Posted on 09/19/2001 9:06:44 PM PDT by RnMomof7
Bruce is involved with the Walk Through the Bible group.
Peace
This is not a popular message in the apostate, feel good, church. Repentence means you have been wrong, and when preachers are selling the bible like a self help manual to a spoiled self centered generation, that has been taught since grade school that they are special, it just won't do to offend the customers.
Such hollow calories, not even milk, much less meat, will cause, and is causing, a falling away from the empty platitudes that passes for sermons today, it doesn't satisfy the soul.
2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts will heap to themselves teachers, (saying what they want to hear) having itching ears. (wanting to be told how good they are and how God accepts them just as they are without repentence) The thing is, that we can't even repent without God granting us that spirit of sincere repentence. People should be taught that, and some shepherds will pay dearly for not teaching them.
Yes, this is true of me, too.
This is the trait that distinguishes every Christian who's truly in love with Jesus. Such a believer is full of life — and everyone around him knows it!
Oh, that this would be true of us! May it be so!
Written in red. Seems pretty clear to me. I have never heard an altar call in my church without stressing the fact that we are sinners under condemnation and that turning away from our sin; regretting hurting G-d with our sin, was necessary for salvation. [I attend a FourSquare Gospel Church]
Matt 7:20 also is quite clear--"Therefore, by their fruits you shall them."
In each of these passages it is important to read th preceding few verses, the "therefores" imply the end of a doctorinal teaching by Jesus.
BTW, for the last few years, my focus on my duty to G-d has been found in Luke 17: 9&10. Have fun!
This country is headed the way of all fallen empires. The time that God warned us about in His Word has come - the "dread release," when even the prayers of godly saints no longer avail. God said, "When the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it... and will cut off man and beast from it: though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God" (Ezekiel 14:13-14).
God never yet has destroyed a society or nation without ample warning. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). God warned Abraham of the sudden destruction about to fall on Sodom: "And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do" (Genesis 18:17). He warned Noah, too, that He soon would destroy mankind with a flood: "Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear" (Hebrews 11:7).
God warned Samuel of the downfall of Eli's ministry and of the destruction of Shiloh, "And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle" (1 Samuel 3:11).
Jeremiah prophesied judgment upon Israel because "the Lord hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou showedst me their doings" (Jeremiah 11:18). God also revealed to Daniel what was to come: "Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision:" (Daniel 2:19).
In every age God has communicated His warnings to the people in different ways. He spoke with Moses face-to-face, to Joshua through an angel and to the Old Testament prophets in visions and dreams. And today God is speaking again - loud and clear.
.
.
.
Moses listed in Deuteronomy 28 all the signs of the curse. We need to be reminded of these dreadful signs which shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments" (Deuteronomy 28:15). I'll list just 12 of the fearful curses here:
- A curse upon our cities: "Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field" (Deuteronomy 28:16). American cities are doomed. Our own magazines have declared them to be Western "Beiruts" or war zones. Crack is tearing them apart. New York City is becoming unlivable. A murder occurs every five hours, a crime every 20 seconds. Our cities are headed for anarchy, and there is no turning back. Now it's spreading even to our smallest towns.
- A curse upon our economy: "Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store" (Dueteronomy 28:17). This refers to gross national product, banking and reserves. A curse will fall upon it all, bringing confusion, fear and uncertainty. "I (will break) the staff of your bread" (see Leviticus 26:26) - meaning widespread unemployment.
- A curse upon our futures market: "Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine (cattle), and the flocks of thy sheep" (Dueteronomy 28:18). This curse will fall on our crops and cattle.
- A curse upon our foreign negotiations: This curse will bring shame and embarrassment. "Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do... because of the wickedness of thy doings" (Dueteronomy 28:19-20). U.S. foreign policy today is in complete disarray! Our negotiators come home confused - upstaged by Russia, upstaged in China. We appear befuddled before the whole world.
- Plagues of incurable illnesses: "The Lord shall make the pestilence (sickness) cleave unto thee... with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation" (Deuteronomy 28:21,22). "The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt... and with the scab... where of thou canst not be healed. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment (panic) of heart (Deuteronomy 28:27,28). "The Lord shall smite thee... with a sore botch (boil) that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head" (Deuteronomy 28:35). The mark of AIDS is the purple blotch - the incurable boil.
- Dust bowls and areas of drought: "The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee" (Deuteronomy 28:24). This is God's doing. All of it is sent from heaven!
- Insignificant enemies will put our armies to chase: "The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before them... And thy carcass shall be meat unto all fowls of the air" (Deuteronomy 28:25,26). Think of the stalemate in Korea. Or our troops fleeing from Vietnam and being chased out of Lebanon. Or tiny Panama holding a gun to our head.
- An epidemic of divorce: An epidemic of broken homes has erupted. "Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shalt lie with her: thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof: (Deuteronomy 28:30).
- A wave of bankruptcies: "Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes... thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them" (Deuteronomy 28:31). This describes the ancient Oriental custom of the creditor taking everything from the debtor for restitution. It warns of the wave of bankruptcies that will come upon this cursed nation.
- The loss of an entire generation of youth: "Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them" (Deuteronomy 28:32). Today a nation of adults, supplied with all money and might, can merely stand by and watch in horror as drugs and violence swallow up an entire population of youth. This Scripture is a prophetic warning about the despair that falls upon parents in a nation under the curse. "Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity" (Deuteronomy 28:41).
- The prosperity of other nations at our expense: "The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low" (Deuteronomy 28:43). Hosea describes the blindness of people under this curse: "Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not: (Hosea 7:9). Whatever the crop, whatever the fruit, "The strangers shall swallow it up" (Hosea 8:7).
- You will become a debtor nation rather than a lender: "He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail" (Deuteronomy 28:44). In the last five years we have become the world's biggest debtor nation. At this moment we are now the tail - and Japan is the head. We can't even bail out our own bankrupt savings and loan institutions. Consider the $150 billion that's needed to save our banking system - and then tell me America is not under the curse! We are now experiencing the full fury of it!
Back atcha, Mom.
I'm begining to understand that "peace" is far more than just the absence of war. I think it contains a deep theological truth.
Interesting choice of words Rom...cause scripture tells us He is the truth. I think we agree He is peace..:>)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.