Bible Questions & Discussion PAGE 269

THE COURT WHICH IS WITHOUT THE TEMPLE IS GIVEN TO THE GENTILES

Broters, remember of this: according Revelation 11:1-2,what we can see is that the outer court is given to the gentiles.The text talks about two witnesses being able to execute severe Judgments for 42 months/1260 days, Fire will proceed out of their mouth,and will devour the enemies( Revelation 11:18).

What will be the SCENARIOS within Jerusalem in this time to come soon?In fact,It is at the door.

THE FIRST SCENARIO THAT WILL BE SEEN IN JERUSALEM

In fact the false messiah will manifest himself in the holy city in short future.The supposed messiah,called Eliyahu(??),born in Israel decades ago,already living in the holy city for decades(this detail is very important to be known to everyone here of course),this MAN as soon as he manifests himself as a messiah in the days to come, he will begin to make great signs and lying wonders.This esoteric / spiritist/kabbalistic messiah of the Jews will do great signs and wonders,even will make fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, deceiving them that dwell on the earth by the miracles which he has power to do- 2Thessalonians 2:9 combined with Revelation 13:13-14.

THEN A SECOND SCENARIO WILL BE SEEN IN JERUSALEM

All kind of comunications,the midea in general,will comment the signs and lying wonders of the false messiah and will show them to the whole world,mainly by the chanels of television.In the other hand, Ministries and Ministers of all denominations and sects,and all religious leaders of all religious system that exist,they will preach and spread at the four corners of the earth saying Christ is in Jerusalem,yes,Christ,a false Christ, not JESUS.Then the whole world will hear by/through the leaders of the evangelical Churches and non evengelic too,that he is the Christ or he is the messiah,but it is the false, he is not the true messiah-JESUS.

The false will manifest himself very soon,after will come JESUS- 2Thessalonians 2:8.Take a look.

Page 2. Momsage.

No, that's the only word we have in English (unless notes are added to explain further). Every time you & I read this verse, we might be left wondering about Judas' repentance. But now with clarity from the Greek, we can read that verse with greater understanding & certainty of Judas' heart response to his evil act: that it wasn't a repentance as we would normally understand the word, but he was simply a sorry, ashamed man for doing what he did to the pure & holy Son of God & this type of response could never secure him, or us, salvation.

What then does such an example, as I've given here, do to our reading of the KJB? The inspiration of the KJB is certainly clear, but to our understanding from the translation work, it gives the very real possibility of misunderstanding & leading us to believe/accept something not intended by the inspired writer (in this case, Matthew). This is not the fault of the translators, but the fault of any translation work from one language to another. Is there a solution, except for the obvious that we all learn to read Hebrew, Aramaic, & Greek? Since that is not possible nor expected, brother Jesse has gone to great lengths to at least give us a few Scriptures that can be misinterpreted or misunderstood & has brought us clarification. At least on a personal level, this work of his must be greatly appreciated, which in turn helps us to read the KJB more correctly & I hope as the KJB translators would have hoped that we also do, since they weren't allowed to expand their translation with explanatory notes. Hence, some 'modern' translations try to overcome the old English & other limitations, but unfortunately, the addition or omission of certain verses/passages make their usefulness untenable (to me at least), so I stick with the KJB. Blessings.

John (Part 5):

John 2:15 - And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;

And when he had made a scourge, or whip of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple. Literally in the Greek text it says He threw them out. He chased them out with this whip, and the sheep, and the oxen; and he poured out the changers' money, and then tipped over their tables.

I don't know why but over the years I've often wondered if during some functions that go on in various churches, if the Lord were there, would He come and turnover the tables and chase everybody off?

John 2:23 - Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.

In this verse, where it says "many believed in his name," in the Greek, it is literally into His name. That's the proper wording of the New Testament, not believe in Him or about Him, but into Him. It is direction. It's action. People saw the Lord perform signs and miracles and because of that they believed into His name.

John 3:3 - Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The word "again" in the Greek text is literally the word above. It is not PALIN, which is the word for again. It is the word ANOTHEN, which means "from above." So, He is saying that if a person is not born from above, he is not able to see the Kingdom of God.

John 3:4 - Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

In the Greek text, there's a word and it is pronounced MAY, and when it is included in questions it expects the answer no! In the Greek text, on all major questions in the Bible, it also includes the answer. We don't see that in the English text very much.

Page 1.

Hello Momsage. I don't mean to disrupt your exchanges with brother Jesse on this important topic, but thought to just share just one example of how I read the Bible (KJB) comparing to what Jesse has taken great pains to bring to us & particularly to answer you.

I randomly selected a reference in one of his posts (at Part 24) to take as my example; and that is Matthew 27:3, "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders". Jesse's focus was on the word 'repent'.

I thought to myself when I read the verse for myself, 'what goes through my mind (my understanding) when I read that verse; if Judas' did repent for his horrible behavior, which he cannot undo, did his repentance manage to secure salvation before he suicided?' Or, maybe God didn't accept his repentance & condemned him to hell anyway, which then causes one to wonder whether God doesn't always accept our repentance. Compare Judas' with the thief on the Cross; why was the thief forgiven & not Judas? When I read this verse (prior to Jesse's explanation), I would always wonder about Judas' eternal state. And so I bring up this verse to you (as I did to myself); how do you normally read & understand it: 'was Judas' repentance unto salvation or not'? If not 'unto salvation', then what does repentance actually mean to us when we read it in the Bible or even apply it to our own lives?

Given the word usage in Greek for 'repentance' (METANOEO or METAMELOMAI) that Jesse shared, (& his explanation I won't duplicate here), my understanding of this verse was now made very much clearer than when reading it in English. And I'm sure you would have noted this as well, for the English word 'repentance' doesn't correctly explain Judas' response to his evil act. So, were the KJB translators wrong in using 'repentance'? Onto Page 2.

John (Part 4):

John 1:41 - He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

Andrew leaves and he goes to find his brother Simon Peter. And he says, we have found the Messiah. And the word found is the word HEUREESKO which is why this section is called the EUREKA, the I found you section. And he finds his own brother, and says we found the Messiah, which is been interpreted the Christ.

John 1:47 - Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

The word guile is deceit.

John 2:6 - And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

A firkin is a skin of an animal that's been shaped to hold liquid. A firkin, or two or three firkins, there is one measure, or firkin, because that's what the Greek word says. It says measure, and one measure equals 10 gallons. So, each one carries either 20 or 30 gallons each, which means at a maximum there is 180 gallons total that these six water pots could hold.

John 2:11 - This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

The word glory is the Greek word DOKSAH, and it comes from the Hebrew word KAVODH that basically means substance.

So, the glory of God is His presence, the very substance of His person, His Spirit. Christ is manifesting that He is God in the flesh as He has manifested Himself.

John (Part 3):

John 1:18 - No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, and again the word begotten means unique. The only one who is in human form that represents God, the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. Quite a statement!

It is the relationship of the Word to the representative of God to man. First of all, nobody has ever seen God at any time. Nobody! The only one, the only unique one who has come from God, who is in the Father's bosom, another word of equality, He and the Father are one, as he's going to say in John Chapter 10 Verse 31.

He, that is Jesus Christ, He has declared God. The word for declared is EXEGESITO. That is where we get our word exegesis from. An exegete is somebody who takes something apart and declares in detail the facts about a subject.

So here are the three principles: in existence, and in equality, and in essence.

The only begotten Son Existed in the bosom of the Father.

Equality - bosom of the Father means that He is one with him.

And thirdly, Essence - God in human form.

In other words, if anybody wants to know about God, they go to Jesus Christ. He is not just a prophet. He's not just a rabbi. In the Christian faith and Biblical Christianity, He is God in the flesh, 100% God, 100% man!

John 1:23 - He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.

Esaias is the Greek transliteration of the word Isaiah in Greek.

John (Part 2):

John 1:3 - All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

All things were made by him. Now the word "made" designates to us that the Greek word means to create or to come into existence. He is talking about creation, something that was not in existence before. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

John 1:13 - Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Which were born, not of blood, in fact in the Greek text that is plural, not of bloods. You cannot be born into a Christian family. You cannot be born into salvation. It is not part of a family line. Nor of the will of the flesh, human desire, nor of the will of man, and the word man in Greek denotes the husband or the head of the family.

The head of the family can't decide "Okay, all you kids are to be Christians. You are all going to be saved. So next Sunday we are all going up to the altar and you are all going to get saved." It is not the will of the husband. But notice at the end, and this goes with the first three words of the verse, which were born of God. The word "of" means "out of as a source."

Those that received Him experienced a spiritual birth that comes from God, and we get that in detail in Chapter 3 in the interview with Nicodemus.

John 1:16 - And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

In other words, we are recipients of this grace that comes from the Word. And the phrase "grace for grace" in the Greek text, it depicts like the waves of the sea.

Grace succeeding grace like the waves of the sea. God's grace just pours through one after the other. And John says of His fullness we've received and grace after grace, like the waves of the sea.

Biblical Greek Perspectives

John (Part 1):

John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Notice the three words "was." As I shared with you earlier, that has to do with the continuous existence in the past. That is what the Greek word represents. And notice the three different segments. In the beginning was the word. Secondly, the word was with God. And thirdly, the word was God.

In the beginning, and literally in the Greek text, there is no definite article "the." It is just EN ARCHAE, in beginning. There's a reason for that. It is because Genesis Chapter 1 Verse 1, in the Hebrew as well as the Greek translation, it reads "In beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

There is no word "the" in Genesis 1:1 either because it was not "the beginning," it was just beginning. And in the language of both Hebrew and Greek, that is a designation of at the time of creation.

So, in beginning, that is, at Genesis 1:1, was the Word. And again, the word "was" shows continuous existence and the word "Word" is the word LOGOS.

The LOGOS, the great thinker behind the universe was already in existence at the time of physical creation. That is, the creation of physical things as we know it. He was always in existence.

Secondly, and the word was with God. The word "with" represents a Greek phrase that means face-to-face with. And it is the Greek term for equality. To be face-to-face, eye-to-eye, shows equality.

And the word was God. Interesting that some people take these phrases and try to make something out of it that actually twists it away from its original intent. It says the word was God.

Notice our three principles:

Existence - at creation the word existed already.

Equality - and the word was with God, that is face-to-face equal to God.

And thirdly, and the word was God - Essence, nature, the very nature of God Himself.

ATTENTION:Before JESUS coming,will come FIRST the false messiah( Revelation 13:11),as JESUS prophesied- John 5:43.GOD HIMSELF WILL SEND THIS STRONG DELUSION-BE CAREFUL

See,the Abomination of Desolation is linked to the last week,the last 7 years of this world of Devil in which we are living,but we are not of it,we are of the next to be established by our GOD for a millenniun,as JESUS said( Luke 20:35-36 combined with Revelation 11:15-18,among many biblical references)

The AoD has nothing to do with armed forces,but establishment of the religious Antichrist's Kingdom for a period of 7 years,the last 7 years of this current world of the Devil.Two satanic Beasts will be together to establish the satanic Kingdom of Antichrist:the Beast of sea-a Gentile Beast- Revelation 13:1-10,and the Beast of the earth- Revelation 13:11-18,a Jewish Beast,having 2 horns like a lamb,a FALSE LAMB,a FALSE MESSIAH( John 5:43-47),esoteric,kabbalistic and spiritist false messiah,AN IMPOSTOR,and he speaks as a DRAGON(Revelation13:11),and these devilish events will happen after be ELECTED the next and LAST Pope,this will not take long,understand?

The AoD will be established in the 2nd half of the last week of years by the false Jewish and esoteric and kabbalistic messiah who speaks as DRAGON( John 5:43-47 combined with Revelation 12:13-14,take a look)

He will sit on his demonic throne in Jerusalem,and exerciseth all the power of the first Beast(the Beast of sea)before him,and causes the earth(ISRAEL)and them which dwell therein to worship the first Beast(the Gentile Beast-headquater Vatican City),whose deadly wound by the Sword was(will be)healed.How?The deadly wound of the Beast of sea will be healed because the false messiah of the Jews,the DRAGON- Revelation 13:11-gives his Power,his Throne in JERUSALEM,and great AUTHORITY to the Gentile Beast of sea- Revelation 13:2(take a look),who will rule the 1st half of the last week(42 months-Re.13:5)sitting on the Throne of the false messiah in JERUSALEM

Hello Jesse:

This whole discussion is really very simple, kind of like flipping a coin. It has to be heads or tails, one or the other. Heads is a book written by God with no errors. Tails is a book written by man's intellect. If we flip the coin and get tails we get a man written book and If one thing is written wrong how do we know what to believe is the truth?

You say you trust the KJB without it being inspired by the Holy Ghost and even some of the other modern bibles around. How are you able to do that?

Maybe God didn't really flood the whole world and destroy everyone except the 8 on the ark. Maybe it wasn't just 8. Maybe Noah took his favorite nephew with him even though he wasn't a godly man so the authors thought best to keep that part out of the story and maybe that nephew convinced Noah to plant the vineyard because the nephew was a drunk and he wanted his wine and maybe so on and so on and so on. I could take any part of the bible and say the writer got it wrong and decide for myself to believe what I want.

Maybe I don't have to get saved because God has such a great love for me He's going to take me to heaven and not make me suffer for my sins. There are a lot of people who actually believe this false doctrine today. But how do I know it's a false doctrine? BECAUSE THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO.

I really don't understand how you can think a book written by men to be trustworthy and I'm sorry you don't believe the Holy Ghost was able to write the KJV Bible.

God Bless :)

Oops! I meant blessed week,

Have a blessed MotherMac,

Hi Richard:

Good Post.

I thought I'd mention to you that if you don't already have a data writing tool on your computer you might want to download one. There are a lot of free ones. The one I have is Libre Office Writer and it's free but very good. I type most of my posts on there first, then copy to this discussion page and submit. That way I can proof read it and know it's what I want to say. Then when I go to search for something I don't have to worry about loosing what I have already typed.

Since this site doesn't use italics, bold or a lot of caps etc. those won't transfer over too here but I find it a lot easier to write what I want to say more accurately. It has very helpful tools like spellcheck and a number count of words you've typed, etc. It is really a good data writer, especially for free. I hope this idea may help you. God Bless :)

MotherMac

I found that scripture in Malachi 3:16.

a few weeks ago. I love it.

Thanks for posting it.

Malachi 3:16

"Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name." KJV

Yes, yes, yes. God hears our "voice" when we talk about his Goodness and Grace. It is so important that he writes it down. Amen.

What is the City of David? What is the City of Jerusalem? What is Zion? Bethlehem? Jerusalem? How do they relate to each other?

There used to be ol saying,'You are what you eat'

when a person consumes with there mouth it goes into the belly

when a person consumes with the eyes or ears it goes to the Heart/soul

2 basic differant types of matter a person consumes,with 100s of variables

there all in one person so they have effects being in the same building

Jesus is saying here,'To believe is to receive'

what a person consumes becomes a part of em

His is Rare,won't wear off like the other consumables over a period of time

Re.20:12 "The Book of life" (2 of 2)

Does Omnipotent God need to remember and need a book of remembrance as stated in Malachi? The Spirit in another place says 'God remembered Noah' and does God needs to be reminded of whom he found as righteous in his generation? "For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation."(Ge.7:1;8:1) God is setting the event in terms of the covenant and having given free will to man, God is comparing the names in the book of life with those who have denied the Son of man. His Fellowship with Man gives man the privilege to be counted in the book of life. This "book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name./And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." They are his jewels and they shall have part in the light of the Lamb. "In that day" refers to the day of Regeneration, the Alpha and Omega aspect in Jesus Christ being fully validated. So Jesus warned, "for without me ye can do nothing./If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." ( John 15:5-6)

"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."(Re.20:15). All judgment is invested with the Son, and the throne of the Lamb refers to all those who are found righteous in his Son. "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." (20:4) For them there is no more condemnation and have the confidence in the great white throne of judgment.

Dan.7:10 "Book of the Lamb" (1 of 2)

"And the books were opened." The night visions of Daniel lead us to the book which contains all those blessed under the everlasting covenant. (Ge.ch.1) "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Even the sea was scoured for the dead so judgment before the great whit throne is final.

In the series we covered colours mentioned in the Bible has but one direction that leading to the light of the Lamb. (Re.21:23). The book of the Lamb similarly leads to the Omega aspect of Jesus Christ, the ending of the day of Salvation. The idea is simple. In Jesus Christ the word of God must be rounded of. "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." All that is said of the nations persons and places must be reconciled to him. "to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." So Paul has been called to serve,"to fulfil the word of God." (Col.1:19-25) So the seven days under which blessings that shall come upon man, are reconciled in the 'Now' of the day of Salvation."

There is a book relating to creation which is the will of God that requires no correction of afterthought. "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.:(Ps.139:16) and in Re.20:12 we read it as the book of life. As co-signatories each shall have a certified copy for records. It is thus God and Man keeps the everlasting covenant inviolate.

There is another which is the book of remembrance, "and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day ..." (Mal.3:16-17)

Evidence of saving faith

Faith and trust are inextricably connected. Trust and obedience are also concepts which are in that category and of course all of our actions should proceed from a regenerated heart which loves the Lord.

Many get caught up in the loop of the logic of "predestination" which I hate to even bring up having caused endless and often counterproductive discussions in my opinion. My point here is that enduring to the end cannot be dismissed as a struggle even with God's predetermined outcome. Nothing is in a vacuum here; an atheist may well look at the idea of our concept of God as being very cruel and vindictive with outcomes preplanned but hopefully as believers we understand how God chastises everyone He loves; and purges those branches not bearing fruit to produce MORE fruit (am afraid I will lose this page again looking for these references so I will leave it to the reader to search the scriptures).

Enduring to the end and being saved of course isn't something we can do on our own. This is particularly hard it seems for those who are bent toward a "type A" or take charge personality. We are stripped of all of our earthly confidence when the heat is applied in life's trials.

A huge indicator of saving faith is those who prefer to accept at face value the Spirit's evaluation of their walk on a daily basis and are content to suffer loss in whatever is necessary to live as Christ's disciple in this wicked world. Today I am convinced the house of God is being judged; certainly this latest news about the church of England shows how late in the game we are in (let the reader search this issue). It seems as I have stated often that those who are professing Christians are our greatest foes these days; whether a congregation is heading towards a politically correct doctrine (and that can affect both sides of the political spectrum). There is wheat and chaff everywhere today; we are to avoid places where it is ONLY chaff.

Ps.78:6-7 "God the Judge" (2 of 2)

"For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, Nor from the south. But God is the judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another."

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them." The great White throne (20:11) is not what the visions of Ezekiel or Isaiah indicate. The sapphire the emerald above the throne in heaven carry significance for the events set in its context. These form the part of books Moses and other prophets of old referred. This white colour calls for another book which is the book of life. So significance of the colours are to be according to the manner the Spirit has invested in stones and are to be spiritually understood.

For example Mount Harmon covered with snow sets the Psalmist to pen this Psalm 133:3 "As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."The blessings refer to the anointing of the oil upon the head of Aaron the high priest." The holy crown with the inscription " Holiness unto the Lord is on a plate of pure gold."Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him."(Ex.29:6;28:36)

The two ouches of onyx in gold on the two shoulders makes a triangle an icon for the mountain of God. Thus Aaron stands hyphenated with the Son whom God has designated forever, "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."(Ps.110:4) the gold onyx and the amber colour or bdellium rounds off the iconography of Jesus Christ, as the Son over his own house. It is thus we compare the stones in the breastplate and with the stones the 12 foundations of the holy city of God. No longer the old but new heaven and the new earth creating the light of the Lamb. It is what the great white throne symbolises. John 5:22

Ps.48:2 "North" (1 of 2

"The city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness./Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King."

The Spirit sets mount Zion, the stone cut not with hands on the sides of the north. It is same as the writer to the Hebrews setting the Son on the right hand of the Most High, ("sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high"-He.1:2). Ezekiel shows this context in his vision, "Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side." The waters running is what watered the the Garden on the east of Eden. It is not in reference to cardinal directions as we know the term but the coordinates in relation to the judgment. God showed young Jeremiah,"Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land./For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem."(Je.1:14-15;Ez.47:2) God's word has literal bearing historically as well. God sent His rod' the kingdoms of the north- Assyria, Babylon and the wave of the latter days similarly shall occur. Whether it is on the earth or in mid-air is besides my present intent and purpose.

The land of Havilah is watered by the river from Eden and it deposits most holy faith and it is what this line signifies,"And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone."(Ge.1:12) Significance of the other two bdellium and the onyx stone is associated with Jesus Christ. Bdellium is the color of amber, "And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire."(Ez.1:4)

To my dear brothers Jesse, S. Spencer, & Benny: it is always a good thing to share with others of the Church family of the wonderful ways the Lord works in us, for us, and through us. We are mere frail vessels in the Master's Hands, drawn by His Spirit, & led into the whitened fields prepared by Him. I know that each one on these pages would also have mighty testimonies of the Lord's dealings, whether in small or big ways, nevertheless all pointing to the same mighty "LORD Who is rich unto all that call upon Him". Whether for another's blessing or encouragement to persevere, these miraculous events will always leave indelible impressions on one's own heart & mind, when the forces of evil try to distract us or persuade us from the Work of Grace undeservedly afforded us by the Living God. May you be strengthened in the inner man each day as we together remain "looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God". Good night to all.

Chris,

Thanks for your down the memory lane, and God set you in His field and your service in that part of the continent to which I also have some claim, bring me to make this comment,- I pray that you continue till the very end. God is able and gracious to those who serve Him,Amen

Thanks Brother Chris for these twpvwonderful amazing testimonies!

This is encouraging!

Praise God and thanks for that encouraging message.

Blessings.

Amen Richard.

Sometimes it's easy to get distracted and loose focus on the present situation that the world is in.

I'm certainly guilty of that.

It's in my prayers to be more watchful and fruitful in these times.

Blessings.

Chris, Amen!

Whatever situation the Lord puts us in, He will give us the courage to follow through according to His will. If anything, a seed had been planted. The Lord is good!

Off to bed, goodnight my dear brother!

Page 3.

I think the Lord was having an interesting time with me & teaching me great lessons, demonstrating His Power & Control over any & every situation; the Lord had me selling Gospel literature to a Mosque bookshop and then had the Mosque owner re-selling Christian books to Muslims!! So my disappointing day turned out well, I would say. What an amazing God we love and serve.

Islamic books, such as the Quran, and unlike the Bible, don't share much at all about Jesus, Abraham, Moses, etc; mainly the names of these 'prophets' & a very brief write-up on them. So, when someone comes along with books giving much more detail, then these books, as at this bookshop, would no doubt sell like hot cakes. And so the Truth went out with the Gospel intertwined within the accounts. Probably, in later days, this bookshop owner, once upon a time overjoyed by his windfall purchase, would have been taken to task by the Islamic clergy/police for what he was selling. And the furore this would have created, was a likely reason leading to my (and our) expulsion out of the country. This of course was very sad for us, yet we had every reason to praise God for once again showing to us His Sovereign Control over every situation - that angry faces & the wicked acts of men, might affect us in some way, but nothing can alter God's Will for men to hear the Gospel that some might be saved.

Even till now, I still smile when I recall that time, as the Muslim faithful finishing their second or third daily prayer for the day, coming out of the Mosque 'refreshed', proceeding to the bookshop to buy a book, & then taking home the Gospel of Jesus that might be read by all his family. Isn't He a marvelous, wonder-working God, and full of surprises? So I just share this as another example of a God Who can both close eyes (mine) & open others to read & understand His saving Gospel. For our mutual encouragement & understanding of our Lord's unfathomable ways. Every blessing.

Who wants things to get better

In the church of today; we see individual converts who come from all walks of life and from all sinful lifestyles being reborn and transformed. Nonetheless, with the level of decay in the world in general at this point it would seem cruel to hold back the Day of His coming much longer even for a temporary respite. I'll leave it to the politicians to give us hope of the future. Whoever may have the better plan still isn't planning on telling us that we need to get on our knees and repent for the evils we have done corporately as a nation as well as individually that largely have led us to the state which we are in today. Those who truly repent have taken responsibility for their own participation in evil; despite whatever grievous things have been done to them.

As to this title; it reflects one of my opinions that it is in relatively good times or in prosperity that the real test of faith exists. Only those truly in the faith will continue to be obedient in a society where Christian norms and values aren't respected. Persecution brings some to true faith and refines others. Considering the warnings of the first seal in Revelation false peace is the nearest danger to come to the world as it comes forth in full measure at the first seal of Revelation. Peace is taken from the earth in the second seal; but it is entirely possible that there is some period even overlapping right before the Rapture when it appears things have started to settle down; case in point if there is some end to this Ukraine and Russia war and the one in Israel. The so called "seers" may indeed have some insight into Tribulation events; but I haven't heard anyone lately warning of false peace. It may be His coming is still too far for it to be ready to sound the alarm yet and I don't want to put my own warning up as superior to anyone else but it is strange no one seems to see that as a concern.

Keep looking up. Let us be one in the Spirit.

Momsage,

I don't recall saying that the KJB is the best version among modern versions. I did say that I read and study from the KJB and that it was my bible of choice. I also said that I trust the KJB and that there were a few other "modern" bibles that I trust just the same as I do the KJB. That, I recall saying.

Please allow me to explain my comments on Matthew 1:18. I don't expect you to agree. This comes from my own personal study. In Matthew 1:1, it is the word GENESEOS which refers to lineage. In Matthew 1:18, it is GENESIS, the same as the first book of the bible, meaning origin. Genesis is known as the book of origins because that's what the word Genesis means. It's the same word used in Matthew 1:18. The word GENEA used in Matthew 1:17 means generation or generations.

There are several variations of the Greek word GENESIS which all imply something different. In Matthew 1:18, we see the word birth (GENESIS), but then the exact same word (birth) used in Luke 1:14 where it speaks of the birth of John is not the word GENESIS that's used in Matthew 1:18. The word birth in Luke 1:14 is the word GENNESEI, and it refers to birth as we understand birth being the result of a human mother and father. This cannot apply to Jesus. That's why Matthew was careful not to use the word birth.

Matthew is calling it an origin. If we believe in the eternal deity of Christ, then it makes more sense. Thayer's Greek Lexicon shows the word GENESIS as meaning origin, same word used in Matthew 1:18.

I don't have access to the original Hebrew and Greek either. I have learned to read Greek, and I do realize that not everyone can read Greek. But what I've learned (still learning) is available to anyone who has the desire to learn.

Thank you for reading these studies. I'm assuming that you just begun with Matthew Chapter 1. I hope I'm not going at too fast of a pace. I will begin posting from John's gospel probably tomorrow night, Lord willing.

Blessings to you also!

Page 2.

On this occasion, it wasn't the eyes of an inflamed Muslim cleric being held or blinded, but of my own eyes as well. When the Lord wants to get something done, we must simply lay our plans & our steps wholly upon the One Who makes no mistakes.

During one of our morning market place visits in Karachi, Pakistan, we proceeded to share the Gospel via literature & also verbally with any who could converse in English, and I happened onto a small bookshop. I had shared the Word to other shops before this one, but now this bookshop was the next one in line. I was ignorant of what this bookshop really was - the Lord's Spirit blinded my eyes. I was having a particularly bad morning, as many folk rejected the books, so when I came to this bookshop, the (Muslim) owner was quite impressed with the titles I had about Jesus, of Abraham, Moses, David, etc. So impressed was he, that he bought all the books in my shoulder bag, probably thinking that 'surely these must be great Islamic books to teach Muslims who walked past the shop after a fervent prayer session'. I was thankful to the Lord for such a good response (& of course a lighter empty bag to carry back) & the owner himself was thankful that he had some different types of books to sell, different from the 'same old, same old' ones that were probably no longer selling.

As I mentioned earlier, my eyes were blinded by the Lord. After walking away from the bookshop, I turned to look back, unmindful of that similar error by Mrs. Lot outside Sodom. But turn I did and what I saw almost scared me. It was a mosque, a large one, with its small bookshop attached to its front wall. Earlier I only saw the bookshop part - the Lord hid my eyes from the mosque. Had I seen the mosque, I would have well walked past, believing that I would have no hope in selling Christian books to an Islamic worship place: only the very brave (or, foolish) would venture to do such a thing. Onto Page 3.