Willamette Valley Warning

Bill Somers' Site ^ | 12 June 2006 | Lloyd Day

[JockoManning]

Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

jm

[JockoManning]

Hi Quix,

Qx: Though I have a lot more certainty about this being the end times than your sentence implied. I think you do, too.

jm: My sense is that the Last Days are imminent. But either way, my job is to love God and to love people and to remain faithful.

Qx: I attended the funeral of de Bro Eucebio sp? De Leon today--Pastor's wife's grandfather, as you know. It was a very precious time. The Presence of God was heavily in the place. His whole reputation was one of loving God and his family and other and trying to insure that all knew Jesus and were ready to go.

It was a very teary service for me even though I know without a doubt that Bro De Leon, Poppo, is in Heaven with The Lord doing better than ever.

It was so precious to sense His Love for Jesus again in his reputation and The Lord's Love for him in that service. It was sooooo precious.

jm: Am very glad the presence of the Lord was sweet at the funeral. Am blessed to know of the godly heritage of that family. Am glad the departed is in the presence of the Lord.

Qx: It's a current dilemna as you know with my 84 year old stepdad's trip to Alaska. I have felt such a strong press in my spirit to try and get the amendment to the trust done that he wants. And I did. Then he insists that he has to read it many more times and won't sign it until he returns.

I told him that I felt I needed to get it done before his trip but he just gave me a sharp response that he wasn't going to sign it before his trip. I'm puzzled about how to handle it now.

jm: I don't think there's much that can be done. He's given you his answer. I trust the Lord will preserve him through the trip and bring him safely back.

Qx: This sense is more like there's a 70-80% chance that dad will return in good health from Alaska but not 100% I don't know how better to put it. I think he is likely to come back safe and sound. But I still have that strong sense that I needed to get the legal papers revised--which I did and then he bowed up about it even though he wants it done, too. Thankfully, the other trustee is more than reasonable and it should not be a problem regardless but it would be so much easier if he took care of it before he left.

And then there's just the conversations that are difficult to have with him though he thinks he's easy to talk to. I'm pretty much not ready at all for him to graduate. But I've done about as much as I can do to prepare for and help prepare him for it. And, he has seemed increasingly diligent to get piddly chore stuff done around the place that he wants done before he graduates.

jm: All one can do is take it one step at a time and trust the Lord to orchestrate all the people involved and all the details. Our life and times are in His hands. The limitations and capacities of each person in the situation are still within the scope of God's omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. May His sovereign will be done.

Qx: These sorts of feelings and considerations are pretty common for some of us believers in such situations. I don't have an easy pat answer. I don't think there is an easy pat answer. We all see through the glass darkly. We all are flawed human beings with imperfect walks with God.

God IS VERY ABLE to speak very emphatically and at loud volume in a variety of ways WHEN HE WANTS a message to be unmistakeable and unmistaken. But He OBVIOUSLY PREFERS that still small voice Scripture speaks about. There's something mysterious and important about our training with regard to that still small voice. And pat answers just don't fit.

jm: Yep. The puppy dog and the toddler feel themselves to be so autonomous, but actually, in healthy situations, grown-ups are closely monitoring puppies and tikes without their awareness. I think the Lord does the same with us, watching closely. And we understand Him and His ways less well than the puppies and toddlers understand their caregivers.

And it's SO much more about the believer seeking the face of God, walking by faith and trusting Him, than it is about the actual issue at hand. That's my sense. I try to be mindful of this no matter how hectic my day is or how overwhelmed I am dealing with any list of challenges and to include Him rather than try to handle it on my own, with a right attitude rather than a rotten attitude. Let patience have its perfect work.

Good to hear how you are doing. I would say, "thanks for sharing" but that would sound corny.

Blessings to you too,
Very glad to communicate,
Thanks again for all you do and who you are,
jm

[aimhigh]

To me, a false prophet is someone who fabricates something and says God told it to him. Sigh. Do YOU think that's what Lloyd Day did?

I've been chewing on this question ever since you asked it, and now have a better answer. How do we discern a false prophet?

Our natural response is to try to know the source of the prophecy, be it from an evil spirit, evil motives, self deception, or last night's pizza. The scriptural response is to discern if the prophecy is from God. One scripture tells us to test all spirits to see if they are of God. If a spirit or prophecy isn't from God, then knowing the source isn't important. The important thing is that the church declares that it isn't from God.

In 1 Cor 14, the church is told that when prophecy occurs, the others are to judge it. This is not an option, but a Commandment (14:37). The scripture doesn't call for the stoning of those who blow it, but it is a public judgment, to protect the church body from messages 'not from God'. We are warned about false prophets and about false teachers. We can't heed those warnings unless we are willing to publically say someone isn't 'speaking for God'. In this case, the pastor should have found other solid men of God, and allowed them to critically "judge" whether the message was from God before ever going public.

Quix has repeated tried to make the point that this guy is sincere and contrite before God. On a personal level, he is probably a wonderful individual. But once he assumes the position of church leader, and now prophet, he must be subject to the judgment of whether or not he's qualified for those positions. Quix kept speaking on a personal level, I kept responding on a positional level. Judgment is scary, but scriptures tell us to judge those within the church. We, on the other hand, like to excuse those within, and judge those outside.

This week, we saw the Episcopal church die. Not only did they choose a leader who immediately approved homosexuality, they rejected a resolution decalring that Jesus was Savior of the world. The important question is: How did they fall? The answer is that they failed to apply church discipline. When the false teachers arose, the purists would object, and the liberals would respond that "their heart is good" and not to cast stones. The false teachers, and those to claimed to speak for God now rule that church. Some of them may be very sincere people, but sincerely wrong. I'm sure many of those leaders are nice people personally, but they are not qualified to lead God's church.

Within the church, there is growing New Age belief that we can train ourselves to become prophets. In other words, people think they can learn to become mind-reaaders of God. This is not scriptural. Prophecy is a gift that God choses to give or not give. We are told to earnestly desire it, but it's still God's choice. Many claim it, few have it.

Blessings.