BIBLE PROPHECY- NOVEMBER 1999 WRAP AROUNDS: Biblical Prophecy studied by Don Love Ministries DOWEKNOW. Old Testament prophecy and New Testament prophecy are compared to the understanding of prophecy in the church. DoWeKnow looks at the prophecy of Daniel as well as the prophecy of Peter, the prophecy of John, and the prophecy of Paul as they relate to the latter days, the last days, the Rapture, the tribulation, the beast, the Millenium, the end of the world, etc.

Warren Wrote:

"WARNING"

The 'secret' of the date of the "Aviso," the "judgment in miniature," or what is called "The Warning" in the United States that was prophesied in Garabandal, Spain decades ago, has been released worldwide…

The Warning will occur between this coming January 19th and January 31st, 2000. The Warning will be perceived by all mankind to be a dark Cross in the sky with light streaming through the points where the nails were driven into His Cross. Many will "see" much more than this. Many more will deny it altogether.

The Warning will be more than just a prelude to the Great Miracle. It will also warn humanity of the method to be used by Yahweh in causing the deaths of more than 4 billion people in the coming Chastisement. The Warning precedes the Great Miracle promised at Garabandal, Spain, which Yahweh says will take place on Thursday, April 13th, 2000 in Garabandal. All present in Garabandal during the Miracle will be healed and/or converted.

Please note that our calendars, according to Yahweh, should currently read 1995, NOT 1999. Therefore, although the Warning and Miracle will occur on our calendars as stated, Jesus Christ's 2000th birthday anniversary will actually occur on January 6th, (our) 2004. -That date will also be memorable in the collective memory of all mankind.

The Three Days of Darkness, the culmination of the Chastisement, will not occur before 2008, again according to our present calendars...

via yours truly.

Reverend Father Warren ________, SOL

We are what you once were.
We believe what you once believed.
We worship as you once worshipped.
If you were right then, we are right now.
If we are wrong now, you were wrong then.
_____________________________________________

B’Ann Wrote:

Evidently you have not read our WRAPS. In earlier WRAPS, we shared the Scripture where Jesus told His followers that He did not know the date nor the hour when future events would take place (Mt. 25:13). He said that only God the Father knew. He just knew the WATCH. The WATCH for the people under the Covenant of Grace is to be constantly telling the GOOD NEWS, i.e, Christ died for sinners. If God did not tell His Only Begotten Son the date for any Second Coming events, then there is serious doubt that He would supercede Christ and give such a great revelation to a man. We are not to be caught up in "Rapture Mania"! We are to be about our part of the responsibility which is "Go ye into all the world."

At one time in our ministry, we became quite agitated about this matter of "go ye" until we looked at our neighbors. The world constantly streams past our door or we pass them in the grocery store. God has made the job of the missionary and the fulfilling of our "Great Commission" so easy. We can actually hand out tracks to most all races and creeds wherever we go in the U.S. We really will be without excuse in this generation. Indeed, the Bible teaches, "If you cannot love your neighbor whom you can see, how can you say the love of God abides within you?" As to the prophecy given, if it was genuine then it was given for "edification or reproof" and its purpose was given to spur people into action…the action being the Great Commission. I would not want to disparage the brother that has passed on; but if we sit "gazing up into the sky" then we would be like the apostles were when Jesus said, "Why do ye sit gazing into the heavens?"

I strongly disagree about the "killing" God is going to do. All through the Bible, He provides ways for his people to prosper in personal relationships, community relationships, financial prosperity (as much as needed), and spiritual and mental health. Even when the people did not want anything to do with Him, He put a "serpent upon a post" for them to gaze upon and receive healing. So, when the Holy Spirit is no longer wanted by the people in His office of Healing, then, the natural laws of sin and death will prevail. During the Dark Ages of the world’s history, the people were totally ignorant of the basic laws of cleanliness and physical well being which were written down in Leviticus. For centuries, new mothers and babies perished from filth that could have been avoided by reading the Bible. Even the great medical minds of the day were so "ignorant" of the Scriptures that they helped kill many by unwashed hands. So, when man gets so "smart" that there is a total "ignorance" of basic law of the Bible: then, the keeping power of the Trinity and the basic cleanliness laws in the Bible will be replaced by the groping of mankind.

Does God kill? For the most part, He doesn't have to. Built into nature are checks and balances which many decide to ignore. Does God push someone in front of a car? Certainly not! They just failed to heed the "warning signs" or didn’t "stop, look and listen." All plagues can usually be traced to some type of filth and often if we can just find the root of contamination, it can be halted. Note I said "halted". When something is unleashed upon mankind, it usually wrecks havoc. How much better to follow the guidelines of the Scriptures, whether it be cleansing of the sick bed or marital relationships. When mankind stepped out of the bonds of matrimony, the various venereal diseases and AIDS were not longer in isolated containment but rather they were unleashed upon the population. Why? Because the majority of the people wanted restrictions removed. There are many restrictions that we cannot remove, if indeed we even need to remove them. Certain plants, chemicals, gases in the air, etc., cannot be consumed by animal life without suffering the natural consequences built into nature. There are physical consequences built in when mankind decides to break certain principles. Nature does not tolerate a vacuum and when the Holy Spirit is withdrawn at the end of the Grace Age, the laws of sin and darkness will take over. As the End-Time approaches, Jesus asked, "Will He find any faith?" So, we can assume that instead of a world red-hot for Jesus, as some religious groups propose, we will find a people far, far from the principles of God. This great "falling away" will lead to a Dark Ages unlike any known to man before. Some groups sing of this great snatching away of people when the "Rapture" occurs. There are stories of planes without pilots, cars left running, food cooking, etc. If Jesus wondered whether there would be any found who had faith, perhaps there will be so few taken up that no one will really miss them. SELAH! We wrote a song back in the seventies that goes something like this. "PEOPLE ARE BLAMING OUR GOD, FOR THE WAY THAT THE WORLD NOW STANDS. THEY SAY THERE’S JUST ENOUGH FOR US, CAN’T HELP OUR FELLOW MAN, CAN’T HELP OUR FELLOW MAN. BUT DON’T POINT A FINGER AT GOD; FOR WHAT MORE CAN HE GIVE? HE GAVE HIMSELF IN HIS OWN SON, THAT WE MIGHT LIVE, THAT WE MIGHT LIVE!…"By the way, if you would like to hear some of the songs we recorded in the 70’s and 80’s, go to our Home Page and click on The Singers of Heart button.

TO OUR FELLOW CYBERNAUTS:

I almost didn’t put Warren’s response to our response up simply because of its length which makes the WRAPS come up slowly. However, as I read his second WRAP, I found his thoughts interesting--I also found it fascinating that the Catholic Church is still fighting with Martin Luther. Anyhow, I’m putting it up and I’ll let you read if for yourself.

Don Love

Warren Wrote Again:

The comment displays your ignorance in confusing the LAST JUDGMENT with the second, intermediate Coming of Christ the Early Fathers and Doctors taught. They taught that the Second Coming would be invisible to those who have no real faith. And the Eucharist appearing at the O’Brien Shrine are invisible to you.

Example:

ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Church Doctor: "We know that there are three comings of the Lord. The third lies between

the other two. It is invisible, while the other two are visible. In the first coming, He was seen on earth, dwelling among men; He Himself

testified that they saw Him and hated Him. In the final coming, ‘all flesh will see the salvation of our God, and they will look on Him whom

they pierced.’ The intermediate coming is a hidden one...in it only the elect will see the Lord, within themselves (eyes of faith), and they are

saved..."

The second, intermediate, invisible coming is already here in the miraculous Hosts. And most people of the world will never see Him. You would say claiming to know the date of the return of Christ is in complete violation of Holy Scripture - which says not even the Son knows, but only the Father and so shall it be. This might be correct if you can demonstrate that Christ was saying "no one ever will know the time...," but He was speaking to His contemporaries who expected Jesus to return in their own lifetimes. Thus you are using private interpretation like a Protestant. Apparently you have no idea that we are now dealing with the Father who has the right to kill Holy Innocents.

Read Joshua as well as 1 Samuel 15:3 "Now therefore go, and smite Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he hath spare him not, nor covet any thing that is his but slay both man and woman, child and suckling , ox and sheep, camel and ass".

On October 13, 1973, Our Lady of Akita Japan, APPROVED BY THE CHURCH, told Sr. Agnes: "My dear daughter, listen well to what I have to say to you. You will inform your superior. As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the flood, such as one will never have seen before. FIRE WILL FALL FROM THE SKY and wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desperate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priests. The work of the devil will infiltrate into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromise and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sorrow. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer be pardon for them."

Matt 7: 21-23: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. When that day comes, many will plead with Me, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your Name? Have we not exorcised demons by its power? Did we not do many miracles in your Name as well??' Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you. Out of my sight, you evildoers!'"

You are in error and have sold your soul to the Prince of the World. Jesus said that only the person who does the will of the Father, can enter the Kingdom. The world will not stop warring if we just think good thoughts,--we have to make peace through actions of negotiations and giving just relief to afflicted groups. Likewise salvation. Just 'thinking' we are saved does not make it so; we must DO the Father's Will. Action. Deeds. Not mere sola fides, or belief alone.

Matt 19:17 "If you wish to enter into life, keep the Commandments."

Mark 10:17,19 "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus answered, "You know the Commandments..."

John 15:14 "You are my friends, if you do what I command you."

These are only a few verses showing we must OBEY God, and there are many more. Since the Bible is clear we must obey God to enter into Heaven, it is false to interpret John 6:28-29 as meaning that 'belief' is all we must do. Belief is the first work, of course, but notice that John 5:28-29 does not add the word, "only." To do so would have contradicted the rest of the Bible. Thus, it is only Martin Luther who is the 'authority' for the leaders of protesting (hence, Protestant) religions that teach "faith alone," not the Bible. Luther had one thing he was known for. He constantly changing his teachings, except for sola fides (faith alone) and sola scriptura (scriptures alone). For example, one time he said Baptism conferred grace and removed Original Sin,--then another time he said it did not. He did this on every single teaching. Luther got worse, the more he aged. In the beginning he taught that the Christian was free, with the help of grace to follow the path of salvation. In his tract "ON THE FREEDOM OF THE CHRISTIAN MAN", written in Oct., 1520, he teaches that the Christian is "...free lord of all and subject to none...." But later he even denied that we HAVE a free will in his book "SLAVE WILL" in which he said, "God is the author of what is evil in us as well as of what is good, and, as He bestows happiness on those who merit it not, so also does He damn others who deserve not their fate." (De Sero Abritrio, inop. lat. 7, 113 seq.).

In the book, "THE FACTS ABOUT LUTHER" (TAN books) are quotes of Luther's plus some quotes of other Protestants who wrote about Luther. If you believe this book is biased, then try to get Luther's "SLAVE WILL" and read it yourself. You will be amazed. Unlike Luther's opinions on God's capricious predestination of souls, Christ, through the Holy Spirit, established the Sacrament of Baptism, where all may receive the grace of salvation. Nowhere does Scripture teach that the only thing we have to do is merely 'believe' that Christ is the Savior. After all, Satan certainly believes that Christ is the Savior, yet he is not 'saved' by that belief. In fact, Satan knows without the slightest doubt just Who Christ is, yet this does not save him. Remember Jesus did say, "He who believes and is Baptized, shall be saved." (Mark 16:16)

Luther is erroneously called a reformer. If he had tried to change only those things which didn't deny the Gospel message, or had stopped after he corrected those people who violated Church teaching, he would have been considered a reformer. But when he decided to change Apostolic Tradition and contradict the scriptures, then he was no longer a reformer but a DESTROYER.

For many centuries, the Gospel was taught by Apostolic Tradition. The part of Apostolic Tradition that is written down is called "scripture." The part that is not written down continues to be called Tradition. Webster's defines tradition as follows: "The handing down of information beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction." The Lutheran religion's doctrine on the Eucharist is close, but not the same as the Apostolic Tradition of the 'Real Presence,' where Christ is really present along with the appearances of bread and wine. The Protestant religions lost this Apostolic Tradition completely, teaching that the bread and wine is only a "symbol" of Christ's Body and Blood. These are two completely different traditions. One came from the Apostles, one came from men. Yet none of these traditions came solely from Scripture. One can be found implicitly in Scripture, but Scripture is not the source of Tradition (tradition is capitalized to refer to the Tradition of the Catholic Church.) Even the writings of the early Fathers are not the source of Tradition. They are only evidence of what has always been taught by the Apostles. Christianity came from the Apostles, who learned from God and taught it orally, both directly and through their successors they trained. Christianity did not come from the Bible. The Bible can only be understood if the Apostolic Traditions are understood.

Luther frequently ignored scripture, like when he said, "If Moses should attempt to intimidate you with his stupid Ten Commandments, tell him right out: 'Chase yourself to the Jews.' " (Wittenb, ad 5, pg. 1573). Protestant beliefs about the Catholic Church teachings come from Martin Luther, and the Bible is interpreted by Protestants according to Luther and Calvin. Thus, there is that huge, glaring contradiction that every time a preacher says that " the Bible alone" is his authority, he really means the Bible interpreted according to Luther is his 'authority.' And since Luther contradicted the Bible in most all his differences with the Church, and his differences are the 'justification' for breaking off from the Church, Protestant preachers end up having 'Luther alone' instead of ‘Scripture alone' for their authority.

The Catholic Church teaches infant Baptism, noting that there is also scriptural foundation in its verses that "...whole households" were Baptized, but this verse did not specifically say infants were present in these households. It is very likely, but not certain. That is why Baptists can disagree, and no one can prove either way. Of course, there are more scriptural arguments for infant Baptism, but none are explicit (scripturally literal) teachings, but 'implicit' teachings based on Tradition, meaning what the Church has always taught and/or practiced. But as Protestants cannot agree on explicit teachings, such as that we must obey God, then how in the world can we expect them to agree on implicit teachings?

The Catholic Church is contradicted by Luther's teachings of sola scriptura and sola fides, because sola scriptura and sola fides are contradictory to Scripture. Even Luther's meaning of the word, "faith" is contradictory to Scripture. Thus, Protestant religions are also contradictory to scripture, since sola scriptura and sola fides contradict the Gospel. They contradict what was explicitly taught, in both the oral and written scriptures, Tradition.

Protestantism is based on the belief that the doctrines of Luther and Calvin are primary. The astute reader will immediately notice that this concept is contradictory to even their unyielding belief in sola scriptura, for Luther and Calvin are mentioned NOWHERE in scripture. Since Protestantism is based on the belief that the books of the Bible are to be determined by those who follow the doctrines of Luther and Calvin, again sola scriptura is contradicted, for scripture says authority is given only to the leaders of the Church Christ founded. And Protestantism is based on the belief that the authority of the Catholic Church should be rejected at all costs, because Luther and Calvin said so. Because Luther and Calvin are the sources for what Protestantism teaches, which is that the Catholic Church teaches error, Protestantism is a mass of contradictions and confusion.

Luther, being a Catholic, still had a Catholic interpretation of scripture which came from the Apostles, so the first Lutherans were all Catholic. Because of this, the Lutheran religion is much closer to what the Apostles taught than other Protestant religion. Lutheran worship services resemble the Mass much more than a Baptist service. Another opinion that Luther taught was that a Christian did not have to obey the Commandments to go to Heaven as long as he had 'faith.' No one can come up with ONE single quote from Luther where he said we have to obey God, His Commandments, or do what is good in order to enter Heaven. No one can, because Luther gave in to sin, and to justify his sinfulness he came up with his sola fides, or 'faith alone.' Sola fides means obedience to God is not necessary. The Ten Commandments become the Ten Suggestions. Once the teachings of the Catholic Church, the Church Christ founded, are rejected, there is no longer a standard of right and wrong and ANY sin can be justified,--just like it is being done today.

The aggressive evangelists on television are the result of Luther's rejection of the Catholic Church, by means of his teachings of sola scriptura and sola fides. They don't study Luther extensively,--all they know is Luther's interpretation of scripture alone and faith alone. They therefore can justify ANYTHING they chose to preach. Such preachers are not just on their own television shows, they are also present in all the "Full Gospel," "Spirit-filled," "Non-Denominational" and generic Christian independent religions that dot our landscape. They are the future of Protestant religions, like it or not.

If you are taught a false Gospel, it will be easier to fall for another false Gospel. Just look at history: --in 1887 there was only 1 divorce for every 107 marriages. Before the 1930's, no Protestant religion accepted contraception. Not too long ago, no Protestant religion permitted abortion; there were no homosexual churches, and most Protestant religions would not marry divorced persons. All that has changed. Luther poked the hole in the dike and all of Christianity is flooded with error and confusion.

Luther taught that a Christian did not have to obey the Commandments to go to Heaven as long as he had 'faith.' He had no faith in Jesus because he didn't believe anything Jesus said about obeying His Church, about obeying the Commandments, about believing His Church, about following His Apostles to enter Heaven, and much more. Luther was not a good person. He is rightly known as "The Father of Divorce."

Since the importance of an action is associated with the rewards and punishments assigned to that action, a Christian who constantly hears that "...faith alone is all that is necessary...," and "...good works can't save you...," will soon assign the idea of obeying the Commandments the same importance of taking a bath every day, not littering, or being polite. Why do you think this country, with more TV preachers, more Bibles floating around, more radio preachers, and more Protestant sects than most other countries, has the highest divorce and broken home rates than other countries? Because according to Luther's Gospel, it really doesn't MATTER in the end if someone engages in pre-marital sex, or divorces and remarries, because they are going to Heaven ANYWAY. And it must not be important in God's eyes, because one is still going to Heaven no matter what, as long as he has 'faith.' So God really doesn't care if we break the Commandments. And one can always say, as Oprah Winfrey said on TV to justify her actions when someone in the audience said that God forbids divorce and remarriage, "That's YOUR interpretation of the Bible!!" --All these rationalizations are the results of Luther's teachings.

It was Luther's teaching of sola scriptura that led Pres. Clinton to justify abortion when he said, "...the Bible does not forbid abortion." Since he was taught to reject Apostolic Tradition and the authority of the Church that Christ founded, he becomes his own pope and can rationalize the same way other 'Christians' on the Supreme Court did by saying that the unborn baby is not a person and has no rights.

According to Luther, no one is infallible, so there is no one to interpret the Bible with authority, meaning that the Church Christ instituted for ALL time on earth is useless, since nobody knows what the Gospel is. Since "...the Catholic Church can't tell us what is right and wrong...," we can all figure that out for ourselves, but since no one can agree, there IS no right and wrong! All that matters is that we 'accept Christ' and 'love God,' but we don't have to respect Him by obeying Him. Therefore, there is no more right and wrong, except when the government declares something to be right or wrong, because once the authority of the Church is rejected, the government becomes our moral teacher, and eventually, our totalitarian ruler.

Hitler and Stalin hated the Catholic Church. They are known as the greatest mass murderers in history. Our present government has no love for the teachings of the Catholic Church either. Have we killed more unborn babies than Hitler killed Jews? Absolutely....

Once the teachings of the Catholic Church, the Church Christ founded, are rejected, there is no longer a standard of right and wrong and any sin, any horror, can be justified, just like as is being done today. But this fall from the grace of God does have its consequences: In a recent apparition at Conyers, Georgia, Christ said; "My children, you have ignored God long enough. Woe be to the inhabitants of the earth! With a mighty blow I will pound the earth, earthquake after earthquake, volcanoes will erupt, tidal waves, and with famine. The water will become polluted in many places. Diseases and every kind of affliction awaits this sinful generation. Woe be to the inhabitants of the earth. WOE be to the inhabitants of the earth! Prepare, prepare, PREPARE! Repent, repent, REPENT! Children, come back to Me NOW. My Mother is crying. I am crying. I look over the cities of the world and cry and cry and cry. These events that I speak about have already begun. You are ignoring My blood. You are ignoring My blood. You are ignoring My blood I shed for each one of you."

As Jesus was speaking, Nancy was seeing areas of red in the vision. Nancy said of Jesus, "Suffering, suffering,--- He is suffering...." To this Jesus replied: "So shall the inhabitants of the earth. So shall the inhabitants of the earth. So shall you suffer. You choose to sin of your own free will, then with your own free will you will suffer. Children, your time of grace is ending. Come back to Me NOW !!" At this point Nancy saw in a vision an earthquake with big buildings falling. Everything was falling. There was fire, ....and then the vision ended.

And all thanks to Martin Luther, sola fides and sola scriptura. My advise to you is this: Wait until Feb. 1 to make your comments.

"You have no intelligence...unless your mind, as a willow, bends to the Wind of the Holy Spirit."
_____________________________________________-

B’Ann Wrote Again:

Fr. Warren:

Thanks for sharing. I have a concern that the events you have mentioned are only available to a select few. Jesus said, "Whosoever will may come..." Remember an angel gave the "little maid of Israel" the greatest message that will ever be given. We have too many modern day prophets/prophetesses that have completely gotten away from the simplicity of the message given to her and the simplistic hope that was born in a lowly manger. She is an excellent example in that she did not go about blabbing "I’m going to have the Son of God!" The Scriptures say that she "pondered" these things in her heart. Would that more of we "spokesmen/women" for God would "ponder" in our hearts. How long did she ponder? It must have been about thirty years. SELAH! We live in the age of instant coffee, instant pudding, instant potatoes; so, we want an instant "word of knowledge" from our prophets/prophetesses. What happened to "Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength"?

I really appreciate your devoutness and it is plain to see that you have a concern about the history of the Church. If you are able to keep yourself pure and holy before the throne; then, I certainly salute you. However, those of us who "walk about in the dusty streets of the world" often need our feet washed. Indeed, Jesus said if you will not let me wash your feet; then, you are none of mine. He further said that we did not have to condemn the world, that it was condemned already. He said He came as a Savior for all mankind.

If He is giving messages of great rage through His prophets of this age because men are not doing as they should; then perhaps the treasuries of all the churches should be quickly emptied in great compassion. We need to use the offerings that we have and go to the masses that really do not have the gospel. We need to empty the church coffers, not coffins, that are the offerings of countless people and get about the business at hand. This great compassion should cause us to be on every media show possible to bring the simple message of salvation. Not philosophy--but rather John 3:16! How about billboards all over the world on as many street corners as possible? We prefer to build buildings with small marquees out front that give the pastor name, the time of the very limited services and sometimes the word WELCOME. We light it up with a small electric bulb that will conserve electricity. No big light bills for illumination of the greatest story ever told! Surely we can push back all the dogma and teachings that is our heritage and get back to the simple truth, i.e. Jesus was born of a Virgin, the only Begotten Son of God. Just think how many one minute commercial could be produced about John 3:16 if churches would just give up some of the offerings used for lawn beautification, velvet pew pads, soft kneeling cushions, robes, carpets to absorb the dirt from our feet...

I am reminded from the scripture where He called the religious leaders "whited sepulchers." He said, "You will not go in yourselves and you won't suffer anyone else to enter." These physical things we revere as churches should be built AFTER we have done the "Go ye into all the world."

I also experienced a "visitation" about the awful times that could befall God’s people. I literally went about the house turning back the clocks and asking God to stay His hand. It was not something that came into my Spirit with any satisfaction like "Get ‘em Lord!" I asked God to have mercy upon the last three generations that have not seen true Christianity. I feel your distress and understand that you feel that if everyone would just do as you and keep the Commandments that all would line up correctly. But if we could have done this by a set of rules or creeds, then God would not have had to send His Son. He saw that we could not. I am not disparaging the Ten Commandments, for indeed they are written in our hearts. Where we differ is how to keep these Commandments. I believe that it takes a power greater than our mindset, our will, our tenacious bull-headedness to keep us in line. Herein lies the keeping power of the Holy Spirit, for indeed, Jesus said: "It is expedient that I go away, for I will send you a Comforter that will stick closer than a brother." It is this comfort that I would like to share with all the world. They all need a brother. Jesus said, "If we can’t love our brother whom we can see, how can we say the love of God abides within us." We don�t need to fight God�s battles. He is big enough to do that. We are called to take the Great Commission into all the world. The followers of Jesus came to Him and said that another group was preaching another message.

Mark 9:
³⁸And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
³⁹But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.
⁴⁰For he that is not against us is on our part.
⁴¹For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
⁴²And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

No longer can the "Holy of Holies" be carried about in the Ark of the Covenant. It now must be carried about by mankind that has a common heritage. We all have our roots in the dust of the earth from which we were formed. This should cause us to be humble before our Creator and before our fellow citizens. We need to shake off the heavy load of religious heritage that has been accumulating down through the centuries and get back to John 3:16.

Jesus said, "My peace I give unto you." May we all find peace in this world of turmoil.

As to my being "ignorant," my heart leaps with joy because they perceived Peter to be "ignorant and unlearned". Look at your church heritage and see what place he holds in the hierarchy of saints. SELAH!

Don Wrote:

Dear Warren:

As I read your comments my mind went back to my own conversion and the two Scriptures that were key to my accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior.

The first Scripture was 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." So simple that a child can understand, in fact, it was as a child that I memorized this verse that was to one day be the key to my inheriting everlasting life.

The second Scripture was Matthew 16:13-17. "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? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 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.

After my conversion I found that there were two passages of Scripture that to me, describe the ideal Christian life.

The first Scripture is found in Romans 8:14-16. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."

The Second Scripture is found in 1 John 2:27. "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."

Please note that I am not advocating that one is saved by "feelings" or is to live by "feelings." But I now know that there was something more than creativity that prompted the songwriters to write: "I was there when it happened and I guess I ought to know," as well as "Heaven came down and glory filled my soul."

As to my own testimony, there were many things that brought me to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. I later found that people were praying for me. People kept coming into my life with a word of testimony here and a word there. And above all, there was the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. As I think back on my conversion, I can see now howthe Ten Commandments and the law works to point us to Christ. As I began sinking deeper and deeper into sin, I began seeing how my actions were hurting those that I loved. With this came the realization that sin was "evil" and not "fun," and that someone should pay the consequences for those sins--that someone being me. Consequently, when the Holy Spirit made real to me the cross where Jesus had already taken those consequences upon Himself, I gladly received His gifts of forgiveness and eternal life.

If I have learned anything in my life as a follower of Christ, it is that salvation is not in the decrees and dogmas of a church--in the rantings and ravings of a preacher--or even in the dictates of the law with its perfect Ten Commandments; but salvation is in the person of Jesus Christ--and that whosoever calls upon that person from the depths of their heart shall be saved.

Acts 2:21
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.