|
|
|
RICHARD WROTE:
Question-Comment: I
have read your disclaimer on your website showing that you are not
associated with any church. But, my question is, if I were to look in my
Yellow Pages for a church which is "like-minded" with your teachings, which
one would that be?
Hello Richard, I would never go to the yellow pages if I were seeking a church to attend. Anything that important I would take to my prayer closet and seek the mind of the Lord. Maranatha, Don
B'ANN
WROTE:
Also, let me say that it is "pride" that drives people to try to set dates, or get the big "religious scoop" for publication. The Lord has dealt with Don and I that we are to remain grounded in the basics lest we become like so many "puffed up minorities"--with no credibility. What basics, might you ask???
We must embrace and believe the first one, we must claim the promise of the second one, and then we must act upon the third one. Satan would have us so busy trying to out-guess God, so that we become less and less involved/effective in our world. We started our website, DOWEKNOW, to try to start people thinking about the true work of the Body of Christ. It is not to write, and write, and write, and write commentaries/books about the Bible. It is about sharing the GOOD NEWS of salvation through Jesus Christ. I challenge you to earnestly seek how that you might effectively share John 3:16 for the next three months and see what happens. |
|
To Our
Cyber-visitors:
If you will check out our earlier WRAP AROUNDS, you will see that Jack has WRAPped with us before; and it looks like he still has the same problem: i.e., trying to tell everyone, God included, when He will send His Son back to the earth. JACK WROTE: Question-Comment:"7 years" started! Jack...Jack,
I can see that you have put a lot of time in your studies, and not all of it in the Scriptures. However, I see a major error in your approach to prophecy. You are attempting to set a date as to when the periods set forth in the Scriptures begin. The Scriptures are not explicit as to when these periods begin and even the "experts" can't agree as to the dates that start the prophetic countdowns. This being the case, it doesn't matter if I understand that there will be a certain number of years before an event IF I CAN'T BE CERTAIN AS TO WHEN THOSE YEARS BEGIN. Granted, Jesus did tell us that we were to be aware of the watch in which we live, but you don't have to be a prophetic expert to understand that it is time for the Believer to be looking up for his/her Lord's return. Truly, the signs of the time are all around us! But as I read the Scriptures, I sense that the Lord would be pleased with me if I spend my quality time in Spirit led prayer and then trust the Holy Spirit to help me put feet on those prayers, rather than worrying about the WHEN of the Lord's return. It has been my experience that when I fervently pray, that the Lord Jesus leads to the lost and to those who need faith or a healing. Never has he led me to seek the date for His return to this earth! B'ANN WROTE: The only one in the Scriptures that tried to get God/Christ to act before the appointed time was Satan. Could it be that this usurper/evil one has the Body of Christ so busy writing commentaries about how learned they are in the Scriptures that NO ONE is going into the highways and hedges with John 3:16. Pride in ones own intellect can be a time-consuming endeavor. As long as we are turned in on ourselves, and our great prophetic utterances, then we will not be concerned about the lost that have never heard the GOOD NEWS. The GOOD NEWS is not hard to understand, not hard to discern, not hard to share. We can just say, "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." This is a humbling message to deliver because we become the messengers of an event that happened without our discerning, translating, prophesying, or any such thing. It is the completed work of the Trinity and we are privileged to be asked to carry such a dynamic message. It is in this Bible passage that all the power for change is presented. May God forgive us all for our selfishness and unconcern toward a world with great needs. I challenge you to make John 3:16 the only passage that is presented in your commentaries for the next three months. It will move mountains. Our comments will not!!! JACK WROTE AGAIN: Can we understand when will the "END" come ? DON WROTE AGAIN: I don't see any connection between the Scripture you quoted and the ability to determine when the Tribulation Period begins. True, the people before the flood had some 100 years to repent before God put Noah in the Ark and shut the door; but those people had no clue that they would have a hundred years. As to the "week" that Noah and his family were in the Ark before the flood began, if you will check Genesis 7:16, you will see that God had them "shut up" in the Ark so that it was too late for the inhabitants of the earth to repent--so this can in no way reflect the Tribulation Period for the purpose of the tribulation at the end of our age will be to bring men and women to repentance. (For our understanding of the Tribulation Period as opposed to the time/Day of God's Wrath, see our on-line book CLOCK OF THE AGES.) Jesus said of the Jews of His day that they were able to look at the skies and determine that bad weather was coming yet they were not able to recognize the spiritual storms on the horizon of their day. B'Ann often says that the "good farmer" who has a crop in the field that is ready to harvest will not stand gazing at the storm clouds, but get himself and his crew busy harvesting what they can before the storm hits and destroys the fields. To me, most "teachers" of prophecy that I have encountered, via books or the Internet, give little thought to the Lord's fields, but stand gazing and babbling in awe about the fearsome clouds growing in the distance. Of course, with each day, the clouds are less distant, but everyone with eyes to see can already see the clouds. Even the song writers understand that "Soon, and very soon, we are going to see the King." Jack, it is obvious that you have the ability to build a web site and that you have many talents to draw from. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could put prophecy on the back burner, and use all this to lift the Lord up so that He can draw men and women unto Himself before God once again closes the "door" of mercy? May the Lord have mercy on us all--for without His mercy, who can stand?
B'ANN WROTE AGAIN: Where we seem to have confusion is in interpreting what the word "watch" means for New Testament Christians. Our watch is to be about the harvest. The harvest starts with sowing the Seed which is John 3:16. We are to be constantly sowing the Word of God to people. Now, the storm clouds are gathering for three things: 1) so that the crops will be watered, 2) so that poor quality fruit will fall from the vine, and/or 3) so that the storms can tear down any structure that is not build upon the Rock. Our watch is to tell people (1) the message of John 3:16, (2) to watch the fruit they produce, and (3) to caution them to be sure that they are building their house upon the Rock. I will leave it to you to study out the Fruits of the Spirit as opposed the Fruits of Flesh. Consider what is truly meant by this Scripture:
We live in the Age of Grace and it is impossible to paint God into a corner. It is this Amazing Grace that we are to "watch" as it produces its results in a world with dire needs. However, we cannot "watch" Grace manifest itself if we never tell people about the tremendous words of John 3:16. We need to get back to the task at hand which is summed up in what is known as the Great Commission:
|
|
GLEN WROTE:
Hi Don:
May God bless your ministry! My name is Glen Walker and I am the
author of the web book that deals with Bible Prophecy --Prophecy Made Easy.
I plan to meet you in heaven and enjoy your friendship throughout eternity.
May God bless you with many souls won to His kingdom. You already know a
tremendous amount about Bible prophecy. Its a subject we can continue to
learn more about. This is not designed to cover what you already know but to
explore some deep issues in prophecy in a simple and easy to understand way
using Easy English. DON WROTE: Hello Glen, First, let me commend you in that you must have spent a lot of time studying and writing your book. However, I wasn't long in your book before your biases became obvious. You have approach your study and your book with a problem common with many: i.e., WITH THE BIAS OF YOUR DENOMINATION and with the works of others as the foundation for your assumptions. Let me say to you as I did to Jack. As I read the Scriptures, I sense that the Lord would be pleased with me if I spend my quality time in Spirit led prayer and then trust the Holy Spirit to help me put feet on those prayers, rather than worrying about the WHEN of the Lord's return. It has been my experience that when I do this, that the Lord Jesus leads me to pray for people: for the lost and for those who need faith or a healing. Never has he led me to seek the date for His return to this earth! |
|
"TREE HUGGER"
WROTE:
Question-Comment: Do you know anything about a prophecy made by Corrie Tenboom concerning part of Arkansas and Missouri. I was talking with a Methodist friend the other day, and she was telling me about a prophecy but didn't get into any specifics. She and her husband have an outreach ministry in Van Buren, Arkansas. The church that I attend has an outreach to recovering drug and alcohol users. Our church is being blessed. Prayers are answered. B'ANN WROTE: I was born and raised in Van Buren County, Arkansas near a little town called Shirley. Life was very simple and low key back in those Arkansas hills. I'm sorry to hear that drugs have become such a problem there. We will certainly pray for you all. I was privileged to be in the congregation of a Presbyterian Church when Corrie Tenboom spoke. I am not aware of any such prophecy but I do know that most of her words spoke of Jesus as our friend. She shared the embroidered tapestry, that from underneath looked like a jumbled maze of strings, but the top side was a perfect image. I'm sure she would have related that to the type ministry you are doing. Our lives can look like a jumbled maze, but Jesus can make it whole and perfect. However, it is sad that the church has made Jesus a rehabilitation center. He intended for His church to be a "preventative" type body. Many congregations are too busy to be bothered with messy, little children; so, no one does the Sunday School Outreach or bus ministry. My husband pastored a church where the ladies did not want any children to "mess up their carpets." Their approach was to have the parents bring them or leave them at home. Sadly, most parents in our neighborhood did not bring their children. Years later, we have this gigantic task of trying to rehabilitate young people that have never known the love of Christ. How much nicer it would have been if we could have gotten them on a church bus when they were small and their hearts were tender. The Scriptures do say;
This is a message for the church as well as parents. Because many churches start outreach ministries for children, with the use of church buses, children have come to know Christ in mighty ways. Of course, when they do this; then, someone has to be dedicated to teaching Sunday School, to giving snacks to little ones that did not get any breakfast, to leading Children's Church and paying for the expense of a church bus, etc. Often in business meetings, these expenses get tabled in favor of better air-conditioning, changing the carpet to the latest style and color, building more rooms that are not used, etc. We need to be mindful of Christ's command:
What a difference it would make to our world if those who known as Christians would share the Love of God and the simple message of John 3:16. |
|
|
