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Locked on 10/27/2009 12:40:43 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
Childish behavior. |
Posted on 07/25/2009 2:40:04 AM PDT by Quix
The Bible says we cannot know the time of the Lord's return (Matthew 25:13). But the Scriptures make it equally clear that we can know the season of the Lord's return (1 Thessalonians 5:2-6):
"You yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night... But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night or darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober."
This passage asserts that Jesus is coming like "a thief in the night." But then it proceeds to make it clear that this will be true only for the pagan world and not for believers. His return should be no surprise to those who know Him and His Word, for they have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to give them understanding of the nature of the times.
Furthermore, the Scriptures give us signs to watch for — signs that will signal that Jesus is ready to return. The writer of the Hebrew letter referred to these signs when he proclaimed that believers should encourage one another when they see the day of judgment drawing near (Hebrews 10:25-27). Jesus also referred to the end time signs in His Olivet Discourse, given during the last week of His life (Matthew 24 and Luke 21). Speaking of a whole series of signs which He had given to His disciples, He said, "When you see all these things, recognize that He [the Son of Man — that is, Jesus] is near, right at the door" (Matthew 24:33).
A Personal Experience
Every time I think of "Signs of the Times," I am reminded of a great man of God named Elbert Peak. I had the privilege of participating with him in a Bible prophecy conference held in Orlando, Florida in the early 1990's. Mr. Peak was about 80 years old at the time.
He had been assigned the topic, "The Signs of the Times." He began his presentation by observing, "Sixty years ago when I first started preaching, you had to scratch around like a chicken to find one sign of the Lord's soon return."
He paused for a moment, and then added, "But today there are so many signs I'm no longer looking for them. Instead, I'm listening for a sound — the sound of a trumpet!"
The First Sign
One hundred years ago in 1907 there was not one single, tangible, measurable sign that indicated we were living in the season of the Lord's return. The first to appear was the Balfour Declaration which was issued by the British government on November 2, 1917.
This Declaration was prompted by the fact that during World War I the Turks sided with the Germans. Thus, when Germany lost the war, so did the Turks, and the victorious Allies decided to divide up both the German and Turkish empires.
The Turkish territories, called the Ottoman Empire, contained the ancient homeland of the Jewish people — an area the Romans had named Palestine after the last Jewish revolt in 132-135 AD.
In 1917 Palestine included all of modern day Israel and Jordan. In the scheme the Allies concocted for dividing up the German and Turkish territories, Britain was allotted Palestine, and this is what prompted the Balfour Declaration. In that document, Lord Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, declared that it was the intention of the British government to establish in Palestine "a national home for the Jewish people."
The leading Evangelical in England at the time was F. B. Meyer. He immediately recognized the prophetic significance of the Declaration, for he was well aware that the Scriptures prophesy that the Jewish people will be regathered to their homeland in unbelief right before the return of the Messiah (Isaiah 11:11-12).
Meyer sent out a letter to the Evangelical leaders of England asking them to gather in London in December to discuss the prophetic implications of the Balfour Declaration. In that letter, he stated, "The signs of the times point toward the close of the time of the Gentiles... and the return of Jesus can be expected any moment."
Before Meyer's meeting could be convened, another momentous event occurred. On December 11, 1917 General Edmund Allenby liberated the city of Jerusalem from 400 years of Turkish rule.
There is no doubt that these events in 1917 marked the beginning of the end times because they led to the worldwide regathering of the Jewish people to their homeland and the reestablishment of their state.
Since 1917
Since the time of the Balfour Declaration, we have witnessed throughout the 20th Century the appearance of sign after sign pointing to the Lord's soon return. There are so many of these signs today, in fact, that one would have to be either biblically illiterate or spiritually blind not to realize that we are living on borrowed time.
I have personally been searching the Bible for years in an effort to identify all the signs, and it has not been an easy task to get a hold on them. That's because there are so many of them, both in the Old and New Testaments.
I have found that the best way to deal with them is to put them in categories, and in doing that, I have come up with six categories of end time signs. We will explore these catetories beginning in Part 2 of this series.
I'm just now getting around to reading these earlier posts. It's been shown time and again that Roman Catholics see any criticism of their beliefs as personal criticisms, hate-mongering and bigotry. Because RCs are incapable of defending their positions from Scripture they nit-pick.
The site I identified as a Roman Catholic site offered a photo of a Roman Catholic crucifix with a photo of Roman Catholic pope John Paul II taken by a Roman Catholic priest.
That is hardly a "fabricated demonstrable falsehood."
If you're looking for falsehoods, check Ratzinger's latest "global authority" encyclical." It's filled with them.
Do you believe all that?
Please answer in your own words. Thank you.
God have mercy.
Oh? I wasn't aware that the Catholic Church owned geocities, I was of the impression that geocities was owned by Yahoo (Yahoo is closing it next week) and it is a place for free personal webpages.
So, I would hardly call this a Roman Catholic website. The owner of the page MIGHT be a Catholic, then again they might be Orthodox or Anglican. Come to think of it, it might even be a Machenite trying to smear Catholics, because that wouldn't surprise me one bit.
Does this mean that you have actually found a website of the Catholic Church (and by that I mean the Vatican, a diocese or at least a parish) that contains the following quote?
“Mary is on the cross with Christ helping Christ to redeem His sheep”
I wasn't talking about you at all, YOUR posts made perfect sense based on the original thread. I was simply discussing how unnamed anti-Catholic bigots had diverted the thread to their favorite topic.
Is that picture from the Vatican Website?
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Can you give a reference to that “tradition” from the Vatican?
Or did you just hear it someplace?
Someone is lying by ommission.
There are Female pastors in the PCUSA.
Leaving out one branch when one is speaking of Presbyterians is an out in out falsehood and meant to decieve.
Which is par for some posters.
>>The site I identified as a Roman Catholic site offered a photo of a Roman Catholic crucifix with a photo of Roman Catholic pope John Paul II taken by a Roman Catholic priest.<<
Which of course you have no proof of except the word of the new ager that posted it.
Actually, most anti-Catholics wouldn't stoop so low as to fabricate quotes.
Regardless, those quotes don't show anything near the glorification heaped on Mary today by Roman Catholics. Those quotes show Luther's lingering ties to the papacy and his own past in the priesthood.
You wrote in post #1054:
Calvin and Luther believed Mary died a virgin. However, they vehemently rejected praying to Mary which they rightly denounced as idol-worship.
They did not believe Mary was conceived without sin.
They did not believe Mary rose bodily into heaven.
They did not believe Mary was sinless.
They did not believe Mary was an advocate or an intercessor or a mediator between God and men.
All of it idolatry, according to the Bible, to the men of the Reformation and to all Scriptural Christians.
I asked you to show me where LUTHER made these statements, I really don't care what Calvin believed.
Again, when YOU make a statement, it is YOUR duty to defend. Instead you offer some excuse about Luther's "lingering ties to the Papacy." The TRUTH is that from 1521 (which is the date of stfassisi's EARLIEST quote in post #1136) onward, Luther was basically in fear for his life. The Pope viewed Luther as a personal enemy, so I really doubt Luther had any "lingering ties". Read the "95 Theses" sometime (number 75 actually uses the phrase "mother of God"), you will see Luther's problems with the Church spelled out. I know some would like to believe that he had problems with Marian devotion, but this simply isn't the case.
Well here's your big opportunity...Explain it then...Educate us...
Post 757, well put. It’s no fun when the wicked have power. No fun at all. And you also said,
Jesus died for RELATIONSHIP.
Verse of the day
“A man finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word!”- Proverbs 15:23
SELAH
“A man finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word!”- Proverbs 15:23
You know what’s really funny?
Bringing up those Priestesses in the Presbyterian Church.
When Presbyterians have an idea that hierarchy doesn’t like, they split.
Do you know how many branches of Presbyterian there are in the USA?
“The largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States is the Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA). Other Presbyterian bodies in the United States include the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), the Reformed Presbyterian Church, the Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC), the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP Synod), the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), and the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States (RPCUS). In Canada, the largest Presbyterian Church is the Presbyterian Church in Canada, about seventy percent of which merged in 1925 with the Methodist Church, Canada, and the Congregational Union of Canada to form the United Church of Canada.”
Maybe someone should be “ministering” to one’s own denomination about what each believes.
>>”Impossible” and “not understood by anti-Catholic bigots” are not the same thing.<<
Nothing is impossible to Our Lord.
No.
You’re welcome.
Who are you quoting with that perversion?
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