Bible Questions & Discussion PAGE 642

Amen, David

Dear "Ray Millikin",

He tests us according to His word.

He Is The Greatest, The Strongest Of All. No one can compare with our God. Jesus lives!

Just as we humans are different like the sand on the beach. In this way He will also carve and shape us. As needed, He also teaches us. And think of New Testament times. Then the apostles would not even be afraid of what they would say. For they should get words that were in that time / speech then. Matthew 10:19. I have also experienced that the words are not mine, but God's and then all will be right.

God bless us all in Jesus name, love u in Christ.

Acts Ch 15 V 18 , much love in Christ .

All Scripture Is Important!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Matthew 22:37-40

Mark 12:30-34

God bless us all with Gods wisdom and insight, in Jesus Name, love u in Christ.

Love / Charity

1 Corinthians 13:13

1 John 4:16-12

1 John 4:8

John 3:16

Psalms 42 & 43 are generally believed to be written by the same author & the one follows the other. We can understand that the Psalmist was in exile, or held captive, in the far North of Palestine ( Psalm 42:6), & being in that sad state, he yearns to return to the temple in Jerusalem (vv 1-5), reveals the depths of his distress (vv 6-11), & prays to God that he might return ( Psalm 43:1-5).

Even though that specific situation of the Psalmist wouldn't apply to us, I see the verse common in both Psalms (v11 & v 5), "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God", as being relevant.

So, the lesson to be learned from these Psalms would be: as much as we all face trials & tribulations of various sorts in this life, some even causing us to become "disquieted" (or, mentally, emotionally, & spiritually troubled), we should not allow these trials to overcome us, thus bringing us to grief & making us useless to all including ourselves. Rather, as the Psalmist tried to pick himself up, turning away from his hopelessness of his circumstances & instead made a wilful decision to turn to God, Who alone was able to save him. When our eyes are turned away from our miserable lot & turned to the One Who is able to deliver & keep, then our hearts can be filled with praise & thankfulness, & we can echo Psalm 118:23, "This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." When we see & acknowledge that God alone can deliver us, our perspective on life will be different & we would see the testing of our faith working out in patience, longsuffering, hope, trust & joy in our lives. And as believers bought with Christ's precious Blood, we have so much to rejoice in & trust in the power of His Holy Name. We should never get despondent, but if it comes upon us, we know that we have an intimate relationship with the Lord Who will never leave us & will carry us through it.

James 1:5, John 14:26, John 16:13,

Trust the LORD to reveal why, please pray for wisdom & understanding as you read.

Sometimes I've studied scripture & led to something in scripture that's later helpful for someone or brought up in discussion.

2Corinthians 1:3-5,

Hopefully these are helpful

Anybody noticed how the seven churches are mentioned in the Bible? This verse is the only verse that speaks to me personally because I (we) actually have not seen Paul's face in the flesh.

Colossians 2:1

For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;

Then if you read the entire chapter, it is telling us the most important thing we need to remember"knit together in love".

In conclusion, sometime in the life of an individual we have been one of these churches. The last church of Laodicean gave me an indication that Paul great conflict seems to be reflected in the different of opinions one may expresses in the comments in this Bible site.

For example, the need for water baptism to received the Holy Ghost. Whereby Peter had proven that you received the Holy Spirit when you believed in what Jesus did on the cross. Paul even corrected Peter on this subject. Unless one believed in vain?

Do you understand the same way about the churches (i.e. The Body of Christ, The Bride of Christ, the sons of God, fellow heirs, fellow believers, the saints who are still alive)?

There is no indication that Israel of Old Testament times used flags. In Numbers 2:1,2 we read: "And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house: far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch", we see the use of Standards/Ensigns, probably with markings denoting a special significance to each of the twelve tribes. As well, the use of a banner where the lead warrior would raise it up while the army comes behind him in readiness to fight, might also be understood.

But the Star of David (Magen David) was first seen as a flag of Israel in 1948, though the Star was accepted as a symbol by various groups, in particular the Zionist Congress in 1897. As well, the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe (in the 19th Century) used the symbol, but it was only official from 1948.

15:13 father planted ? Meaning ??? I Belive this verse that most people pass over speaks of Gods Elect???

Rosalia,

James 1:3 says knowing this, that your trial of the faith, and the word "your" in the Greek text goes with the word trial, not the word faith. Your trial of the faith is working out endurance.

What he's telling them is that we are to live by faith and trust the Lord and not trust our circumstances and not trust our feelings. And we are to do this by remaining under our circumstances and trusting the Lord.

And we experience two things when we do that. Number one, we experience Christ Himself. He's the one who sustains us. And number two, we get to learn about the ways of the Lord to pass on to others.

Chris,

If you look at Verse 11, that word special literally means uncommon, something that's not the ordinary. These are special miracles. Keep that in mind as you read on because we've got some of these people in the United States that have this "special ministry."

Acts 19:12 says that from his body, (that is Paul's body), things were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, (literally a headband), and the aprons that Paul wore for his tent making, and they brought it to the sick, and all the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. Just by touching an article of Paul's clothing!



That's why I emphasize the word special. This is not normal! These are people who are like the Athenians, very superstitious.



There are actually some of these ministries today that if you send in your prayer request, they will pray over it or they will pray over a piece of cloth.



And they will send it to you in the mail and for your donation of $100.00 or more they will send you a prayer cloth and if you touch it you get healed. Oh boy!



It comes from this text right here. There are ministries that are making millions a year from these donations! And they say it comes from this text.



This is a historical account. It is not a teaching! God didn't say to do it. This is a very special time when Paul's headband and his apron from work, people would touch it, and they would be healed and demons would be cast out.



And notice that all the diseases and the physical healings are associated with demons. We are not talking about aunt Matilda that has the flu and if you send in $100.00 I will pray over a piece of material and send it to you.



And if you send it back and tell them you still have the flu, they tell you that it is your fault and that you don't have enough faith! Send me another hundred dollars and I will send you another cloth. So much money being made here!

Hope this helps?

Most important word to God?

Most important word in Bile?

Verses 2, 3, and 4 need to be considered together in order to fully grasp the point James is making. In the previous verse, he has written that believers must call it joy when trials come our way. Or, to put it more bluntly, we should see the good side of bad things happening to us. Verse 2 uses an accounting term, which has nothing to do with our emotions. We might feel sorrow or anger over our trials, but we can still tally them under "joy."

Here in verse 3, James gives the beginning of his answer to why God would ask us to do that. In short, it's about faith. It's about trusting God. God wants us to respond to trials-to the hard things in our lives-in a way that demonstrates our trust in Him. A major theme of the book of James is that God cares deeply about our faith in Him. Faith, a trusting, humble reliance on God, is how we came into relationship with Him in the first place. That is how we come to trust in Christ for our salvation. And a Christian's growing faith in God is evidence of a growing relationship with Him.

So, James says that when a trial or hardship comes our way, we should label that moment as joyful because it will test our faith. By definition, a trial creates a moment where we don't know how things will work out. A trial wrecks our plans. A trial takes away our ability to see the clear path to getting what we think will make us happy. It is in those moments that we make life's most critical choices. Either we will decide, "If God let this happen to me, I will not trust Him. If He will not prevent days like this, I will find someone else to trust." Or, the struggle will push us to turn to God for more help, to trust more deeply that He is with us and for us, to believe that He will carry us through.

When we choose to trust Him, He provides. Our endurance-the ability to keep trusting Him while trials continue unresolved-grows. And since our faith is the most important thing to our God, that is worth rejoicing.

Streetpreacher

Is the flag of Israel from King David's era

We'll all stand before Jesus and give account for what we've done in our lives. I was born in 1951. I lived through: the Bible, Pledge of Allegiance & Ten Commandments taken OUT of schools. I saw Abortion made legal 1973. I saw gays come out of the closet; later lesbians too. College is ridiculous expensive because 25-30% of students were aborted.

I VOTE FOR THE ONE PERSON who is on GOD'S PLATFORM. The men and women you vote for MATTER TO GOD. A Platform is not malleable.

This is not going to go on another hundred years. Read SIGNS God gave us. It's happening.

Please explain acts 19 verse 12

Pls need help me to explain james chapter 1:3

Dear Doug,

I do not believe in the doctrine of "sinless perfection" you are presenting here. It was the teaching of John Wesley who founded the Mehtodist denomination and influenced the emergence of many "holiness" churches. Wesley taught that a believer can reach sinless perfection in this mortal life by following the "methods" he taught. He believed that it is possible for one to get to a point in life where one does not sin anymore in thought, motivation, word, deed, or in omitting to do what is right and not doing it.

But what I have found along with millions of other believers through the centuries is that the longer and deeper we follow our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the more acute is our awareness of our own sinfulness and the many ways we sin each day. Can anyone say that they are following God's will 100% of the time every day for the rest of their life, even in our dreaming, like Jesus did? I doubt this to be true for anyone. What changes in us is a walk of continual repentance and confession of sins to God with the confidence that He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all sin and unrighteousness. And the Holy Spirit leads us to desire to live a godly life of obedience to God, makes us aware when we are in disobedience, and assures us of our standing before the Father as one justified because of the sacrificial death of His Holy and Righteous Son, Jesus.

Ephesians 6, says there is an invisible Evil spirit world. Google Armor of God and find out what each piece of the Armor does.

Nothing works real well unless we have a working knowledge of the Bible. How did Jesus defeat the devil on his 40 day fast? He used Scriptures. The Sword of the Lord is TWO-EDGED. It slices going in and slices coming out. Demons run from people (and women) who know how to use the Sword. It pleases the Lord, for us to know how to use what He gave us: to be used defensively and offensively. Protect all that concerns you, and those you love. Don't lay down and just take it; get up and fight back. If Satan is trying to take your kids, your family your friends, your job, fight back! Satan should be taking nerve medicine the minute you wake up and your knees hit the floor in prayer :D

We can often live in peace with God, at the center of our lives-right now. I don't know why we resist it at times. Life ebbs and flows like waves on a beach.

Spiritual discernment helps us to know what is driving our lives right now. If it's chaos and ruin: it's Satan. If it's daily routines that have to be accomplished: it's us. If it's harmony, peace in the Holy Spirit, time well spent in Gods presence: it's our Lord.

If we'll just read the fruit right, we'll know who's driving the car.

I used to come in from work and everything with a voice was screaming: cats, dog, opinionated cockatiel, my spouse, each kid, family on phone, etc. you want to hide in the bathroom but it doesn't help. A quick prayer for order in the universe helps.

I'm 70 now, not so many screaming at me now. Ecclesiastes 3. We all wear many hats in our lives. But comes a day when it's too quiet. Enjoy now.

Streetpreacher

Texsis,

If you look at Revelation 3:15, it says, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot." This is an evaluation of the church. So he says that you are neither hot nor cold. Being neither hot or cold would mean they are lukewarm which we see in Verse 16. What he is saying is to just be one way or the other, you know? But don't say that you believe, and then be cold to the things of the Lord. You've got to go one way or the other!

In Verse 16, he says "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."

Talk about visuals. Making the Lord sick!

I'd like to add the obvious, a life in the womb no matter how it happens is totally innocent and had no choice or doing . So there can be no justification to take an innocent life , only God can do that since all life comes from him . He is the father of all . All that is .

Many people never thought it through . What trumps an INNOCENT life ? Nothing .

Dear Doug, as I said before I will come back to our conversation about man's nature another time. But lets talk about a sinless life. My belief is that believers may sin no matter how hard we try, we still sin. It's not always a matter of decision but it is a matter of capability.

I will not mention any scripture but I would like to ask you that.

Have you heard of anybody that became perfect and never sinned in his life after born again for the past 2 th. years since Jesus was raised from dead?. Have your heard of anybody claiming that has met or heard of such a person?

Me personally no I haven't, and nobody I know has ever claimed to have heard of something like this.

There is a saying " A theory is proved right in practice". So since there has never been anybody that managed to be sinless in life two things may be possible

Either 1. The theory is wrong, so God's Word is not true (assuming that it is interpreted the way you say)

or 2. The interpretation is wrong.

I think only the latter is possible.

That we are "Dead for sin" means we are dead for a sinful life, we follow Jesus now, not the sinful world. And if we fail in our STRUGGLE against sin, we have Jesus' Blood.

Can God make us perfect and sinless at once? He can certainly do that. But He doesn't, and history has prooved that. Why not? God knows.

Can He make us not been tempted by sin? Yes He can. But He doesn't do that. But actually If God's Spirit is in us in Its fullness we can never sin. But that happened only to Jesus because He is the Son of God and not to other man. John 3:34 "For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." The rest of us have a portion of the HS.

Finally if one likes to live in his failures and uses Jesus Blood as a cover for that, then he has to face God's Judgment in this life.

Final question. If we can be literally sinless why our way in described as narrow by Jesus? It would have been a wide and easy way, I think

GBU

David,

I assume you are responding to something I posted a while back, so I'll respond. My focus will be on Hebrews 1:1-2, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds;"

In the OT, God worked through progressive revelation. God manifested certain truths about Himself through certain stages of history, and through different people. And not just people, but different things, like the burning bush, or some of these other epiphanies where God revealed Himself through circumstances, and even animals, as far as that's concerned.

In Hebrews 1:1, the literal translation is not by the prophets, but in the prophets. The Greek text indicates that He wasn't just speaking through them. He was in the prophets. So He was in the prophets, speaking at various times, and in various ways, but has upon the last of the last days, spoken to us in Son. There is no word "his" in the original language.

What this is saying is that in the last days, the instrument that God uses is not the prophets, not various other ways like a burning bush, but He has upon the last segment of these last days spoken to us in a Son. So God has spoken to us. His last spokesperson, the last instrument that God used to minister to us, is His Son.



It's important to see the contrast between the superiority of Jesus Christ in comparison to the prophets. Those days are over. There are no more messages to various people.

Is it okay to prophecy today? I would say yes. But a NT prophet is someone who is a spokesperson for God, someone who takes the already written word of God and speaks His written word to others, nothing added to, or nothing taken away. There are no new prophecies today. God does not reveal "new prophecy" to anyone today. We already have the complete word of God and all prophecy has been given to us in His word.

Dear John,

I would say there is a physical realm within creation and a spiritual realm within creation. The physical realm is made of matter and can be sensed by our senses. All animals and humans reside in the physical realm. The spiritual realm is immaterial, Angels, cherub, seraphs, (holy and fallen) and all creatures God created to reside in this realm with Him. Spiritual beings can cross into the physical realm, but those in the physical realm cannot pass into the spiritual realm unless given to them by God, such as visions of the prophets, Saul's being caught up to heaven and returning back to the physical, etc. We are instructed in the Bible not to try to initiate contact with the spiritual world with the exception of coming to Him through Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit.

These spiritual beings are powerful and have many more capabilities than we do. They can travel through time and space quickly. They can change their spirit form into a physical form that can be seen and touched. (Angels talked and ate with Abraham). We do need to understand that, although we will have conflicts in this life with other humans, the evil beings in the spiritual realm war against the holy angels and the saints all the time. Each spiritual being can only be in one place at one time, unlike God, Wo is everywhere present. So, Satan can only attack one person at a time. But the many fallen beings that followed him in rebellion against God are described as myriads. So, it is most likely there is at least one demonic being per every human alive on the earth, even today, with 6 billion people alive. The good news is that the holy angels outnumber the fallen ones by 3:1. So we have more strength from the holy angels to fight battles for us as God wills them to do so. We are instructed in Ephesians how to prepare for these battles between us physical beings and the evil spiritual ones. It is always good to review these instructions often so we can always be prepared.

Psalm 139

13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

15 My substance was NOT hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 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.

17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

Psalms Chapter 127

3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb IS HIS REWARD.

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Matthew 18:10

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 18:14. Even so IT IS NOT the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish (die).

Job 12:10. In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

Ezekiel 18:4

Behold, all souls are MINE, as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

I have another list that's even longer. It's written truth God is involved in the lives of the unborn.

I'm not sure if this is the same person as Rebekah's nurse since Deborah was a descendant of one of the twelve sons of Jacob many centuries removed from Rebekah's time.

Matthew chapter 5; particularly verse 7. Jesus was reaffirming commandments that are still active. We are free from the law, but still held to its standards. Like as in divorce. It's easily understood. We don't divorce and leave the wife and kids because you found someone prettier and etc.

But if a woman and the children are being physically, mentally and emotionally abused; she may leave her husband. We're called to be at peace.

Twisting the rules doesn't make it ok to jump from one relationship to another.

The children suffer emotional attachment issues. They repeat what they grew up with.

It's very helpful to fully understand how Jesus re-explained the rules to us in this chapter.