I Said: If insted you postulate that Satan is somehow able to respond to a prayer to God, which CS Lewis in his book "THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS" says is impossible, and for which there is no scriptural support for such a position, or no prayer's answer is sure.
You Said: 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 9. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,
10. and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
11. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
Your Quotation says nothing about Satan answering a prayer to God.
Luke 9-11#9 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give athe Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
If God cannot communicate with his own children in such a way that they cannot know of a surety that it is he that communicates with them, then that God is not the all powerful being that is the God of Abraham, and of Issac, and of Jacob. Satan will indeed try to counterfeit God, but if Satan is allowed to answer in God's stead then he is more powerful than God, and God forbid that such a thing could be.
From Post #619:
I said: MHG, go with God, come unto him who will yet reveal to you the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon if you will just ask him in faith an with sincerity in your heart.
You Said: Likewise...
DU, go with God, come unto HIM who will yet reveal to you the adequateness of the Bible for revealing Salvation's plan.
First, MHGinTN has accused me of having multiple handles here, if you are going to respond to posts to him, please make it clear that you are not MHGinTN when responding. (Just so you don't get accused of being him...)
Second, I have spent much time on my knees seeking the word of God concerning the truthfulness of his Scriptures, and the same spirit that testifies to me that Jesus is the Christ, also testifies to me of the truthfulness of the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
Do not seek to place yourself between me and God, for he has and continually does answer me.
And before you tell me I have been deceived, consider
John 4:1-6 1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
Elsie, I have a testimony direct From God, what use are your words?
I am inviting all to pray, as does John, I would think you would be right with me on this. Let me Explain the logic here, and to do so I will build a logic tree. For this tree, we will assume three points that I think all Christians will agree upon.
- God will always answer those who ask him in faith, nothing wavering.
- We will further assume that the Bible is the Word of God.
- Lastly, we will assume that God will testify of his words.
Either the Book of Mormon is true or not.
Branch One: Book of Mormon is not true.
- People praying about the Book of Mormon will not receive an answer.
- The answer they do receive will not testify of Jesus having com In the flesh as the Son of God (John 4:2)
- They will receive an answer that the Book of Mormon is not true.
Branch Two: Book of Mormon is true.
- People Praying about the Book of Mormon will receive an answer, and They will know the Book Of Mormon is true, they will know there are modern day prophets, they will know Joseph Smith was such a prophet, and they will investigate further.
Logically, there is only one reason Mormons would be encouraging people to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, it is if we honestly believe it is true, and that people will receive an answer from God, there is only one way we would believe that which is that we have received such an answer ourselves.
Similarly, those who believe the Book of Mormon to be untrue should also be encouraging people who are curious to read it and pray about it, they should be helping people to recognize the signs of an unanswered prayer, a negative answer to a prayer, thus helping people to discern the spirits according to the Bible.
Logically, there is only one reason for anti Mormons to try to keep people from reading the book of Mormon, they know, or fear that those people will indeed receive a witness, and thus increase the number of people who know the church to be true.
I have known many anti Mormons, most of those I have known left the church for other than Doctrinal reasons (even when that is what they say now) somewhere they still know the church to be true. Those who have this knowledge of the truthfulness of the church, but have left it are in denial, and they want others to "Agree" with them so they can continue their denial uninterrupted, these people can't simply walk away, they come back to pick at their scabs and make scars of what, in an enlightened, intellectual separation should be a clean severing of the relationship.
This analysis is based on people I know of personally, and like most experiential knowledge will not apply to all who read this, to some it will apply I expect them to want to complain loudly about this post. As my dad used to say, "If you throw a rock at a pack of dogs, the one that makes the most noise is the one that got hit.
Elsie, I do not know if you ever were a member, and I am not trying to say that you were, or were not. I do not know if this is your situation, so don't get bent out of shape, OK?
Logic dictates that if you believe God will answer, and that we can know if the answer is from God that both sides should be asking people to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.
If I have missed a logical reason for asking people not to read the Book of Mormon and not to pray about it, please let me know. Remember, I am asking for logical reasons, not emotional ones, and saying it is a "Waste of time is to me, not a good answer.
Lastly, I ask the question, if I am wrong, and people put my religion
to the test, and I am found to be a "
False witness of God" That is my problem, but, what if we are right, can you take that chance?
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Test us, try the spirits see if the same spirit that testifies of the Bible will not also testify of the Book of Mormon, Know for your self that it is from God.