TREVOR
WROTE:
peace be with you!!!
dear don,
happy to see your site it must have been a ton of work and most likely the upkeep still
is
i have a question that perhaps you can help me with i live in westbank bc, canada and
i'am trying with no luck so far to find other christian canucks who share an end times
approach to their faith. i've got in touch with jack van impe ministries they really did
not have any leads for me but are sending me a package of info through snail mail. it
really is a void in the parishes up here so far as i can tell, although what evidence a
local pastor or parish or congregation still needs that something is up is at this point
with the fig tree budding is beyond me. i guess satan has done his job well here in the
new world our churches are overun with seemingley endless interest in beurocracy rather
than the task at hand. i'am a recent convert and without a doubt at 31 the end times
ministries of the van impe's and others reached through the lies and new age crap of the
mcworld around me and turned me towards the lord. and of course how could they not??? if i
would have been more receptive to the amazing track record of biblcal prophecy ealier i
would not have waited so long to read the rest of the bible. who else but god could weave
metaphor insight image and accurate prophecy together in one. its the truth i know i've
been looking for all my life and praise god for the elders of the church to find new ways
to reach every new lost generation that comes along!!! anyway with the flash points of
scripture looming in our midst what preparations besides the awarness of the nearness of
fufillment of scripture is going on??? have you had other e-mails from the snowy north???
can you connect some of us??? my prayers are filled with a purpose to team up with like
spirits and go from there, whether it is to store up and pray or build web pages or
whatever. i hope you can help out don i sure would appreciate it, good luck and gods
blessings to you and your flock!!!
in christ
trevor
ps: if you know of any communal type prepartions it would be of great encouragement to
know of them as well.
he is risen indeed!!!
DON WROTE:
Hello Trevor:
Thanks for taking the time to WRAP with us. I’ve enjoyed your comments. It is
encouraging to know that the end-time message has helped to bring you to the Lord.
However, let me bring to your attention a part of the end-time message that we must take
care not to overlook.
Mat 25:1-7
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten
virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet
the bridegroom.
And five of them were wise, and five [were] foolish.
They that [were] foolish took their lamps, and took no
oil with them:
But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and
slept.
And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the
bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Not only is the Gospel of the Kingdom designed to bring souls to
Christ as people see the prophesied coming to pass, but it is also designed to awaken the
Church from its slumber. Therefore, rather than assuming that you should look for
"kindred spirits" that are interested in prophecy; perhaps you should consider
giving yourself to a devout study of the Bible and become part of the "wake-up
call" for the Church. To do this you will have to find a body of believers with which
to fellowship. If the Lord does lead you in this way, you will find other prophecies in
the process of being fulfilled.
Mat 13:47-50
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that
was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat
down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the
bad away.
So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall
come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall
be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:24-30
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The
kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed
good seed in his field:
But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares
among the wheat, and went his way.
But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth
fruit, then appeared the tares also.
So the servants of the householder came and said unto
him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from
whence then hath it tares?
He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The
servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and
gather them up?
But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye
root up also the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time
of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together
first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them:
but gather the wheat into my barn.
For the Lord’s own interpretation of this parable, we go to
verse 36 of this passage.
Mat 13:36-43
Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the
house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare
unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the
good seed is the Son of man;
The field is the world; the good seed are the children of
the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the
wicked [one];
The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is
the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the
fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they
shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and
them which do iniquity;
And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear.
Teachings like this help us to understand the dire prophecies of
the end-time state of the church such as:
II Tim. 4:3
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;
I Tim. 4:1-5
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;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared
with a hot iron;
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.
For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be
refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
II Tim. 3:13
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and
being deceived.
II Pet. 2:1-3
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.
And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom
the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
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.
As bad as all of this sounds, we must remember that the Lord said "…I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it" (Mt. 16:18). Jesus knew full well all that would
befall His Church, yet it pleased Him to go ahead and build it. Therefore, the wise man is
the one who seeks to help Him with the building; and it is impossible to work on a
building if you don’t come near it.
When called upon to counsel those like yourself who have just
surrendered their lives to Christ, this is our basic recommendations.
- Give yourself to a serious study of the Bible. Begin by first reading the Gospels
of John and Matthew, then the book of Romans. Avail yourself of a good study Bible—I
personally like the Thompson Chain Reference Bible and the Scofield Study Bible, although
I don’t always agree with its notes on prophecy. Whatever you do, stay with the King
James Version at first or you will be unable to take advantage of the Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance which lists every word in the Bible. After you’ve become
familiar with portions of the Bible, the concordance will help you find what you have
already read IF you have not cluttered your mind with several versions of the
Bible. (For some good inspirational reading, you might try some of Watchman Nee’s
books in your spare time.)
- Begin a serious search for a body of believers with which to fellowship. Pray earnestly
about this and entreat the Holy Spirit to lead you in your search.
- Assume the role of a student and be teachable, but always test teachings by the
Scriptures. Here again you will need to rely upon the Holy Spirit to help you discern what
is truth and what is error.
- Remember, the Bible calls all new converts "babes-in-Christ." This being so,
ask for the grace not to throw any "baby fits" when you don’t instantly get
your way.
- When you unite with a body, try as much as possible to do so in the role of a
servant—remembering the Words of Jesus:
Mar 10:42-45
But Jesus called them [to him], and saith unto them, Ye
know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them;
and their great ones exercise authority upon them.
But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your
minister:
And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.
For even the Son of man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Also make it a practice to be talking and listening to Jesus as you
fall asleep at night and when you awake in the Morning. Establish this practice and it
won’t be long until you find yourself conversing with Him throughout the day. For
Paul, this was to "pray without ceasing" (I Thes. 5:17).
If you’ll do these things, it will go well with your soul. I almost envy you your
adventure in learning the mind and the will of Christ for you. Those first days with
Christ were very special for me—when I fell in love with His Word and was filled with
awe and wonder as He revealed Himself anew every day.
Keep looking up,
Don
TREVOR WROTE AGAIN:
he is risen !!!!
thank you so much for posting my e-mail, and for all your council. i really liked the
reminder
to watch for baby fits! i will take to heart the search for fellowship and endeavor to
rest on
the spirits guidance. its hard you know i never grew up christian so the search has been
beset
by quiet doubts and troubling nudges that are hard to hear and respond to. i've got a long
way
to go...so far i have been sprinkled on the head at a local lutheran church and seek to
remedy
that sprinkle with immersion!!!
thank you for encouraging more and more bible study!!! its hard to express how much
time i spend with the bible i've only read it once cover to cover but i'am in it all the
time
reading old and new testament snipits or whole chapters or books if i'am not in the word
i'am
reading about through other christian authors or reaching constantly for my dictinary of
the
bible to search out more background info (i use a new king james) i also find time for
bios and
just finished one on jerimiah by thom lemmons...if i'am not doing that i'am making charts
on
the kingdom and who were the prophets at the time or any other info that i can combine to
make the scripture come alive i especially enjoyed studying about the feasts of the lord
and
the amazing metaphors for the coming of jesus contained in the rituals and practices, they
were
like prophecy all on there own!!!!
surely the lord is awsome!!! its hard to explain how the bible impacts someone like me
with no religious background it just shatters so much of me...in a good way for instance i
realized the other day that unlike all the history and theories and pychology and lies i
learned
through school and life the bible is the oldest continuous true story in the world!!!!!!!!!!!
that's something that hits y
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DON WROTE AGAIN:
Hello Again Trevor:
It sounds like you're heading in the right direction. The Bible
says that if we will draw nigh unto God, that He will draw nigh unto us. As you've
discovered, one of the ways that we draw nigh unto Him is through a dedicated Bible study.
Those who have not fallen in love with the Word of God are missing out on one of
the greatest joys of this life. There is another joy that belongs to the obedient
child of God, that is the joy of telling others about Jesus...especially when your witness
plays a part in their coming to Christ. The Apostle Peter must have been
experiencing these two joys when he wrote:
I Peter 1:1-9
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia,
and Bithynia,
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you,
and peace, be multiplied.
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,
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if
need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
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:
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye
see [him] not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory:
Receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of
[your] souls.
You said in your first wrap that you live in Westbank BC, Canada. If you find the
time, you might tell us a little about your community. I know it must be cold there.
I'm curious about what you do for recreation in the winter. Also, I wonder do
you have a different church on most every street as we do here in Central Florida.
I'm exaggerating a little, but it does seem that way because they are mainly of
"different faiths"--explain that if you can--and because they are often vocal
about their differences.
Keep warm and keep us in your prayers,
Don & B'Ann Love
TREVOR WROTE AGAIN, AGAIN:
dear don,
its amazing to see peter revealed as a powerful apostle when i think of the peter i read
about
during jesus' ministry...
westbank, bc canada???
its cold sure but we who live here are used to it. right now there's about a foot of snow
and
more storms a brewing and its about minus 5 c. the winters and weather have been changing
here
over the last 3-4 years and while many of my generation seem oblivious the old timers make
constant notice of it and remind us of the impact of the local predators and the amount of
wild
berries ealier in the season. we have black bears cougars and coyotes within a stones
throw of
my house and of course the occaisional grizzly. the summers here are hot and the area i'am
in the
okanogan is somewhat grassy and desertlike, we have a ponderosa pine and dougie fir tree
forest
with plenty of sandy rocky soil. in the summer we have a variety of reminders of our
uniqueness in
canada, we have cactus tumbleweeds baby's breath rattlesnakes scorpions and black widow
spiders.
the terrain is mountains and hills, and i live on a low shelf of a local mtn, whose front
is to the city
(20,000?) and back is to the wild. the okanogan was settled in the late 1800's peacefully
with the
local native peoples by christian farmers and fruit orchardists who refused to give in to
gold rush fever
in other areas of the province. as far as churchs they are moslty old school... that's
greenhorn talk
for denominational and bickering. catholic lutheran baptist pentecostal united anglican.
in my
search i've found some new churches like a kenneth copeland affiliate and a vineyard. its
not
like i imagine florida to be with what i can guess from the variety of shows i see on tv.
that's one
of my concerns for finding a flock is the way the gospel hits me and the beurocr...(Note to visitors--at
this point, Trevor's WRAP stopped. I E-mailed him back and told him we had lost part
of his comments.He finished his thoughts in this next WRAP.)
(Subject: lost message in cyberspace)
dear don
i guess my message is lost for good, my email does not keep a record of the wrap arounds
so i'am
writing you direct. its a shame that letter was lost i almost felt like i made
sense...what i was getting at
was the energy of the spirit in the church. even being a greenhorn i can see that not
every church is hip
to the scene so to speak, i want to find a church that's into the word. i want to hear the
whole book of
isaiah at service or the whole book of anything for that matter not just these little
snipits...when did snipits
become enough armour of god to fight the evil one? when did the word get so clutterd
by chapter and
verse numbers and titles that the faithful feel compelled to quote exact portions...???
why do the faithful
not read the bible??? i already know that this is a major concern for the elders, its a
message i read in
books i hear on tv and see with my own eyes with my fellow christians???
its a strange
thing but i'am
writing out the gospel of john right now and i'll share a few insights of this work.
1 the chapter and verse numbers impede the flow of the story and the titles are more silly
than useful
2 the punctuation attempts are hinderd once again by the chapter and verse headings and by
the differance
of style in writing, john could care less if his gospel read like a essay or was full of
run on sentances or
comma splices and so on...but the long speeches by jesus in john are utterly ruined by the
chapter and
verse headings, each line a new set of quotes and its the same speech!!! what madness,
3 the anti-semite tendencies are revealed in the captilization of the gospel for instance
any referance to
jesus or god is capitalized including of course personel pronouns which is all good,
cities and peoples are
capitalized still good, the title jews is capitalized but not and this is interesting the
word feasts... these 7
feasts were instituted by god himself yet they are referred to in the lowere case unless
the name is
given...this is very mislleading, these feasts are prophetic and meteaphoric all in their
own and still teach
us much of the lord and his plans for us and the jews.
4 forget all these help you understand the word books, simply writing the word out can
teach you a
ton!!!!!!!!!!!! the style of the writer the use of language the word by word nowness of it
all of it are worth
more than strongs concordance. if this generation would take back a personal approach to
the scripture
and write out their favorite books then where would be the time for tv or video games or
honky tonkin??
it took me 9 hours to write out 5 chapters of john in my chicken scratch and every minute
was glorious!
no chapter or verse numbers, no titles, no breaks in the story, no paragraph indents one
set of quotes for
one speech and no bull!!!! now if i know someone who loves johns gospel would i not give
it to them??
at least to read?? for the differance of impact is for sure...anyway my points are made
and the intention is
clear
enjoy and talk to you soon.
he is risen indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!!
trevor (joey)
DON WROTE AGAIN, AGAIN:
Well, Trevor, Westbank, sounds interesting...and cold. If I were younger, I
would like to visit there. In your reference to Peter, I'm assuming your pointing
out how that this fisherman who seemed always to have something to say and a willingness
to say it; could change from a very common person who would deny his Lord to save his own
skin into a champion of the faith. Just goes to show you how a touch from God makes
the difference. (What's the old saying? If one man can talk you into
something, another man can talk you out of it. But when God touches you, you're
settled on the Rock.) After the UPPER ROOM experience wherein Peter and the others
were baptized by the Holy Ghost, Peter became quiet bold in his stance for his Savior,
even dying for Him rather than denying Him again. But this boldness did not belong
to Peter alone. All who were filled with the Spirit and walked in obedience to Him
demonstrated the same courage. It was this presence of the Holy Spirit that Jesus
was addressing in this conversation with Peter.
Mat 16:13-19
13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I
the Son of man am?
14 And they said, Some [say that thou art] John the
Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the
prophets.
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art
thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not
revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in
heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven.
To understand what Jesus was saying here and why Peter could become a giant of faith
who eventually died a martyr for that faith, as did so many of the first disciples, we
need to zero in on verse 17 & 18. "And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not
revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee,
That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it." This
"revelation" of just Who Christ Jesus was came from the same Holy Spirit that
filled the disciples in the upper room thereby birthing the Church of which Jesus was
talking. Although Jesus had just changed Simon Barjona's name to Peter (i.e., little
rock) Jesus was referring to the revelation of the Holy Spirit when He said
"upon this rock I will build my church." As we've already pointed out, the
man Peter just couldn't cut it. In his flesh he feared for
his life and failed his Master; but after he had become one with Christ via His Spirit,
Peter became what He was named: i.e., a little rock/a pillar in the Church. And by
the way, this is shouting ground for all the saints for we, too, have the same Holy Spirit
that empowered Peter. Hopefully, like Peter, we will all walk in obedience to Him
and win souls to Christ. Also, like Peter, I'm satisfied that if we are called upon
to die for our Master, the Holy Spirit will make us equal to the hour.
From the style of your writing, I can see that the numbers and punctuations in the
Bible might frustrate you. But as you can see from their use in my comments,
they can be helpful when teaching the Scriptures.
I also found it interesting that you write out the Scriptures as you study. After
I had read enough Bible to become acquainted with its contents. I, too, found it helpful
to write out the Scriptures. For me, this slowed me down to where the Holy Spirit
could teach me. After about four years of Bible Study, I had acquired several
notebooks full of Scripture with comments that meant much to me.
Thanks for your input,
Don |
