices over the earthly concurrently. He is the perfect prophet, he is the perfect priest, the office he is occupying at the Father's right hand in this very day, and the office of the perfect King, which is future.


Acts 3:22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

Hebrews 4:14
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

Re 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.

The Psalms are wonderful.
 
It is not necessarily true that God loves everyone. Read Psalm 5:5; 11:5.

Furthermore, given the verses in Psalms, you don't know if God loves anybody that you are speaking with.

Finally, I witness a great deal and I simply say Jesus died for sinners. I tell them that they need to repent and believe in Christ. All of the statements are true. If, in God's great mercy, he opens their mind to understand the truth and receive Christ (Acts 16:14), then they will be justified by faith... Same as anyone who trusts in Christ.


Love is not an itchy feeling that you can't scratch. The fact that God must judge sin because of his character does not mean he has not expressed love through his provisions for even those who oppose him and disobey him. His anger is against sin but he pities sinners. This is why he sent his son so he could express his love and mercy towards them.

The scriptures calls it the work of God. It has been a real effort for him to save us.

Jn 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

It rains on the just and the unjust and all good and perfect gifts come down from above, from the father of lights....

The men he was talking to were men who opposed him and he said this to them in the same context;

Jn 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

He said ye will not come to me, not that you cannot come to me.
 
Here is a rule that will help determine the historical and prophetical context in the psalms. If you are reading about the King, then most likely you are reading of a time when our Lord is prosecuting his office on the earth as King. You will notice in Ps 5 that David says the Lord will destroy them that speak leasing. Since the earthly kingdom of Christ is described by the prophets of Israel as a glorious and peaceful, and as a righteous kingdom and that rebels and unbelievers are destroyed through great tribulation and by the second coming of Jesus Christ before it's institution, it is perfectly reasonable and logical for the psalmist to foresee a kingdom without rebels in it as citizens.

We have this context in Psa 5;

2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

This is a Psalm of David. He is a prophet and his songs are prophetic.

Acts 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

History shows that our Lord Jesus occupies 3 offices over the earthly concurrently. He is the perfect prophet, he is the perfect priest, the office he is occupying at the Father's right hand in this very day, and the office of the perfect King, which is future.


Acts 3:22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

Hebrews 4:14
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

Re 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.

The Psalms are wonderful.
God still hates the workers of iniquity and so does not love all humanity!
 
Well lets see

Resurrection is on the last day

John 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of hall that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who look's on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 11:24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Whoever believes on the son is raised up at the last day

It is at the last Trumpet

1 Cor. 15:51–54 —ESV
“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.””

at Christ's return

1 Cor. 15:22–23 —ESV
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

1 Th. 4:15–17 —ESV
“For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

and the living will be caught up as well at that time


The OT pictures Israel as being the unfaithful wife of Jehovah, not the bride of Christ. Jehovah will divorce his wife and put her away only to restore her when she returns to him in repentance and faith. She is considered dead because she is separated from him. This analogy is given plainly in Hosea where this aspect of God's relationship with Israel is clearly spelled out. This is the physical brush that God has used to paint the spiritual and prophetic picture.

The church of Jesus Christ is not revealed in the OT prophets. It is a hidden truth. It, the church, is not revealed until the apostle Paul is saved and God reveals the church through his letters. It has it's foundation in Jesus Christ and the Jewish remnant of believers during the apostolic era, but it has a gentile character and is pictured as the bride of Christ, taken from his body and presented to him as his wife. The physical brush that paints this picture of a spiritual truth is Adam and Eve.

If one reads chapter 5 of the gospel of John he will discover that Israel has failed to accept Jesus Christ and his mission to her as a nation. However, he has given to Jesus all who will come to him, but not as a nation, but individually. They will be the firstfruits of the Spirit, who he will send back from heaven after he is crucified as the eternal sacrifice for sin and ascended to the Father's throne in heaven.. Later, because of the unbelief of the Jewish nation, we are told the gentiles were accepted in addition to these Jewish believers until the house was filled. So, it is not a nation or a kingdom that is being formed while Israel is divorced from God and buried in the graveyard of the nations, but a family, of which Jesus Christ is the head.

The resurrection of these believers is not the same resurrection of the nation Israel and does not happen at the same time as the glorification of the body of Christ, the church.

Here is a prophecy of the resurrection of Israel as a nation in a chapter where they are currently a generation f unbelievers.

The contrast of what I am posting next is between the remnant of Israel, the believers in Christ, and the nation who rejected him at his first coming.

Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the casting away of them (Israel) be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

Life from the dead is a resurrection.

The scriptures have context that your religion cause you to totally miss. John 6 does not prove a general resurrection and it says nothing about one.
 
The OT pictures Israel as being the unfaithful wife of Jehovah, not the bride of Christ. Jehovah will divorce his wife and put her away only to restore her when she returns to him in repentance and faith. She is considered dead because she is separated from him. This analogy is given plainly in Hosea where this aspect of God's relationship with Israel is clearly spelled out. This is the physical brush that God has used to paint the spiritual and prophetic picture.

The church of Jesus Christ is not revealed in the OT prophets. It is a hidden truth. It, the church, is not revealed until the apostle Paul is saved and God reveals the church through his letters. It has it's foundation in Jesus Christ and the Jewish remnant of believers during the apostolic era, but it has a gentile character and is pictured as the bride of Christ, taken from his body and presented to him as his wife. The physical brush that paints this picture of a spiritual truth is Adam and Eve.

If one reads chapter 5 of the gospel of John he will discover that Israel has failed to accept Jesus Christ and his mission to her as a nation. However, he has given to Jesus all who will come to him, but not as a nation, but individually. They will be the firstfruits of the Spirit, who he will send back from heaven after he is crucified as the eternal sacrifice for sin and ascended to the Father's throne in heaven.. Later, because of the unbelief of the Jewish nation, we are told the gentiles were accepted in addition to these Jewish believers until the house was filled. So, it is not a nation or a kingdom that is being formed while Israel is divorced from God and buried in the graveyard of the nations, but a family, of which Jesus Christ is the head.

The resurrection of these believers is not the same resurrection of the nation Israel and does not happen at the same time as the glorification of the body of Christ, the church.

Here is a prophecy of the resurrection of Israel as a nation in a chapter where they are currently a generation f unbelievers.

The contrast of what I am posting next is between the remnant of Israel, the believers in Christ, and the nation who rejected him at his first coming.

Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the casting away of them (Israel) be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

Life from the dead is a resurrection.

The scriptures have context that your religion cause you to totally miss. John 6 does not prove a general resurrection and it says nothing about one.
I do not see that you have actually addressed what was written

First it did not depend wholly on John 6 and the fact all are not regenerated at the last day can only indicate physical resurrection is in view

Resurrection is on the last day

John 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of hall that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who look's on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 11:24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Whoever believes on the son is raised up at the last day

Judgment is also at the last day

John 12:48 —ESV
“The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.”

It is at the last Trumpet

1 Cor. 15:51–54 —ESV
“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.””

at Christ's return

1 Cor. 15:22–23 —ESV
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

1 Th. 4:15–17 —ESV
“For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

and the living will be caught up as well at that time

As noted you have not produced any evidence which is capable of setting aside a belief in a universal resurrection on the last day when Christ returns
 
You've left out at least one very important step. A step that Paul explicitly required.

Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Where would you incorporate this verse into your list?
I've left out many things. It was not supposed to be comprehensive, just a brief summary.

The parts of the verse would fit in as follows.

Hear the gospel preached, born again, believe in the Lord, call on the Lord, etc.
 
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