Is the Shipwreck in Acts 27 a Picture of the Death of the Church?
 
One of the teachings in the depart out (DO) series is the belief that the boat in Acts 27 containing the Apostle Paul and a total of 276 prisoners represents the church at the end of time. The entire chapter should be read to gain the context of the shipwreck.
 
(Acts 27:37 KJV) And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.
 
Now as I was looking at this chapter, I noticed that the DO people who believe that the ship is the end time church, make a grave mistake in their exegesis. After the ship is destroyed, all 276 people make it alive to the shores of the island of Melita (Malta) where they were welcomed by the natives. Since the story of the ship wreck does not end in Acts 27, you cannot make your allegory end in Acts 27. If there is going to be honesty in interpretation, then Acts 28 must be included in this interpretation. Notice that the 276 people landed in a place of false religion. The natives of Malta thought Paul was a god, since he did not die when the viper bit him. So if the 276 people represent the true believers after the death of the church, then how does the fact that they wind up on a pagan shore fit into the DO teachings. Since pagan beliefs in the Bible represent the kingdom of Satan, then how would the DO people interpret the landing place of Christians as a place of false religion? If I follow the DO teachings, then I would have to summarize that the true believers leave the dead church to flee to the kingdom of Satan. This is part of the neo-theologia of Family Radio.

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