All Discussion PAGE 2992

G.W. Matthews

I truly believe that God created good and evil so that we can have a choice. He doesn't want robots but people who would want to love Him. That's why I believe He put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the mist of garden so we can have a choice. He loves us that much. He didn't want to force us to love Him but freely love Him. It's God good.

Hi Paul: what I meant by what God did for us sinners what we could not forselves was an expression, meaning there is nothing you or can do to save ourselves , The Apostle Pauls says -we are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God Not of wokrs lest any man should boast Eph 2:8-9 The Apostle Paul is our Apostle to the Gentiles. For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

2 Timothy 1:11

Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

1 Timothy 2:7

Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

The Book of James is writing to the 12 tribes scrattered James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. We are the 12 tribes of Isreal. Isreal was under the Law we gentiles were not. God bless

Kenneth, just a nagging thought from me as a result of your comment: if Jesus' crucifixion has dealt with the sin issue, i.e. there is no more sin, or He has forgiven the sins of the world in toto, then why was the Gospel preached by the apostles & then by us (no need for it). And why is there still so much evidence of wickedness & sin in the world, & increasing at a horrifying pace. Maybe there is something in your thoughts that I'm not picking up. Looking for further enlightenment.

Chris,

Thank you so much for your encouraging words. I have been blessed by several answers you have posted. Very well said about His salvation being complete. Salvation is all of God. The only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin to which we need to be saved from. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He designs it, and He brings it to its completion. My perspective on judging is that we are not to judge our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we are to be "Fruit Inspectors! Ye shall know them by their fruits. So even though I am not to judge you, per se, I'm still to inspect the fruit. And from what I see, you're relationship with Christ seems to be "Rock Solid." God Bless!

Awesome, praise God!

Adam, I too believe that it is "once saved, always saved". If it weren't, then the work at the Cross was defective & God's Eternal & Perfect Plan was not well thought through. The problems that are evident: do we recognize that God is truly the Judge of men's souls & has the Christian truly been saved by faith through the hearing of the Gospel? In relation to the first question: even before a supposed believer re-enters into a life of sin & rejection of the Godhead, God already knows the state of that soul. It is us who fall into error by giving a 'qualified' judgement of who is saved & who is not. Yes, we do accept one another as part of Gods Family, & so we should, as we are to also preach this challenge: "So you think you are a Christian - Why?". Secondly, how many out there believe they are Christians because of partaking in the ordinances, maybe a strong feeling, Church membership, in Christian service? The truly born again simply cannot be lost.

I came here, looking for Jesus... and I have found him.

Hello, the Bible refutes that with these 2 verses and more. A Christian who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit clearly isn't forgiven and won't go to heaven, because that's what Jesus said. He warned Christians about this in the Bible: Mark 3:28-30. Hebrews 10:26. How can anyone claim that a Christian who deliberately turns their back on God and permanently denounces Jesus is still saved? It seems that Jesus's own words would have to be ignored to come to such a conclusion. John 14:15. Why would Jesus tell his Christian followers to obey Him if they were already saved and if it made no difference if they obeyed or not? Why does this Matthew 7:21 reference say also to obey if you don't have to? Clearly these verses paint a different picture than the one satan is painting trying to convince Christians that its ok to disobey and sin all you want with no consequence. One of these beliefs is true and the other is false. Satan is the father of lies and may be behind one of them- which is more likely, that satan is deceiving Christians into being unnecessarily obedient, or that he's deceiving Christians into believing it's ok to be disobedient?

James, just to clarify the reference I made to Mal 3:10: the pouring out of blessing by the LORD may well have been a deluge of rain for the crops (but this is not the point in that Scripture). The point is that because the people were encouraged to bring their tithes (probably crops, animals, etc.) into God's storehouse, and if they did so, He would reciprocate with blessings. Likewise, when we give cheerfully to the Lord's Work (whether by way of tithe or as we feel led to give), or even over & above what we can afford to, we know that the Lord will still meet our needs (in whatever way He chooses). It really boils down to the measure of faith we have in the Lord for doing what seems impossible to man. I just put this in as it directly applies to my comment as it does to Travis'.

The Seven Seals I've always seen as considered to be the beginning of the Tribulation, often covering the first 3.5 years. What follows is the Great Tribulation with much worse Judgements (Trumpets, Vials/Bowls). I see this Corona/First Seal as having many layers, as it appears to be setting the stage for the Mark of the Beast in at least an initial form, but what I forgot to mention, is that due to this virus, elections around the world may be changed... allowing the One World Government to move key players into position through fraud and deception... hence the Conquest.

No. We can't lose our Salvation. If we could lose our Salvation because of some sin we commit then every body has already lost their Salvation because everybody sins. And nobody who is truly saved will ever use the fact that we can't lose our Salvation as an excuse to sin. As the Apostle Paul says: "Shall we sin so that Grace may abound? God forbid." What he was saying was, shall we go hog wild killing, stealing and committing every sin in the book just because we're saved by Grace and can't lose our salvation? Of course not. And there has never been a single truly saved person in the entire history of Christianity who has ever had that attitude, contrary to the accusations of those who don't believe once saved always saved. What some people seem to have a hard time understanding is that all sin, no matter how big or small causes us to be separated from God and undeserving of Salvation. That's why the only way to be saved is by having your sins forgiven and to remain forgiven forever.

These is no sin, Jesus has taken sin away from the world when He is finished His work and went to the Father after His crucifixion. We have no sin and are given a new commandment in John 13:34. To "love" is our only commandment; the ten commandments are obsolete and do not apply.

James, very well said.

N.T. believers are not commanded to tithe. Many today are being taught that they must tithe and give 10 percent of their income to the church. I know of at least one group that has an annual sit down audit of their members, and they have to show proof that they gave what their church told them to give. From my understanding on what was commanded of the Jews, it didn't mean just money, it was 10 percent of everything they owned. I don't know of anyone today who does that. I am not against tithing if people wish to tithe. But I think that is between them and the Lord. A person should only give if the Lord puts it on their heart to give, not out of obligation.

According to the apostle Paul in 2Peter 3:3-8, Galatians 3 is from the third day of Creation, when Jesus had come by water only. Until Christ came by the water and the blood, as He did today, the first and only fourth day of the Creation, sin was unforgiven; however, the "faith" referenced is not your: it belongs to Jesus Christ.

Rod, God not sending plagues?

Revelation 15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Revelation 15:6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.

Revelation 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

I love this Bible because it is coming from the real thing, and it is inspirational

"For by Grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast". So we know from these verses that our Salvation is by Grace not works. It also cannot be by both Grace and works because Grace and works are opposites. As the apostle Paul tells us again, "And if by Grace then is it no more of works otherwise Grace is no more Grace. But if it be of works then is it no more Grace otherwise work is no more work." ( Romans 11:6) So unless your willing to call the apostle Paul a liar we have to conclude that our Salvation is only by grace, not by works. Jesus doesn't decide our Salvation, we do. We decide whether we want to believe in Jesus and confess Him as our Lord and Savior. It's a conscious decision we each need to make: Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God hath raised Him from the dead. You do not need baptism to be saved. That's all a part of the works trip religion.

I love this Bible because it is coming from the real thing.

it is already happening now,the spirit of God is now up on people all over the world

The terms "by," used twice in the Greek text for this Verse is actually the preposition "out of," as a source.

We know from scripture that faith is a fruit of God's Spirit. It is not of man. Faith is produced by God's Spirit. We cannot produce biblical faith ourselves. We have human faith, but that is different than the faith that the bible speaks of. Faith is a word that describes the presence and activity of God's Spirit in a believer's life. The word faith itself literally means persuasion.

The literal translation from the Greek text for Romans 10:17 should read "So then faith comes from "out of" hearing, and hearing from the word of God."

Faith comes to us from out of hearing God's word. His Spirit ministers to us and persuades us and gives us the faith to do what God wants us to do out of the hearing of His word.

The apostles, including Matthias were witnesses.

From Verse 14 to 47 of Acts Chapter 2, Peter is giving the principles of salvation to the Jews. We know from Verse 14 that Matthias was there. But I believe he is giving his message to the Jews. The original language puts markers in for us so that we know how to break down the message. In Verse 14, it says "Ye men of Judaea." That's a marker. Another marker in Verse 22, "Ye men of Israel." And then Verse 29 says "Men and brethren." So Peter is speaking to Jewish brethren, the ones who were eyewitnesses to Christ's resurrection. Acts 2:36 seems to indicate that he's speaking to the Jews. They were witnesses of Christ's resurrection. We see in Acts 1:11, it says, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Quick question: why is it that some chapters spell Nebuchadnezzar the way it does in the KJV that I own and other chapters spell it the way it is spelled in verse 1? Is it the same king? Or am I missing something? I don't understand...

Amen Chris!

Do you have a 'word for today?

in 2nd peters chapter 3: verses 10 and 12 is this literal speaking or symbolic?

I would like to correct something in "I don't accept that there are evolutionary processes going on.....but we classify that into different species. For example, we had no sewer rats before we had sewers; however; the rats found a new home there; and adapted (or evolved to become sewer rats); and so I guess you are right within species.

I got a bit mixed up; they did not evolve to become sewer rats. We just classified them to be sewer rats. All animals will adapt to live and survive and they take on new characteristics; and we do the same thing; but we are the same all over the world, people classified by their culture etc. We classify animals and then think they evolve. I don't like to talk about evolution and so maybe i could call it evilution, as that is what it seems to be to me. Sorry about my blunder on confusing the classification of species with evilution; and really the other people never evolved, They just live in different areas.

I was wrong about the blood as one pointed out in Acts 15:20 and 29, but the ceremonial laws are done away in Christ. That is why we have the New Testament.

We are not under the ceremonial laws now. Timothy 4:4

It seems probable that Peter refers here to the whole 120 who were present, and who were ready to attest it in any manner.The matter which was to be proved was that Jesus was seen alive after he had been put to death. The apostles were appointed to bear witness of this. We are told by Paul ( 1Corinthians 15:6) that he was seen by more than five hundred brethren, that is, Christians, at one time. The 120 assembled on this occasion were doubtless part of the number, and were ready to attest this. This was the proof that Peter alleged; and the strength of this proof was, and should have been, perfectly irresistible.

Yes Jesse, the devils know of Jesus Christ but not know Him. Just like many people "know of" Jesus Christ today but never believe in Him. In the context of James, James says that they, the religious people, know that there is one God and they do well but that knowledge is not enough for salvation. Even the pope recognize, confess that He is the Son of God but will suffer the condemnation of His wrath unless he repents. My friend, the only sin that needs to be repented of for salvation is the sin of unbelief. Aloha