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TIM
WROTE:DON WROTE:
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JOHN
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DON WROTE:
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NOEL WROTE:
DON WROTE: Hi Noel, Thanks for WRAPPING with us. (Your questions are bold and italicized.) You ask: Can you tell me from what religious beliefs your background is? This is a good question. However, you can’t go far into our site without recognizing "where we come from." And where do we come from? Well, the reason for out site is threefold.
Are you catholic or are you of some other religious belief? This question is a good example of why the third reason for our web site. The Scriptures teach that "[There is] one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you all" (Eph 4:4-6). As could be expected, because the Lord is building His Church (singular), the devil is busy trying to create the illusion that it is not one church, but many. A fruit of his efforts is the way that believers greet one another. Instead of saluting one another with, "how is your faith?" we greet one another with "which denomination/division of the Body of Christ are you?" We need but to read Paul’s letter to the Corinthians to realize that the church is not in a "healthy" state.
Were Paul living today, he very well might have said, For while one saith I am Catholic, and another, I am Baptist, and another, I am Pentecostal, etc; are ye not carnal? …what religious belief you are basing your interpretations of revelations from? If you go on into our site, you will find that we do not base our understanding on the teachings of any denomination or sect/cult. We have put our site on the web as best we can in answer to a call from Christ, and we have attempted to stay with the Scriptures as our only authority. In fact, we feel that one of the reasons for our web site is the great cloud of confusion on the web concerning the things of prophecy—confusion that has come about for the most part because people are on the web parroting what they have been taught in their differing divisions of the church. Granted, what I know of the church divisions in your country is limited to what I hear on the media. But if what I hear is correct, then people in your country who claim the name of Christ are killing one another because of their differing beliefs. From what I have observed among the different denominations in our country, I do not find this impossible to believe. Because our founding fathers were led to set up our nation as a nation of laws—not personalities—with the separation of church and state as a part of our constitution, to date, we have had no religious wars. But from the rhetoric and the looks of hate between the devout religious in our land—well, if looks could kill, we’d be a bloody land. (Doesn’t history teach that the majority of devastating wars down through the age have been fought over religious differences with both sides often claiming to fight for God?) You say you are a Catholic. I hope that goes beyond affiliation with the Catholic Church. In the third chapter of John, Jesus told a religious leader named Nicodemus that before he could enter into the Kingdom of God as a recipient of eternal life, he had to be born again (John 3:3). Again in John, this time in 10:27, Jesus told a group of religious people (the same "church" that eventually had Him crucified): "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." If you’ll go read the account, you'll see that these religious people had no idea what His voice sounded like. Also, the Apostle Paul wrote that for all those who truly receive Christ as Lord and Savior, their bodies become temples of the Holy Ghost (I Corinthians 6:19). This is the same Holy Spirit that bears witness with our spirit that we are sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:16). If all of this is foreign to you and you have no idea what it means to hear the voice of Christ or to have His Spirit bear witness with your spirit that you are the Lords, I might suggest that though you win many religious wars, you stand in jeopardy of losing your soul. |
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DAVE
WROTE: Hello Don, I know you already have an opinion. Why is it that you can not see that all of the 70th week is a post-millennial event. To split it in half in order to have a premillennial rapture would your answer I suppose. However, it is not justified by scripture to do so. All of the 70th week is a post millennial event. The temple spoken of in Ezek 40-48 is the temple that he will sit upon and declare himself to be god after his release from the bottomless pit. the Tribulation period referred to in Rev 7 has been going on since 33 AD when Jesus ascended into heaven Rev 4,5,6. The Woman who rides the beast which mystery Babylon is Jerusalem at the release of satan from the pit. Rev 18:23, Jer 7:34 check it out Thanks Dave DON WROTE: I have trouble with the Scripture you allude to as the authority for what you say. I’ve examined them carefully and I find nothing to support your suppositions. If you want to reply with particular chapters and verses and their interpretation in context, we’ll be glad to present your study to our visitors. I find a practice among the "prophetic experts" of our day very similar to what you have done in your WRAP. One popular expert, for example, will sit in front of the TV cameras and quote several locations from the Bible as though these chapters and verses—that he never reads—support his stance, when few of them even touch the topic. I guess he’s banking on no one bothering to try to write down and check out the Scriptures he rattles, and probably, he’s right. As we’ve stated in our on-line book THE CLOCK OF THE AGES, the authorities that most modern "prophets" quote today are the ambiguous writings of one another, and like anyone who constantly repeats a fabrication, with each repeat, these "prophets" are more convinced and, unfortunately, more convincing with their rattle.
Thanks for taking the time to WRAP with us. Don |
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Wrote: Question-Comment: I wish to put out for discussion these thoughts. According to the status quo the Body of Christ has throughout the centuries advocated one of three millennial views. Amill, Post-Mill, and Pre-Mill. Pre-millennialist now debate at least 5 raptures theories. Does anyone see something wrong with that picture? I think it is time to rethink this subject for we as the body of Christ have not interpreted these things well at all.Let us begin with the rapture theories. There are only two choices, 1. one of the views is correct and the others are wrong. or 2. all of the choices are wrong. Well we have the arguments for the first choice in volumes of books. However, the second choice has not been evaluated. Suppose for a moment that none of the views (Pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, partial-trip, or pre-wrath raptures) were right. Why would they be wrong? They would be wrong because they were based on a faulty interpretation. The faulty interpretation in question would concern the duration of the Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation is associated if not directly linked to Daniel's 70th week, a seven year peroid of time. Suppose if you will that Daniel's 70th week was actually a post-millennial event, what would that do to the rapture theories? First of all you would have to realize that the Great Tribulation is not a seven year peroid of time. Secondly you have to realize is that book of Revelation covers a larger time span than that of seven years. A solution to all of this is really simple. Instead of viewing endtime events as seeing Christ having only two advents, we should try an view Christ actually having three advents (His birth, pre-millennial, and a post-millennnial). For what has happened is each millennial view only sees Christ having two advents. B’Ann Wrote: Christ has many events. To limit Him to only three events would be virtually impossible. His birth is the pivot point for the Catholic Faith; His death on the cross is the pivot point for the Protestant Faith; His "Holy Spirit" manifestation is the pivot point for the Pentecostal Faith, and the promise to Father Abraham is the pivot point of the Jewish Faith which is still looking for Him to come as a babe. This brings me to my point. DOWEKNOW anymore about the end-time events than we seem to know about the most important times of His visitations. What about when He was the Hands that created the world. (I’m not off track here.) It just seems that some people take a part of the Scripture that appeals to them and establish another division of the church from that pivot point. I keep saying over and over, if it is a Bible truth, it will be like a windshield wiper of a car. Where the wiper is attached is the "pivot" point and it will wipe a clear view from Genesis to Revelation. If what a person believes leaves smudges, smears, streaks or dead bug residue on the windshield, then the truth is contaminated and off center. (And by the way, if the Holy Spirit which is the "water of the Word" is not applied when one turns on the wipers, no matter how well they work, they only make the mess bigger.) Remember the Scripture that says Seen any dead bugs on the Spiritual windshields lately? Consider how repulsive it is when the world has to view Christ through the smeared remains of a bug. I pondered why there were so many versions of key Bible verses and I received a visual analogy. The oil in a lamp that is purified correctly will give virtually no smoke or strong odor. Oil that isn’t pure will smell and smoke up the glass globe and restrict the light. Someone needs to refine the oil or clean the lamp globe! Perhaps we have all missed the pivot point. Perhaps it was always just "love with unmerited favor" from each of us. We certainly do not operate in this capacity within the churches. I have seen people dislike each other vehemently because of denominational differences or over something as simple as the color of the hymnals/carpets/pew covers. Maybe the animal instinct within us is stronger that the benevolent part. We are supposed to have higher order thinking; yet, we have a reptilian part of our brain this is purely survival instinct (-no thought-no reasoning). It is this part of us that would strike out in a church fight. The other parts of our brain give us reasoning, logic, coping, sympathy, etc. The Spiritual part of us is supposed to be even higher than the functioning parts of our brain. As long as we try to figure God out with brain power, we will only bring about frustration. HOWEVER, God gave us permission to be inquisitive beings when He wrote: The first thing we can conclude is this. DOWEKNOW everything about the Bible? Certainly not! In fact, we know very little about this earth that we live upon, not to mention the depths of space. We are such audacious creatures to think that we need to stop searching the Scriptures. We are a sleeping, slumbering people that need to awaken and start searching on all fronts—whether it be to learn about man’s physical body, habitat, space, or cultural beliefs and then start refining them down to a usable entity to benefit mankind. If our beliefs lead to a dead end, then these dead end paths should awaken us and start us searching for another avenue. Jesus spoke of His path: At the time of this writing, Jesus was addressing the Jewish people and their rejection of Him. Yet, every writing in the Bible can be viewed as a past, present, and future happening. The reason we have so many denominations is because we failed to examine the fruit. Every time a church splits up and forms a new congregation is was just that…a split…of the personalities within the body. We didn’t stop and examine the fruits in the past and we are not examining the fruits now. Back to our first analogy--a "windshield" with smashed, smeared bug guts is not going to bring people to Christ, it will make them say "yuk!" We are now using the world systems to build our churches. After rock music became popular, and received such a strong "congregation/following," many churches adopted it to "bring the people in." Oh, Please! There was a music that God wanted to pour out during that time that would not have been a "copy cat" of the world system, but God’s people did not have "ears to hear." Lazy, lazy church…just copying what the world is doing. No, God would not have given us something "boring." If He can create the world, just think what He would give if we would just accept it. Perhaps a little babe born in a dusty, dim-lit manger is all we will accept. We are just like the people that murmured:
HOW FRIGHTENING TO THINK THAT GOD MIGHT BE HEARKENING TO OUR VOICES TODAY! |
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PASTOR
__________ WROTE: Bro. Don I am a Pastor in the state of New Mexico I desperately need prayer for my life and ministry for healing in my body need some direction in my life. If the Lord would lead you to give me a word from the Lord or some advice please let me know!!!! Thank you very much Pastor _________ DON WROTE: Dear Pastor ________, Pray for you I will, and I have been—for we are commanded in the Scriptures to pray one for another. As to having a Word for you, I have a big one. It’s called the BIBLE. I’m not saying this to be facetious—but I am led to do so. As to the healing in your body, I am praying that the Lord will give YOU the faith for your healing. I am not saying that there is not the gift of healing, for there is; and I know some who have it. But in the way of explanation and understanding, let me set forth what I believe about this gift. Beginning in the early fifties, if not a little before, the church saw a phenomenon: i.e., the rise of the mega-media ministry. I find no fault with the concept and I thank God for Billy Graham’s ministry, for example. But I had alarm in myself concerning the way men were wresting the concept. Time has proven this alarm to be well founded; and with hindsight, the church can now see the problem. As has always been the case in history, the devil is quick to fill any void of the Word of God. When men and women become to busy for the Word of God, or find other things more important; then Lucifer is given opportunity to do his thing. The past forty or fifty years have seen such a neglect of the Word of God; and we are now living with the fruit of that neglect. Church members were aware of the importance of the Word (in this they have no excuse), so to ease their consciences, they "hired" people to study the Word for them. This set the stage for the self-serving media ministries. Rather than approaching Christ for their needs as commanded, they would seek out "super saints" to go to God for them. To the thoughtful, this presented a two-fold problem: i.e., the stage was set for the imposter, and the leg was sawed off of the ladder of the well-meaning individuals seeking the gift. In the Old Testament, when Israel neglected/rejected the Word of God, it would cry out "give us a king like those around us." We don’t have kings in America, so the cry of the negligent church member has been, "give us a star like those in Hollywood." The whole religious arena has become so infiltrated with men and women who are obviously seeking honor for themselves, that people are skeptical of anyone professing to have the gift of healing. This may account in part for the lack of those with the genuine gift of healing. However, never doubt God’s love or His willingness to heal those who come to Him. In this day that we live, my counsel to you and to anyone who feel they have a call to preach the Word of God is simply this. There is such a need for the simple plan of salvation thatone need not waste his time wrestling with God for the gift of healing. All of the gifts of the Spirit are given at His discretion, not as we will. True, we are to seek the gifts, but does not the time dictate that we leave that "gifts" in His hands and beg Him for souls. If in this you are sincere, I’m satisfied that you will not be denied. Maranatha |
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