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GREG WROTE:
Question-Comment:
(Note: the pastor discussed in this WRAP
resides in Nigeria, a nation full of spiritual/political unrest. He
has asked us to remove the first E-mail wherein he asked for Bibles
and we have honored his request. However, we've chosen to leave this
discussion with Greg on line for we found it to be "thoughtful.")
Please tell me what you know about Pastor ______
______ that's posted on your website. Our ministry sends books and
Bibles overseas. We buy thru the International Bible Society and they
tell me I must check everyone out who requests Bibles because, Believe
it or not, there's a black market for Bibles in Africa.
Thanks,
Greg
DON
WROTE:
Hello Greg,
We have received several E-mails from individuals claiming to have
ministries overseas that want us to help them raise money for various
causes. As a policy, we simply ignore such requests for we do not
solicit money on our site--for ourselves or for others. However, on
occasion we do put up WRAP
AROUNDs that request Bibles.
It is interesting that you say there is a black market for Bibles
in Africa, for I just recently mentioned to B'Ann that I wondered if
that were the case. I can understand why you would be reluctant to
send a "free" Bible that could be sold for a profit. But if Bibles
are sold on the black market, isn't it remarkable that the people hold
the Scriptures in such high regard that they would spend their scant
money to buy one of them? And if this is the case, would not the
black market inadvertently be doing the work of the Lord since the
only ones who would want to buy a Bible would be someone who wanted to
read it? Doesn't the Bible say that God's Word will not return to Him
void, but accomplish His purposes???
As to Pastor _______, we do not know him personally; but isn't it
wonderful that in situations like these, we can seek the mind of the
Lord.
Romans 8:
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God...
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered.
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is
the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the
saints according to the will of God.
We appreciate your concern for the things of the Lord and we will
pray with you that the Holy Spirit will show you the mind of the Lord
so that you can do His will in this matter.
Keep looking up for He's coming soon,
Don
GREG WROTE AGAIN:
Dear Don,
I found out this week, ______ ______ and a friend of his, a _____
_____, aren't pastors at all - they're con men! I can't tell you what
to do with your website, but I would take _______'s info off there.
Because of him, and others like him, we now check every single request
out. It saddens me to have to do that, but it's the world we live in.
Greg
GREG WROTE THE THIRD
TIME:
Don,
I got a chance to visit your website and read what you wrote after I
send the first email. That's a very good point you make about God's
glory shining thru. Believe me it's a point well taken, but it's now
our policy to check all requests out. I cannot for the life of me,
send Bibles to con men so they can line their pockets. Don, the profit
on one large shipment of Bibles to Africa can be as much as a year's
salary for people other there. Believe me, brother, it will get only
worst. It's funny you said that about the black market, my wife said
the same thing you did. Upon final thought, she said, "Greg, we can't
let con men dirty what we're doing." She's got a point! We'll do it
the right way, Don, get 'em in the hands of Godly men.
Greg
P.S. Pray for us, brother - the task is great!
DON
WROTE AGAIN:
You say that you have found out that ______ and a friend of his
named ______ are con men. I would be curious how you came to this
conclusion. Of course, from an E mail I have no way of knowing who is
what unless the Lord sees fit to give me some sort of revelation.
Except for what you say in your email, I do not know you either. My
question at this point would be why "con" men are in a position to get
free Bibles. If you can know enough about the area to ascertain that
these men are fleecing the sheep, then, do you not know of some
"godly" men that could dispense the Bibles? Is there no way to ship
the Bibles directly to a church? And who does your group consider
worthy of receiving a Bible? If there is a black market for Bibles,
then evidently the people want a Bible so badly that they would pay a
substantial sum for it. This really causes me to stop and ponder.
You say that you don't want to allow someone to use the Bible to
line their pockets! May I suggest that you consider the media
ministries of our day as well the pastors who are fleecing the Lord's
sheep as per the end-time prophecies. I doubt seriously that ______
and his friend, even if they are con men, can do any more damage than
so many supposedly "godly" men have done recently--many of them being
been brought to the light for the world to see! If ______ and his
friend are "making a living" dispensing the Bible, I wonder how much
that differs from the con men preaching from pulpits and through the
media. Or for that matter, I wonder how much it differs from small
local pastors/large denominations collecting money from their
congregation to support their efforts to continue their
church/denominational fights/differences.
What I'm saying is, I guess I'll leave the
WRAP
AROUND as it is and pray that God will get His Word into
the hands of those who will appreciate it and let it change their
lives. I'm also praying that _______ and his friend--if they are not
already the Lord's-- might have a "Damascus road" experience and
become real as did the Apostle Paul (Acts 9). The time is short and
if the only way that the Bibles can get into the area is
through con men--well, the people will be starving for the Word if the
Scriptures are withheld. Tell us more!!!
We, too, desire your Spirit-led prayers,
Don |
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DIANE WROTE: Question-Comment: Dear Mr. and
Mrs. Love,
there is much discussion about suicide at work. Could you please tell me is
it an
unforgivable sin. If you could answer this could you please show me where in
the bible it
says it, i could show this one girl about it. I always understood to be only
one sin that is
unforgivable and that is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Am I wrong if so
I need to know the
truth and would like to know if I am wrong.
Sincerely Diane Moore:
B'ANN
WROTE:
Hello Diane, The following is
an excerpt from another WRAP AROUND done in Sept.2, 2001. We would certainly
never advocate suicide. However, when it comes to a servant of God,
man should let God see the intent of the heart.
There are two prominent "suicides" mentioned in the Bible that stand
out as examples. One was Saul and one was Judas.
I Samuel 31:
4 Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me
through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me
through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore
afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise
upon his sword, and died with him.
Here we find that Saul was mortally wounded and in intolerable
anguish of body, heart, and mind. We can see from these Scriptures that he
committed suicide. We know that Saul went to the same place as all
the other "chosen" people of his day because we have this Scripture:
II Samuel 1:23
Saul and Jonathan [were] lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in
their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they
were stronger than lions.
In this Scripture we find that Saul and Jonathan were together after death.
Since Jonathan was very gentle and he had helped King David, it is very
evident that he went to the bosom of the Lord. Consequently, we can
know that Saul went there, also. I had always heard it preached that
suicide was never forgiven. But when I found this Scripture, I had
to rethink what I had been taught. It is not as clear
about the armor bearer but the word "likewise" give the connotation that
he was going before God in the same manner as Saul.
Judas, according to the Scriptures, was never one of God’s chosen
but was of his father the devil (John. 6:70-71 cf. John 13:18-19). We look
at the attributes of his actions and find that he was sneaky, underhanded,
money-conscious and disloyal. We do know that he committed suicide.
John 13:
26 Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall
give a sop, when I have dipped [it]. And when he had dipped the
sop, he gave [it] to Judas Iscariot, [the son] of Simon.
27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him,
That thou doest, do quickly.
John 6:
70Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen
you
twelve, and one of you is a devil?
71He spake of Judas Iscariot [the son] of
Simon: for
he it was that should betray him, being one of the
twelve.
Mt. 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,
4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.
And they said, What [is that] to us? see thou [to that].
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed,
and went and hanged himself.
DON WROTE:
Hello Diane, I noticed that you mentioned the blaspheming of the Holy
Ghost and it brought to mind the times that I had to deal with the concept
as a pastor. It seems that one of the first testings/temptations that
growing babes-in-Christ have to deal with is the thought that they might
have somehow committed this offence. I'm satisfied that this
tormenting idea is but a part of the testing which is often associated with
the growing process mentioned by both James and Peter
James 1:
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers
temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be
perfect and entire, wanting nothing. I Peter 1:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if
need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
When someone would come to me concerned that they might have committed
the offence, I would take them through the Scriptures and show them the
concept in context. In actuality, the term is only mentioned three
times in the Bible, and all three times by our Savior, and all three times
to the hypocritical Jewish Pharisees and Sadducees who were determined that
Christ was not their Messiah because He would not set up a kingdom for them
similar to the one that King David had ruled. (See
Mt. 12:31, Mk 3:28 and Lk 12:10.) Because Christ would not
behave according to their expectations, they accused Him of being of the
devil. Consequently, those Jews who had blasphemed the Holy Ghost were those
who had hardened their hearts to the work of God and who had accused Christ
Jesus of doing His miracles and ministry by the spirit of the devil.
Also, it is important to note that because these Jews had hardened their
hearts to the things of God, they were not concerned that they might
blasphemed the Holy Ghost. Consequently, anyone who is being tormented
by the devil into thinking that they might have somehow blasphemed the Holy
Ghost can be assured that their heart is not the hardened heart of a
blasphemer, but someone whose faith is growing through the process of being
tried. There are other mentionings of blaspheming in the New Testament.
For example, in I Timothy 1:12-13 the Apostle Paul writes:
12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath
enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and
injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
We know that Paul was forgiven and greatly used of God. We have to
replace the thoughts of the "accuser/satan" with Scripture. So, if these
thoughts are tormenting someone, then it is a sure sign that they are not
full of the Word and they need to start memorizing some Scriptures.
Some people listen to tapes of Scripture songs. Note I said
Scripture songs. The popular songs heard on most radio/tv stations
will not do at all. The songs have to be Scripturally sound! Remember,
when confronting the devil, even the Lord Jesus used the Scriptures.
To see all the other mentionings of blaspheme in the New Testament, go
the Bible Study Aids on our site, choose the Bible Gateway site (you can
choose to limit your search just to the New Testament if you like), type "blasphem"
in the Word Search window and hit enter.
Thanks for taking time to WRAP
with us. Don |
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TO OUR
CYBER-VISITORS:
A Rev. Pervaiz K________________ from Pakistan has
WRAPPED
with us, wanting us to help him raise money.
It is not our policy to solicit money for ourselves or others.
However, I will use this opportunity to express a concern that I have for the
budding ministries around the world.
It concerns me that many of the new, growing ministries outside the U.S. look to
the churches in America as something to pattern themselves after, wanting to become
"Americanized" instead of "Christianized"! Let me explain what I mean.
America became one of the greatest--if not the greatest Christian nation
that the world has ever known, and it did so because it followed the pattern
for building a church that is set forth in the New Testament. That is, for the most part, the
founding believers in the United States set their hands to the task of building the
True Church--i.e., the Body of Christ which is comprised of the born-again
believers whose bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. They did this by
obeying Christ regarding the Great Commission--i.e., sharing John 3:16 with
all who would hear; and by sharing the Love of Christ with their family and
neighbors, and, as much as possible, with the whole world.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. John 13:
34 A new commandment I give unto you,
That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye
have love one to another.
As a matter of convenience, these believers then built local buildings
that they called churches. These "churches" were not only used
as meeting places for the Church, but often became the beloved center of a
town's/community's activities because the local members had experienced the
joy of applying their own love, money, and sweat to erecting the
building. However, succeeding generations who "inherited" these
buildings began looking upon the buildings as the church of Christ
instead of just a convenient place for believers to assemble together.
Consequently, the work of many of today's church members is often seen as
simply getting people to "come visit their church" building. To do
this, they entice people by offering suppers, picnics, and trying to
compete with the world for the community's youth by offering entertainment.
As a result, their idea of building a "new church" has become the building
of a new church building and they try to use people to attain this goal. In
addition, because the church building has become the object of their
worship, how it is maintained and used becomes an object of contention among
the church members who often have different ideas on the matters--their
"church fights" becoming the objects of jokes among unbelievers. Some
modern church members even go so far as not wanting little children in their
buildings unless they are carefully supervised by their parents lest they
somehow make a mess. Somewhere along the way these churches have lost
sight of the Great Commission and forgotten that their community is supposed
to see their love one for another. Very rarely do we see churches
going into the
highways and hedges compelling people to come in by sharing John 3:16.
Instead, they seemed to feel that if they built a bigger and better "church"
building, that people will just come.
It is our prayer here at DOWEKNOW.COM that all church members might know
the joy of working with the Lord to add to the His Church daily such as
"should be saved" (Acts 2:47). May all of us who claim the name of Christ never
forget to love one another with the Love of the Lord so that people can see
Christ in us and want Him as their Savior, as well! Please do not buy
into the modern theology that sees a beautiful church building as the sign
of a successful ministry. That may come, but let the Lord lead you
into it.
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