Thessalonians Book III

The "Heavenly Citizens" series serves as a tool to help the Christian understand not only what the Bible teaches us, but also how to study the Bible. Explaining what the Bible teaches is like giving someone a fish to eat. Teaching him how to study the Bible is like teaching someone how to fish so he can feed himself. Both approaches are essential to developing spiritual maturity."Thessalonians" is the eighteenth volume in the "Heavenly Citizens" series. The Apostle Paul begins both of these two letters with a greeting from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They are written to the Church of Thessalonica, located Macedonia (northern Greece). Thessalonica was on the main landed trade route between Rome and the Roman province of Asia (contemporary Turkey). As such, it had strategic value for spreading the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire. It was an aphorism of the times back then, that all roads lead to Rome. In that vein it was also true that all roads in Rome lead throughout the Empire. Sharing the Gospel and planting churches on Rome's main military and trade routes killed two birds with one stone: new churches were planted, and the Gospel was advertised, and thus disseminated, by folks coming into contact with believers, as they traversed the Roman Empire. Think of it as the churches serving as huge billboards along the interstate today. Macedonia was a part of Greece. As such, the folks there relished in the opportunity to glory in Greek culture, which included the intellectual achievements of the Greek philosophers of old. The pride of being a part of the world's smartest minds, well, who wouldn't enjoy living off the fame of others?But being outside the periphery of Achaia and Athens (southern Greece), the Macedonians were not as steeped in the actual intellectual acumen which their southern brethren were. Ergo, the Gentile heresy which beset the Church of Corinth (southern Greece) was not a problem in Thessalonica. Still, they were Greek, so we should not be surprised to find that false teaching began to rear its ugly head quite quickly in the Church of Thessalonica. These false teachings revolved around the issues of eschatology, i.e., the end times or last days (aka the Apocalypse). Microwave Bible might be quick, but it can never nourish a growing boy into a spiritual man of God. So for a thorough understanding of these issues, we invite you to come inside and join the Bible class with us. We plan to delve into each and every detail and get to the bottom of it. After all, we do want our church today to be spiritually vibrant and fecund, don't we? What better way to accomplish this, than to enjoy a thorough study of the Apostle Paul's "Letters to the Thessalonians". The approach for "Thessalonians", and for every volume in the "Heavenly Citizens" series, is to teach the student the meaning of Scripture. We also teach him or her how to study the Bible on his/her own. We do this in two ways: we provide a few rules by which to govern our Bible study, and we demonstrate by example how to study the Bible. Experience is an outstanding teacher. In our books we practice the rules for Bible study. By walking through the Bible with us, the reader experiences firsthand what our method of study is like. We believe the student will come out of our studies with both an understanding of the Bible and the ability to truthfully understand the Bible on his/her own. The path lies before you. Walk through the gate and join the journey with us! And may the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ be yours in abundance.