WAR AGAINST THREE UNCLEAN SPIRITS LIKE FROGS-WHY FROGS?
The end of times has arrived and what the Devil intends to do as the father of the Jews( John 8:44), is to direct the current world under his rule towards a global environment that will facilitate the establishment of his much desired Universal Kingdom, his fifth Universal Kingdom, for which Satan has been working since ancient times starting with Abel's murder- Matthew 23:33-35.Take a look. GOD revealed to the king of Babylon through Daniel this desire of Satan by interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream: Daniel 2:41-43, but in verses 44 to 47 GOD reveals how He will destroy the Kingdom of the Devil, father of the Jews- JOHN 8:44.
There will be a TERRIBLE WAR from now on between GOD's people X Satan's people. Re.11:15 says: The KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD are become the KINGDOMS of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. ( Matthew 5:5 combined with Revelation 5:10).
But Satan as a God intends to do the same with global world ruled by him-2Thes.2:3-4&9-12 combined with Revelation 12, i.e. to establish his satanic Universal religious Kingdom.
The WAR will be against THREE UNCLEAN SPIRITS LIKE FROGS-WHY FROGS?
Revelation 16:13 to 16
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like FROGS come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet.
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of GOD Almighty.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Ar - mag - eddon.
15 Behold, I come as a thief. (Get ready)
Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
PUT THIS IN YOUR MIND - THE RED SEA AND THE RED DRAGON
I believe you know that the Hebrews had to cross the Red Sea,and walk through a desert,walk until they got to the Promised Land after 40 years of pilgrimage.What about GOD's people now or in this current time?
Now GOD's people will have to go through(I mean win a war)against the Red Dragon,that's exactly it,a Red Dragon yes,this is no coincidence,it was predicted millennia ago.He's a false messiah who will soon manifest,just ahead,with great signs of lying,he will manifest in Israel like a lamb with two horns,he's a Jew,of course, and he'll speak like a Dragon. Revelation 12.3-17 and Revelation 13: 11-18.
Let's get ready to go through this not easy FINAL journey of GOD's people here until the glorious,marvelous,and day of exceedingly joy - the day 1335.Amen.
Remembering and understanding that the departure of the Hebrew people from Egypt was not without first having taken place a battle against Pharaoh(by the way,there and now is Satan himself),and when the march began for the departure of GOD's people from Egypt, then the enemy army persecuted the Hebrews,the same will happen now,initially the persecution will be by the man Beast of the sea,it is he who will first persecute the Christian believers- Revelation 13:5 - for 42 months,that is the first half of the last week, week 70th Daniel 9:v.27.This POINT is only and only the half of the way -3,5 years or 42 months,the GOD's people will need to march more 3,5 years,so the murch will last 7 years,it will not be easy this journey of course.
Again:Let's get ready to go through this not easy FINAL journey of GOD's people here until the glorious,marvelous,and day of exceendigly joy-the day 1335. Amen.
JESUS in His prayer to the Father,said: John 17:15 - I pray not that thou take them out of the world, but that thou keep them from the evil.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
We are to be at peace with one another, forgive one another, have mercy on one another.
Just a few references.
1 Thessalonians 4:9
Ephesians 4:32
Galatians 5:26
Galatians 6:2
Matthew 7:12
1 John 4:7
However, we don't lie or deceive one another for the sake of peace. The truth hurts sometimes but it promotes spiritual growth providing that the Christ spirit is in the person.
BELEIVERS SHUNNING OTHER BELEIVERS.
To shun is to deliberately avoid something or someone. In the Bible, the word shun is applied to evil. Job 1:8, Job 28:28, Proverbs 3:7-8Proverbs 14:16. So, shunning evil is good.
There is scripture that promotes excommunication. Matthew 18:15-17; 2 Thessalonians 3:14. but do we do it for harm or Good? What's the intent?
In any case, it would seem that extreme forms of shunning, such as considering someone "dead," utterly ignoring him, or refusing to acknowledge his existence, go beyond what Scripture commands.
After all, Jesus said that, when someone is put out of the church, he should be treated as "a pagan or a tax collector" Matthew 18:17. In other words, treat an intractable offender as an unsaved person.
How are we to treat the unsaved? With love and grace.
The "pagans and tax collectors" need to be evangelized. We are to love even our enemies ( Matthew 5:44).
The goal of excommunication and any form of shunning is restoration ( Galatians 6:1).
The purpose of any type of discipline is to prompt repentance and, ultimately, to reunite our fallen brother or sister with the church body. Being officially ostracized from the church, the sinner might be brought to repentance.
When the man in the Corinthian church later realized that he had sinned against God, he repented and came back to the church for forgiveness and reinstatement. Fellowship with the Corinthian believers was restored ( 2 Corinthians 2:6-11).
Isn't it hateful to ignore or shun other believers?
15We say unto you by the Word of the Lord,that we which are alive and remain unto the COMING of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep.
(Comment:Daniel prophesied:Dan.12:1
- At that time(END of Time) shall Michael stand up to fight against the red Dragon,whose satanic religious body has 7 heads,10 horns and a TAIL- Revelation 12:9-12;
- then there shall be a time of trouble (great tribulation), such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time( Matthew 24:21);
- and at that time(current time)thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book ( Revelation 7:1-14).
Furthermore,in this current time or now,even now,from now on,the Devil shall be cast down into the bottomless pit(Re.20:1-3).
Daniel 12:2-THERE WILL BE RESURRECTION SIMULTANEOUSLY
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake(according to the prophecy of Isaiah 26:19-21.Take a look), some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Comment: So, there also shall be resurrection in fulfillment of prophecy of Isaiah combined with 1Thessalonians 4:16, as follow:
16 For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout (shall descend from the 3rd heaven,we believers are still in the 2nd heaven-Ephesians1:3-8 combined with Philippians 3:20-21),with the voice of the archangel-MICHAEL- , and with the trump of GOD: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1 Thes. 4:17 - Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds( Isaiah 60:8, and 1Corinthians 15:51 combined with Philippians 3:20-21 and Revelation 5:8-14), to meet the Lord in the air(in the 3rd heavenly environment-3rd heaven-far above of the current second heaven- Luke 20:35-36 combined with Matthew 25:6): and so shall we ever be with the Lord.(Where?- Revelation 11:15-18 and Re. 5:10, and Matthew 5:5, and John 17:24. Take a look).
Exercising authority in church bears with it proportionate levels of accountability ( James 3:1). There are crowns for those ( 1 Peter 5:4) who are overseeing the flock in any capacity. While we cannot dismiss someone receiving such a crown who has a sizeable and successful ministry from outward appearances the urge to compromise leads to the situation in Matthew 5:19.
One thing is for sure; no one is going to receive rewards for teaching heresy; and continued unrepentance in this area like any other sin shows that an individual is unsaved.
It is by no means a guarantee of God's calling; but it does help when other brothers can see we have a gift and calling to be a Pastor. It seems to be a favorite rationale for getting a degree in Divinity; but I admire a brother I met some years ago who had a desire to be an elder specifically; not a Pastor. (Techinically these require the same gifting). In light of that observation; ;I have found that many large churches seem to rarely if ever give credit to Associate Pastors or even mention those under them. It could be the sheer size of the staff that is prohibitive. As I have probably pointed out before on this site; it is NOT wise for a Pastor to have NO elders or deacons working to help them and guide them; but I have seen this happen on occasion.
It is often a sign of an immature or prideful man in leadership when this situation continues. Thankfully in the one case I am aware of one of my friends was elected to be an Elder; clearly gifted in counselling others and teaching abilities.
I hope myself not to be hypocritical even with my own "sermons" online. We all need to learn from each other; and no gifting should be considered the "penultimate" position. Laypersons also should be involved; at least as members in voting in areas of church polity. Room for dissenting opinions in regard to large financial expenditures should involve preliminary data for transparency
Scripture Interpretation: Part 2 on introduction to the law and differences in Old and New Testaments
A general concept as pointed out in my last post is that the Old Testament law and sacrifices had temporal methods and sufficiency and were based on behaviors of Israel as to whether blessings or cursings resulted. The Spirit of God was more transient and was no guarantee of salvation such as seen in the example of Saul's prophesying as well as Baalam's repeated attempts to curse Israel and being overtaken to make proclamations under the influence of the Holy Spirit. David even asked God not to remove His Holy Spirit as apparently happened with Saul who needed David to play music for a temporary "fix" to his bizarre disorders.
John 16:8 essentially gives indication of permanent residence of the Father and Son in a believer and thus sealing them until the Day of Redemption. What we cannot do is glibly assume we are saved without testing ourselves to see if we are in the faith; and certain behaviors especially illustrated in Corinthians show the result of sickness and death with communion taken unworthily and the case of the man sleeping with his father's wife. There is always hope of repentance if someone is alive; but we cannot continue a LIFESTYLE of sin and be presumptuous thinking God will overlook our sin as an exception to His rule for the rest of mankind.
Matthew 5:17 states that Christ came not to abolish but fulfill the law and the prophets. This is a segway into the second theme in this introduction: Prophecy...
INTRO.
Prophecy begins with Genesis 3:15 in the garden with the serpent being told that he would receive a deadly wound and that Christ would recieve a wound on the heel (the seed of the woman representing the virgin Birth and the wound that of His piercing on the cross). Jesus was the end of Prophecy as THE Prophet; but in real time we still see Him as the Alpha and Omega in Revelation 1; and we still see 2 Prophets in Rev. 11.
1 John 4:20 is a stern admonition to those who would claim to love God that hates His brother. Other verses in 1 John show as with the Gospel of John the necessary commands for a believer to love one another. We need to look as well at verses in James which discuss the taming of the tongue. ( James 3:5-6) Gossip and slander are things that can destroy a person; hence the admonition about the fires of hell. You can bet that there will be plenty of cursing in hell for the state of misery against God and probably against others as well. Hating a brother without cause ( Matt. 5:22) is in degrees; but unforgiveness results in holding on to our own sins and is not beneficial for us even in this life. Holding onto grudges; for example is another example of a lifestyle of sin; there are people who may have already passed away who we still have bitterness about in our souls resulting in caustic behavior toward others including unforgiveness. Man cannot have unconditional love for their enemies apart from His grace. This of course doesn't validate the "political correctness" today coddling criminal behavior. Acts 2:23 is only one of several passages in the book clearly stating that the Jews killed Christ; and or complicit in His murder. Jesus didn't mince words either with this subject ( Matthew 5:21-22).
We cannot ignore the act of murder which includes abortions in this study either. Again; we dare not cede to the culture of today which doesn't want to follow Biblical precedent for a death penalty for such an act to vindicate an innocent party and to have some cohesiveness in society. We can complain all we want about dictatorships in the world; but many of them see much lower crime rates because no government can survive in anarchy. We also are foolish in trying to support ideologies that are antithetical toward the value of life because of some misguided notion that everyone wants a "democracy".
Whole counsel of God: Reading the Bible and prayer
There is the old saying "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." The same principle exists with the Word of God. Psalm 119 for instance is the longest chapter in all of scripture and incessantly talks about loving God's law. Hungering and thirsting for the Word is something said to characterize the last days ( Amos 8:11-12). This verse talks of a famine for God's word; but we also see Jesus talking about "hungering and thirsting for righteousness ( Matthew 5:6).
It seems counterintuitive or a "no brainer" to consider reading scripture and prayer as something a believer should do; but it has been my experience the enemy will use all sorts of tactics to dissuade believers from focusing on the Word and probably even more so on prayer. It is easy for the enemy to allow us with minimum distractions to read the Word of God because we can easily go into our own error in making it merely an intellectual exercise or feed off it to divert to the latest conspiracy theory or politics or whatever is trending. Prayer of course has it's own ways that it can deviate from scriptural standards; but from my experience it is the lack of prayer that seems to be a common denominator in many congregations. Yes; someone can try to use prayer as a means of spreading gossip or trying to get attention. It seems that too often there is a planned schedule for prayer and it is almost unheard of for it to extend any length of time beyond that planned timeslot even when nothing is pressing. Just to find one or two people who have an urge to pray before a service or for others when needs are expressed and can do it "on the fly" in my mind can literally mean the life or death of a local congregation. If we can't be as a weapon of warfare prepared at all times then we simply will in one way or another be compromised and heading for defeat in having any real impact on individuals or a local community.
To continue on the subject I would consider attending someplace for at least a year to understand fully doctrines ascribed to as well as to how genuine the love for Christ is in the church. If we are seeing little opportunities to contribute (which can happen in a place where one Pastor seems to hold all the cards); or where there is a great deal of pettiness; family pride (like where founders of the church and their children have had control for a long time in decision making) it may be a situation best avoided in such a commitment. This situation is occurring where a friend of mine is a new Pastor in a rural church in the Midwest.
Communion rules
In taking communion; there are what is known as closed or open communion. I am convinced that anyone who is Born Again and not living in unrepentant sin is eligible for communion. Nevertheless; there should be some discussion with a person beforehand to make sure they are indeed in the faith if someone comes in as a stranger and I can certainly get why some churches want to see if someone regularly attends for a period of time first. Waiting months on end without being given permission is something I have experienced in the past and I think that is going overboard. We shouldn't have a double standard either assuming just because someone has attended church as a member for years that they are "good to go" either; but without any real suspicion I can see how in that case an "open communion" (i.e for all members) can be given. We need to attend to warnings in Corinthians about those dying who take communion unworthily ( 1 Cor. 11:27-34). Unity in the Body of Christ in the church is represented with Communion and His presence is there along with any other actions such as two or more praying together. This is why we are to clear things up with our brother first ( Matthew 5:23-24) it should be settled-this discusses a gift at the altar but seems fitting nonetheless
Necessary doctrines: Fulfilling the Great Commission
In Matthew 25; starting in verse 14 we see the Parable of the talents. The first two individuals are rewarded with eternal rewards far greater than invested in this life but in accordance to their faithfulness now. The last servant of course lost it all including apparently his soul. There is a slightly different viewpoint in the parallel Parable in Luke 19 where reward is lost; but it would appear hell would be for those who wouldn't have Christ rule over them which is mentioned after the example of this servant at the end of the Parable. Either way; Jesus made it clear that we are commanded to go out and spread the Good News of the Gospel. A true believer therefore is in danger of losing rewards in heaven; making it in through the "skin of their teeth" ( 1 Cor. 3:15); while a professing Christian may not even be saved if they are not recognized by Christ as a true believer as we see in the Parable of the 5 unwise virgins. We see a similar pattern in the admonition that anyone who teaches others to break one of the "least commandments" ( Matthew 5:19) will be the least in heaven (i.e. loss of rewards). This makes one consider what happens for a greater commandment and how that is defined. This would be of course a "damnable heresy" ( 2 Peter 2:1) and clearly indicates damnation for such individuals in hell.
The great difficulty we have here is if we try to define what is necessary doctrine or unnecessary is that all of scripture is connected so that we are in danger of "cherry picking" what we want to follow rather than what is needed. We also have to look at the attitude of the heart. In the tale of Ananias and Sapphira; it is often overlooked that the problem was not that only a portion of what was sold was brought to the church offering; but that they had lied about their commitment or vow that was made to give all. The other issue is what people say is hard to understand. More to come..
Romans 8:16 says: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:"
Hebrews 12:6 states: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Matthew 5:44-46 says
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
These verses bring a clear understanding of those who are His children and possess His Spirit from those who don't. We can't love our enemies in our own strength in the same way we can in Him; but perhaps the other side of the argument should be examined; we cannot hate our sin; our former "good deeds" and appreciate the verse in Jeremiah 17:9 about our hearts being "deceitfully wicked" apart from a revelation from God through His Spirit. This truth results in a response of repentance whose origin comes from God; and results in actions coming from a new heart or nature; rather than just outer actions in some attempt to be righteous in our own strength. Atheists can often be more "moral" than we are in charitable giving; for example but they cannot without self righteousness. Thus; no amount of penance; fasting; etc. can save us. Jesus begins the work and to those He has called and chosen He insures that they are sanctified and glorified after being saved as we see from Romans 8:30.
Other Gospel verses show that His sheep hear His voice. We have true love for other believers if we are saved as well as a true love for Christ and we trust Him as well and have Him not just as Savior but Lord and Master as well.
The enemy will often convince us otherwise but believers have overcome the world.
1 John 1:10 says "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
Someone claiming they haven't sinned is a sin; it's calling God a liar.
Either way, people sin, including you. No one in this forum believes you haven't sinned in your life. We should strive to be perfect and try very hard to avoid sin as Jesus challenged us to do, and that's awesome if we can make it through a day without any knowledge of wrongdoing. But we have a sinful nature and with God's rules it's extremely easy to sin. And I think we might sin and not even be aware of it.
"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Matthew 5:28 KJV
I believe this means the same to a man or woman. Have you never once in your life looked at someone with lust? Never coveted? Never lied even in the smallest way? Never gluttony- overeating or not taking care your body? Always 100% respected God's holy temple? Anger? Loving others? Can anyone go an entire week or month without doing one of these?
Do you believe you've been perfect your whole life like Jesus, or do you just mean that since being a Christian you aren't aware of any recent sin?
My comment is intended to be helpful to you. I think I would do you a disservice to not challenge your assumption. God bless
About perfectness. I think the Bible uses this word with various meanings
1. Lets see as Richard says Matthew 5:48, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.". Now the verb "be" in grk (esesthai) is in the future tense and denotes an expectation. So what Jesus is actually saying here (as I understand it) is that He expects us to become perfect like God is. Well this is impossible, isn't it? So what He means is that He expects us to strive to be like God (in character). And how is that to be done? By following His commandments, which commandments reveal the character of God to us. And since one aspect (and probably the most important) of God's character is love Jesus asks us to love each other like God does. This is something gradual, isn't it? It is something that we keep aquiring through our whole life.
If we compare it with Hebrews 5:8,9, "8Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;" Here Jesus iwas made perfect by obeying God's commandments.
So perfectness again here means a whole route/course that we follow in our lives during which, by following God's commandements/directions we keep growing spiritually and getting to be like God in character more and more.
2. But in Hebrews 10:14, "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified", the word perfect has a different meaning. It means the one who has no sins. So we were perfected by Jesus' Blood, that is we are righteous through His sacrifice.
3. In Hebrews 11:38-40 says, "39And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:40God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."
Here perfectness is something that we will aquire in Heaven when we will be dressed up with our new spiritual body, completely freed from sin, death etc
1 John 1:8 states "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
Such a passage should be enough to convince someone of the fact that there will always be the potential to sin. The first thing we should point out here is that even without any outer manifestations of sin man has a sin nature. I believe it is scriptural to say that at the point of salvation we are as Galatians 2:20 states "crucified with Christ". If we are truly saved we can theoretically continue after the time of our salvation to live without sinning but the pattern of living in sin is still deep in our minds. That nature therefore must meet resistance and a believer is therefore sensing that he is "grieving the Spirit" ( Eph. 4:30-31). These verses show one is sealed indeed until redemption (by death or rapture); but that we can still do things displeasing to God.
Another thing is the use of the word perfect. Matthew 5:48 shows how Christ commanded on the Sermon of the Mount to be perfect. This was in reference to agape love; that is loving your enemies as well as your friends; in other words the opposite of hypocrisy of the Pharisees in particular. I would agree that we are called to live out our lives in total submission to the Spirit which we all fail on but we are starting to be progressively sanctified as believers. We must be cautious also not to assume our legalism is attaining any righteousness; however. Loving our brother is stated in 1 John as an imperative as well; if we show disdain because of any sin in their lives in the flesh we are sinning ourselves.
Furthermore; we have the verse in Genesis where it states that Noah was "perfect in his generations." ( Gen. 6:9). This does refer to he being the only true worshipper of God (and probably his family) as opposed to those who missed the boat; but in context it likely is not biologically corrupted as the offspring of the Nephilim which was likely everyone else who missed the ark.
Hi Momsage. I've been following your discussion with GiGi & would ask a question. You stated, "I never said I was as holy as Jesus, although I am sinless because of His divine blood and being fully sanctified." I was wondering whether you actually meant: 'because of Jesus' Sacrifice for you & your coming to Him for forgiveness, you are now both forgiven & made RIGHTEOUS before God'.
Being 'righteous' in God's Eyes & being 'sinless' (i.e. without any trace of sin, as Jesus was) are quite different states. Being righteous before God, shows us our standing before Him & acceptance by Him because of Christ's Sacrifice. Being sinless would require that not only our spirits & souls would be made new but also our bodies; in other words, through Christ's Blood we should attain an Adam/Eve state, pre-fall. Our flesh, which is corrupt & sin-prone since our birth, can never be changed, at least not until Christ's appearing for us, & it is to that flesh that Satan makes his appeal, to which we succumb (some strong in the Lord will resist, others weaker).
You shared a good illustration of what you considered a fault (i.e. your not exercising which helps you with your Fibromyalgia). I agree that this is not a sinful act. But as you know that sin has its roots in the heart & mind, not just in an outward action ( Matthew 5:21-28); here Jesus is teaching clearly the full meaning of the Law, & not just by the letter that those under the OT Covenant gauged themselves.
Even in my own example that I have shared here before: when witnessing a vehicle accident about to occur (a car ran a red light), my intial reaction of surprise & shock (which isn't a sin as it's a normal human response), turned into a thought of condemnation of a foolish indifferent driver who should know better. But did I know that driver to judge him? (maybe he was distracted, a medical episode, a one-off bad judgement)? My sin in my thoughts alone, not just a fault, came to the fore, for which I confessed.
The act of intercession; therefore is something crucial to communication throughout scripture that indeed gives us some insight of Hebrews 7:25 (He ever lives to intercede for us). Daniel also repeated this theme in Daniel 9:8-10. God's promise here was the prophetic insight given in Jeremiah 29:10. God stated this would happen; so it appears to be a done deal. There was no promise how many would do this; as is evident from the small group that initially rebuilt the wall; and the disobedience of many was seen with marriages to foreign wives. No doubt worldliness had affected the hearts of those who should have remembered the prosperity God gave them in Babylon and His promises to return after that time. It is a wonder that confession of the sins of church congregations isn't given much attention as compared to particulary egregious ones of individuals as it still affects the overall witness as we see from exhortations written for the churches in Revelation 2 and 3; for example.
Look at God's faithfulness to Israel as stated in Jeremiah 31:36 where the courses of nature would have to change with the sun and moon for God to abandon His covenant promises. In fact the only covenant changed is that related to the method of worship with the law and sacrifices which was of course replaced by the perfect sacrifice under Christ which abolished therefore the old ordinances. (see Hebrews 9-10). The object of worship was therefore Christ; God had stated in Isaiah 1:11; see also Psalm 69:31.
In understanding the New Covenant we should perceive that it is still the same God with the same characteristics today that existed in the Old Testament from eternity. We would on the surface expect that to be a "no brainer"; but how often do we see the fear of God demonstrated as in Acts 5:1-11 with Ananias and Sapphira? Our commitments to God should not be of fools ( Ecclesiastes 5:4). See Matthew 5:33-35 for ungodly vows.
One good way to determine if good works are truly being performed is if there is persecution and opposition. There are some; as you point out in Matthew 5:16 who will praise God seeing our good works (expect that is believers and perhaps unbelievers who are seeking the truth with an objective mind and open heart). This begs the question what good works actually are; especially in light of warnings about those who appear to be doing miracles in His Name even though in the end they are cast out and He never knew them. Knowing them in that sense would be an intimate knowledge; and of course involve the indwelling of the Spirit when He makes His home with them (see John 14:23).
To answer your point first; clearly bad works are evidence of bad fruit and hence an unregenerate heart. That comes from a lifestyle of sin that hasn't been changed; not from occasional sins that are still wrong but not something the Spirit will tolerate if we are one of His. Of course if we boast about all the great things we do for Christ it isn't edifying. The closest thing we can see in scripture is Paul where He had to give a laundry list of all the things to the Corinthians that he was suffering so as to keep them from being puffed up and to be able to take in the meat of the Word and stop living in carnality. His responsibility over the flock meant that they couldn't discredit God's character by exhibiting immature behavior so to disciple them this and sarcasm was needed.
Again the definition of works certainly involves our outer actions as James states must be present in helping a brother or sister in need not just words. It also would involve good fruit of character and things such as loving other Christians; having a listening ear and a general attitude of service. For instance; we can feed the hungry but also provide opportunities for them to hear the Gospel. Such actions need not be mutually exclusive.
I often hear anti-works messages quoting Ephesians 2:8-9, but they leave out the very next verse 10 which says:
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 KJV
We were created to do good works, but some like to shame others and claim that doing good works is bad because they assume it somehow takes away from grace, or assume effort is bad, assume there's instructions against it. Then oddly, they don't shame bad works though. They just say being bad is fine because its covered by grace, even if done intentionally, even if to harm others to the maximum degree, with no limits apparently, even blaspheming the holy spirit?, contrary to the scriptures. Someone has to ignore so many scriptures in the Bible to arrive at this conclusion and to massively cherry pick, like plucking out Eph 2, 8-9, but ignoring 10, ignoring James 2:17.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:16 KJV
Jesus said this. But this is like kryptonite to the anti-works group. They'd rather it say let your darkness shine that they may see your bad works, then they'd be ok with it?
Obviously satan is behind the distorting of the truth. He always twists everything to deceive people to believe the opposite is true. Imagine being a Christian and truly believing that its bad to follow Christ. Yet, I've seen comments even on this forum where people sometimes say this. We must be on our guard so we can discern truth from lies. 1 Peter 5:8
I feel led to post this info to counter anyone who may be indoctrinated by the false teachings. The best remedy is to read the Bible, not cherry pick. I don't know how anyone can read the entire Bible and come to the conclusion that pleasing God is bad, and disobeying Him is good. No one should expect to be saved if they are not even following Christ- not a Christian.
Hi GiGi: This is a summing up of what I have discussed about the Sabbath.
1. The 10 commandments were commands written by God and were for all of mankind to obey until the end. 2. In the 4th COMMANDMENT God only COMMANDED that we "REST" on the seventh day of the week for our physical, mental and spiritual well being. If believers worship and fellowship together on Sunday there is no "sin" or wrong doing in this and if I put forward the idea that I was saying this I apologize. It just seems sensible to do it on the seventh day during our rest. 3. The 10 Commandments are NOT LAWS. All the laws and statues and ordinances that were given to Moses by God were based on these 10 commands of God. The sacrificial rituals were abolished by the beautiful sacrifice of Jesus so they were no more needed but we, as believers, know in our hearts to obey His COMMANDS. Actually, all souls know to obey them because they are a part of the human conscience. Jesus said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matthew 5: 17-18 We cannot pick and choose what commandments to obey. God intended for them all to be obeyed. 4. In the scriptures, from the KJB, I have given a different understanding of the verses that others claim say that the Early Church started worshipping on the first day of the week after Christ died, understandings which are completely possible within the scriptures and some that showed that the early church continued to honor the Sabbath until "ravening wolves" entered in as Paul warned they would. 5. Following the Commands of God/living under the blood of Jesus as a believer are not 2 separate things. They are all part of being a true believer, but, if others don't do it that way, it is not wrong for them until they are convicted of it and then don't obey. God Bless :)
15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms OF THIS WORLD are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Combined with Matthew 5:5 and Revelation 5:10)
16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
John 3:
31 ...He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that GOD is true.
34 For he whom GOD hath sent speaketh the words of GOD: for GOD giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of GOD abideth on him.
Hi Christianlady7: Welcome to this discussion. God wrote the 10 commandments Himself and then gave Moses the laws, statues and ordinances to build on this foundation of His commandments. While they were originally given to the Jews, obviously, all the laws GOD gave are meant for mankind for always. Jesus said He came to fulfil the law not destroy it. Matthew 5:17 -18 (17)"Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. (18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (He didn't add "except the 4th, that one I've changed to the 1st day of the week." Please excuse my sarcasm. The NT has many scriptures that tell us, although we are not saved by the law, it is there to point to sin so we know why we need a Savior.
I especially agree with your comment of, how when we change the things of God they diminish in value. Changing the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, to Sunday has, as I know you are aware, become NO day of rest for the believer or anyone else. This hurts our witness. We cannot pick and choose the commandments to suit ourselves. The early church honored the Sabbath until about 35AD to 100AD. After that time many "ravening wolves" ( Matthew 7:15) had begun to enter in and by 345AD Emperor Constantine held the Laodicean Council and changed the day of rest to the first day of the week to stop persecution of Jews and Christians for worshipping on the Sabbath. There were many people already practicing rest and worship on the first day so He made it a law to stop the persecution. This is a simple account of the history. If you search Laodicean Council you can learn a lot more about it. Just be careful to backup what you read or hear by scripture. Again, welcome and I hope you will join in with this discussion as it goes along. God Bless :)
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"
The scriptures show multiple times such as Matthew 27:19 with Pilate's wife (who may or may not have come to saving faith) and with Paul in particular (with the jailor who he had a chance to bring to faith along with his whole family) in Acts 16:30-33. The jailor even showed compassion in washing the stripes from whipping of Paul that apparently occurred earlier. There were others who Paul was able to bring to faith who were often wives of important officials.
Jesus; of course knew what He was talking about since we ALL start out as enemies of God. This puts us on an even playing field so to speak; so that we cannot understand how God can change the heart of a serial killer but not of someone who always seems to be a "nice person" whether our family members or friends. It isn't so much important to browbeat someone as to their sinfulness to convince them to repent; ASSUMING that we are preaching about the sorry state of human souls in general with unregenerate hearts. This is how the Gospel was preached; those in authority were given general and very harsh rebukes by Christ as part of the general call. WE certainly need to clearly speak of how Jesus saved us from total depravity or however we want to describe our sorry state before salvation.
Matthew 10:28 shows what we should NOT fear (our death) and what our persecutors SHOULD fear (see also Philippians 1:28).
Easier said than done; actually not possible apart from the Spirit giving us the utterance (see Luke 12:12).
We must remember God determines when our last day is on earth not Satan or man. No doubt Satan desires 24/7 to destroy us so we must always be vigilant and not let our guard down. The same should be said in prayer for those suffering persecution today.
Asking for prayer for the FBI, CIA, DOJ, congress, and deep state who are trying to turn the USA into a Marxist oligarchy. Everyone knows the evils they commit, especially God who watches them. They need prayer to turn from their ways and be saved from eternal hellfire.
Well, now will be established the 3rd heaven in this WORLD, i.e. the 3rd celestial environment where John Apostle was caught up as a guest- Revelation 4:1- and Paul Apostle was caught up in vision, and through revelations of the Lord he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 2 Corinthians 12:2-3
Again Luke 20:35-36: They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain(to reach) that WORLD(i.e. the 3rd HEAVEN to be established here in the Earth- Matthew 5:5 combined with Revelation 5:v.10 among others references), and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are EQUAL unto the angels; and are the children of GOD(John1:v.12), being the children of the resurrection. And 1Cor. 15:22 reveals: For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Therefore, in this new millennium, there will be another NATURE, i.e. the NATURE of all things will be changed here in this Earth which was CURSED by GOD because of man, so instead of the CURSE, the blessing. This will be LITERALLY fulfilled from now on. Remember: The Word is GOD, the Word is self-executing according was preestablished and revealed by the Word of GOD.
Philippians 3:20-21 - 20 Our conversation is in heaven(current 2nd heaven, understand?); FROM WHENCE also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body( 1 Corinthians 15:51-55.Take a look.)-, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (the nature will be changed)
1 Cor.15:24-27
24 The END cometh 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( Revelation 11:15-18. Take a look)
25 For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Thank you for sharing that Brother Michael Dorsey. I do agree with what you have written, & especially noted, "The only perfect translation You are going to find is to have the Original Manuscripts". I too have used Bible Hub for years, mainly for its Hebrew & Greek Lexicons & found it to be very good & useful in better understanding words (especially those debatable ones) giving me a fuller understanding of the passage. However, one Greek brother who comes on here sometimes, did check me on what I had once written to someone (when giving a meaning of a word). He said that in Greek, my advice given was incorrect & he went further to do research on why that word was used. Apparently, it wasn't taken from the Greek text as given in the Textus Receptus, but from another source. So I say this, as one may need to take care, seeing that Bible Hub doesn't necessarily use the TR/KJB as the source material for publishing its Greek words.
And even here on this Site, a little while ago there has been debate on the word 'perfect', as found in e.g. Matthew 5:48, Matthew 19:21, 1 Corinthians 2:6. This word 'perfect' has been used by some here to denote, 'sinlessness', that we have to be, or even now, are sinless. Not sure of your position on this, but reading the Greek, 'teleios', seems to indicate more towards 'completeness, full-grown, mature'. Now in Matthew 5:48 we have a problem, we see that Jesus gives the command, to "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." So, clearly the absolute perfection that our Father fully has within Himself, cannot be the same that we need to have/strive for on Earth: that is, not towards sinlessness, but towards maturity & completeness. So, I share this just to show how important the original languages are to assist us in understanding God's Word, and especially the KJB (17th Century) which uses language & expressions that sometimes are quite foreign to us here in the 21st Century.
Rev 14:12 there is a word you forgot "AND" ..The commandments of God AND the faith of Jesus"
Jesus never said if you love me keep Moses' commandments. Nope, keep his commandments. The ten commandments are grevious Jesus' aren't. Jesus' commandments 100% conditional love.
John 14:15] If ye love me, keep my commandments.
[16] And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
21] He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
1st John 5:[2] By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
[3] For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Rev 22:14] Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
[15] For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
What are Jesus' commandments?
1) Sin not
2) Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect
3) Love one another as I have loved you
4) Matthew 5:3-48.
Jesus never endorsed Moses' ministry. He laid down the new foundation in Matthew 5.
Matthew 19:[8] He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9] And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
The commandments of Jesus the law of spirit and life which sets us free from the law of Moses sin and death.
The kingdoms OF THIS WORLD are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (By the way,remember that "Blessed are the meek:for they shall inherit the earth"- Matthew 5:5 combined with Revelation 5:10.)
16And the four and twenty elders,which sat before GOD on their seats,fell upon their faces,and worshipped GOD,
17Saying, We give thee thanks,O Lord God Almighty,which art,and wast,and art to come;because thou hast taken to thee thy great power,and hast reigned.
18And the NATIONS were(WILL BE)angry,and thy WRATH is come,and the time of the dead,that they should be Judged,and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets,and to the saints,and them that fear thy name,small and great;and shouldest DESTROY them which destroy the earth.
There will be WAR in heaven:Michael and his angels fought(will fight)against the Dragon;and the Dragon fought(will fight)and his angels-Re.12:7.
And I saw one of his heads(one of his 7 heads) as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the Beast(Beast of sea-the Gentile Beast).And they worshipped the Dragon(the Devil-son of perdition- 2Thessalonians 2:2-3)which gave power unto the Beast(Beast of sea):and they worshipped the Beast,saying,Who is like unto the Beast?who is able to make WAR with him?- Revelation 13:3-4.(Michael is.The kingdoms OF THIS WORLD are become the kingdoms of our Lord,and of His Christ;and He shall reign for ever and ever)
Re.6:15-17: 15And the kings of the earth,and the great men,and the rich men,and the chief captains,and the mighty men,and every bondman,and every free man,hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16And said to the mountains and rocks,Fall on us,and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne,and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great Day of his WRATH is come;who shall be able to stand?
Hi Chris, This verse you mentioned does not speak of the soul's eternal burning. It speaks of destruction.
"But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."
Matthew 5:22
Hell fire is the same thing as destruction. For example, if my house were on fire, it would destroyed. And, once it burns down, there would be nothing left but smoke rising from the debris.
Thank you Shabbat Keeper for coming back to me. I'll respond to your three recent posts to me with my one here.
Firstly, on the name 'Gehenna', otherwise called the "Valley of Hinnom", the Encyclopaedia definition is quite correct about the purpose why that area was set aside. It was indeed a place for the burning of refuse & the dead. And yes, it meant that they were all annihilated - no more evidence except dust & ashes. So, it can mean 'annihilation', but Gehenna can also mean 'a place of burning where the fires are never quenched'. And we know that the body is disposed of there, but what about the immaterial parts of man that remains accountable to God? And you also referenced a verse I quoted in Matthew 10:28. Taken on its own, that verse could well support your belief of a complete extermination of body, soul & spirit.
But it was for that very reason that I gave you the other verses to look up & consider. Not only was Matthew 10:28 Jesus' Words, but also Matthew 5:22,29,30; Matthew 23:33; Mark 9:43; Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 20:10,11-15. You didn't take these into account. And we know, as I trust you are conversant, that when we deal with a topic or a doctrine from the Bible, we need to take in all the references that deal specifically with it. Unfortunately, our natural human instinct is to accept only those that we find palatable or in agreement with, thus distorting the teaching from the Word.
So, if you would care to look at those other verses & see how they affect your understanding of Matthew 10:28, I would be very interested. It's only when we consider all verses on a subject, can we get a fuller picture of it meaning & its implications. However, sometimes there aren't too many verses to help us learn about the subject - in such cases we can't force a teaching by them & just leave the subject open. Yet, not so with these important doctrines of the Deity of Christ & human existence & punishment after death.
Actually Shabbat Keeper, I wasn't intending to bring up the Rapture debate here, as it has been well discussed over the years. Rather, I was intending to give, maybe a rather flimsy example of a type of Gospel message, telling unbelievers that "when we turn to the Lord for forgiveness of our sins & receiving Christ into our life, then we will not face (physical) death, but just be raptured (caught up, as with Enoch/Elijah), to forever be with him". Here then would be something for the unbeliever to consider, because as sure as day turns into night, we all (believer & unbeliever alike) will face death - whether this thought leaves an 'icky' feeling in us depends on how we view death. So, rapture is not my issue here, but why is death any more of a punishment when we all have to die & knowing that death (of the body) means a complete eradication of any iota of life (in body, breath, mind, & senses). Often death is welcome, especially for the terminally ill or suffering, & whether or not one experiences a new pain-free joyful existence in the Lord's Presence or not, holds little attraction if there is no more consciousness in death or after it.
If death is the only punishment to the Christ-rejecter, then why do we all have to die? And if I might ask (verses that some don't care to address), why are there so many Scriptures to warn us that physical death is not the end (e.g. Matthew 5:22,29,30; Matthew 10:28; Matthew 23:33; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 20:10,11-15); all these pointing to the reality of an eternal torment? As one who doesn't believe in such an eternity, I ask you (as I've done in the past with others), why are these Scriptures rejected so as to support an emotion-charged belief rather than a biblical Truth? Why do we reject or re-write these passages to suit us, when they're given direct from the Mouth of our Lord?
The end of times has arrived and what the Devil intends to do as the father of the Jews( John 8:44), is to direct the current world under his rule towards a global environment that will facilitate the establishment of his much desired Universal Kingdom, his fifth Universal Kingdom, for which Satan has been working since ancient times starting with Abel's murder- Matthew 23:33-35.Take a look. GOD revealed to the king of Babylon through Daniel this desire of Satan by interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream: Daniel 2:41-43, but in verses 44 to 47 GOD reveals how He will destroy the Kingdom of the Devil, father of the Jews- JOHN 8:44.
There will be a TERRIBLE WAR from now on between GOD's people X Satan's people. Re.11:15 says: The KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD are become the KINGDOMS of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. ( Matthew 5:5 combined with Revelation 5:10).
But Satan as a God intends to do the same with global world ruled by him-2Thes.2:3-4&9-12 combined with Revelation 12, i.e. to establish his satanic Universal religious Kingdom.
The WAR will be against THREE UNCLEAN SPIRITS LIKE FROGS-WHY FROGS?
Revelation 16:13 to 16
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like FROGS come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet.
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of GOD Almighty.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Ar - mag - eddon.
15 Behold, I come as a thief. (Get ready)
Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Wake up, quick, and get ready
I believe you know that the Hebrews had to cross the Red Sea,and walk through a desert,walk until they got to the Promised Land after 40 years of pilgrimage.What about GOD's people now or in this current time?
Now GOD's people will have to go through(I mean win a war)against the Red Dragon,that's exactly it,a Red Dragon yes,this is no coincidence,it was predicted millennia ago.He's a false messiah who will soon manifest,just ahead,with great signs of lying,he will manifest in Israel like a lamb with two horns,he's a Jew,of course, and he'll speak like a Dragon. Revelation 12.3-17 and Revelation 13: 11-18.
Let's get ready to go through this not easy FINAL journey of GOD's people here until the glorious,marvelous,and day of exceedingly joy - the day 1335.Amen.
Remembering and understanding that the departure of the Hebrew people from Egypt was not without first having taken place a battle against Pharaoh(by the way,there and now is Satan himself),and when the march began for the departure of GOD's people from Egypt, then the enemy army persecuted the Hebrews,the same will happen now,initially the persecution will be by the man Beast of the sea,it is he who will first persecute the Christian believers- Revelation 13:5 - for 42 months,that is the first half of the last week, week 70th Daniel 9:v.27.This POINT is only and only the half of the way -3,5 years or 42 months,the GOD's people will need to march more 3,5 years,so the murch will last 7 years,it will not be easy this journey of course.
Again:Let's get ready to go through this not easy FINAL journey of GOD's people here until the glorious,marvelous,and day of exceendigly joy-the day 1335. Amen.
JESUS in His prayer to the Father,said: John 17:15 - I pray not that thou take them out of the world, but that thou keep them from the evil.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
Get ready, yeah, get ready
Part 3.
How should Christian treat one another?
We are to be at peace with one another, forgive one another, have mercy on one another.
Just a few references.
1 Thessalonians 4:9
Ephesians 4:32
Galatians 5:26
Galatians 6:2
Matthew 7:12
1 John 4:7
However, we don't lie or deceive one another for the sake of peace. The truth hurts sometimes but it promotes spiritual growth providing that the Christ spirit is in the person.
BELEIVERS SHUNNING OTHER BELEIVERS.
To shun is to deliberately avoid something or someone. In the Bible, the word shun is applied to evil. Job 1:8, Job 28:28, Proverbs 3:7-8 Proverbs 14:16. So, shunning evil is good.
There is scripture that promotes excommunication. Matthew 18:15-17; 2 Thessalonians 3:14. but do we do it for harm or Good? What's the intent?
In any case, it would seem that extreme forms of shunning, such as considering someone "dead," utterly ignoring him, or refusing to acknowledge his existence, go beyond what Scripture commands.
After all, Jesus said that, when someone is put out of the church, he should be treated as "a pagan or a tax collector" Matthew 18:17. In other words, treat an intractable offender as an unsaved person.
How are we to treat the unsaved? With love and grace.
The "pagans and tax collectors" need to be evangelized. We are to love even our enemies ( Matthew 5:44).
The goal of excommunication and any form of shunning is restoration ( Galatians 6:1).
The purpose of any type of discipline is to prompt repentance and, ultimately, to reunite our fallen brother or sister with the church body. Being officially ostracized from the church, the sinner might be brought to repentance.
When the man in the Corinthian church later realized that he had sinned against God, he repented and came back to the church for forgiveness and reinstatement. Fellowship with the Corinthian believers was restored ( 2 Corinthians 2:6-11).
Isn't it hateful to ignore or shun other believers?
See part 4.
Paul prophesied:1Tessalonians 4:15
15We say unto you by the Word of the Lord,that we which are alive and remain unto the COMING of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep.
(Comment:Daniel prophesied:Dan.12:1
- At that time(END of Time) shall Michael stand up to fight against the red Dragon,whose satanic religious body has 7 heads,10 horns and a TAIL- Revelation 12:9-12;
- then there shall be a time of trouble (great tribulation), such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time( Matthew 24:21);
- and at that time(current time)thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book ( Revelation 7:1-14).
Furthermore,in this current time or now,even now,from now on,the Devil shall be cast down into the bottomless pit(Re.20:1-3).
Daniel 12:2-THERE WILL BE RESURRECTION SIMULTANEOUSLY
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake(according to the prophecy of Isaiah 26:19-21.Take a look), some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Comment: So, there also shall be resurrection in fulfillment of prophecy of Isaiah combined with 1Thessalonians 4:16, as follow:
16 For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout (shall descend from the 3rd heaven,we believers are still in the 2nd heaven-Ephesians1:3-8 combined with Philippians 3:20-21),with the voice of the archangel-MICHAEL- , and with the trump of GOD: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1 Thes. 4:17 - Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds( Isaiah 60:8, and 1Corinthians 15:51 combined with Philippians 3:20-21 and Revelation 5:8-14), to meet the Lord in the air(in the 3rd heavenly environment-3rd heaven-far above of the current second heaven- Luke 20:35-36 combined with Matthew 25:6): and so shall we ever be with the Lord.(Where?- Revelation 11:15-18 and Re. 5:10, and Matthew 5:5, and John 17:24. Take a look).
That's for your meditation
Exercising authority in church bears with it proportionate levels of accountability ( James 3:1). There are crowns for those ( 1 Peter 5:4) who are overseeing the flock in any capacity. While we cannot dismiss someone receiving such a crown who has a sizeable and successful ministry from outward appearances the urge to compromise leads to the situation in Matthew 5:19.
One thing is for sure; no one is going to receive rewards for teaching heresy; and continued unrepentance in this area like any other sin shows that an individual is unsaved.
It is by no means a guarantee of God's calling; but it does help when other brothers can see we have a gift and calling to be a Pastor. It seems to be a favorite rationale for getting a degree in Divinity; but I admire a brother I met some years ago who had a desire to be an elder specifically; not a Pastor. (Techinically these require the same gifting). In light of that observation; ;I have found that many large churches seem to rarely if ever give credit to Associate Pastors or even mention those under them. It could be the sheer size of the staff that is prohibitive. As I have probably pointed out before on this site; it is NOT wise for a Pastor to have NO elders or deacons working to help them and guide them; but I have seen this happen on occasion.
It is often a sign of an immature or prideful man in leadership when this situation continues. Thankfully in the one case I am aware of one of my friends was elected to be an Elder; clearly gifted in counselling others and teaching abilities.
I hope myself not to be hypocritical even with my own "sermons" online. We all need to learn from each other; and no gifting should be considered the "penultimate" position. Laypersons also should be involved; at least as members in voting in areas of church polity. Room for dissenting opinions in regard to large financial expenditures should involve preliminary data for transparency
A general concept as pointed out in my last post is that the Old Testament law and sacrifices had temporal methods and sufficiency and were based on behaviors of Israel as to whether blessings or cursings resulted. The Spirit of God was more transient and was no guarantee of salvation such as seen in the example of Saul's prophesying as well as Baalam's repeated attempts to curse Israel and being overtaken to make proclamations under the influence of the Holy Spirit. David even asked God not to remove His Holy Spirit as apparently happened with Saul who needed David to play music for a temporary "fix" to his bizarre disorders.
John 16:8 essentially gives indication of permanent residence of the Father and Son in a believer and thus sealing them until the Day of Redemption. What we cannot do is glibly assume we are saved without testing ourselves to see if we are in the faith; and certain behaviors especially illustrated in Corinthians show the result of sickness and death with communion taken unworthily and the case of the man sleeping with his father's wife. There is always hope of repentance if someone is alive; but we cannot continue a LIFESTYLE of sin and be presumptuous thinking God will overlook our sin as an exception to His rule for the rest of mankind.
Matthew 5:17 states that Christ came not to abolish but fulfill the law and the prophets. This is a segway into the second theme in this introduction: Prophecy...
INTRO.
Prophecy begins with Genesis 3:15 in the garden with the serpent being told that he would receive a deadly wound and that Christ would recieve a wound on the heel (the seed of the woman representing the virgin Birth and the wound that of His piercing on the cross). Jesus was the end of Prophecy as THE Prophet; but in real time we still see Him as the Alpha and Omega in Revelation 1; and we still see 2 Prophets in Rev. 11.
1 John 4:20 is a stern admonition to those who would claim to love God that hates His brother. Other verses in 1 John show as with the Gospel of John the necessary commands for a believer to love one another. We need to look as well at verses in James which discuss the taming of the tongue. ( James 3:5-6) Gossip and slander are things that can destroy a person; hence the admonition about the fires of hell. You can bet that there will be plenty of cursing in hell for the state of misery against God and probably against others as well. Hating a brother without cause ( Matt. 5:22) is in degrees; but unforgiveness results in holding on to our own sins and is not beneficial for us even in this life. Holding onto grudges; for example is another example of a lifestyle of sin; there are people who may have already passed away who we still have bitterness about in our souls resulting in caustic behavior toward others including unforgiveness. Man cannot have unconditional love for their enemies apart from His grace. This of course doesn't validate the "political correctness" today coddling criminal behavior. Acts 2:23 is only one of several passages in the book clearly stating that the Jews killed Christ; and or complicit in His murder. Jesus didn't mince words either with this subject ( Matthew 5:21-22).
We cannot ignore the act of murder which includes abortions in this study either. Again; we dare not cede to the culture of today which doesn't want to follow Biblical precedent for a death penalty for such an act to vindicate an innocent party and to have some cohesiveness in society. We can complain all we want about dictatorships in the world; but many of them see much lower crime rates because no government can survive in anarchy. We also are foolish in trying to support ideologies that are antithetical toward the value of life because of some misguided notion that everyone wants a "democracy".
There is the old saying "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." The same principle exists with the Word of God. Psalm 119 for instance is the longest chapter in all of scripture and incessantly talks about loving God's law. Hungering and thirsting for the Word is something said to characterize the last days ( Amos 8:11-12). This verse talks of a famine for God's word; but we also see Jesus talking about "hungering and thirsting for righteousness ( Matthew 5:6).
It seems counterintuitive or a "no brainer" to consider reading scripture and prayer as something a believer should do; but it has been my experience the enemy will use all sorts of tactics to dissuade believers from focusing on the Word and probably even more so on prayer. It is easy for the enemy to allow us with minimum distractions to read the Word of God because we can easily go into our own error in making it merely an intellectual exercise or feed off it to divert to the latest conspiracy theory or politics or whatever is trending. Prayer of course has it's own ways that it can deviate from scriptural standards; but from my experience it is the lack of prayer that seems to be a common denominator in many congregations. Yes; someone can try to use prayer as a means of spreading gossip or trying to get attention. It seems that too often there is a planned schedule for prayer and it is almost unheard of for it to extend any length of time beyond that planned timeslot even when nothing is pressing. Just to find one or two people who have an urge to pray before a service or for others when needs are expressed and can do it "on the fly" in my mind can literally mean the life or death of a local congregation. If we can't be as a weapon of warfare prepared at all times then we simply will in one way or another be compromised and heading for defeat in having any real impact on individuals or a local community.
To continue on the subject I would consider attending someplace for at least a year to understand fully doctrines ascribed to as well as to how genuine the love for Christ is in the church. If we are seeing little opportunities to contribute (which can happen in a place where one Pastor seems to hold all the cards); or where there is a great deal of pettiness; family pride (like where founders of the church and their children have had control for a long time in decision making) it may be a situation best avoided in such a commitment. This situation is occurring where a friend of mine is a new Pastor in a rural church in the Midwest.
Communion rules
In taking communion; there are what is known as closed or open communion. I am convinced that anyone who is Born Again and not living in unrepentant sin is eligible for communion. Nevertheless; there should be some discussion with a person beforehand to make sure they are indeed in the faith if someone comes in as a stranger and I can certainly get why some churches want to see if someone regularly attends for a period of time first. Waiting months on end without being given permission is something I have experienced in the past and I think that is going overboard. We shouldn't have a double standard either assuming just because someone has attended church as a member for years that they are "good to go" either; but without any real suspicion I can see how in that case an "open communion" (i.e for all members) can be given. We need to attend to warnings in Corinthians about those dying who take communion unworthily ( 1 Cor. 11:27-34). Unity in the Body of Christ in the church is represented with Communion and His presence is there along with any other actions such as two or more praying together. This is why we are to clear things up with our brother first ( Matthew 5:23-24) it should be settled-this discusses a gift at the altar but seems fitting nonetheless
In Matthew 25; starting in verse 14 we see the Parable of the talents. The first two individuals are rewarded with eternal rewards far greater than invested in this life but in accordance to their faithfulness now. The last servant of course lost it all including apparently his soul. There is a slightly different viewpoint in the parallel Parable in Luke 19 where reward is lost; but it would appear hell would be for those who wouldn't have Christ rule over them which is mentioned after the example of this servant at the end of the Parable. Either way; Jesus made it clear that we are commanded to go out and spread the Good News of the Gospel. A true believer therefore is in danger of losing rewards in heaven; making it in through the "skin of their teeth" ( 1 Cor. 3:15); while a professing Christian may not even be saved if they are not recognized by Christ as a true believer as we see in the Parable of the 5 unwise virgins. We see a similar pattern in the admonition that anyone who teaches others to break one of the "least commandments" ( Matthew 5:19) will be the least in heaven (i.e. loss of rewards). This makes one consider what happens for a greater commandment and how that is defined. This would be of course a "damnable heresy" ( 2 Peter 2:1) and clearly indicates damnation for such individuals in hell.
The great difficulty we have here is if we try to define what is necessary doctrine or unnecessary is that all of scripture is connected so that we are in danger of "cherry picking" what we want to follow rather than what is needed. We also have to look at the attitude of the heart. In the tale of Ananias and Sapphira; it is often overlooked that the problem was not that only a portion of what was sold was brought to the church offering; but that they had lied about their commitment or vow that was made to give all. The other issue is what people say is hard to understand. More to come..
Hebrews 12:6 states: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Matthew 5:44-46 says
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
These verses bring a clear understanding of those who are His children and possess His Spirit from those who don't. We can't love our enemies in our own strength in the same way we can in Him; but perhaps the other side of the argument should be examined; we cannot hate our sin; our former "good deeds" and appreciate the verse in Jeremiah 17:9 about our hearts being "deceitfully wicked" apart from a revelation from God through His Spirit. This truth results in a response of repentance whose origin comes from God; and results in actions coming from a new heart or nature; rather than just outer actions in some attempt to be righteous in our own strength. Atheists can often be more "moral" than we are in charitable giving; for example but they cannot without self righteousness. Thus; no amount of penance; fasting; etc. can save us. Jesus begins the work and to those He has called and chosen He insures that they are sanctified and glorified after being saved as we see from Romans 8:30.
Other Gospel verses show that His sheep hear His voice. We have true love for other believers if we are saved as well as a true love for Christ and we trust Him as well and have Him not just as Savior but Lord and Master as well.
The enemy will often convince us otherwise but believers have overcome the world.
1 John 1:10 says "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
Someone claiming they haven't sinned is a sin; it's calling God a liar.
Either way, people sin, including you. No one in this forum believes you haven't sinned in your life. We should strive to be perfect and try very hard to avoid sin as Jesus challenged us to do, and that's awesome if we can make it through a day without any knowledge of wrongdoing. But we have a sinful nature and with God's rules it's extremely easy to sin. And I think we might sin and not even be aware of it.
"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Matthew 5:28 KJV
I believe this means the same to a man or woman. Have you never once in your life looked at someone with lust? Never coveted? Never lied even in the smallest way? Never gluttony- overeating or not taking care your body? Always 100% respected God's holy temple? Anger? Loving others? Can anyone go an entire week or month without doing one of these?
Do you believe you've been perfect your whole life like Jesus, or do you just mean that since being a Christian you aren't aware of any recent sin?
My comment is intended to be helpful to you. I think I would do you a disservice to not challenge your assumption. God bless
About perfectness. I think the Bible uses this word with various meanings
1. Lets see as Richard says Matthew 5:48, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.". Now the verb "be" in grk (esesthai) is in the future tense and denotes an expectation. So what Jesus is actually saying here (as I understand it) is that He expects us to become perfect like God is. Well this is impossible, isn't it? So what He means is that He expects us to strive to be like God (in character). And how is that to be done? By following His commandments, which commandments reveal the character of God to us. And since one aspect (and probably the most important) of God's character is love Jesus asks us to love each other like God does. This is something gradual, isn't it? It is something that we keep aquiring through our whole life.
If we compare it with Hebrews 5:8,9, "8Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;" Here Jesus iwas made perfect by obeying God's commandments.
So perfectness again here means a whole route/course that we follow in our lives during which, by following God's commandements/directions we keep growing spiritually and getting to be like God in character more and more.
2. But in Hebrews 10:14, "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified", the word perfect has a different meaning. It means the one who has no sins. So we were perfected by Jesus' Blood, that is we are righteous through His sacrifice.
3. In Hebrews 11:38-40 says, "39And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:40God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."
Here perfectness is something that we will aquire in Heaven when we will be dressed up with our new spiritual body, completely freed from sin, death etc
Such a passage should be enough to convince someone of the fact that there will always be the potential to sin. The first thing we should point out here is that even without any outer manifestations of sin man has a sin nature. I believe it is scriptural to say that at the point of salvation we are as Galatians 2:20 states "crucified with Christ". If we are truly saved we can theoretically continue after the time of our salvation to live without sinning but the pattern of living in sin is still deep in our minds. That nature therefore must meet resistance and a believer is therefore sensing that he is "grieving the Spirit" ( Eph. 4:30-31). These verses show one is sealed indeed until redemption (by death or rapture); but that we can still do things displeasing to God.
Another thing is the use of the word perfect. Matthew 5:48 shows how Christ commanded on the Sermon of the Mount to be perfect. This was in reference to agape love; that is loving your enemies as well as your friends; in other words the opposite of hypocrisy of the Pharisees in particular. I would agree that we are called to live out our lives in total submission to the Spirit which we all fail on but we are starting to be progressively sanctified as believers. We must be cautious also not to assume our legalism is attaining any righteousness; however. Loving our brother is stated in 1 John as an imperative as well; if we show disdain because of any sin in their lives in the flesh we are sinning ourselves.
Furthermore; we have the verse in Genesis where it states that Noah was "perfect in his generations." ( Gen. 6:9). This does refer to he being the only true worshipper of God (and probably his family) as opposed to those who missed the boat; but in context it likely is not biologically corrupted as the offspring of the Nephilim which was likely everyone else who missed the ark.
Being 'righteous' in God's Eyes & being 'sinless' (i.e. without any trace of sin, as Jesus was) are quite different states. Being righteous before God, shows us our standing before Him & acceptance by Him because of Christ's Sacrifice. Being sinless would require that not only our spirits & souls would be made new but also our bodies; in other words, through Christ's Blood we should attain an Adam/Eve state, pre-fall. Our flesh, which is corrupt & sin-prone since our birth, can never be changed, at least not until Christ's appearing for us, & it is to that flesh that Satan makes his appeal, to which we succumb (some strong in the Lord will resist, others weaker).
You shared a good illustration of what you considered a fault (i.e. your not exercising which helps you with your Fibromyalgia). I agree that this is not a sinful act. But as you know that sin has its roots in the heart & mind, not just in an outward action ( Matthew 5:21-28); here Jesus is teaching clearly the full meaning of the Law, & not just by the letter that those under the OT Covenant gauged themselves.
Even in my own example that I have shared here before: when witnessing a vehicle accident about to occur (a car ran a red light), my intial reaction of surprise & shock (which isn't a sin as it's a normal human response), turned into a thought of condemnation of a foolish indifferent driver who should know better. But did I know that driver to judge him? (maybe he was distracted, a medical episode, a one-off bad judgement)? My sin in my thoughts alone, not just a fault, came to the fore, for which I confessed.
The act of intercession; therefore is something crucial to communication throughout scripture that indeed gives us some insight of Hebrews 7:25 (He ever lives to intercede for us). Daniel also repeated this theme in Daniel 9:8-10. God's promise here was the prophetic insight given in Jeremiah 29:10. God stated this would happen; so it appears to be a done deal. There was no promise how many would do this; as is evident from the small group that initially rebuilt the wall; and the disobedience of many was seen with marriages to foreign wives. No doubt worldliness had affected the hearts of those who should have remembered the prosperity God gave them in Babylon and His promises to return after that time. It is a wonder that confession of the sins of church congregations isn't given much attention as compared to particulary egregious ones of individuals as it still affects the overall witness as we see from exhortations written for the churches in Revelation 2 and 3; for example.
Look at God's faithfulness to Israel as stated in Jeremiah 31:36 where the courses of nature would have to change with the sun and moon for God to abandon His covenant promises. In fact the only covenant changed is that related to the method of worship with the law and sacrifices which was of course replaced by the perfect sacrifice under Christ which abolished therefore the old ordinances. (see Hebrews 9-10). The object of worship was therefore Christ; God had stated in Isaiah 1:11; see also Psalm 69:31.
In understanding the New Covenant we should perceive that it is still the same God with the same characteristics today that existed in the Old Testament from eternity. We would on the surface expect that to be a "no brainer"; but how often do we see the fear of God demonstrated as in Acts 5:1-11 with Ananias and Sapphira? Our commitments to God should not be of fools ( Ecclesiastes 5:4). See Matthew 5:33-35 for ungodly vows.
To answer your point first; clearly bad works are evidence of bad fruit and hence an unregenerate heart. That comes from a lifestyle of sin that hasn't been changed; not from occasional sins that are still wrong but not something the Spirit will tolerate if we are one of His. Of course if we boast about all the great things we do for Christ it isn't edifying. The closest thing we can see in scripture is Paul where He had to give a laundry list of all the things to the Corinthians that he was suffering so as to keep them from being puffed up and to be able to take in the meat of the Word and stop living in carnality. His responsibility over the flock meant that they couldn't discredit God's character by exhibiting immature behavior so to disciple them this and sarcasm was needed.
Again the definition of works certainly involves our outer actions as James states must be present in helping a brother or sister in need not just words. It also would involve good fruit of character and things such as loving other Christians; having a listening ear and a general attitude of service. For instance; we can feed the hungry but also provide opportunities for them to hear the Gospel. Such actions need not be mutually exclusive.
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 KJV
We were created to do good works, but some like to shame others and claim that doing good works is bad because they assume it somehow takes away from grace, or assume effort is bad, assume there's instructions against it. Then oddly, they don't shame bad works though. They just say being bad is fine because its covered by grace, even if done intentionally, even if to harm others to the maximum degree, with no limits apparently, even blaspheming the holy spirit?, contrary to the scriptures. Someone has to ignore so many scriptures in the Bible to arrive at this conclusion and to massively cherry pick, like plucking out Eph 2, 8-9, but ignoring 10, ignoring James 2:17.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:16 KJV
Jesus said this. But this is like kryptonite to the anti-works group. They'd rather it say let your darkness shine that they may see your bad works, then they'd be ok with it?
Obviously satan is behind the distorting of the truth. He always twists everything to deceive people to believe the opposite is true. Imagine being a Christian and truly believing that its bad to follow Christ. Yet, I've seen comments even on this forum where people sometimes say this. We must be on our guard so we can discern truth from lies. 1 Peter 5:8
I feel led to post this info to counter anyone who may be indoctrinated by the false teachings. The best remedy is to read the Bible, not cherry pick. I don't know how anyone can read the entire Bible and come to the conclusion that pleasing God is bad, and disobeying Him is good. No one should expect to be saved if they are not even following Christ- not a Christian.
1. The 10 commandments were commands written by God and were for all of mankind to obey until the end. 2. In the 4th COMMANDMENT God only COMMANDED that we "REST" on the seventh day of the week for our physical, mental and spiritual well being. If believers worship and fellowship together on Sunday there is no "sin" or wrong doing in this and if I put forward the idea that I was saying this I apologize. It just seems sensible to do it on the seventh day during our rest. 3. The 10 Commandments are NOT LAWS. All the laws and statues and ordinances that were given to Moses by God were based on these 10 commands of God. The sacrificial rituals were abolished by the beautiful sacrifice of Jesus so they were no more needed but we, as believers, know in our hearts to obey His COMMANDS. Actually, all souls know to obey them because they are a part of the human conscience. Jesus said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matthew 5: 17-18 We cannot pick and choose what commandments to obey. God intended for them all to be obeyed. 4. In the scriptures, from the KJB, I have given a different understanding of the verses that others claim say that the Early Church started worshipping on the first day of the week after Christ died, understandings which are completely possible within the scriptures and some that showed that the early church continued to honor the Sabbath until "ravening wolves" entered in as Paul warned they would. 5. Following the Commands of God/living under the blood of Jesus as a believer are not 2 separate things. They are all part of being a true believer, but, if others don't do it that way, it is not wrong for them until they are convicted of it and then don't obey. God Bless :)
15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms OF THIS WORLD are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Combined with Matthew 5:5 and Revelation 5:10)
16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
John 3:
31 ...He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that GOD is true.
34 For he whom GOD hath sent speaketh the words of GOD: for GOD giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of GOD abideth on him.
I especially agree with your comment of, how when we change the things of God they diminish in value. Changing the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, to Sunday has, as I know you are aware, become NO day of rest for the believer or anyone else. This hurts our witness. We cannot pick and choose the commandments to suit ourselves. The early church honored the Sabbath until about 35AD to 100AD. After that time many "ravening wolves" ( Matthew 7:15) had begun to enter in and by 345AD Emperor Constantine held the Laodicean Council and changed the day of rest to the first day of the week to stop persecution of Jews and Christians for worshipping on the Sabbath. There were many people already practicing rest and worship on the first day so He made it a law to stop the persecution. This is a simple account of the history. If you search Laodicean Council you can learn a lot more about it. Just be careful to backup what you read or hear by scripture. Again, welcome and I hope you will join in with this discussion as it goes along. God Bless :)
Matthew 5:44 states:
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"
The scriptures show multiple times such as Matthew 27:19 with Pilate's wife (who may or may not have come to saving faith) and with Paul in particular (with the jailor who he had a chance to bring to faith along with his whole family) in Acts 16:30-33. The jailor even showed compassion in washing the stripes from whipping of Paul that apparently occurred earlier. There were others who Paul was able to bring to faith who were often wives of important officials.
Jesus; of course knew what He was talking about since we ALL start out as enemies of God. This puts us on an even playing field so to speak; so that we cannot understand how God can change the heart of a serial killer but not of someone who always seems to be a "nice person" whether our family members or friends. It isn't so much important to browbeat someone as to their sinfulness to convince them to repent; ASSUMING that we are preaching about the sorry state of human souls in general with unregenerate hearts. This is how the Gospel was preached; those in authority were given general and very harsh rebukes by Christ as part of the general call. WE certainly need to clearly speak of how Jesus saved us from total depravity or however we want to describe our sorry state before salvation.
Matthew 10:28 shows what we should NOT fear (our death) and what our persecutors SHOULD fear (see also Philippians 1:28).
Easier said than done; actually not possible apart from the Spirit giving us the utterance (see Luke 12:12).
We must remember God determines when our last day is on earth not Satan or man. No doubt Satan desires 24/7 to destroy us so we must always be vigilant and not let our guard down. The same should be said in prayer for those suffering persecution today.
Matthew 5:44
Well, now will be established the 3rd heaven in this WORLD, i.e. the 3rd celestial environment where John Apostle was caught up as a guest- Revelation 4:1- and Paul Apostle was caught up in vision, and through revelations of the Lord he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 2 Corinthians 12:2-3
Again Luke 20:35-36: They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain(to reach) that WORLD(i.e. the 3rd HEAVEN to be established here in the Earth- Matthew 5:5 combined with Revelation 5:v.10 among others references), and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are EQUAL unto the angels; and are the children of GOD(John1:v.12), being the children of the resurrection. And 1Cor. 15:22 reveals: For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Therefore, in this new millennium, there will be another NATURE, i.e. the NATURE of all things will be changed here in this Earth which was CURSED by GOD because of man, so instead of the CURSE, the blessing. This will be LITERALLY fulfilled from now on. Remember: The Word is GOD, the Word is self-executing according was preestablished and revealed by the Word of GOD.
Philippians 3:20-21 - 20 Our conversation is in heaven(current 2nd heaven, understand?); FROM WHENCE also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body( 1 Corinthians 15:51-55.Take a look.)-, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (the nature will be changed)
1 Cor.15:24-27
24 The END cometh 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( Revelation 11:15-18. Take a look)
25 For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Get ready
And even here on this Site, a little while ago there has been debate on the word 'perfect', as found in e.g. Matthew 5:48, Matthew 19:21, 1 Corinthians 2:6. This word 'perfect' has been used by some here to denote, 'sinlessness', that we have to be, or even now, are sinless. Not sure of your position on this, but reading the Greek, 'teleios', seems to indicate more towards 'completeness, full-grown, mature'. Now in Matthew 5:48 we have a problem, we see that Jesus gives the command, to "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." So, clearly the absolute perfection that our Father fully has within Himself, cannot be the same that we need to have/strive for on Earth: that is, not towards sinlessness, but towards maturity & completeness. So, I share this just to show how important the original languages are to assist us in understanding God's Word, and especially the KJB (17th Century) which uses language & expressions that sometimes are quite foreign to us here in the 21st Century.
Jesus never said if you love me keep Moses' commandments. Nope, keep his commandments. The ten commandments are grevious Jesus' aren't. Jesus' commandments 100% conditional love.
John 14:15] If ye love me, keep my commandments.
[16] And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
21] He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
1st John 5:[2] By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
[3] For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Rev 22:14] Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
[15] For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
What are Jesus' commandments?
1) Sin not
2) Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect
3) Love one another as I have loved you
4) Matthew 5:3-48.
Jesus never endorsed Moses' ministry. He laid down the new foundation in Matthew 5.
Matthew 19:[8] He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9] And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
The commandments of Jesus the law of spirit and life which sets us free from the law of Moses sin and death.
Yes,Jema, as you said:"Thy Kingdom Come."
Re.11:15-18
The kingdoms OF THIS WORLD are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (By the way,remember that "Blessed are the meek:for they shall inherit the earth"- Matthew 5:5 combined with Revelation 5:10.)
16And the four and twenty elders,which sat before GOD on their seats,fell upon their faces,and worshipped GOD,
17Saying, We give thee thanks,O Lord God Almighty,which art,and wast,and art to come;because thou hast taken to thee thy great power,and hast reigned.
18And the NATIONS were(WILL BE)angry,and thy WRATH is come,and the time of the dead,that they should be Judged,and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets,and to the saints,and them that fear thy name,small and great;and shouldest DESTROY them which destroy the earth.
There will be WAR in heaven:Michael and his angels fought(will fight)against the Dragon;and the Dragon fought(will fight)and his angels-Re.12:7.
And I saw one of his heads(one of his 7 heads) as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the Beast(Beast of sea-the Gentile Beast).And they worshipped the Dragon(the Devil-son of perdition- 2Thessalonians 2:2-3)which gave power unto the Beast(Beast of sea):and they worshipped the Beast,saying,Who is like unto the Beast?who is able to make WAR with him?- Revelation 13:3-4.(Michael is.The kingdoms OF THIS WORLD are become the kingdoms of our Lord,and of His Christ;and He shall reign for ever and ever)
Re.6:15-17: 15And the kings of the earth,and the great men,and the rich men,and the chief captains,and the mighty men,and every bondman,and every free man,hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16And said to the mountains and rocks,Fall on us,and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne,and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great Day of his WRATH is come;who shall be able to stand?
"But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."
Matthew 5:22
Hell fire is the same thing as destruction. For example, if my house were on fire, it would destroyed. And, once it burns down, there would be nothing left but smoke rising from the debris.
Firstly, on the name 'Gehenna', otherwise called the "Valley of Hinnom", the Encyclopaedia definition is quite correct about the purpose why that area was set aside. It was indeed a place for the burning of refuse & the dead. And yes, it meant that they were all annihilated - no more evidence except dust & ashes. So, it can mean 'annihilation', but Gehenna can also mean 'a place of burning where the fires are never quenched'. And we know that the body is disposed of there, but what about the immaterial parts of man that remains accountable to God? And you also referenced a verse I quoted in Matthew 10:28. Taken on its own, that verse could well support your belief of a complete extermination of body, soul & spirit.
But it was for that very reason that I gave you the other verses to look up & consider. Not only was Matthew 10:28 Jesus' Words, but also Matthew 5:22,29,30; Matthew 23:33; Mark 9:43; Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 20:10,11-15. You didn't take these into account. And we know, as I trust you are conversant, that when we deal with a topic or a doctrine from the Bible, we need to take in all the references that deal specifically with it. Unfortunately, our natural human instinct is to accept only those that we find palatable or in agreement with, thus distorting the teaching from the Word.
So, if you would care to look at those other verses & see how they affect your understanding of Matthew 10:28, I would be very interested. It's only when we consider all verses on a subject, can we get a fuller picture of it meaning & its implications. However, sometimes there aren't too many verses to help us learn about the subject - in such cases we can't force a teaching by them & just leave the subject open. Yet, not so with these important doctrines of the Deity of Christ & human existence & punishment after death.
Actually Shabbat Keeper, I wasn't intending to bring up the Rapture debate here, as it has been well discussed over the years. Rather, I was intending to give, maybe a rather flimsy example of a type of Gospel message, telling unbelievers that "when we turn to the Lord for forgiveness of our sins & receiving Christ into our life, then we will not face (physical) death, but just be raptured (caught up, as with Enoch/Elijah), to forever be with him". Here then would be something for the unbeliever to consider, because as sure as day turns into night, we all (believer & unbeliever alike) will face death - whether this thought leaves an 'icky' feeling in us depends on how we view death. So, rapture is not my issue here, but why is death any more of a punishment when we all have to die & knowing that death (of the body) means a complete eradication of any iota of life (in body, breath, mind, & senses). Often death is welcome, especially for the terminally ill or suffering, & whether or not one experiences a new pain-free joyful existence in the Lord's Presence or not, holds little attraction if there is no more consciousness in death or after it.
If death is the only punishment to the Christ-rejecter, then why do we all have to die? And if I might ask (verses that some don't care to address), why are there so many Scriptures to warn us that physical death is not the end (e.g. Matthew 5:22,29,30; Matthew 10:28; Matthew 23:33; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 20:10,11-15); all these pointing to the reality of an eternal torment? As one who doesn't believe in such an eternity, I ask you (as I've done in the past with others), why are these Scriptures rejected so as to support an emotion-charged belief rather than a biblical Truth? Why do we reject or re-write these passages to suit us, when they're given direct from the Mouth of our Lord?