Posted on 01/26/2018 1:04:07 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
We are in a time of the first ever mass conversions of Muslims,” Father Mitch Pacwa SJ told me in a phone interview. “God is doing a mighty work among them.”
Pacwa said that mass conversions are happening even in very fundamentalist countries. There is rapidly growing number of conversions especially on the edges of the Muslim world in the western and southern parts of Africa, he said. “Africa is now growing predominantly Christian despite crackdowns,” Pacwa said.
Some of the noteworthy countries he mentioned include Iran, reported to have 3 million Christians, and Indonesia with reports of 2 million a year converting.
“In Mongolia, the president opened the country to Christians and there’s even an archbishop,” Pacwa said. “They built a Catholic school there too. If I was younger, I would have gone.” He said that the desire for a Western education was the impetus to open up the country to the Catholic Church.
There are even conversions happening in many strict Muslim countries, according to Pacwa. He did not want to go on record with particulars for fear of increased retribution. Mass conversions are also being reported among refugees that are filling up the Christian churches left empty by Europeans. Many wonder if those are authentic conversions or just a response to improving their chances for amnesty, but time will tell.
Signs of this conversion are showing up in the U.S. too, Pacwa said. “I was about to celebrate Mass at a Maronite church in San Diego and I said hi to a man who introduced himself as Achmad. I asked if he was a Christian. He said: ‘Yes, I was recently baptized.’ He said he from Morocco. Christians do not have the name Ahmad—that’s a form of Mohammad.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
The Meaning of the Judgment (Bema) Seat
Both Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:9 speak of the “judgment seat.” This is a translation of one Greek word, the word bema. While bema is used in the gospels and Acts of the raised platform where a Roman magistrate or ruler sat to make decisions and pass sentence (Matt. 27:19; John 19:13), its use in the epistles by Paul, because of his many allusions to the Greek athletic contests, is more in keeping with its original use among the Greeks.
This word was taken from Isthmian games where the contestants would compete for the prize under the careful scrutiny of judges who would make sure that every rule of the contest was obeyed (cf. 2 Tim. 2:5). The victor of a given event who participated according to the rules was led by the judge to the platform called the Bema. There the laurel wreath was placed on his head as a symbol of victory (cf. 1 Cor. 9:24-25).
In all of these passages, “Paul was picturing the believer as a competitor in a spiritual contest. As the victorious Grecian athlete appeared before the Bema to receive his perishable award, so the Christian will appear before Christ’s Bema to receive his imperishable award. The judge at the Bema bestowed rewards to the victors. He did not whip the losers.”2 We might add, neither did he sentence them to hard labor.
In other words, it is a reward seat and portrays a time of rewards or loss of rewards following examination, but it is not a time of punishment where believers are judged for their sins. Such would be inconsistent with the finished work of Christ on the Cross because He totally paid the penalty for our sins. Chafer and Walvoord have an excellent word on this view:
With reference to sin, Scripture teaches that the child of God under grace shall not come into judgment (John 3:18; 5:24; 6:37; Rom. 5:1; 8:1; 1 Cor. 11:32); in his standing before God, and on the ground that the penalty for all sin—past, present, and future (Col. 2:13)—has been borne by Christ as the perfect Substitute, the believer is not only placed beyond condemnation, but being in Christ is accepted in the perfection of Christ (1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:6; Col. 2:10; Heb. 10:14) and loved of God as Christ is loved (John 17:23).3
Again, Chafer writes concerning the Bema, “It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the judgment is unrelated to the problem of sin, that it is more for the bestowing of rewards than the rejection of failure.”4
The Time of the Bema
This event will occur immediately following the rapture or resurrection of the church after it is caught up to be with the Lord in the air as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
Arguments in support of this view:
(1) In Luke 14:12-14, reward is associated with the resurrection and the rapture is when the church is resurrected.
(2) In Revelation 19:8, when the Lord returns with His bride at the end of the tribulation, she is seen already rewarded. Her reward is described as fine linen, the righteous acts of the saints—undoubtedly the result of rewards.
(3) In 2 Timothy 4:8 and 1 Corinthians 4:5, rewards are associated with “that day” and with the Lord’s coming. Again, for the church this means the event of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
So the order of events will be (a) the rapture which includes our glorification or resurrection bodies, (b) exaltation into the heavens with the Lord, (c) examination before the Bema, and (d) compensation or rewards.
The Place of the Bema
It will occur somewhere in the heavenlies in the presence of the Lord. This is evident from 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and Revelation 4:2 and 19:8.
The Participants at the Bema
(1) All the passages dealing with the Bema or rewards are addressed to believers or pertain to believers of the church (Rom. 14:10-12; 1 Cor. 3:12f; 2 Cor. 5:9f; 1 John 2:28; 1 Thess. 2:19-20; 1 Tim. 6:18-19; Tit. 2:12-14 [note the emphasis on good works]).
The resurrection program and the thus the reward of Old Testament saints occurs after the tribulation, after church age saints are already seen in heaven and rewarded and returning with the Lord to judge the earth (cf. Rev. 19:8 with Dan. 12:1-2; Matt. 24).
(2) All believers, regardless of their spiritual state, will be raptured and will stand before the Bema to give an account of their lives and will either receive rewards or lose rewards. Some believe in a partial rapture theory which says that only those in fellowship with the Lord will be raptured as a form of punishment for their sin. As mentioned above, this is not only contrary to the finished work of Christ who once and for all paid the penalty for our sins, but it is contrary to the teaching of 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.
The context suggests that Paul has in mind the return of Christ for the church—the rapture (1 Thess. 4:13-18). The rapture is the means of our deliverance from the wrath he discusses in chapter 5:1-3. Further, the words “awake or asleep” of verse 10 refer to a spiritual or moral condition, not whether one is alive or dead when Christ returns as in 4:13-14. This is clear from both the context of 5:4-8 and by the fact he changed the words he used for sleep. He used the Greek katheudo in 5:10 rather than koimao, the word he used metaphorically in 4:13-14 of physical death. Though katheudo was used of physical sleep and even death, it was also commonly used of spiritual apathy or carnal indifference to spiritual matters, and this is clearly the context of chapter 5. The point, then, is this: Because of the perfect and finished nature of Christ’s death (note the words “who died for us” of verse 10), whether we are spiritually alert or not, we will live together with Him through the rapture to face the examination of the Bema.
Lest we forget what Jesus promised to His Disciples and us, see John 14, about the many rooms in The Father's House ...
Don’t worry. I’ll say a Hail Mary for you.
I appreciate the thought but I’d rather you direct any prayers for me to the Father or the Son. I know those are heard.
James 5:16
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
When delivered to the right people...the Father or the Son.
Except in Roman Catholicism the prayers are funneled through Mary as Roman Catholics pray TO Mary.
It's called the Body of Christ. We need each other. We pray with and for each other. We never stop, from here to eternity. It's what we do. 1 Thessalonians 5:25
Brethren, pray for us.
Since the sin of presumption is a Catholic fabrication, of which there is no mention in Scripture, then I guess that the Catholic organization can define it however they wish.
But you're attempts to show that someone who was saved can lose their salvation have failed.
A person cannot lose what they never had to begin with.
A person can die full of sorrow for their sin, and I'm sure many do, but that is still not an indication that they were ever saved or ever trusted Christ.
What you're basically talking about is a works based salvation, one that can be gained or lost based on merit.
Since salvation is NOT by merit in the least, either getting saved or staying saved, one cannot lose it by what their merit.
Our judgment for salvation is a done deal when we accept Christ and are born again.
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
The only thing left to be judged are the works that we did here on earth.
And as you said, the good ones remain, the bad ones are burned up.
And some believers will lose everything because none of their works were good, yet they were still among the saved.
Hence, the person is said to be saved, as if by fire.
Not in the Roman Catholic sense. I've never prayed TO an individual as the Roman Catholic does to Mary. I don't believe, based on the Bible, that Mary has been granted the ability to hear all of the prayers she would have to based on Roman Catholicism.
The Holy Spirit does a more than adequate job of doing that for us! See how Rome attempts to replace the Spirit with Mary??
I don't rely upon another individual for salvation as the Roman Catholic does for Mary.
I rely only upon Christ for salvation (John 14:6).
I ask for people here on earth to pray for me. They are praying to the Father and/or the Son.
Well, here's one.
It's not I who perseveres, but Christ who keeps me.
Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
One can still be saved even if one doesn't confess or even repent of every single sin they commit.
Because it's not the repentance from sin that saves, but the repentance, turning TOWARDS Christ.
And honestly, I doubt, very seriously doubt in the least, that there's a single person on this planet who have ever lived or ever will live, who can definitively state teat they've confessed and repented of every single sin in their lives.
It's not possible because we do not see as God sees and are blind to our own failings unless God reveals it to us.
Just like a lot of Catholics I've seen on FR, especially ones who post Scripture about a woman not to be teaching or having authority over a man in church, in an effort to silence women non-Catholic women on the RF.
Matthew 23: 8-10 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
Just what is it that you call your priests again?
That a person would blatantly ignore repeated requests from others for more clarity as a courtesy to others says even more.
We are saved now and as of now, we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places, in the spiritual realm.
NOW.
Not everyone in the world prays to the Father and Son because there are millions who waste a lot of time praying to dead people, and saints, and angels, and Mary who cannot hear or answer prayer.
If they are praying to those beings, they are NOT praying to God.
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