All Discussion PAGE 127

"The Cross and the Sword" (1 of 2)

In Lucan gospel we have a saying of Jesus, coming as it is from the Servant-King is atypical. "Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one"( Luke 22:35).

St Luke makes it clear that the sword was their emblem of a new order they were entering into. It also fits with the subtext the narrative carrying along. As associates of Jesus they were also part of the kingdom he had promised (vv.29-30).

Symbolism of the sword is for every saint redeemed from the earth and they follow the white rider on a white horse. He is part of the great army following in the rear. "In righteousness he doth judge and make war." (Re.19:11). The sword is not forged in any fire kindled by man but from the fire that was symbolically present in the night vision of Daniel. The Ancient of day sat on a throne, "His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire." (Dan.7:9) As human events unfold in earth this fire was streaming as with river of time.

(See entry under R-River of time)

The inaugural vision of St John made a composite image of the Father and the Son. The sword of the Spirit, 'which is the word of God' and it clears every offending thing, the remnant of iniquity, "were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth."(Re.19:21).

As Jesus is wrapping up earthly ministry they disciples were to be watchful (" Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning./ Lest coming suddenly he find you sle"- Mark 13:35-36) It was to be in readiness as soldiers awaiting the command of their Messiah-King for the battle. In the Gospel of St Matthew we have this: "Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword(Matt.26:51)".

"Cross"

The cross first came into use as an emblem of Christianity after. Constantine the Great in 313 AD (on the eve of a crucial battle) seemed to have seen a flaming cross in the heavens bearing the inscription, "In hoc signo vinces", meaning 'By this sign thou shalt conquer'. Accordingly he adapted the cross and called it the Labarum.

Be that as it may a cross has two arms crossed so by mode of inversion he that came down from heaven is the same who ascended and the central beam tells its own story. ( John 3:13) The Son of man came down to fulfil the will of his Father. So the cross plank signifies the gospel he preached and his Great Commission connects the far ends of the earth into one fold.

Cross has undergone many shapes as the doctrine of God is suitably altered each after his own fashion. St Andrews cross is as different from St Antony's cross; for that matter Greek Orthodox cross differs from Latin cross. Despite of what names given to the type of cross, spiritual meaning can only be understood by taking up his cross and follow the way he chose. "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved"(Matt.24:13)

A cross is this made up two aspects in the ministry of Reconciliation in which direction and position bind heaven and the earth as one.

He became a curse for us fulfilling the provision of the Law of Moses. "Because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God's curse".(De.21:23) God willed also his Son to be the one who redeemed mankind. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us,(Gal.3:13).

His doctrine in the Son gave a position for all those who believed in God through his Son. He became the captain of their salvation from one end to the other.

Thanks for that excellent summation of Daniel . It's a book that always goes straight to my heart , maybe it's because I feel it's so real and relevant to us all as Christians in this world of idols and potential dangers . Two of my favourite verses : Ch 6 V 26+27 . Considering that the whole Bible is for our benefit and encouragement , a gift to us from our God to help us draw closer to Him , I always feel so safe when I read these verses . We have to believe that God loves each and everyone of us as much as He loved Daniel and that He would , will and maybe even has , done for us what He did for Daniel and his three friends . How many times in our lives has He pulled us out of the fire ? Shut lions mouths against us ? Some times we may know that He intervened on our behalf , other times He did it and we don't even know . We are all Daniel I think , let's hope we can be as strong and steadfast in our faith as he was .

I agree with you about that little horn .

please remember me and my family in your prayers please remember Jessica and her young family

"Creation" (2 of 2)

In separating the light from darkness he made his Will plain. He is the Father of lights. By the same token God the Son is presented to the world as the true Light that sheds light on man. All such devolution from his Will is a continuous line of development: The house Wisdom builds has seven pillars,- and seven is a number the Spirit uses to give them completeness. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:"(Ge.2:3)

Symbolism of pillars refers to the Son for whom God the Father has appointed a day. (Ps.2:7-8). Seven days of creation shall have the same quality as the word of God establishes the House as a place of rest for him. "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. (He.2:11)

The proof of holiness is as consistent with the seed as the trees bearing seed produce after their kind. For this reason Jesus asks," Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?/ Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit./A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. (Matt.7:16-18). By principle of Similitude the Spirit qualifies good trees as trees of righteousness (Is.61:3)

"Creation" (1 of 2)

Ex nihilo as a concept must remain a chimera of carnal mind, while Sovereign will of God as the Word presides over Power and Wisdom. When we speak of the word of God forever settled in the heavens (Ps.119:89) The word creation has a Cause as well as its volume. He.11:3 refers to two worlds one which is unseen and the other seen. The earth is what the creation attests as Effect, which is upheld 'by the word of his power' (He.1:3) The word of his grace is able to build up. (Ac.20:32; John 17:17) So the new heaven and new earth in Re.21:1 is the inheritance of man and this newness merely speaks of the man component embedded in the fellowship of God with Man.

The word sanctifies whosoever receives the Son and abides in him. "For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else." (Is.45:18)

"He created it not in vain" is the absolute certainty of Wisdom and Power interacting vis- -vis with the Law. The Spirit underpins the principle of Similitude as a quality: like begets the like. It means the Law renders both heaven and earth having the same qualities. It is thus the Spirit gives heaven a concrete image of a house built by Wisdom. (Pr.9:1) By principle of Similitude the earth is rendered habitable:

We see it in the creation account. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so."(Ge.1:11) 'Whose seed is in itself" by the principle of Similitude the word of God is compared to man whose seed is in itself. The intent of the Spirit is unmistakeable. As God is holy, the earth shall be holy as well. "Be ye holy, for I am holy."

Momsage,

God is in control and He will know whom he should deliver and whom he will let to their own devices. The Bible is very clear and let us stick to our faith and take this day This is the day that God has made and I shall rejoice in it. Israel is a drop in the troubled sea and as Isaiah says it will keep roiling as Hanas another drop. What muck they churn up is not for me pick up. With joy and peace,

OK. What you say.

OK. What you said

OK. What you said.

But you didn't respond to my comments saying yes to praying for them, you gave a long discourse telling me the Israelities are etc, etc.

I'm glad your prays include them.

Thanks Giannis.

I will get back with you on this. It's after 8pm here, that's past my bedtime.

God bless you.

Thank you and Happy birthday to you as well Gigi.

I hope you have a spirit filled year as well.

God bless.

My Divine appointment with a Franciscan nun.

Last night enroute to my car to go to a Christian coffee house I met a shivering lady with the typical Catholic garb of a large cross; beads; etc. She spoke broken English; but I surmised from what she stated that she needed a ride down the street. It appeared that the parking lot of the church up the road had some restriction preventing her from moving a car in the parking lot and she needed a ride less than a mile down the road at a nursing home facility.

During the ride she explained how she had been praying over the situation and then I mentioned I was a Christian after she prayed for me (invoking Rafael and of course the Virgin Mary asking for blessings and protection over me. I didn't have time to get into a long explanation of the error of such prayers; being satisfied that at least she mentioned the blood of Christ. At the time I dropped her off I looked for a spanish gospel tract which clearly explains that Christ only saves and I was briefly troubled that I couldn't find it; then realized that she had been sitting on it. That was an answered prayer in her behalf; I realized that others were meeting her and hoped they would see the tract; and I had been waiting months to find someone to give it to who spoke Spanish.

Since I am not sure if I can mention any specific names here; I will just state that the two bands at the coffee house were outstanding (can't always be sure). I don't mention where I attend church either. Let me make a general statement here; there are artists (in this case at least the one lady who has stuff on YouTube) who actually are talented musically and honor God with convicting lyrics (the one song was about taming the tongue).

Let us all seek the Lord for opportunities however brief or unexpected to witness to people and help to fulfill the Great Commission. As a sidenote let us remember part of that is to make disciplles; a long term commitment for mature believers

Hi again Momsage.

When you say that one is saying "we don't have to keep the 10 commandments" when they say the law was given to the nation Israel" I believe that is where you err.

I believe most agree with you that the 10 commandments and the law is relevant for us today.

However, they weren't given to make one righteous.

They were called 'The ministration of death", written and engraven in stones, or "Ministration of condemnation". NOT "The ministration of the spirit or Ministration of righteousness" As mentioned, and the two compared in 2 Corinthians 3:6-11

Is there a difference between the law and the 10 commandments?

"They both are a part of the Ministration of condemnation".

The law was written to deal with the 10 commandments by way of pattern or a foreshadowing. Those temporary articles could not make us righteous by that which slew us.

Look how Paul uses them both in Romans 7:7-14 "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. ( Exodus 20:17)

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

For I was alive without "THE LAW" once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

So, the question should be "Do the law and commandments "APPLY" to us today. The answer is Yes! We all were under sin.

Here is where we factor in Galatians 3:11-26.

God bless.

Heavenly Father, You healed my niece three years ago. She weighed less than two pounds. She is now a healthy little girl. We claim Your supernatural healing power on Paul Terrell Webb. Jesus by Your stripes Paul is healed. We claim that Every single organ function as it should. No more bleeding in his brain.

Father God, I had brain surgery in 1986 and You healed me. You are the same as in (1986 personally), yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Thank You Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. All the honor and glory be given unto You, our Lord God and Saviour. Amen

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19 KJV

I am the divine heavenly now I become able to receive God riches.

By the way, yes.. when we pray- Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven- we are praying for all.

Yes dear Momsage, I do pray for Israel as well as for all people, friends and enemies, to be safe and live in peace and mainly to get to know the true God and the salvation He gifts to everybody through His Son's sacrifice. This is our duty as sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven who loves all people and wants every person to come to the knowledge of theTruth.

Its too too late here now, time to go to bed. We will talk again tomorrow. Have a blessed night..

Never said Jews are goats. There are 2 camps, among those are sheep and goats, in Christ or not in Christ. Many have "suffered".. Spanish inquisition?.. Somalia, Ukraine, 3 major wars between India and Pakistan since 1948, ever read about the atrocities of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66?.. Armenian genocide?.. it's about humanity, in Christ.. or not, there is no difference.

Hello Rainwalker

It is true that the interpretation of the scriptures about the last times differ from one to another. The way I know it is that the last beast/kingdom is the kingdom of the antichrist. But I may be wrong or we may all be wrong. The future will show to us what is the right explanation of those allegories. So we have to wait, and even better if what I believe about the rapture of the church occuring before the antichrist is right, then we will see all those events from above, being safe and happy in Heaven

Have a blessed week.

You respond by telling me Jews are goats but nothing is said that you are praying for their salvation to become true believers. Many have. These people have gone through a terrible, tragic time recently, are you praying for them?

S.Spencer,

Happy Birthday to your wife! I hope she has a wonderful year this year despite all that the news tells us is going on.

My birthday is in a few weeks. Will be 67! If I make it a point to mind my own life and sphere of influence from day to day, my time is full. So, I feel blessed each day knowing our Savior. Lot's happening in the world, but in my private life, I am safe, at peace, and content with what God has provided. This does not mean I put my head in the sand. No, I stay awake and aware of what is happening. And I pray for the saved and unsaved. No hand-wringing here:) God is so great and we can depend on Him always.

Many are. That is why we need to pray for them. How tragic it must have been for the Jews when Hamas attacked. Do you pray for them?

The WHOLE bible rightly divided. From Genesis 1:1 to Revelations 21:22 speaks of Jesus. None of it is to be discounted.

Yes, Richard, my last sentence is a bit "rough".

I meant to say that the peace we have in

Christ is nothing like any type of peace we may have in this world.

Knowing that God is our Peace, then we can be assured that when we enter into the final state of eternal life there will be no wars, no fighting amongst other believers, no disharmony, no sects or divisions, no anger or hate, and no end to our sense of serenity, contentment, and harmony within us, with our brethren, and mostly with God. To have the unity God intended us to have after all is accomplished in this age of man is truly valuable and amazing.

Look forward to hearing from you. I continue to pray for you and your living situation.

We had a power outage here for the last few hours. it is in the 20's outside so we were getting pretty cold indoors. But, praise God, the power is back on and we are warming up.

the "little horn" is the rise of the papacy from the fall of the roman empire. It "ruled the world" for a time,times and half a time.,Many were imprisoned, tortured, killed and made to recant their faith. From 538 A.D. to 1798. Know what happened in 1798?.. The pope was dragged to France where he died in exile. They were given back their "authority" in 1929. By the way, people fleeing persecution went to a new place, the earth helped the woman, (the church). Where did they go to flee? The new world, unfortunately the beast that looks like a lamb but speaks as a dragon has regained it's power and once again, persecution is right around the corner for those who believe.

Nice to see you are continuing with God's attributes (looks like you made a little typo in the last sentence...)

Interesting comment from Acts as to how Christ secured our peace through His sufferings. No one likes to suffer (at least of sound mind); but of course many verses show how we are to suffer for His Name's sake and go through persecution in this life along with gaining family and eternal relationships. Other verses come to mind such as perfect love casting out fear; and concepts such as the fact that there is no peace for the wicked; so the loving thing of course is to warn sinners that they are in enmity with God because of sin and that they must be redeemed through His atonement to have peace with their Creator.

Knowing the end from the beginning allowed Christ to have peace which He offers to us. Knowing that when our labors cease there is an end to suffering; and a reuniting with other believers after the Rapture (and in our transitional state after death should He tarry) should give us encouragement. Knowing that now we are seated in heavenly places ( Ephesians 2:6) is a present reality. And finally knowing that He will come to reign and rule with an iron rod yet perfectly justly in His judgments and the restored Millennium earth and beyond into eternity once Satan is bound and then judged also gives us hope with the restoration of all creation from this present misery.

Thanks for being faithful in continuing all this stuff. I have something that happened yesterday that I'd like to share in my next post; Lord willing. BTW did pray on your home issue; hope there is something good to report soon.

Agape; RIch P

Hi Spencer

Thanks for your reply but may I disagree with you that those 4 beasts represent "the times of the Gentiles"?

Not long ago I was always wondering why God jumped in His Word from the 3rd beast which is the Roman Empire to the 4th which is the antichrist's kingdom at the very end? Why did God leave out all those great empires inbetween? So many greater empires than Rome emmerged in the world after Christ and those 3 first beasts were really not much compared to some of those new empires.

Similarly in that dream Nebuchadnezzar saw, that bright image, from the 4th kingdom(the legs, Rome) it goes directly to the 5th(the feet) which is antichrist's kingdom.

Sometime, I found out that God describes to Daniel all the great empires during "the times of Israel". From Nebuchadnetzzar in Daniel's time to Rome in Jesus' time, it was Israel times which ended when Israel rejected Jesus. Then the church's time begins which will end at the rapture. So God ommits all those events in between Jesus and the Rapture because they are "the times of the gentiles/church", and they have nothing to do with Daniel and Israel. As soon as the church/restrainer goes away then the final week (7 last years) starts and the antichrist appears on earth. Those 7 years are for israel, the church has gone to Heaven. That is why God jumped from Rome to antichrist. Brilliant, not long ago I found that out.

GBU