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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.
What does, “I’ll take the side of the Nestorians” mean?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2316615/posts?page=27#27
The word Trinity isn't there as you know...But the Trinity is there...The early Christians learned about the Trinity from the preaching and writing of the Apostles and disciples...And it's not that hard to find...
Your religious leaders that couldn't find the Trinity for 400 years must have stifled the information or they were spiritially dead and couldn't find it...
WHO compiled the Canon of Scripture and WHEN
That honor goes to Jesus Christ...I'm sure you guys cringe when Jesus is brought into the conversation but it is His scripture we're talking about...It's not yours...
The NT tells us what the OT cannon is...The OT talks about a kingdom and a Messiah...The Messiah shows up in Matthew and preaches to the Jews...Salvation is of the Jews...
The Jews reject the Messiah...
Jesus is ticked of and wants to make the Jews jealous...Jealous enough to turn the Jews to Him in the end...
Jesus then, thru the Apostles offers salvation to everyone...Jesus adopts Gentiles to make the Jews jealous...
Jesus lays out the scripture so that there is a transition from the Jews inheriting their promised kingdom to starting a 'Spiritual' church where everyone was invited...Jesus then dies as the one and only sacrifice that was needed for an atonement for our sins unto eternal salvation...
Jesus then provides Grace that we might have this salvation freely... And then,thru the scriptures, Jesus tells us how to unite and live as Spiritual Christians and look for the Blessed Hope, the 2nd coming of Jesus...
We are then warned of the destruction of the enemies of His chosen people, the Jews and the final judgement of the souls of these enemies of Jesus...Jesus then brings the destruction of the earth and provides a NEW heavens and earth that we may live with Him forever...
Matthew thru Revelation...That's the beginning and the end...That's the canon...The canon ended with, Even so, Come Lord Jesus...
Now the canon of your religion is altogether different...Yur canon is not our canon...When referencing your canon, you ought to make it clear that it's the Catholic canon, not the scriptural canon...
Can you find the Trinity in the scripture???
Kind of screams, “I’m a heretic.”
It also shows that one can memorize words from the Bible, every one of them, but it still doesn’t give that person an understanding of what those words mean.
>>Can you find the Trinity in the scripture???<<
Isn’t that your forte?
>>I’m sure you guys cringe when Jesus is brought into the conversation...<<
Mind reading is not allowed on the Religion Forum.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
That honor goes to Jesus Christ...I'm sure you guys cringe when Jesus is brought into the conversation but it is His scripture we're talking about...It's not yours...
Really, where does the Bible say that Jesus Christ compiled it?
The Jews reject the Messiah...
Jesus is ticked of and wants to make the Jews jealous...Jealous enough to turn the Jews to Him in the end...
Jesus then, thru the Apostles offers salvation to everyone...Jesus adopts Gentiles to make the Jews jealous...
Okay then . . .
Matthew thru Revelation...That's the beginning and the end...That's the canon...The canon ended with, Even so, Come Lord Jesus...
Now the canon of your religion is altogether different...Yur canon is not our canon...When referencing your canon, you ought to make it clear that it's the Catholic canon, not the scriptural canon...
How, precisely is the Canon of the Catholic New Testament different from say the KJV?
Yes.
Well, being hit on relentlessly by a married elderly woman, despite my protestations, has definitely got me squirming. My skin is crawling too.
That part I said.
...of what Rome teaches and believes.
And that part I did not say.
You're penchant for misattribution is relentless.
Who EXACTLY compiled the canon of the New Testament in "your" Bible? What were their names? When did they do this? What were their sources?
BIG THANKS.
Have you gotten an answer yet?
I may or may not get a response, I don’t ever expect an answer.
Making it personal is against the rules. If for some reason there is no consequence for breaking the rules, in a few instances, it would be unwise to assume there will never be.
It cannot be personal without naming the person. So sorry.
Didn't you just get done posting a pedantic correction of her typing error? Why yes, yes you did.
LOL
LOL
Bookmarked for later.
So true, I'm sure that FR has more than one graduate of the Dan Rather School of Fabrication.
Don't like referring to Jesus as Christ? How....odd.
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