Bible Discussion Replies PAGE 216

Hi Brother Carleton,

So very nice to hear from you!

It's all about the Wide Path verses the Narrow Path! Matt 7:14

How we live our lives make a difference. 1John 2:15 Sharing my evolving view based on the scripture is - as we grow closer to God we should be separating ourselves from the world, including letting go of all unnecessary material possessions, not required to live, and embracing only things needed to sustain life; like food, water, shelter, etc. In other words: spend more time with God - less time with the world! 1John 2:17 God's Holy Spirit will assure that we progressively adopt this Godly lifestyle!

There is a false assumption that we can live our worldly lives while embracing a material lifestyle and still receive salvation.

Evidence: Look at all of the Churches full of people living material lifestyles, led by pastors living the same material lifestyles. Matt 15:14

Hard to find the opposite: Christians living a meager lifestyle denying thyself, and focusing most of their day on God with no respect for the worldly lifestyle/possession, and even harder to find a pastor living a deny thyself lifestyle. Needle in a haystack!

When put in perspective with the scripture it is easy to see:

Wide Path - Narrow Path!

GBU

Corinthians chapter 14 verse 34 & 35, did man change the meaning, because 22:18 & 22:19 say man cannot add or take away from this book. explain. thanks

Hello GiGi & Friends

Its interesting to note that only two books in the NT, Acts & James have no farewell salutation at the ending, confirming the important continuation of the revelation of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor 4:6 Titus 2:11 John 1:9 Rom 8:14 Acts 2:17 diffusing the fragrances of His knowledge in every heart, & that by His Spirit 1 Cor 2:12-14, for they are freely given to us & only spiritually discerned.

ps: glad to hear your husband was not hurt

In love & truth

What is our Authority?

Each of us must make a decision regarding the Spiritual Authority for doctrine and practice in our life. That is, what constitutes the Word of God in which we trust and follow? Is it going to be the Bible Alone? Is it going to be the Whole Bible? Or is it going to be something more or something less than this.

I believe that God very clearly put

that choice to us as He completed the Bible.

Revelation 22:18,19 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

And there is no getting around the fact that if we are trusting in a vision or a voice or dream or a tongue that we believe is a direct communication from God Himself, we have a wider Authority than the Bible Alone.

And that is a place I never want to be.

Who is that MAN who is waxed strong in which 2 Esdras chapter 13 verse 3 talks about? Serious answers only.

Hello Brother Dan, Christian Greetings! Thank you. I think many Christian testimonies might include a time when they were willing to sell any earthly possession to know the Lord's forgiveness and His peace. Once our field was sold for His treasure I would believe that my rights to the the old field are no longer the same. Today just reasonable stewardship of the field that now belongs to Jesus.

Thank you GiGi. I didn't intend to infer, that had the Jews received Christ at the first, then they alone would have received the blessings of salvation, to the rejection of Gentiles; the Gentiles would hear the Gospel as well, though not as the initial beneficiaries. And of course, had the Jews overwhelmingly accepted Jesus as their Messiah, would they have put Him to the Cross? How then would their sins find perfect atonement without the shed Blood of God's Holy Lamb? It could well be that Jesus would still have needed to come & give His Life, but not by what we know now as hateful Jews condemning Him to death.

So, verses such as John 3:16 & Galatians 3:8,9, clearly show that God's Salvation Plan did include the Gentiles ("God so loved the world" & "justify the heathen through faith"), but God's primary focus was that His people Israel would be saved by the Gospel & then Acts 13:46-48 would take place. The Jews would have first inherited salvation's blessings & be a mighty beacon to the whole world of salvation's plan, yet rather, because of their rejection, the Gospel then came to us. And so we see Paul's great yearning for his people in spite of his primary calling to preach to the Gentiles; in Romans 11:14, "If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them". That through the abundant conversion of Gentiles, even through his ministry, his own people might be provoked to jealousy/rivalry (Gk. parazeloo), that he might also save some of them. That they too might inherit eternal life when their ears & hearts are opened, not only to the Gospel, but to the power of the Gospel, just as those of the Gentiles who came under the sound of it, were convicted & believed.

It would be hard to imagine what the State of Israel would be like today had they turned to Christ (as the firstfruits) - or would they have gone down the same road as the other nations, allowing Satan to gain a foothold into their hearts & government?

Hello again Rainwalker.

Ran out of space, but to complete my post: ...you will find that Jesus speaks of the Father and Spirit as other than Himself, as distinct real Persons that exist simultaneously forever. And you will read Him using the terms He, me, us, we, Him, His, my, mine which indicate that He is speaking of persons distinct from Himself all existing at the time He was speaking. He also speaks of the oneness and unity of the Father and the Spirit with Himself, indicating that they are truly one Being, the Godhead.

This is how I understand the Oneness, Unity, and Persons that are the Godhead spoken of in Scriptures.

Rainwalker,

Glad to meet you. I agree that the oneness of marriage is a covenantal unity, with two distinct people being made one. But I also believe that there is a uniting of the two in a way that only God knows and does.

In the case of Jesus and the Father in the verse you quoted, the oneness shared by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the divine essence of the One being of the Godhead. There are three distinct persons, but One Divine Being. Each person possesses the divine essence that identifies them as True God together, and they possess this essence each in infinite fullness and wholeness. It is a mystery to us. But Scriptures says clearly that God is One, meaning one being AND one in unity. The Scriptures also say clearly that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons in this unity, all are divine, but there are not three gods, but One Being who is God. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19 that the disciples are to baptize believers in the NAME of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This Godhead, three divine Persons in One Being, is YHWH, the True and Living God, the Most High God, the Almighty God, the Creator of all things.

The Persons of the Godhead are relationally in each other. They are in communion with each other. They are united in will and purpose. They possess all divine attributes corporately and individually. Jesus said that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father ( Jn. 14:10). Vs. 15 says that He (Jesus) speaks but the Father does the work that the disciples see Jesus do (they work in unity) In vs. 23 Jesus says that the Father and Himself will make their abode in those who love Him, yet it is the Spirit who is said to dwell in us. So, if the Spirit lives in us, so does, Jesus and the Father, in every believer. Yet, at the same time, God fills the universe and is everywhere present. In Jn. 15:23 Jesus says that he who hateth Him hateth His Father. If you read all of the Last Supper Discourse you will find that: ..

Hello, Jriley

I would say neither Jew nor Gentile, just humans formed in the image of God.

Gentiles are a delineation of the Israelites of any who are not descended from Jacob. Jews, who were separated out of all humanity of the time for God in a special way that other peoples did not experience God. Since the Jews had this "special status", they saw everyone else as Gentiles (meaning heathens-people who did not know the true God YHWH).

Before the time of Jacob's descendants, there was not a distinction between Jews (Israelites) and Gentiles. All humanity was descended from Adam and Eve through Noah and his wife (since the flood). So, humans were just considered humans before God established the Israelites as His people for the praise of His name. Although all were simply human, there still were nations and ethnicities as people were scattered from the time of the Tower of Babel.

And from the time of Jesus forward, those who believed in Him were neither Jew nor Gentile, but all are one in Christ, ( Gal. 3:28).

The teaching of the Talmud (which is not Scripture, the Torah is) which defines Judaism since the Babylonian exile and especially since the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, is that Jews are a higher race than Gentiles; that Gentiles are a different race than Jews, and that Gentiles are not true human beings. Therefore, Jews can mistreat Gentiles as if they are animals. Even killing Gentiles is not sinful, but is encouraged in the Talmud. The Talmud presents the Jewish race as the superior race and that all Gentiles should serve them. It teaches that Jews were made to dominate the Gentiles, being a Master Race. Interesting how this teaching was turned upside down on them by the Nazis. (Both ideals are wrong and should be rejected.)

So, when we consider this as being the teaching and aim of the Jews, are we to encourage this to come about through Zionism or believe that this will happen in the millennium, as some dispensationalists believe? No.

Giannis, cont.

We also need to look at the fruit of these occurrences and recognize what the Spirit is accomplishing in the lives of those affected. Does the occurrence cause the person to magnify God above self? Does it turn others to seek God more? Does it result in renewed commitment to godliness? Does it promote the purposes of God over the will of man? Did God initiate or did the recipients try to make it happen by certain actions or rituals (which really are a sort of conjuring)? There could be many other ways to test what is happening, as my list is not exhaustive of what the Holy Spirit may wrought in our lives.

We should praise God for all He does for us, though we are undeserving. We should rejoice that God is with us. We ought to approach all things with faith and wisdom. It is beneficial to learn disciplines that come from the Spirit and we should be content with everyday life and not be seeking or looking for phenomenal things to happen all the time. We can let God surprise us with his awesomeness and comfort us with His indwelling presence. We can be determined to pursue the ordinary life He gives us daily to live out responsibly and graciously without complaining or begrudging the everydayness of this earthly life. We can pray with faith, believing that God hears our prayers and will answer in the best ways, sometimes in miraculous ways, sometimes with circumstances that bring together answers that we cannot manufacture, and sometimes with dreams or visions that help us to see the bigger picture of His will or for our sanctification.

I am glad to know that others here have openly received from God things too wonderful for our imaginations to conceive. I am glad that we can share that these things do happen today. And I am glad that God is the same today, yesterday, tomorrow, and always!

Dear Giannis,

I can't find any Scripture that says that God has stopped involving Himself in the lives of believers in the ways that He has done since creation. Hebrews 1:1-2 does say that in these last days, God has spoken through His Son, Jesus, our Lord. And it also goes on to say that after Jesus had made the sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty (the Father) on High.

These verses in Hebrews don't say Joel's prophecy being fulfilled in the last days Acts 2:16-18 has ceased. Peter's statement says that the prophecy of Joel was being fulfilled after Jesus was already seated at the Father's right hand at that time. So, I think that until the coming of Christ again to consummate all things concerning this age, we will be in the last days. The Scripture doesn't say anywhere that the last days have ceased.

So, thank you for your encouragement. We should not be surprised when God does amazing things in and through us that are like ways He has acted since time began. We can be astonished, of course, and humbled, and thankful.

I know that there are many things being done or proclaimed to be the works of God in churches and in individuals that are counterfeits: "gold dust" and feathers falling on people; vapor/mist filling a meeting place (much of these are created to happen by the church leaders); being slain in the spirit (falling down when someone touches/blows on another-i.e., Benny Hinn style), and much babbling that is spoken of as speaking in tongues.

But I also know that God does do some things that are truly miraculous, and in keeping with the manifestations of the Spirit's giftings, that are genuine. We do need to be discerning and yet open, not being too quick to refute such things simply because we may hold to a view like David's; but, also, not being too quick to affirm that what was experienced is genuinely from God. We take every matter to Scripture to see if it aligns with ways God has acted in Biblical history....cont.

Chris, Good thoughts here.

I just want to point to one thing I disagree with. I do not agree that it is because the Jews failed to recognize and accept Jesus as the Messiah that Gentiles have been granted salvation. It is because of God's mercy and the sacrifice of our Lord for the sines of the world that salvation comes to both Gentiles and Jews. If the nation of Israel had accepted Jesus as the Messiah, I believe that salvation would still come to the Gentiles from the preaching of those God had chosen before creation to bring the gospel to all nations (Paul, Peter, and other apostles and disciples did this). If the Jews had accepted Jesus, then the Gentiles would have been reached with the Gospel by all from Israel who believed, not just the few (by comparison to the whole) from the Jewish nation who delivered the gospel abroad in obedience to the command and commission of Jesus after His resurrection.

Jema,

Thanks for sharing this. It was a miracle. Cancer doesn't just go away like that when it is so advanced. Our bodies don't heal themselves to eradicate cancer in that way, as David is implying. God supernaturally took the cancer from this person, just as He supernaturally took Hep C from my friend's body without treatment for it in a matter of a month or so. We should certainly give the LORD the praise for all ways He brings healing to us, but when He does miracles such as this, we do need to testify to it. When Jesus healed people miraculously in the Bible, the people at that time did not have all the information about how disease works or how our bodies heal, just like today, as David stated. But regardless of what they knew or we know, He performed miracles then and today in specific circumstance but not in all circumstances. The decision to do a miracle is in His hands, not ours. We can pray for such healing miracles, especially when it seems everything tried has failed. It is always a good thing when He does heal miraculously. These are treasures to us who experience them in ourselves or in those who know and love. I ask, why wouldn't God continue to do miracles after the time of the apostles? He has been doing miracles since the beginning of creation. There is no reason for Him to stop acting miraculously, as Scripture does not say that He will stop doing so.

When it comes to dreams and visions, Acts 2:17-18 speaks of the prophecy from Joel being fulfilled in the latter days, which began with Jesus' birth (Simeon and Zachariah prophesied, John prophesied) and continued through the time of Acts and life of John and some of the early believers in the first century (Philips translation from one place to another) and we are still in the latter days up to now because Christ has not come again to judge the living and the dead yet. I think we can expect miracles, dreams and visions and any of the other ways God has acted in the lives of humans until the end.

Hi brother Dan

Greetings in Christ JESUS

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth - Matthew 5:5KJV combined with Revelation 5:10

It's impressive, but it has been two thousand years since JESUS came here, think well about it, passing two thousand years is a gigantic space of time, in fact a huge gap or interval in space and time, but it passed, but will continue to pass. The time is infinite, like the space is infinite too.

And now JESUS WILL RETURN AGAIN HERE IN THE SAME PLACE from where He ascended to the third heavenly environment and a cloud RECEIVED Him ( Acts 1:11) , yes, He will again return now to the same place from where He ascended, and He will reign and lead us in new celestial environment ( Ephesians 1:3) by His power, for a period of 1.000 years(the cloud also will appear again, understand?) , as it is revealed in Philippians 3:20-21: -->20 For our conversation is in heaven (heaven: Ephesians 1:3. Take a look.)-; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto himself. By the way, He made it very clear when He said: All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth- Matthew 28:18KJV.

Get ready, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him- Matthew 25:6KJV - .

Lets pray

Unfortunately , there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Thank you it was a big help. Because I knew the answer but wanted to have it confirmed from someone else. Most think I'm crazy cause I don't celebrate Christmas. I know you don't put gold and silver on a tree. Thank you so muc

He said after ascending on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. He descended first into the lower parts of the earth before he ascended on high. He that descended is the same one who ascended far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.

When he ascended to the place of life-giving spirit, the image of God, he was elevated from the lowest parts of the earth [living soul], into the kingdom of God [God's true order].

Yeshua, being in the form of God considered it not robbery to be equal with God in image and expression. As he moved from the earthly into the spiritual, he led captivity captive [the carnal mind] and gave gifts unto men. In doing so, he pulled down every stronghold, cast aside every imagination and high thing that elevated itself against the knowledge of God and brought into captivity his every thought to the obedience of the anointing [the Holy Spirit].

"I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well. My body was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and curiously formed in the lowest parts of the earth [the living soul]. Your eyes did see my body yet being limited; and in your book all my members were written, which in longevity were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:14-16

In the verse above, David explains how God made and formed him in the lowest parts of the earth. The lowest part of the earth he refers to is the natural part of his understanding, the place of the living soul. Paul is saying Yeshua first originated in the lowest parts of the earth before rising to a place above that of living soul.

Men teach that Yeshua went into the belly of earth or hell before his ascension. Does it mean he literally went down into the belly of the earth?

When Yeshua came into this world, like David, he was also wonderfully made and curiously formed in the same way as David. God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh [lowest parts of the earth]. He took on the image and likeness of the first man Adam who was formed from dust and made a living soul [son of man]. The Lord God formed man of the dust of ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul [came into knowledge of God's will]. It is the spirit [the breath of God] that revives; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Were Adam and Eve Jewish or Gentile?

Hello David.

I am going to tell you a real story that happened to my wife 3-4 years ago. It will seem to you and others as imaginery but it is a true story. A story about God setting aside the physical laws.

My wife at that time was wondering how it was when the Spirit took Phillip from being together with that eunuch and transported him to some other place. Did he fly or something?So one morning she was driving to her job. We live in a town and my wife's job is at another town which is about 25km far away. In between the road goes through a village. So as she was driving and approaching that village, she suddenly realized that she was at the exit, at the other side of the village. She tried to remember passing through that village but she couldn't remember to have passed through. She looked at the car's hand gears, it was the higher gear (cars in Europe are not automatic, they have hand gears). Normally when you pass through a village one lowers the gear and goes slower. But the gear was still the high one, as it was before entering the village. In the beginning she couldn't figure out what happened to her, she was puzzled. She thought she may have had a loss of memory. But then she remembered what she was asking the Lord. One may claim that it was actually a memory loss. But she never had before or after such things. Yes, it was the Spirit who transported her from one place to another without her even realizing it. If things permit I will tell you more real stories about real miracles from God. GBU

Hi Jemma

In my opinion that event is simpler than you described it. Simply Peter thought as a normal person when he rebuked his Lord. He spoke out of his feelings for Jesus.. Anybody would have done the same. So why did Jesus call him devil? Because he wanted to show to Peter (and to us) that anything, even if it comes out of our good intentions, must be removed if it is an obstacle to God's plan. And usually it is satan who does that and any person that does it as well, even if is out of their ignorance, is a devil, which means they are an obstacle to God.

Was Peter really a devil? No because in the previous verse Jesus called Peter a Rock on which He would build His church. Contradiction? No, simply we have to take that "devil" figuratively. There are no spirits or anything like that involved. Judas was a different case.

Besides if satan was aware of God's plan for the salvation of mankind, simply he would never drive Jesus on the cross, using Judas.

GBU

Are the apocryphal books and the italicized words also considered to be equally inspired?

Hi Jema

Thank you for your reply

Allow me to add a few more elements for analysis. JESUS was talking about the fulfillment of the Scriptures about Himself -JESUS is GOD-, when Peter rebuked Him, so He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of GOD, but merely HUMAN concerns." Matthew 16:23NIV

When Peter rebuked JESUS, an unexpected spiritual environment emerged out of the darkness and the Enemy spirit took a clincher/hook in the literal sense, and articulated the pseudo human goodness in Peter's mouth to put a stumble in the way of JESUS, as happened in temptation.

The lesson I draw for myself from the spiritual environment that emerged out in that moment involving Peter in his weakness before the Master, it is that as a human we must have much care to fall not in the same error of Peter Apostle, using our human conceptions and going against the Scriptures, even if our words seems be good and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom.

We need a lot of discernment, no? Ephesians 4:26-27KJV - Sin not ...:

Neither give place to the Devil.

Furthermore, Ephesians 6:10 to 18 in very important for us the lasts, mainly now at midnight, a hour of great danger, according the Word of GOD, and more a TURN of a Day in our GOD's watch as in Genesis 3:8-11 and NOW in Revelation 16:13-15.

GOD BLESS

Oh I know about the mormon church . I attended their Sunday school very briefly . I was about 15 years and had no biblical knowledge . We were in a sisters class and the lady teacher pulled a ten dollar bill out of her purse and said to us : look at this ! I forgot to pay my tithe last week ! I'm so ashamed , imagine if I had died without paying it ! I would have gone straight to hell ! As you can guess , I never went back , even at that age I knew that salvation cannot be bought .

It is interesting how the man hides the treasure until he can buy the field. Not sure if that is applicable to us not casting pearls before swine; hiding the Word or prayer in our hearts or in the closet or something else related to that. Perhaps it is describing things such as Jesus talking in Parables; as He wanted sincere followers rather than empty praise for those seeking their own glory or wanting to use Christ for their own purposes (as with Judas Iscariot).

Perhaps too (just came up with this one) someone who has many possessions may want to take care of business first; so that they aren't given empty praise or dissuaded from what they are doing prior to hitting the Mission field and abandoning their old lives.

Food for thought..

Hi Oseas , my phone turned you into Ideas , I'm so sorry ! :) .

Hi Ideas , thank you for your reply to me . I don't know if you have a concordance or not but they are very helpful . When the word devil is used in the new testament , it could be one of two Greek words . One of those words : daimonion does refer to some sort of demonic being . The other word is diabolos , this word refers to a slanderer or false accuser . When Jesus refers to Judas as a devil it is the word diabolos . Concordances are a great help I think and always worth having .

Jema,

Thank you for your comment.

Let me say right up front that I have no doubt God was active in the healing of your cousin. Just as God is active when any of us are healed of a sickness or a disease.

But when we look at the true miracles that we read about in the Bible, God is clearly setting aside the physical laws by which He governs the Universe. When God created the world He was actually at the same time establishing those physical laws. When Jesus walked on the water He actually set aside the law of gravity. When Jesus instantly healed the blind and the sick and the lame He was not using the natural processes that work in our bodies. And when He raised Lazarus from the dead, and other the miracles we read about in the Bible; these were all true miracles.

And incidentally, they were performed and included in the Bible as "historical parables" teaching us some aspect of the nature of salvation itself.

As I indicated in my comment to GiGi, there are many many things about the physical laws of nature, including our bodies and medicine that we don't understand, and have come to understand a little bit over time but certainty not completely; like electricity, like radio and TV, like the internet, like nuclear power, like medicine, etc. These things are not miracles; but several hundred years ago they would have seemed so.

So the fact that we witness an event that we cannot explain does not make it a miracle.

And I am quite certain that was the case with your cousin. And you are certainly correct in giving God all of the credit and glory for His recovery.

Also I would not put any stock in the Mormon religion as it is certainly a gospel that looks beyond the Bible for Devine Revelation.

Respectfully,

David

Worldly possessions verses Heavenly possessions

Matthew 13:44

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field."

Something to think about.

Hi Jimbob , I'm a person who very much believes that the old testament is a foreshadow of the new . So , along those lines , I remember how when God sent those terrible plagues on the Egyptians , the Israelites witnessed them but we're not touched by them . I think it will be similar for us in the last days and that this will be the last proving of our faith , will we stand faithful as we see the kingdoms of men collapsing around us ? Will we panic , will we try to save ourselves ,or will we merely do what the Israelites in Egypt were told to do ? Go in our homes and close the doors ? The same as Rahab when the Israelites invaded Jericho ? That red material that she hung out of her window , is it a coincidence that it was red like the blood of the lamb ? Many things in the Bible happen in three's , have you noticed ? I'm sure you have . So , what's next do you think ? I think that we need to not trust in man when the very tough times come , dont go with the rest of the humans as they run to save themselves , we must trust in God and wait for our Salvation from above . We must not behave in the same way non believers do , panicking and trying to save themselves and their worldly goods . We must stay put , stay calm and wait for our God . He is a consuming fire but , we've been told , the heat of the day won't touch us , the same way that the Israelites in the desert were sheltered from the heat by the pillar of the cloud . Christ is our Pillar in the desert . We must shelter in Him .