First, let me write again something I have already put upon the web in the past. God did not say, "Go ye public schools into all the world, and baptize in His name". He told the Christians, individually, to go into all the world. He did not say we could hire us a preacher to do "visitation" for us. It has always been, and will remain, an individual responsibility for every true born again believer.

For a long time, we have had a Christian culture in the U.S. Our school teachers read the Bible for the church, had daily devotionals which should have been in the homes, taught the Golden Rules for the church, chastised those that broke the 10 Commandments for the church, and in short raised the children with church dogma/rules. However, the 10 Commandments of the Old Testament were never to be used apart from a God-called people/institution. They were given as the basis for a government by Theocracy. But the Old Testament people decided that if the way to please God was by keeping rules, then they needed to make more or add to God’s list. This eventually led to governments ruled by earthly kings, not a Theocracy under God; and God was terribly displeased. Their list of man made rules and decrees got longer and longer until we find this when Jesus came to do His earthly ministry:

The O. T. Hebrews began keeping rules/symbols to establish their holiness and totally by-passed God, even rejecting His Theocratical government. "Repent ye, Repent ye, come back", was God’s cry all during the Old Testament days. Finally, He ushered in a New Testament which cost His Son, Jesus, the death of the cross. Today, the only way a person can attain righteousness acceptable to God is by accepting the gift of being "born again" by His Grace. This was made possible by the shedding of the Blood of Jesus and now faith in Him is the only "door" to the Kingdom of God and its righteousness.

As to hearing a voice talking to you, I will use Apostle Paul, and little Samuel as examples. They heard God’s voice but it was a "wake-up" call. Paul heard it when he was a brilliant scholar who was well-learned in the Ten Commandments/Law. God came to him in this manner:

Here we see that Paul was struck blind and had to be "led" to a true, born-again Christian who told him to "go" and "learn" what God wanted of him. Samuel was just a lad and God came to him in much the same way. Samuel’s job was to "listen and learn." Usually a person is as Saul/Paul or as Samuel when they receive a visitation such as you are sharing.

I Samuel 3

1 And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;
3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;
4 That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.
5 And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
6 And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.
8 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.

You are asking about Sodom and Gomorrah. According to the Bible, this was a place that had totally thrown away any semblance of the Ten Commandments and the Theocratical form of government in favor of a government which had laws written by/for the baser nature of man. We do not know all that occurred there because according to the Scriptures, God saw fit to burn it to ashes. However, we do know that God did not like believers residing in these places. The reason for this had to be at least two-fold.  In the account in Genesis 18 and 19, we see how Lot lost his family to the ways of the sodomites; and in the New Testament, Peter explains how the goings on in Sodom and Gomorrah vexed Lot's soul.

II Peter 2:
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

In fact, even though Lot was the only believer in the cities, God went to great trouble to bring him out before His judgment fell on the inhabitants. As we read the following account, we can’t help but wonder if God spared Lot because he was a believer or because of a promise He had made to Abraham.

Another point God brought out in this writing was the dislike that men had for sex with women. Even after the angel of the Lord blinded the men of Sodom, they tried to claw down the door of Lot’s home to get to the angels who had taken the form of men.

In the last Scripture above, the Lord Jesus Himself verified the Old Testament account. What everyone has to decide for themselves during our age is whether these writings about Sodom and Gomorrah Scriptures were ordained/recorded through the Spirit of God. If they were, then they are a dynamic power to be reckoned with…. If enough people decide that these Scriptures are not from God, then laws that reflect that opinion/decision will become prevalent in a society, whether it be Sodom or modern U.S. The results will be that the personal/national governing of the Ten Commandments will disappear and that laws written by and for men will prevail.

Do not hold the public schools responsible for this…God will not! I know that is a strong statement but it is true. The born-again believers that make up God’s body/church upon this earth will be held responsible.

This Scripture was an Old Testament mandate. However, we should note that we who are on this side of the cross are not without a mandate from God—but our mandate is The Great Commission.

We no longer have the Christian culture in the U. S. which in the past was taught and maintained by the school teachers, and in truth, such a culture never should have been. Our nation was not established so that school teachers could teach our young how to behave as "Christians." It was established with a culture that was ideal for those who want to fulfill The Great Commission, a nation wherein born-again believers endued with power from on high can share their faith and the reason for their hope with others without fear of reprisal.

We would do well to ask ourselves, who are the we/ye of the Scriptures that have their names written in heaven?:

We are a diverse people in this U. S. and schools are "equal opportunity" employers which means that if a person has gone to a university, has paid the price of studying and gotten a degree, then they can teach in a public school. The teaching of Christian standards should be done in the churches, in home-based Bible studies, in Christian schools if one desires, vacation Bible schools, Sunday Schools with a bus ministry, in our daily walk before others… We have gotten so lazy as a church, so irritated that the school teacher isn’t raising a generation trained in Christian dogma, so shocked that someone else doesn’t read the Bible for us…that we loudly WHINE AND COMPLAIN, "Why isn’t the public schools doing our job?" "Aren't they supposed to read the Bible and pray for us"? "Aren't they supposed to raise/bring up our children to be good?" Or better yet, "That's what we hired the preacher for!" Here in these Scriptures is the basis for Christian government and it is placed in the hands of the church/ believers/Christian parents:

No, No, No! The blame cannot be laid upon any other institution, whether it be the school system or the national government. These were not commissioned by God to carry His name. The Church of Jesus Christ was called/ordained/commissioned. Check the Scriptures. It goes something like this:

We are not commanded to fight. We are commanded to "plow" and "sow." Sow what? How do we do this? The Scriptures do not leave us in the dark.

Had the Church of past two or three generations in the U.S. put the fulfilling of the Great Commission as its first priority, then life would be easier and more pleasant for all of us today. There would be fewer unscrupulous mechanics taking advantage of their customers, fewer underhanded lawyers, fewer unscrupulous business men, fewer in the medical profession "just for the money," fewer teachers in the public schools teaching our children things that offend us, etc. This would be so because there would be more born-again Christians in all walks of our life doing their best to serve their master and doing unto others as they would have them doing unto themselves. However, we are all now living in the atmosphere created by a sleeping Church; so, we must function accordingly. A wise man will check around before he takes his car to a shop, before he calls a plumber, before he hires a repairman, etc. Likewise, if you feel that your children are not being properly taught in the school that they are attending, then, praise God that we live in a country that still has politicians sensitive to the needs of the Christian community so that there are alternatives. You can check out the Christian schools in your community or you can look into home schooling; for in America that is still your prerogative.

Those of you who are regular visitors to our site know that we have been WRAPPING with our guests for over two years, but have just recently taken those WRAPs off the Web so that we can put more emphasis upon the musical aspects of our ministry--which we will do in the near future. (The WRAP AROUND feature has been a blessing to many of our guests so we will still be making the previous WRAPs available on CDs.)  Because we have removed the WRAPs to make room for other things, I'm adding this footnote lest our first-time visitors get the wrong impression.  The Lord impressed upon B'Ann and I early in our walk with Him that He is a "positive" God; and when we begin functioning in the "negative," we are not in His will.  Consequently, we have tried to maintain a positive approach in all that we do, even when we have to deal with the negatives around us. The facts that B'Ann presented in this WRAP are just that, facts; and though they highlight some negatives, they should not be seen as an attack on any individuals.  Nor should they be construed as an attack on the Church for B'Ann and I are part of the Church and we would be attacking ourselves. 

Always, when dealing with the sleeping Church, we have tried to emphasize the reasons for her slumbering.  Although none of us can place the blame for our shortcomings on another, there are those in leadership positions in the churches who contribute greatly to the disarray in the church.  We have Scriptures for this.

I Tim. 4:
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

 I Tim. 6:1
Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and [his] doctrine be not blasphemed.
2 And they that have believing masters, let them not despise [them], because they are brethren; but rather do [them] service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.
3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, [even] the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into [this] world, [and it is] certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

II Tim. 4:
1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

II Peter 2:
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

Again, we are not trying to make excuses for the Church, but gain understanding; and all one has to do is be a little observant to see that, to some degree, we believers are shaped by our pastors/shepherds.   If a church has a judgmental pastor, its members tend to be judgmental.  If a church has a pastor "full of fight", its members seem to always want to fight. If a church has a pastor who is hung up on the prosperity message, its members tend to be the same.  If a pastor always emphasizes healing, then its members concentrate upon their health.  (Prosperity and healing both belong to the children of God, but are "fringe" benefits.  The true riches of the Church are the peace of God that passeth understanding and the joy of having a part in bringing someone to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.)  The tangents that many pastors get hung up on are too numerous to mention, but not the main message of the Church: i.e., Jesus saves!

B'Ann keeps driving home that our Lord did not send us into the world to show the unbelievers how to never be sick, or to make lots of money via faith, or to show others our great knowledge of the Scriptures, etc., but to tell them of Him and His love for them.  The Great Commission is that simple, but the enemy of our souls would have us to believe the task to be overwhelming, if not impossible.  If witnessing were as hard as he would have us to believe, then the Great Commission would be cruel and unusual punishment?  But Jesus has not commanded us to do something near impossible to do!  B'Ann and I do not keep stressing the need for the fulfilling of the Great Commission to place a load of guilt on the believer, but we do so out of concern.  If the Church does not fulfill the Great Commission, how can the lost be found/saved?  And if the Church does not fulfill the Great Commission, how can it know the joys that belong to the wise steward who is busy saving souls?.

If we can do nothing with our web site but show someone how simple it is to fulfill the Great Commission, then our site has been a success!  And fulfilling the Great Commission is as simple as striving to do the following. 

Mt. 22:
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

II Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
cf.
I Timothy 2:
1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

II Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
 

Fulfilling the Great Commission is as simple as making it a practice to keep the responsibilities alluded to in the Scriptures we just read: i.e.,

1. placing God first in our lives, remembering that He will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are stayed upon Him (Isa. 26:3).
2. putting others ahead of ourselves, doing unto them as we would have them do unto us--even to loving our enemies and doing good unto them
3. praying for our nation, but doing so by humbling ourselves before God and turning from our wicked ways, and
4. obeying God in the matter of studying the Bible--considering it to be as essential as our daily bread.

In other words, fulfilling the Great Commission is as simple as keeping our heart fixed on God, being considerate of others/thinking of their needs before our own, praying for our nation and its leaders, and studying the Word of God daily to show ourselves approved unto Him.  If we aim for these goals, then God will be able to bless us for our hearts will be aligned with His; and fulfilling the Great Commission will become as natural as breathing for God will bring it to pass--leading us to others, bringing others to us, and giving us the words to say.

Well, it looks like you want a "mountain" moved. Be aware that the Scripture that pertains to this has some IF’s!

Mat 21:21
Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this [which is done] to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

It did not say that "I" could be a substitute for your faith. It speaks of "ye" and "you". What I am allowed to do, in obedience to the Scriptures, is to "uphold" you with intercessory prayer which means that I would have to pray that the Lord’s will be done.

Luke 11:
1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
2 When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Then after the intercessory prayer would come the matter of being in one accord. I am in one accord with you if you have a valid, court-won judgment against the other party. It is a powerful thing when believers are led by the Spirit to pray in one accord.

Acts 1:14
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

However, you have the same Jesus that I have if you are a "born-again" Christian. If this be true, then, you must develop your own communication system with Him. Does this mean that you are going to hear "voices"?

I sincerely hope not!!! Jesus is "one voice", not voices, that was heralded by the "one voice" of John the Baptist crying in the wilderness. These are the words of Jesus.

John 10:16
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

John 10:27
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

Someone that is classified as mentally ill will hear a clamoring of voices and most of the time they will either tell the person to do something "non-Scriptural" or to "claim that they are Jesus." We can examine these "voices" by the Scripture. For example, if they cause a person to be so fretful and insecure that they cannot function, then we know that they are not of the Spirit of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of
a sound mind.

I John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

I have no desire to "prophesy thus saith the Lord" which can parallel "fortune telling." What is the difference between "fortune telling" and "giving a Christian word"? The fortuneteller will always charge a price for the "word" given. The "word of knowledge," which is a Christian gift, will in turn be "given" away to the edification of the person/body of Christ. Often, the "receiver" of the gift will give a "love offering," but he is under no obligation to do so. There is a world of difference in the two.

I Corinthians 12:8
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

I can tell that this is a serious concern for you. If I seem not to just be shouting, SATAN TURN THE MONEY LOOSE then please forgive me. I am right back to the Scripture that says "teach us how to pray."

The following Scripture is one of submission to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit and is where all the power in prayer lies:

Romans 8:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
…

9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
...

11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
...

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.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

I will pray that any hindrance be lifted, immediately, so that you can see clearly what is happening. You need to print the following Scripture on a card and put it up where you can see it easily until you have it memorized. You will need to have the "steps/action" you are to take given to you by Divine Guidance; but be aware that as one begins the life of "walking in the Spirit," the first instructions that he or she will receive usually have to do with studying the Word and learning to pray in the Spirit.  Please go to your Bible and read all of the following chapter.  As you do, take special note of verse 23.

Psalm 37
(Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.)

No, we've chosen rather to communicate with our Cyber-visitors through our WRAP AROUND feature which is a two-way street--giving everyone opportunity to ask their questions or give their input..

Thanks for WRAPPING

I would very much like to learn more about the book of Daniel's and Revelations. Please send me some reading material.

thank you.

Regards,

Ramya P______

MARGARET WROTE:

this is the first time I was able to go on the web and found Don Love Ministries. I truly enjoyed it because I am a Christian and love God. Please e-mail me and let me know the good news because I am just learning the web.

yours in Christ

DON WROTE:

(From their WRAPs, I figure both Ramya and Margaret to be fairly new to the Internet and still having the fun of learning how to get around on the web, so I'll answer them with the same WRAP.) 

If both of you haven't figured it out by now, any word, graphic, or picture that causes a hand to appear when you drag your cursor over it, is a link that will take you to another page when you click on it.  If you will check out the words and graphics on our home page, you will find most of them to be "links" that will take you to pages often full of other "links."  For example, if you will click on the words CLOCK OF THE AGES, you will go to the cover of that book which in turn will have a link that will take you to the contents of the book.  In the that book you will find much information about Daniel's prophecies. Also, the link on the home page that deals with the study of the Book of  Revelation will take you to our study of the Book of Revelation.

Thanks for visiting us and please hold us up in your prayers.

Don

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