Since I only just managed to get the bulk of this post complete before my 14-year old computer stopped working and was sent to the tip, I’m not quite sure if there will be a next instalment of what was potentially going to be another series. So, in the meantime this first offering will have to suffice.

“And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.” Mark 9:1 KJV

Folks, here we are in the first verse of Mark, Chapter 9 and what do we see? We see that “He said unto them.”

Which, are the ‘them’ that He is talking to?

Well, with a little attention to the previous chapter, we can readily establish that Christ is talking to His disciples and the people He called in the towns of Caesarea Philippi; a conversation that began at the end of the Book of Mark, chapter 8:

“And Christ went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan (adversary) for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:27-38 KJV (brackets mine)

So, we can see in this epic tongue-lashing that Christ gives both the people He had called, which had come, and His disciples that they are clearly provided with the supreme challenge as to events that would soon unfold; that they like He would lose their lives, and that if they did not lose their lives on account of being ashamed of Him, He would be ashamed of them upon His return soon coming in the glory of His Father with the Holy Angels.

“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38 KJV

Yet, what else do we find here in Mark, Chapter 8? Looking again at the verses preceding, we find that Peter is given a tongue-lashing on account of his penchant for desiring the things of men over the will of God The Father and what must be: 

“And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan (adversary) for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.” Mark 8:32-34 KJV (underline mine)

How interesting then that the first verse of Mark, Chapter 9 is a thing of men as it really belongs in chapter 8, at the end of the verses we have just read  because it is the final verse of that teaching!

Oh KJV, what have thou wrought?

Now to be fair, it is not the KJV that has done this, and I haven’t had the time to get to the bottom of it but here is what ol’ Jerome had back in his Latin Vulgate for Mark Chapter 9, Verse 1:

“et post dies sex adsumit Iesus Petrum et Iacobum et Iohannem et ducit illos in montem excelsum seorsum solos et transfiguratus est coram ipsis.”

“And after six days, Jesus taketh with him Peter and James and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves, and was transfigured before them.”

This, is what the Geneva Bible, the KJV and every modern translation has listed as Mark 9, Verse 2!

“And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.” Mark 9:2 KJV

What gives?

Do we have here yet another example of men doctoring up the word of God to suit their own ends? Why would they cut the conclusion of the teaching begun in Chapter 8 and put it as a stand alone verse in Chapter 9? And what a key conclusion it is!

“And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.” Mark 9:1 KJV

Folks, in these days of ‘End Times’ mania, here it is straight from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; He was not talking to those people and His disciples about His return and the kingdom of God that would come with power 2000 years and counting into the future but His return with the glory of the Holy Angels that the very people to whom He was speaking would live to see!

So, to deliver a firm and just backhand to those which, have corrupted the word of God The father with their cut and splice routine let’s put the entire teaching of Christ together the way it should be:

“And Christ went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan (adversary) for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.” Mark 8:27-39 HBTS Version 

Folks, let us just establish here and now that ol’ Jerome actually had it laid out correctly and that the Book of Mark, Chapter 9 begins at Verse 2:

“And after six days Christ taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.” Mark 9:2 KJV (strikethrough mine) 

Am I missing something? Would this not be the natural first verse of Chapter 9? Yes, of course it would.

(As an aside, with everything I have uncovered over the years why is anyone still using the KJV? Worse, with every other version of ‘the Bible’ making the same obvious mistake this is all the more proof that nobody is paying any real attention in what has become a sleepwalking industry cranking out misdirection for understandably lost sheep.)

At any rate, the ongoing and understood corruptions of scripture aside, let’s get back to the main menu:

“…That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.”

Folks, correct me if I am wrong but did not Messiah come 2000-odd years ago? So, who was He speaking to and when? Indeed, He was speaking back then to people back then 2000-odd years ago. So, help me understand something. Was Christ a bit weary from all His journeying? Was He a little tipsy after a few too many ales at the local pub? Was He feeling a bit off and not in His right mind? Had He got food poisoning? Had He eaten wild hallucinogenic mushrooms? Not having any record of such things and knowing that He is The Truth, I can’t imagine any of those scenarios being possible. Therefore, I deduce that He was in fact in His right mind and knew exactly what He was saying. Moreover, His words are The Truth and if they are not then we might as well just go home forever consigned to a hopeless fruitless existence where the possibility of truth is non-existent.

So, what was He saying? He was saying that there were people right then and there 2000-odd years ago, even with him at that very moment, to whom He even looked straight in the eye whilst speaking, that would not die until… …they had seen the kingdom of God come with power!

Folks, look outside your windows, search your mind and maybe have a wonder on the minds of others and what just might be bouncing around within. Are there people alive today, which, truly believe that people alive 2000 years ago are still alive with us now; that among us today are ancient 2000-year old followers of Christ? Really? Do people really believe that? What are these 2000-year old people doing? Where are they hiding? Not even Noah lived that long!

Well, it is simply not the case. There are no 2000-year old people among us today, hiding out in various costume disguises, eternally ageless, or lurking in the shadows waiting for the final prophesied events to unfold. There are no science fiction, shape-shifting time-travellers among us either. This verse, so oddly placed as to be almost hidden as a one-off stand-alone at the beginning of Mark 9 in all modern Bibles is critical in clarifying that in no uncertain terms are we in the ‘End Times’ now, waiting for His pending return but that all was fulfilled just as Christ said it would be 2000-odd years ago; He is not coming back anytime soon on clouds in great power and glory because that has already happened.

So, is the victory of Christ total, finished and complete? Well, the obvious answer to that question is ‘Yes!’.

Of course it is. This is why the last thing He said before He gave up the ghost was:

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” John 19:30 KJV

He was not only referring to the work His Father had sent Him to complete and the end of the Old Covenant, but also His complete and total victory. The idea that Christ is somehow in a state of suspended animation with things not yet finished is non-scriptural and illogical. So, we find then that it is the faith of millions of so-called ‘christians’ world over that is in a state of suspended animation; incomplete and unfinished, non-scriptural and illogical; held in suspended delusion by the very wolves in sheep’s clothing we were all warned about, with the worst of the worst haranguing us the “Jews are God’s chosen people” and “the return of Christ is pending when they will finally accept Him.” What a load of bollocks!

It is this very lack of faith in the complete and total victory of Christ that has rendered so many sleepwalking impotent ‘christians’ ready victims for well placed, shining, new and ‘modern’ ideas; ideas you will hopefully recall from the tongue-lashing Christ gave Peter in Mark, Chapter 8 that emerge to suit the minds of men!

What began with Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans has carried on through to faithless wretches like C.S. Lewis fostering weak, feckless ‘christians’ forever apologising purveyors of what now looks like superstition – and is actually superstition – a whole train wreck of superstitious garbage based upon a pure lack of faith that Christ actually did what He said He would. Talk about suiting the minds of men! As I have stated before if Christ did not do what He said He would then we might as well all go home to a hopeless untruthful future; so many have. 

If you would but care to peruse the Internet today on the topics of ‘End Times’ prophecy and the return of Christ you will see countless millions all caught up in the mania. This mania is religious delusion and so, sadly, it is the end of any real faith in the complete and total victory of Christ.

“Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.” Mark 9:50 KJV