Posted on 10/30/2002 2:19:55 AM PST by kattracks
Ever see the movie "It"? :)
Maybe we should have a 2003 Contest of predictions and see if we can beat the psychics.
My prediction for Friday is that the Dems will make some kind of desperate revelation, through surrogates, about Governor/Senator/former mayor/Representative (take your pick in close races) that impugnes his moral character.
My Guess prediction is that Sununu will be the target as the conservatives are balking at voting for him and need another good excuse to really sink him.
Okay, let's see if I get 0 for 1 on this one.
I'd go with Jeb Bush, but they already tried a false adultery scandal with him. Of course, they could trash his daughter Noelle claim he used undue influence to shield her...uh, no, they already tried that, too. Well, hunker down, George P., maybe you're in line to be trashed, except it might backfire with such an attractive young Hispanic man.
1) Angels, or creatures other than man, who possess volition, who also reside within a domain which has been called 'spiritual' do indeed exist.
2) We know from Scripture, or from God Himself who has communicated His Word to us that a third of the angels have fallen and have already been condemned to the Lake of Fire. We also know this third of angels are called by other names including malevolent, deceiving, tempting, fallen, etc. We also know that during end times many will be deceived by signs and wonders...even some of the elect, that the devil has the power to heal, that any will or plan which counterfeits the plan of God which is separate from God matches the exact same MO as Satan when he declared he would make himself like the Most High.
3) We are given examples in Scripture where Saul consulted the witch of Endor and asked to summon Solomon to find out what Saul's fate would be in battle. Much to the witch's surprise, upon her summoning, indeed Solomon did in fact appear.
NOTE: As Dan Day has expressed skepticism and indicated most 'psychics' are frauds, so was the case in Scripture where the 'psychic' herself prepared to give the impression that she was contacting the dead and provide her 'customer' what he wanted. Scripture shows how even she was shocked and surprised when Solomon really did show up. As for Saul, he also got his wish or what he believed in. He prayed or believed in gaining foreknowledge from the dead or the spritual world, and guess what?....God Himself thereby determined that very day what Saul's fate would be, and Solomon told him so. It was then preordained that Saul would fall in battle the next day. Indeed, Saul did fall in battle the following day and by his own sword.
4) Let me provide another analogy regarding angels, prophecy, and man.
A few years ago I was out jogging one day and jogged along a park where a young couple had taken their daughter who was just beginning to walk. The toddler would take a few steps, fall, get back up, take a few steps and run a bit, then fall again, repeating the cycle.
As the couple was about to leave towards the parking lot, the father looked ahead where the toddler kept heading and looking. About 50' ahead was a glossy yellow and glossy red concrete curb adjacent to the park entrance where cars entered the parking lot. The father told his daughter calmly, 'Come this way, Don't go over there!'
The daughter, heard her father, changed her direction in obedience, but later glanced back towards the pretty curb and started to turn again towards the curb. Again her father told her to 'Come this way, Don't go over there!'.
Again the toddler, changed her direction and began to follow her father and then gave a couple of glances out the side of her eye towards the curb and took a couple of steps towards the curb. She got up again and he warned her again, and she responded, but by this time she had approached within about 20 ft of the curb and as she turned towards the curb, she made a mad sprint as best she could towards the pretty curb.
At his point, her father came over, picked her up and gave her a gentle pat on the bottom, kissed her and told her she wasn't to go near the street. OH what a wail she let out. My, how her will had been denied and how she had been pained, although nothing physical to warrant the cry.
Now in this situation, both her father, and myself simply as a third party observer could read the toddler's intentions. One could amazingly relate and predict her actions and the object of her desire and how she might be tempted to disobey as well as her disobedience. Interestingly, all of this insight was possessed by men with only perhaps 30 years of experience.
Now consider the angels, who are not described as perishing, but rather may have lived from eternity past and continue to observe our behavior, volition and decisions. They have several 1000 years of experience.
Some angels are described as malevolent deceivers and some with the power to heal and show signs and wonders and who observe man.
Taking the story of the toddler as an example, a deceiving malevolent angel might also be able to actually observe who the snipers were, their intentions, and if sought as a false idol, might even parlay the situation to glean false worship from an individual and communicate with them deceivingly. Their information might indeed include some true elements to lure and bait their victim into a false worship of their person and confidence in a false system.
The angels aren't able to foresee the future any better than we might be able to foresee the little toddler as she approached the curb would disobey her father. She also possessed free will. But we and the angels might be able to observe trends people exhibit in their decisions and make well based anticipations of their future actions based upon circumstantial evidence.
Insofar as the 'spirtualist' being in league with Satan, it might be better expressed that she also is allowing her behavior to rebel from God and seeks a counterfeit guidance from other persons or at least gives that impression.
If, indeed, she has received this information from the soiritual domain independent of God, then she has fallen to the same rebellious nature as did Satan, so the description as 'satanic' isn't improper. It might not be the case that she worships the person 'Satan', but she is falling to the same temptation of false worship which Satan seeks. So with respect to a proper relationship with God, her behavior is 'satanic', 'adversarial', rebellious.
As for seeking such information from the spiritual domain, when we follow His path as provided by Him to hold a relationship with God, we have also been given the most powerful access to the Spirit, because we are provided with the Holy Spirit. Many of our trials and tribulations fit directly into His plan for good reason. Attempting to seek other spririts is strictly forbidden in Scripture. Such action places others before God. Psychics, if you will, are like the little toddler, who has observed the pretty curb, identified with it, seeks to touch it, but unwittingly will place themselves in peril by their actions. Also like the girl, we have a Father and His Son and the Holy Spirit who has provided the best possible guidance, regardless of how we might be tempted by immediate gratification even of our infatuation with the spiritual.
Lesson Learned: Seek God and none other and follow His will. He will provide graciously, and those who rebel, may be allowed their wishes only to their doom.
You may find that Jesus, the Christ and Savior also in Person is referenced as the Creator. He might also be named as a Prophet, as He did prophesy, but in many contexts such a description is a vast understatement similar to how many unbelievers might desribe Him as 'a very powerful spiritual figure'.
Considering He is attributed with Creation and with conquering Hell and Death as well as all angels falling to His charge, such descriptions are gross understatements.
As for saying what God's will is...discernment is possible through Scriptural study. Jesus Christ, Himself, quoted the major Prophets so their testimony is gleaned to likewise be true.
There are doctrines with good justification that he canon of Scripture was completed, so stating such a position might not be arrogance, but simply a dogmatic position based upon God's Word. Nothing wrong with remaining steadfast in His Word.
As for those other than His followers burning in Hell for all eternity,...yep, you've got that correct. May want to read Hebrews.
We can not interpret it definitively without speaking with those who's experiences it based on or God himself.
So basically anyone can interpret anything in the Bible to mean whatever they want. So maybe Jesus didn't really mean "love thy neighbor." Maybe it's really okay to cheat and murder people, because the relevant dictums may not, as you phrase it, "give me what I need."
I give God enough to credit to believe that he is capable of communicating his intent quite clearly to anyone who wishes to actually examine the writings for their true meaning. I'm not egotistical enough to think that I know better what the words and phrases mean than the linguistic scholars who translate them from the ancient manuscripts. And I don't believe that God constantly contradicts himself, as you apparently do. There will always be those who twist the words, but they do so in contradiction to scholarship and the consistent nature of God.
Saul wanted the Witch of Endor to conjure up Samuel, not Solomon.
I Samuel 28:11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.
You have a very good understanding of this topic. Congrats!
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