Posted on 11/07/2004 8:40:35 PM PST by Quix
Prophetic Signs that we are in the End Times
Contender Ministries
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The Bible gives many examples of signs that should warn us of the coming end of the age. Six such signs are given by Jesus, two characteristics are given by Paul, and eleven other occurrences are given by the prophets to occur prior to or soon after the end of the age. While we are also told we will not know the time of the End, God obviously wanted us to know when that time was getting closer. As the Christian church is increasingly drawn into the interfaith movement, and as more and more churches go into isolation, preparing to sleep through the growing attacks on their faith, perhaps God knew it would take a few signs to wake us up and remind us that we have work to do.
Unfortunately, many Christians take the verses that tell us we won't know the time of His coming to mean they should ignore any and all scripture that might warn us of this time of tribulation. Others have fallen into the trap of fearing being labeled a "conspiracy theorist" should they display an interest in the Biblical prophecies about our future on Earth. My philosophy is simple. God included it in the Bible and, since God is all knowing, we should trust that it is something we should know and study along with the rest of His Word.
It is increasingly obvious that the time of our Lord's coming is drawing near. Prophecy is being fulfilled daily, and at a faster pace than ever before. Whether you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, or believe Christians will be witness to the full tribulation, wrath, and final judgments, matters not. The beginning of birth pains and the signs of the times should have the same effect on all of us. It should motivate us to save as many souls as we can in the time that we have left. The Great Commission tells us to be disciples to all nations, bringing the message of salvation through Christ to all people. If the Church is raptured before the tribulation, it is important that we leave behind an explanation for the trials and judgments those left behind will face. How else will they recognize the deception of the anti-Christ and seek instead the truth of the Bible? If we are to endure the tribulation along side them, we will need to be prepared to not only share the message of salvation, but share with them the reasons for God's judgment and hold it up as further proof of their need to be saved.
Below is a study of the prophetic signs God gave us as a warning of the approaching end of the age. Many of them are being fulfilled now and many will be fulfilled in the near future. I would encourage you to study prophecy, know what is coming and be prepared to share it with others.
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SIX SIGNS GIVEN BY JESUS TO INDICATE HIS COMING AND THE END OF THE AGE
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In Matthew24:3 Jesus was asked, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Jesus told his apostles to look for the following signs prior to his second coming and the end of the age.
1. FALSE PROPHETS AND CHRISTS
Matthew 24:5 "For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will mislead many."
Matthew 24:11 "And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many."
In the last several years many have claimed to be the Messiah. Jim Jones and David Koresh are examples of these false christs as well as countless others who are not as newsworthy. These false prophets are a prelude to the ultimate false christ, the antichrist. Many New Age groups, some even NGO's working for the United Nations, are anxiously awaiting the antichrist, preparing the way for his acceptance as the head of the hierarchy of gods and the one who will usher in world peace.
2. WARS
Matthew 24:6 "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end."
Rumors of wars in all areas of the world now occur frequently thanks to instant media coverage and the availability of a multitude of 24-hour news sources.
Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."
More people have been killed in warfare in this century than at any other time in history. As the death toll rises in the Middle East, more and more countries work feverishly to develop devastating weapons of mass destruction. Add to that the expanding threat of terrorism and unpredictable dictators such as Saddam Hussein, and the potential for the outbreak of war exists in nations, kingdoms and places across the globe.
3. FAMINES
Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."
As white, Christian farmers are driven out of Africa in increasing numbers, and foreigners move in to replace life-sustaining crops with poppies that now supply 25% of the worlds drugs, famine spreads across the African continent. The undernourished are not limited to Africa, however. A large portion of the worlds 5 billion people suffers from a shortage of food.
4. EARTHQUAKES
Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."
The number and intensity of earthquakes this century is at a level higher than any other time in history. A staggering number of seismic events occur around the world daily. The earthquake seismic monitor IRIS shows all major earthquakes for the last year. Indicated by yellow and red circles, the seismic events of the last 15 days provides strong evidence of the fulfillment of Matthew 24:7 in our day. By contrast, in the years from 1890 to 1900 there was only one major earthquake in the world.
5. TRIBULATIONS
Matthew 24:8-9 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name."
Christians are under attack throughout the world today. In the United States Christians still enjoy freedom to worship God without suffering much more than ridicule, hatred, or discrimination at work and school. However in many other countries such as China, Sudan, Africa, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Russia, and many Muslim nations, Christian suffer much greater persecution and often times death for their faith. During the tribulation this suffering will be worldwide and will continue even to the point of martyrdom. These first 5 signs will increase in intensity and severity as the tribulation approaches, much like the birth pangs or contractions of a pregnant woman worsen as the delivery time approaches.
6. THE GOSPEL WILL BE PREACHED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come."
This prophecy has already been fulfilled through television, radio, missionaries, the translation of the Bible into many languages, and the internet. People all over the world now hear the message of Christ from missionaries who have the means to travel the globe, and via technology that allows us to communicate with people on the other side of the world right from our own homes, churches and offices.
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TWO CHARACTERISTICS OF THE END OF THE AGE FROM THE APOSTLE PAUL
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1. GODLESSNESS IN THE LAST DAYS
II Timothy 3:1-5,7 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
For anyone who has watched television, read a newspaper, lost a retirement to corporate greed and corruption, or just walked outside their front door, it is obvious this prophecy has been fulfilled by our generation. Our leaders are often corrupt; our cities are filled with crime, brutality, and neon signs proclaiming our sinful, godless nature. The New Age Movement brings in increasing numbers of mystics who claim to be the enlightened ones. They are some of the most educated and influential people in our societies, and yet the most lacking in real truth.
2. APOSTASY (FALLING AWAY FROM THE FAITH)
I Timothy 4:1-3 "But the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. By means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth."
Churches today are becoming more and more ecumenical, embracing the New Age interfaith agenda, and denying Christ as the only way to salvation. Giving in to the politically correct media and a corrupt society, they have embrace homosexuality as an acceptable alternate lifestyle and preach tolerance and compromise in place of God's truth for the salvation of the world. The environmentalist movement within the New Age movement lures them into a worship of mother earth, belief in past lives, reincarnation, and Karma while demonizing all those who would eat the meat God gave us as nourishment for our bodies.
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ELEVEN FULFILLMENTS OF BIBLE PROPHECY REQUIRED FOR THE END OF THE AGE
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1. EXISTENCE OF A 200,000,000 MAN ARMY IN THE EAST
Revelation 9:16 "And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them."
An army of that size had never existed until China's army reached that number in the 1960's.
2. REDEVELOPMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (EUROPEAN COMMUNITY)
Daniel 2:32-33 "The head of the statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay."
Daniel 2:40-43 "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have the toughness of iron, and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery."
The fourth kingdom of iron is the Roman empire according to Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The two legs are the division of the Roman empire into an eastern portion called the Byzantine empire which ended in the 1400's and a western portion based in Rome which ended in the 400's. The nations of Europe since the Roman empire dissolved have never adhered or formed one empire but continue as separate nations, however, the European Union now has 15 Member States and is preparing for the accession of 13 eastern and southern European countries.
3. RETURN OF THE ONE PURE LANGUAGE, HEBREW, TO ISRAEL
Zephaniah 3:9 "For then I will return to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."
Prior to the restoration of Israel in 1948, Hebrew was a dead language. Now Hebrew is spoken throughout Israel.
4. REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE, RESTORATION OF TEMPLE WORSHIP AND ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN JERUSALEM
For several end time prophecies to be fulfilled, the temple will have to be rebuilt.
Revelation 11:2 "Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the oly city for forty-two months."
Daniel 9:27 "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."
Daniel 9:26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary."
Some archeologists believe that the temple mount is actually 340 feet south of the Dome of the Rock site, putting the Dome of the Rock within the Court of the Gentiles. This may be the court outside the temple that is left out.
There are many groups already working on preparations for the new temple. The blueprints are already done, the temple garments have been made, and there have already been attempts to lay the cornerstone of the temple. The only thing standing in the way of the construction of the new temple is Islam's third holiest site, the Dome of the Rock and government support for such an undertaking. Some possible scenarios for the rebuilding of the temple are as follows:
1. The persuasion and performing of miracles by the Antichrist and False Prophet convinces the Islamic world to approve the rebuilding.
2. The United Nations will negotiate the rebuilding of the temple following a war with the armies from the North (Russia and Islamic forces). This assumes that the war with the armies from the North is not the battle of Armageddon as some feel and that this attack occurs before the rapture or tribulation period begins. The supernatural destruction of the Russian army and Islamic forces will cause an outpouring of Christian worship and zeal amongst the Jewish people who will reconstruct the temple.
3. It is determined that the site of the first two temples is actually south of the Dome of the Rock, and the court of the gentiles (Dome of the Rock) will be left out of the 3rd temple.
A group in Israel called the Temple Mount Faithful have obtained most of the clothing, instruments and other equipment required for temple worship and are actively preparing for the laying of the third temple's cornerstone.
5. APPEARANCE OF THE RED HEIFER AFTER 2000 YEARS
Numbers 19:2-7 "This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed. "You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. "Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its hide and its flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. "The priest shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest shall be unclean until evening."
A red heifer will be required to be used in the process of purification described in the book of Numbers. In May 1997 the first Red Heifer was born in 2000 years. Another red Heifer was born in Israel in March of 2002.
6. INCREASE IN KNOWLEDGE AND TRAVEL
Daniel 12:4 "But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."
Billy Graham was quoted as saying, "ninety percent of all the engineers and scientists who have ever lived are alive today." Air travel, space travel, DNA research and human cloning are all examples of the rapid increase in knowledge in our generation.
7. RETURN OF THE ETHIOPIAN JEWS TO ISRAEL
Zephaniah 3:10-11 "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, will bring My offerings. In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst your proud, exulting ones, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain."
In 1984, Operation Moses saw the airlift of 15,000 Jews who had already fled to refugee camps in Sudan to escape starvation. In 1991, Operation Solomon flew 20,000 Jews to Israel from Ethiopia itself. A further airlift began in June of 1999, aimed at transporting the last 3,000 members of the Quara Jewish community from northeastern Ethiopia to Israel.
8. THE RISE OF RUSSIA
Ezekiel 38:2,4,8 "Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords. After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them."
In order for some end time events to occur Russia will have to be a strong nation with a strong military.
9. RETURN OF RUSSIAN JEWS TO ISRAEL
Jeremiah 23:7-8 "Therefore behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, as the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I have driven them. Then they will live on their own soil."
In the 1970's and 1980's there was a mass exodus of Russian Jews out of Communist Russia. In 1999 the Associated Press reported a dramatic increase in the number of Jewish immigrants from Russia, bringing the largest number of Russian Jews to Israel since the early 1990's.
10. TECHNOLOGY FOR THE MARK OF THE BEAST
Revelation 13:16-17 "And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name."
On May 10, three members of a family in Florida became the first people to receive the biochip implant. Each device, made of silicon and called a VeriChip, is a small radio transmitter about the size of a piece of rice that is injected under a person's skin. It transmits a unique personal ID number whenever it is within a few feet of a special receiver unit. VeriChip's maker describes it as "a miniaturized, implantable, radio frequency identification device (RFID) that can be used in a variety of security, emergency and healthcare applications."
Is the biochip the mark of the beast to be used by the antichrist? We can't really know. What is significant is that people are being softened to the idea of a mark or an implant as a means of maintaining security, providing medical information, and regulating a more interdependent world. As attitudes change, fears subside, and people are convinced of the need for such a mark, the true mark of the beast will be easily introduced to the world by the antichrist.
11. PLANS FOR THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT
The United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Criminal Court, UN peacekeeping/police force, numerous UN NGO's, and other agencies are preliminary steps to the formation of a one world government. We now have the communications technology, transportation, and the pro-globalization media necessary to usher in the one world government headed by the antichrist. The increasing terrorist threat and the middle east conflict will only speed up the formation of this governing body as fear and promises of better security make more people willing to give up their national sovereignty for global governance.
12. INSTANT COMMUNICATION AROUND THE WORLD
Revelation 11:3, 7-10 "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophecy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth."
Television and the 24-hour news networks make it possible for people around the world to see the dead prophets and rejoice at their deaths.
Luke 21:28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Luke 21:32 "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place."
THX.
BUT, LADY, DEAR HEART . . .
one has to have more than a cursory, flash-scan, surface, jump-to-conclusion . . . rush-to-rash-judgment approach
to some of these complicated topics . . .
as well as being prayerfully open to Holy Spirit
IF
one really wants to determine, assertain, be in touch with anything close to Biblical truth about such complexities.
The principles are simple and child-like faith is usually sufficient.
But when child-like faith is avoided in favor of RELIGIOUS spirit stuff . . . then the complexities abound.
imho, of course.
So, you've torn Acts 2 out of your Bible?
Oh, that's right, Acts 2 etc. is just a minor historical footnote of absolutely no usefulness
in terms of being part of THE MANUAL of Christian life.
. . .
And when God isn't laughing, He must be crying . . . simple principles. Simple language. Incredible avoidance.
That seems to be your pat answer. But you cannot produce any additional info.
Curious.
Last time I checked the apostle Peter wasn't walking around anywhere, so it's not clear what your point would be.
No,
I
*WON'T*
produce any other evidence or info.
I believe it's wiser the way they have . . . left it, set it.
I treat the whole of Scripture and particularly the whole of the NEW TESTAMENT
AS
A MANUAL FOR CHRISTIAN LIFE IN OUR ERA--THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH ERA.
I realize, that you don't.
Do you have apostles in your church?
Not in mine.
But I have met a very few I feel would qualify.
NO, I haven't the faintest expectation that you'd agree.
You don't accept essentially the whole of the NEW TESTAMENT as a manual for Christian life.
You pick and choose--and that not even according to reason or reasonable theology but primarily according to your psychology and very narrow, biased sensibilities.
I do suspect, feel that 99.9% of those
CLAIMING TO BE
APOSTLES
ESPECIALLY self-proclaiming to be Apostles
are most likely very NOT.
The pride problem seems to be epidemic in Christian leadership of every denomination, persuasion, sensibility, etc. God is getting closer and closer to dealing with that rather . . . decisively, if not harshly.
I've seen a lot of them in action. They like to preach that the Rapture is coming tomorrow, And the only way you'll be lifted up is if only you give money to them. And then they loosely quote Bible scriptures to reinforce the con job. Shoot, I've heard some of them are Atheists. I don't know if that's true or not. Do you?
Push him just a little bit and he resorts to name calling and abusive language. Now this is not a characteristic of a believer, but of a non-believer.
He has "itching ears", he runs to every sensational story, especially concerning new revelation, prophecies which are never 100 per cent proven, but "close enough". He likes to lead other weaker, more susceptible people astray, and he especially tries to disparage the bible, so that they too will look elsewhere for the truth.
He must like "angels of light", bringing other gospels, not the one Paul preached, as he is their advocate. Many times in Scripture, we are warned not to pray to angels, yet he never warns people of this practice, when it occurs on his threads.
He likes "secret" doctrines, and believes that he and others like him are the holders of this special knowledge. All the rest of us are not as "special", contrary to what Scripture says about One Body.
I could go on, but this is enough.
I try not to get close enough to find out with the flakey seeming ones.
Shoot, one of my mother's cousins once preached a revival when they were not the least bit following The Lord--just to get cash to return home on. And, some saved in that revival are still living for The Lord. His Word tends to not return void, as it says . . .
. . . sometimes regardless of some pretty tainted channels.
HOGWASH. I don't feel nor think that you know me beyond perhaps 1.3% And, I don't believe you've understood nor accurately comprehended my words beyond perhaps . . . 15%. Great job, that!
Let's review: Number one, in posting to him, you learn that he has no respect for the Bible.
WHAT A BALD FACED, UNMITIGATED, WHOLESALE LIE. I probably have more respect for the text AND for The Living Word than you seem to. I certainly don't have much respect for a lot of the RELIGIOUS SPIRIT BORN PHARISAICAL HOGWASH YOU PROPOUND, however.
He prefers every other kind of religious sensation, especially dreams, and personal revelation, to the Word of God.
Again, your wholesale distortions, narrow, rigid, fossilized, RELIGIOUS SPIRITED biases about my preferences--evidently similar to your religious spirited biases about Scripture--seem to have VERY, VERY, VERY LITTLE TO DO WITH FACTS! Thankfully, My Lord and Heavenly Father know very well the reverence I have for His Word and the earnest efforts I expend attempting to follow His Word daily.
As one of the best pastors in my 57 years said--in my teens--Praise God we don't live by feelings but instead by FAITH. AND Praise God for the feelings when He graces us with them!
I'm sorry that you have such a terror ridden allergy to part of how God made us all. I'd hate to have grown up one of your children with your hostility to feelings. It likely must have made emotional intimacy with you very prickly at best and probably fairly routinely impossible if not tortured and anguished.
AS SCRIPTURE MAKES CLEAR IN CORINTHIANS, discerning dreams, visions and the like is NOT A LOT DIFFERENT FROM THE WAY THE CANON WAS CHOSEN/DECIDED ON--A BODY OF DISCERNING, EXPERIENCED, SPIRIT-LED BELIEVERS IS TO DECIDE.
Now, Here's a question for your silly tidy little boxed biases--GIVEN THAT YOU SAY HOLY SPIRIT GOT A 2,000+ YEAR CASE OF LARYNGITIS when John penned the last word in Revelation--HOW ON EARTH DID THE COUNCIL OF TRENT DECIDE THE CANON, OTHER THAN BY THEIR HUMAN, FLESHY SENSIBILITIES, ABILITIES AND PRIORITIES? Given that, that must be all they had, ACCORDING TO YOU, how on earth can you have any confidence that Scripture which you mangle so well--is Scripture at all?
I don't really expect that you'll have much courage in answering that question well at all, if at all. And, your rationalizers are in great Olympic order so it should be interesting to see your response or non-response to that one.
He dismisses the Word as nothing more than an "idol" and people like me who actually study it and apply it to our lives today, as pharisees and worse, as idol worshippers.
NOT AT ALL. I realize you seem to lack some serious willingness to understand my points in this regard. The Word is priceless, wonderful and a list of such things and God knows my attitude toward His Word, period. So do a long list of people hereon.
Sometimes, it SEEMS like you MIGHT have some reverence for His Word, too. But far too often, it seems like you are addicted to the same sort of relationship with The Word that the pharisees of Jesus' dusty pathed days had. You slice and dice it; mangle it and beat about the head and shoulders with it just the same as they did--same attitude; same tones; same sterile stances; same efforts to put God in tidy little human private interpretation little boxes; same deadliness.
God knows what I'm talking about. Holy Spirit knows what I'm talking about. A long list of Freepers know what I'm talking about and have FREEPMAILED me that it's futile to try and dent your rock headed, rock hard sensibilities about such. I rather agree. But I believe the lurkers deserve some responses to your idiotic statements about such things. If it walks like a pharisee, quacks like a pharisee; slices, dices, mangles and beats about the head and shoulders like a pharisee--who am I to deny the proper label?
He cannot understand that the Word is the living Word of the Living God. I don't think he really understands anything about it. Otherwise he would not speak evil of it or evil of the disciples.
Have NEVER spoken evil of The Word. Praise The Lord. There you go again!
God knows my level of understanding about His Word. Mercifully, He keeps raising it.
I'm not really convinced how much of a disciple of The Word you are. You could be an authentic believer in misguided pharisee's clothes. I pray so. But if you are really as you seem--in the same mold as those of Jesus' day--then I am in good company to sternly rebuke you for it.
Push him just a little bit and he resorts to name calling and abusive language. Now this is not a characteristic of a believer, but of a non-believer.
I do confess, I can get riled overmuch over often. I do not believe, however, that I have tended to be first, at all. You folks have constantly castigated my sanity, my reason, and a list of other things about my person, my psychology and my Christianity. About the closest I can often come to even making a dent or scratch in your heard-headed; bull-headed orneriness is to respond somewhat in kind--trying to hit you upside the head with a verbal 4 X 4 to get your attention. Otherwise, you rant on most abusively as though from some sanctimonious Mt Sinai. What a stench.
He has "itching ears", he runs to every sensational story, especially concerning new revelation, prophecies which are never 100 per cent proven, but "close enough". He likes to lead other weaker, more susceptible people astray, and he especially tries to disparage the bible, so that they too will look elsewhere for the truth.
What a baled faced lie. I have NEVER DISPARAGED THE BIBLE. I have noted that the pharisee attitude tends to be addicted to THE LETTER OF THE LAW KILLS vs the Spirit brings liberty. It's not me that has chosen your addiction to the LETTER OF THE LAW KILLING PONTIFICATIONS ABOUT THE WORD. Your choice; your behavior; your habit--not mine!
BTW, I prefer to collect all manner of plausible prophetic puzzle pieces and wait and see what happens in terms of God confirming all the puzzle pieces I've put up on the shelf. I WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS SUCH PUZZLE PIECES WITH LIKE MINDED PRECIOUS SAINTS OF GOD WHO ARE WELL VERSED IN SCRIPTURES AND KEENLY GIFTED IN DISCERNMENT ETC. But you folks have such an abusive attacking addiction at shredding anything that doens't agree 1,000% with your narrow, rigid distortions on Scriptural reality, it makes it diffult.
He must like "angels of light", bringing other gospels, not the one Paul preached, as he is their advocate.
I rebuke that in the Name of Jesus--another bald faced lie of 0.0000% validity about me. I countenance NO OTHER GOSPEL BUT THE NEW TESTAMENT ONE. GOD KNOWS IT AND MANY HEREON KNOW IT. I have no delusions that short of a Damascus Road experience, you'll be able to understand that in this life.
Many times in Scripture, we are warned not to pray to angels, yet he never warns people of this practice, when it occurs on his threads.
WHAT????????????????????????????
WHAT AN OFF THE WALL COMMENT! Actually, it's another lie. I have written discouraging people from praying to angels on my thread. Since you show little evidence of reading my words at all and about 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% evidence of any accurate comprehension of my words, I guess it's predictable that you'd have missed that. No, I have 0.0% intention of tracking it down to prove it to you. And, I had no need to brow beat my dear Roman sister about it the way you love to club people senseless unless they agree with your mangled interpretations on Scriptural reality.
He likes "secret" doctrines, and believes that he and others like him are the holders of this special knowledge. All the rest of us are not as "special", contrary to what Scripture says about One Body.
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THIS ONE IS RICH INDEED. If there's ever been anyone on these threads DETERMINED TO PROPOUND A NARROW, RIGID, CONTRARY, UNBIBLICAL, PHARISAICAL, RIGID, TIDY LITTLE BOXED, PRIVATE INTERPRETATION WHOLESALE DISTORTION OF SCRIPTURE ALONG THE LINES OF YOUR DENOMINATIONAL 'SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE' BRAND OF CHRISTIANTIY--IT'S YOU FOLKS! LOL. You folks are the most hostile to ONE AUTHENTENTICALLY BELIEVING; ACCURATELY DIVIDING WORD OF GOD UNIFIED BODY of anyone I know on FR. What a prissy narrow group you routinely make.
I could go on, but this is enough.
OH, NO DOUBT! YOU COULD GO ON AND ON JUST THE WAY THE PHARISEES IN JESUS' DAY DID. And you do--quite constantly!
LOL!
Stillllllll, you are an amusing lot . . . in a sad sort of way.
Now look at this and wonder. He now claims that an unbeliever mind you, can mock God to get money, yet the Holy Spirit will go against God's revealed Word and therefore God Himself.( see Isaiah 28:22, Jer. 15:17, Galatians 6:7, Jude 18). Do you see anything wrong with this picture?
I thought you knew your Bible a LITTLE bit!
The Scripture declares that
GOD'S WORD WILL NOT RETURN VOID.
Period.
He does lots of things with the utter foolishness and even often enough the utter sinfulness of man.
It's part of what's include in
ALL POWERFUL
ALL LOVING
ALL KNOWING
ETC.
I realize such a full working out of such terms may boggle your very rigid, very narrow, very constipated, very mangled, very tidy little boxed constructions on Scriptural reality.
Thankfully, your tidy little boxes don't slow Holy Spirit down at all in insuring that
GOD'S WORD DOESN'T RETURN VOID
REGARDLESS.
It grieves me that you have such an anemic understanding of God's Word.
No wonder you end up worshipping mangled slants on ink on pages.
So Quixster, Does Satan go around preaching the Gospel? How many souls does he save doing that?
The disciples asked two different questions in verse 3, and Jesus answers both. First he is asked "when will these things be?" 'These things' refers to what Jesus had said in the preceding verses:
"1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
Jesus answers regarding when these things will happen (i.e., destruction of the temple, Jerusalem destroyed by Romans in 70 AD) in verses 4 - 34. Note that in verse 34 he summarizes by saying "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place." In other words, they'd happen within a lifetime.
Jesus then addresses the second question (His coming & the end of the age) starting in verse 35:
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. 36 "But of that day and hour [i.e., when heaven & earth will pass away] no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." He further discusses that it will come without warning, like a thief in the night, so we must always be ready. There are no signs.
I suspect we'll be surprised at how many souls are in Heaven from very dead churches and very dead sermons and very dead preachers who nevertheless somehow managed to quote enough Scripture that Holy Spirit used it.
I realize this doesn't fit your tidy little boxed Christianity.
But it fits the Expansive God of The Bible who isn't limited by your puny efforts to fence in His Scriptures to your limited perspectives.
So when the devil quotes Scripture, the HS works through him to save souls?
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