ROFLMBO
And then Anne Heche fled into the bushes and found them
Posted on 01/27/2008 7:56:14 PM PST by Manfred the Wonder Dawg
January 25, 2008
ESV Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
In recent days I have spent time in Lima and Sullana Peru and Mexico City and I have discovered that people by nature are the same. Man has a heart that is inclined to selfishness and idolatry. Sin abounds in the remotest parts of the land because the heart is desperately wicked. Thousands bow before statues of Mary and pray to her hoping for answers. I have seen these people stare hopelessly at Mary icons, Jesus icons, and a host of dead saints who will do nothing for them. I have talked with people who pray to the pope and say that they love him. I talked with one lady who said that she knew that Jesus was the Savior, but she loved the pope. Thousands bow before Santa Muerte (holy death angel) in hopes that she will do whatever they ask her. I have seen people bring money, burning cigarettes, beer, whiskey, chocolate, plants, and flowers to Santa Muerte in hopes of her answers. I have seen these people bowing on their knees on the concrete in the middle of public places to worship their idol. Millions of people come into the Basilica in Mexico City and pay their money, confess their sins, and stare hopelessly at relics in hope that their sins will be pardoned. In America countless thousands are chained to baseball games, football games, material possessions, and whatever else their heart of idols can produce to worship.
My heart has broken in these last weeks because the God of heaven is not honored as he ought to be honored. People worship the things that are created rather than worshiping the Creator. God has been gracious to all mankind and yet mankind has hardened their hearts against a loving God. God brings the rain on the just and unjust. God brings the beautiful sunrises and sunsets upon the just and unjust. God gives good gifts unto all and above all things he has given his Son that those who would believe in him would be saved. However, man has taken the good things of God and perverted them unto idols and turned their attention away from God. I get a feel for Jesus as he overlooked Jerusalem or Paul as he beseeched for God to save Israel. When you accept the reality of the truth of the glory of God is breaks your heart that people would turn away from the great and awesome God of heaven to serve lesser things. Moses was outraged by the golden calf, the prophets passionately preached against idolatry, Jesus was angered that the temple was changed in an idolatrous business, and Paul preached to the idolaters of Mars Hill by telling them of the unknown God.
I arrived back at home wondering how I should respond to all the idolatry that I have beheld in these last three weeks. I wondered how our church here in the states should respond to all of the idolatry in the world. What are the options? First, I suppose we could sit around and hope that people chose to get their life together and stop being idolaters. However, I do not know how that could ever happen apart from them hearing the truth. Second, I suppose we could spend a lifetime studying cultural issues and customs in hope that we could somehow learn to relate to the people of other countries. However, the bible is quite clear that all men are the same. Men are dead in sin, shaped in iniquity, and by nature are the enemies of God. Thirdly, we could pay other people or other agencies to go and do a work for us while we remain comfortably in the states. However, there is no way to insure that there will be doctrinal accuracy or integrity. If we only pay other people to take the gospel we will miss out on all of the benefits of being obedient to the mission of God. Lastly, we could seek where God would have us to do a lasting work and then invest our lives there for the glory of God. The gospel has the power to raise the dead in any culture and we must be willing to take the gospel wherever God would have us take it. It is for sure that our church cannot go to every country and reach every people group, so we must determine where God would have us work and seek to be obedient wherever that is.
It seems that some doors are opening in the Spanish speaking countries below us and perhaps God is beginning to reveal where we are to work. There are some options for work to be partnered with in Peru and there could be a couple of options in Mexico. The need is greater than I can express upon this paper for a biblical gospel to be proclaimed in Peru and Mexico. Oh, that God would glorify his great name in Peru and Mexico by using a small little church in a town that does not exist to proclaim his great gospel amongst a people who desperately need the truth.
I give thanks to the LORD for allowing me the privilege of going to these countries and broadening my horizons. The things that I have seen will be forever engraved upon my heart. I will long remember the pastors that I spent time with in Peru and I will never forget Adolfo who translated for me in Mexico. I will relish the time that I spent with Paul Washer and the others. When I think of church I will forever remember being on top of that mountain in Sullana at that church which had no electricity and no roof. I am convinced that heaven was looking down on that little church on top of that mountain and very few people on earth even know that it exist. Oh, God I pray that the things of this world will continue to grow dim and that God’s people will be caught up in his glorious presence.
Because of the truth: Pastor: J. Randall Easter II Timothy 2:19 "Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases."(Ps. 115:3) "He predestined us according to the good pleasure of His will."(Eph. 1:5) Those who have been saved have been saved for His glory and they are being made holy for this is the will of God. Are you being made holy? Spurgeon says, "If your religion does not make you holy it will damn you to hell."
LOL.
I
PREFER
a reasoned appeal as well.
Alas, sometimes the best I can do is to be a very diligent aversive stimulus!
I do not speak FOR the Lord. I speak AS I understand what He wishes me to based upon Scripture and His Church.
I am not His spokesman. I do, however, evangelize to my ability. I do not proclaim to the ignorant peoples of the world what is in His mind and say that my words merely interpret His words.
I am not that arrogant.
***The only Gospel Paul preached
was The Gospel of Jesus The Chirst.***
Excellent. Go to the head of the class.
Now that we understand that, we then must move to the understanding of Paul’s preaching, which a bunch of people starting right in the first century started getting wrong.
***Because of God’s PRIORITIES & PREFERENCES ***
What did God do before Quix became His spokesman?
"Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack [Aramiyth], O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation."
Syriac and Aramaic were synonyms for each other from start to finish.
Yes, you are right. But you are not taking into account the chronological context. Beginning about 500 BC, the Jews begin to use Aramaic, first in administration then, gradually, in the marketplace and finally at home. By the first century CE, after 500 years, the spoken language was Aramaic which was of Chaldean origin but "judaized." Some schoalrs call it "Judeao-Aramaic," but that would be like calling our languge American-English (and I am not implying the same degree of simialirty).
As I said, the elders in Israel were not happy with that, but that's what happened. Consequently, Targum and Talmud, two most holy books of Judaism, were written in Aramaic, not Hebrew, in order for people to be able to read and understand. That says a lot as to which language they understood.
Consider also that the Dead Sea Scrolls are written extensively in Aramaic, and they span three centuries before Christ and the first century AD. There were no Syrians anywhere even close, so the Aramaic od the DSS was for the domestic Jewish consumption, just as that of Talmud and Targum.
Since you mention OT Hebrew, you do realize that the Hebrews did not call their language "Hebrew" although the name Hebrew ( Ibriy ) exists, but not for the language. The Hebrew language is called in Hebrew yehudiyth (lit. "Jews' language") , which is translated (correctly) in the Septuagint (LXX) as Ioudïstí and not Hebraïstí (Chaldee).
Sounds like an observational/interpretational issue, to me.
Y’all really have developed that to an art form.
Quite masterfully.
I don't know of any "requirement for secret knowledge of Scripture" in Bible-believing churches. The Scriptures are open to all men. We're not the ones who chained the Bible to an altar.
God's election is His own business. Why He gives faith in His Son to some and not to others is for God to know alone.
But the Bible tells us Christ came to cast the light of truth into all the dark corners of the world, especially into those dusty, dank crevices where men think their "good works" will save them.
Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." -- 1 Corinthians 2:7-14
"Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen." -- Romans 16:25-27
"Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing." -- John 18:20"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
Now you may not understand the Bible, but that's not the same thing as saying the Bible is incapable of being understood...by those whom God has given eyes to see and ears to hear.
AMEN!
If men really understood that, life would be a lot easier and happier.
Life isn't just some late-night poker game that might well continue on til morning. There is an end-point and it is God-ordained, along with every step it takes to get there...
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" -- Isaiah 46:9-10"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
She appeared to have teeth while she dated him, but who owned them before her is anyone’s guess.
ROFLMBO
And then Anne Heche fled into the bushes and found them
Good points and analogy.
I wonder what the RCC would think if we started to use the term "Sado-Catholicism," considering the hair shirts and self-flaggelation and bleeding statues found within the Roman church?
Again, it seems like any disagreement with the belief structure of Rome is seen as a "rude" challenge. That kind of insecure self-defensiveness is inherent within a worldly, top-heavy structure that is authoritarian through men rather than libertarian through Christ.
lol. Those in the know call her "Celestia."
The rest of us call her as seldom as possible. 8~)
Great post!
***Now you may not understand the Bible, but that’s not the same thing as saying the Bible is incapable of being understood...by those whom God has given eyes to see and ears to hear.***
Exactly. In fact the Bible is very clear that if you do not believe, if you do not understand, it is because God does not WANT you to understand.
Funny how people can chalk up post-Resurrection sightings of Jesus to “hysterical delusions,” but then are perfectly willing to believe Mary appeared face-to-face with school children and talked to them a few decades ago.
Amen. And for Christians, this is part of the Good News of the Gospel. No wonder the temporal world works so hard to erase it.
"And this will we do, if God permit." -- Hebrews 6:3
Blue Duncan: The apostle Paul makes this point with regard to the most astounding miracle story of all, the resurrection: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-15)
I appreciate your beautiful answer, but you are doing exactly what I said when you responded to it: you are using Paul (scripture) to prove scripture!
I believe that Christ resurrected, but I have no "proof" of that other than my faith.
There are many accounts in the New Testament of Jesus’ appearance after the crucifixion.
Don't you think that someone who was not a believer would have been just a tad bit curious to see the man the whole city of Jerusalem saw tortured and killed on the Cross, walking the earth as if nothing happened? But there are no extra-biblical accounts of something so outrageous and unbelievable as that!
If Jesus was such a "dangerous" element in Israel as the Bible portrays him, don't you think the Sanhendrin would not have freaked out if they found us He is back!? I think so. Yet no one seems to have been perturbed for the entire 40 days that He was appearing before people to write about it!
This "creed” is especially significant for its date. It occurs in a letter written in the early 50s but it dates to a very few years after Jesus’ death
How is that?
This material is traditional and pre-Pauline is evident from the technical terms delivered and received, the parallelism and somewhat stylized content, the proper names of Cephas and James...
Paul uses Peter's name as Cephas in Gal 2:11, but in 2:7 he calls Peter Petros.
Concerning the date of this creed, critical scholars almost always agree that it has an early origin, usually placing it in the AD. 30s
Are you talking about the so-called Passion-Naratives? I don't buy into their date. The next closest source would be the (in)famous "Q", and that one is missing as well.
For Paul, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a vital event
For all of Christianity!
That women were the first witnesses must be true; there would be no other reason for including the detail.
That's very likely, but the empty tomb doesn't prove He resurrected. Besides, the accounts between the four authors of the Gospels differ so much when it comes to empty tomb, it is almost impossible to decide who to believe
If the resurrection was not true and the bible writers were just writing fiction or myths it would have been disproved long before Paul wrote.
The fact that the whole world did not flock to become Christian is proof enough to challenge any Christian's conviction! What would it take, one might ask! It is a real miracle that so many believe based on nothing but blind faith that the Gospels proclaim the truth!
First, if the disciples stole the body. or they paid the soldiers guarding the tomb to say that the disciples had whisked the body away (Matthew 28:11-15) then the grave clothes would have been disturbed
You are writing about it as if it were a news account. We really don't know what was there, since neither of the authors who write about it were there to witness it. In fact, Paul, Luke and Mark never knew Christ personally, while he was on earth.
If the Gospel accounts are correct, and He did say on the Cross "It's accomplished" (or finished, done), then no further revelation was necessary. If Christ was not the fullness of revelation, then He is not the apex.
Why would He need Paul to carry on His message, as if He left something behind undone, or as if His sacrifice on the Cross was not enough, or His ministry insufficient?
Obviously, Paul was necessary (as far as the Church was concerned!) to sell Judaism to the Greeks to put it bluntly, lest the whole movemnt die out! That's because the Jews did not buy into it, even though the NT speaks of "multitudes" of jesus' followers.
Christ had His own personal pick of the "called ones?" and their mission was with the 12 truibes of Israel, not the gentiles. No one ever spoke of evangelizing the Gentiles, until the Church started dying in Israel. And why would there be another Revelation (to "John"), as if God's revelation was not completed and fulfilled with Christ?
Not from the Orthodox side. As far as I am concerned, I don't call it "hysterical delusions," but simply claims that lack objective proof. And since it is such a crucial Christian belief, it is a real wonder that so many people believe in something as outrageous as that without a shred of evidence: it's blind faith at its best.
It's all upside down.
I would think heated discussions between Christians about the correctness of various translations is to be expected and should be encouraged. I never thought I would see Christians arguing that the Koran is just as valid as the Bible because in the end you can't prove which is correct.
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