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| Our "CYBER-BUDDY" MARC has been
at it again. He's found a couple of interesting things on the web and sent them to
us. We'll simply introduce them as:
MARC
SENT:
WHAT ABC HAS TO SAY ABOUT THE BIBLE I wrote to ABC (on-line) concerning a program called "THE PRACTICE." One of the lawyer's mothers decided she was gay and wanted her son to go to court to help her get a marriage license to marry her 'partner.' I sent the following letter to ABC yesterday and really did not expect a reply .... but I did get one. My original message was:
Jim ________ Here is ABC's reply from the ABC on-line Webmaster:
My second response to ABC:
Jim ________ Mena, Arkansas B'Ann Wrote: Let me remind you that it is the church which has allowed our nation/world to slide so precariously on the moral scale. Yes, the church! No other institution is called to hold up the moral standards on earth. If the accounts of Sodom and Gomorrah are true, then, there is no turning back once mankind has "tasted" the fruits of homosexuality. The angels from heaven came in the form of men to investigate the two cities and they were intensely desired by the Sodomites. The account does say that they were given a final "sexual" choice when Lot offered the men of Sodom his virgin daughters. However, his daughters were disdained by those who desired a physical encounter with the angels. Then, the angels blinded their eyes; but the Scriptures say that even in their blinded state they tried to tear down the door to get to the angels. (See Genesis chapter 19.) This was some kind of powerful sex drive! Nothing could stop it! It was too late to go back and undo the situation. The act of Sodomy could never get as strong as it is unless the church, universal, either thinks it is okay (which is shown by total indifference) or it actively engages in it. The dam against it has been breached (the dam was to have been the church) and a flood of this "liberal" sexual ideology has covered the land. Where does it all end? Nature is screaming at the world through AIDS, not God mind you, but nature. Yet, we still have countless people (many in high government offices) who are willing to take a chance with our nation's exposure to AIDS less they frustrate the homosexual element of our population. Or, better yet, they want the Federal Government and the Health Care System to spend untold amounts of money to find a prevention so that homosexuality can be safe. (Isn't it interesting how our liberal news media has so conveniently swept the whole matter under the rug, rarely, if ever, talking about it. If it were any other plague; then, the news would be having emergency bulletins and taking up a strong cry. Also, at no other time in history has such a contagious, destructive plague been approached by the medical profession with such a lackadaisical attitude. Those who are hired and paid by our society to protect us from such diseases have tried to down play its great harm.) Talk about an arrogant spirit...homosexuality says I want to practice a lifestyle that has the potential to infect/kill millions; and I want society to hunt for a cure while I do it. As always, sin is a bully spirit. It never wants to build and nurture; it wants to tear and destroy. Can we honestly say that homosexuality builds a stronger people or nation? BOTTOM LINE, REMEMBER! God was never a dictator. People have the freedom of choice to "look upon the serpent" and live or refuse to look and die (John 3:14 cf. Numbers 21:8-9). |
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I've chosen to
put this one up not to alarm anyone, but to support my stance that things on the political
scene are unstable and subject to overnight change. All of which explains my
supposition that it makes more sense for the Bible student to study the Bible than it does
to study the politics of the nations that surround the Holy Land. I am convinced
all nations will do the things expected of them in due time. My concern is
that "I" do what is expected of me by our Lord and Savior in a timely fashion. Don MARC SENT: Is Russia on the Verge of Collapse? Snarled in a controversy over the cause of the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk, its threadbare military establishment with its physically deteriorating nuclear-powered ships and weapons threatening to create further disasters, and its political leadership stumbling from crisis to crisis, Russia shows all the signs of a nation tottering on the brink of a complete collapse. Further speculation that Russia is on a collision course with disintegration was strengthened by the release of a shocking new study by a prestigious foreign research group, which asks "How Great are the Risks for a Socioeconomic Collapse in Russia? An Inventory of Russian Problem Areas" and presents a dismal picture of life in the former Soviet Union. If the report's gloomy possibilities become realities, Russia could face a future of mass famine, nationwide power blackouts, out-of-control unemployment, more Chernobyl-type disasters, breakup of the nation into small independent provinces and possible civil war between them, mass migrations into neighboring countries and total financial collapse. Compiled by Stockholm's Swedish Defense Research Institute, the report takes a close and piercing look at the socioeconomic condition of Russia and reaches disturbing conclusions about this crippled international giant. An introduction to the study, published in May and obtained by NewsMax.com, notes: "The collapse of the Soviet Union was the beginning of a serious socioeconomic crisis within the former union" and warns that "a widespread social crisis cannot be ruled out, for example if the government is no longer able to pay wages for an extended period of time or is unable to distribute food, electricity, etc. A combination of a number of negative factors (catalysts) could lead to a politically unmanageable situation and a rapidly developing crisis." The report notes that it is evident that "for a number of years Russian society has been in a serious crisis that has resulted in extensive poverty, deteriorating health care, increased dependency on the outside world, and a short supply of electricity, food, services, and raw materials for hard-pressed parts of the country." These conditions have made Russian society and "its institutions more unstable and weaker and it has become increasingly difficult for the nation to deal with serious crises." Because weak institutions in a country result in a weak political society, to avert a certain collapse the Kremlin's tendency is to move back to the authoritarian Soviet model, rather than toward Western-style democracy. The study defines "collapse" as "a possible state ... characterized by extremely great or insurmountable difficulties within sectors such as the distribution of goods and services, the power supply, transportation, collapse of the financial system, the health care sector, etc., that cannot be dealt with effectively by the political leadership." The consequences of such a collapse on the Russian people would be widespread hunger, a significant worsening of the health situation, and ultimately, in an extremely negative scenario, mass migration and emigration. At extreme risk would be the ability of Russia to maintain social order, "the survival of democracy and the federation itself, the loyalty of the armed forces and security forces, and their behavior." The situation in Russia today gives scant hope for a quick solution to the nation's problems or the Kremlin's ability to deal with them before they lead to collapse. Among them are: Scarce food supplies. "In 1998 Russia had its worst harvest since the 1950s – almost 50 percent lower than in 1997. Grain reserves have shrunk from about 25 million tons in 1997 to around 18 million tons and are expected to further shrink to 10 million this year." One of the principal difficulties in providing enough agricultural goods is Russia's lack of sufficient financial resources, the study notes. "Agriculture is being slowed primarily by a shortage of seed for sowing, a low degree of mechanization, and a lack of money for repairs. Russia imports around 55 percent of its food needs, as indicated in its official statistics. "For understandable reasons, the big cities are particularly dependent on imported food. A nontransparent market with high prices as a result is another consistent problem. The heavy dependence on imports creates the risk that if the Russian financial market collapses foreign producers will not dare export to Russia." Energy. "Russia's energy production has dropped drastically since 1991: oil production by around 50 percent, gas production by around 13 percent, and electricity generation by around 20 percent. Oil production showed signs of rebounding in 1999, but there appears to be no guarantee of stable growth over the next few years. Among these sectors, the drop in oil production has the most serious economic consequences, while the fall in electric power generation represents the most direct threat to the populace. "The drop in electric power production may appear relatively limited, to be sure, but the problem lies in the lack of distribution capacity to hard-pressed regions and population centers. A number of such areas have already experienced brownouts in recent years and some parts of towns have even been evacuated (e.g. in Norilsk in 1997) due to power shortages." The risk of mass unemployment. Estimates of unemployment vary from 15 to 25 percent, with as many as 20 million in the ranks of the jobless. The official unemployment figures have shown a fourfold increase since 1991, and the rate does not appear to be slowing. The percentage of long-term unemployed is rising steadily, as is youth unemployment. "A serious economic crisis hitting the industrial and service sectors would cause a rapid rise in unemployment. "One of Russia's main problems is that the raw materials sector, which is so important economically and whose exports account for around 25 percent of the country's GNP, is not labor-intensive. In other words, there is no significant room for creating jobs in this sector and it will be a long time before the service sector and other branches requiring more labor will have grown to the desired level." The danger of a breakdown in the financial system. A major part of Russia's instability can be explained by its inability to construct stable structures and institutions within the financial sphere. Its tax legislation is incomplete, unclear, and ineffective, while banks have been involved mainly in short-term speculation and have failed to function as credit institutions in the economic sense. The August 1998 crisis showed that, because of its weakness, the Russian economy is highly vulnerable: in a crisis of this kind, foreign investors withdraw their money, the currency loses much of its value, and imports fall drastically as a result. In all likelihood, these conditions will persist for a long time to come. Russia's ability to build stable financial structures will increase at a very slow pace, according to the virtually unanimous analysts. Real wages dropped by more than 20 percent in 1999, and the number of people living under the poverty line is around 35 percent. "A new financial crisis having the same effects as the one in August 1998 but with the additional impact of causing all Western banks to close their doors to Russia and stopping practically all imports cannot yet be ruled out. "In all probability such a crisis, which would also lead to extremely high inflation, would serve as a catalyst in a pre-existing crisis, causing it to move rapidly toward collapse, but it could also trigger a collapse on its own. Global financial institutions would probably be less severely affected than in 1998, however, because they are now hedging their bets more effectively. The risk of extensive migration. The risk of difficulties in distribution described above also presents the most likely cause of major spontaneous population movements within Russia. There are already significant numbers of people (estimates range from 0.5 to 1.5 million) who have been repatriated from nearby countries or are fleeing/passing through to Europe and are considered to be in various types of refugee situations. Refugees from Chechnya alone total around 200,000. Disruptions in the transportation and distribution network. "According to the Ministry of Railways, about 30 percent of the freight cars, 40 percent of the passenger cars, and nearly half the locomotives are of such poor quality that they must be replaced at once. Practically all the funds needed for such modernization are absent. "This is particularly serious considering that the Russian economy is predominantly rail-based. Around 40 percent of all freight shipments, calculated in ton-kilometers, are by rail and disregarding transport by pipeline, the figure is around 90 percent. "Overall, the volume of freight transported by rail has dropped by half since 1991. The reduced freight volume transported by rail is also an indication that barter within regions is steadily increasing." The criminal threat. The report says "organized crime in Russia controls such large sectors of the economy and wields such power in society that it may be called a state within the state and in some parts of the country it even is the state, or at least the controlling and guiding factor. "Among other things, this means the economy is impoverished by theft, tax evasion, the reduced presence of foreign companies, and fewer foreign investments. At present, it may be said that organized crime is in its most destructive and harmful phase, in that it often exports its profits or uses them to import consumer goods ... seemingly widespread corruption within the police, the military, and the authorities that exists today – Russia is presently considered one of the world's most corrupt nations, surpassed only by some African and Latin American countries." The risk of armed conflicts. "The war in Chechnya also has a number of other negative consequences for developments in Russia: a worse economy, militarization of society, xenophobia, worsening relations with the rest of the world, particularly the West, and the risk that joint programs and credits will be eliminated, i.e. all factors that can contribute to crisis and collapse." But the primary future threat to social order at both the regional and federal levels is probably found in the growing extreme poverty, which is extensive. Between 35 percent and 40 percent of the Russian people now live under the poverty level, compared to around 23 percent in1994 – and the percentage is growing. The average pension is no more than about half the minimum wage (March 2000). "Under these conditions and despite the seemingly unending patience of the people, late wage payments or banking crises could result in widespread demonstrations and unrest. During 1999 real wages dropped by a whopping 23 percent and this includes wages paid after long delays and sometimes not paid to this date." The study concludes by considering three different scenarios of possible collapse situations – one scenario in which the role of the regions is the driving force and in which the regions attempt to gain control over sections of the country, another scenario in which a collapse is triggered by an unexpected and rapid course of events, and finally one in which a more and more poorly functioning economy pushes events toward a gradual collapse. A common thread in all three is that the weak Russian state and its institutions are unable to stop the impending course of events. 1. A state in increasingly rapid dissolution "Certain regions grow stronger in the early 2000s, while the central government is weakened by political fighting and an inability to make decisions. The regions become increasingly segregated and several strongmen begin to lay claim to weak neighboring regions. Another financial collapse occurs, although it is not as deep as the August 1998 crisis. "However, it does result in worsening food and electricity supplies and transport problems. The socioeconomic situation in the country deteriorates rapidly as a result. This is made manifest by increased poverty, crime that becomes more and more a part of the everyday life of citizens, and virtually total political corruption. Any previous confidence in the state's ability to provide for and protect the populace is quickly eroded. "The trend toward regional feudalism, which has been apparent for several years, is reinforced in that virtually no taxes are sent to the federal authorities. "In this situation, several strong governors decide the solution is to break up the federation into five large interregional units, with the help of military and paramilitary leaders. This is done, however, against the will of the smaller regions and spontaneous resistance in the form of opposition to the authorities erupts, along with armed conflicts, in several places. "The world believes it is unable to influence events other than through attempts at mediation between the central authorities and the regions. Imports cease almost totally, since foreign exporters dare not rely on the Russians' ability to pay. Hoarding, border guarding, and bans on exports among several regions aggravate the situation. The federal system breaks down, resulting in widespread power shortages, particularly in the northern and northwestern parts of the country. Inductees desert and the armed forces fall apart on the federal level, while local paramilitary units gain more power." 2. Sudden collapse "The Russian president dies suddenly or is assassinated and new elections are set. Islamic groups in the northern Caucasus, Kirghizia, and Tadzhikistan take the opportunity to initiate military operations against their respective states and Russian positions. Tatarstan declares its independence and the Far Eastern region follows its example. "Russian military forces are sent in against the attackers, but mass desertions and insufficient military capacity to deal with several crises at once greatly undermine their effectiveness. "Military and paramilitary forces out in the regions eventually begin to fight among themselves for stockpiles of food and weapons. Tactical nuclear weapons are also plundered. "A situation approaching civil war develops, while Islamic groups force Russian troops out of several areas in southern Russia and parts of Central Asia. Larger and larger streams of refugees begin to move toward the center of the country and to other countries. "Already greatly weakened, federal structures (tax base, transport, subsidies to the regions, protection, health care, the social safety net, etc.) basically collapse and, because of widely differing interests and their vulnerable situation, the regions are unable to create a common strategy. General chaos erupts where everyone is at war with everyone. 3. The economic crisis causes gradual collapse "In the early 2000s the economic situation grows worse and worse. The budget deficit increases to unmanageable proportions and inflation grows accordingly, so that the IMF refuses to grant new credits. Both foreign and Russian capital flees from Russia, which reduces investments drastically. "Imports drop steadily because raw material prices fall on the world markets and the country's food supply is threatened, since production by the agro-industrial sector continues to drop. "In 2003 a new Duma and a conservative and authoritarian president try to salvage the situation by a partial return to the command economy. This makes the economy and the ruble fall even more. "This causes an explosive increase in the export of currency and a virtually completely demonetarized economy arises, in which 90 percent of the stagnating trade is in the form of barter. Poverty becomes increasingly widespread and 70 percent of the people are living below the subsistence level. "Those who are able emigrate to the West. The situation in Russia affects other economies in transition and growing countries in Asia and South America, which are hit by new crises. International preparedness to deal with Russia's problems is steadily eroded as a result. "Finally, after a catastrophic harvest and emptied reserves, there are widespread food shortages and the people move in increasing numbers toward the center of Russia and gradually to surrounding countries, as well. The world finally reacts by closing its borders and sending a limited amount of disaster relief – measures that have only a limited effect." In view of the conditions laid out in the report and especially the possibilities examined in the three potential scenarios, President Vladimir Putin's recent widely criticized moves toward gathering more power to the central government begin to become understandable. He has, for example, dealt with the danger of civil dissolution at the provincial level by reining in the powers of the provincial governors. He has created regional authorities and put his own men – mostly former policemen or military officers – in charge of the regions, superseding the powers of the previously autonomous, and notoriously corrupt, governors. It remains to be seen if these measures will be enough to avert the potential collapse envisioned by the study. B'Ann Wrote: The Russians have always tried to build their nation on tangible, "sweat power" from the people. We, however, have built ours on the bubble of the stock market, undergirded by sweat power. It would be difficult for any nation to suddenly transform to the intricate maze of financial meanderings that our economy takes to keep us "stable." Also, at the time the iron curtain went down and foreign countries could go in and invest in Russia (i.e., the stock market, etc.), there were many other options available. Mexico was easy to access and bring into the system. Everyone likes to take the path of least resistance. Speaking of sweat power. It might be interesting to find out who really owns our farmlands/bread basket since the collapse of the small farmers. It makes one wonder that perhaps we will have to some day fight to regain the heartland of the United States. I am assuming that you wrote this long article to make us mindful of the "Bear that comes from the North" that has been taught as part of prophecy. I like what Don wrote at the beginning of this article. Paraphrasing: "I am sure that the nations will do what they are supposed to do in the end time scenario. I am more worried about what I am supposed to do, i.e. soul winning". |
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KEITH WROTE: Hi, My name is Keith T_____. I help in the ministry of Calvary chapel of charlotte, NC. I have been looking on the Internet for some right on Bible based end times study that refreshes to help study. And for that I have seen so far in your set, it is right on. I just want to thank you for being obedient. And studying to show your self approved. Your follow servant in Jesus Christ our lord, keith t____. DON WROTE: Thanks for the good word, Keith. It, too, is right on; for it encourages us greatly. Please hold us up in your prayers that we might be able to hold up Christ Jesus; for we both know that He is the only answer to man's needs and the only hope for the world! |
| I've read something
similar to this several times; and each time I've been blessed. Don MARC SENT: "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." - John 20:29 <>- What Will Be Your First Glimpse of Eternity? -<> As a baby, she had an eye infection that a doctor treated by placing hot poultices on her little red and inflamed eyelids. The infection finally did clear up, but scars formed on her eyes. The little girl became blind for life. A few months later, her dad became ill and died. Widowed at 21, her mother, hired herself out as a maid while the girl's grandmother took care of her. Her grandmother took the education of her little granddaughter on herself, and became the girl's eyes, vividly describing the physical world. Her careful teaching helped develop the little girl's descriptive abilities and also nurtured her spirit. She read and carefully explained the Bible to her, and she always emphasized the importance of prayer. Towards the end of the girl's life, a wealthy lady said to her, "God isn't just! You're over 80 years of age, and you're blind. You've never seen the sunset. You've never seen the flowers. I don't understand how you could have written hymns like "Blessed Assurance" to a God who has never healed you. These hymns have blessed millions, and you can't even see His creation. You have so many disadvantages, its not fair for God to do that." The girl, now an elderly woman replied, "My dear, I have a far greater advantage than you have." The woman said, "What do you mean? I'm a wealthy woman. I have everything." "I have an advantage over you." she answered, "My dear, don't you realize, that the first face that I ever see will be His face?" The little girl, known as an American hymn writer and poetess, Francis Jane Crosby, wrote over 9,000 hymns during her life. She seems to have "seen" far deeper into the heart of God than most, despite her physical blindness. How many of us can see clearly in the natural, but fail to see the loving ways of the Father working in our life? What will be the first thing you see when you enter eternity? Will you look unto the Son of God, whom the Scriptures tell us "...hath eyes like unto a flame of fire?" (Rev 2:18). Will you hear a voice speaking to you "...as the voice of many waters?" (Rev 19:6). The Bible tells us that there are many treasures in heaven so wonderful that we could not bear to see them now. Yet, there seems to be so few of us that actually set our sights on eternity. Fanny Crosby seems to have seen something ahead that empowered her to write the amazing songs of love and worship, hymns to a God that had allowed her eyes to be dim here on earth, yet illuminated to the things of heaven so that she might help us set our eyes on eternity. B'Ann Wrote: There are many accounts of the amazing lives of people that speak volumes for themselves. How can we add to this? There is a saying started by my husband, namely, "It's not hard to see the dirt if you are always looking down." This lady could not see the "dirt" of the world; evidently her mother had very positive views of life. Grandmother's part in nurturing is evident. This just goes back to the great responsibility of the adults whether it is immediate family or an extended one. |
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MARK
WROTE: ...Was visited by a holy spirit. Do you think computers are an interactive link between the biospheres? Mark B'ANN WROTE: Oh, please! Get a life! I am glad that you wrote the words 'holy spirit' without the capital letters which are used to designate a part of the Holy Trinity. MARK WROTE AGAIN: Question-Comment: Was visited by a holy spirit. Please see www.geocities.com/jeeze1999.* Without the web address what good is my message? Like how come somebody put the judgment on my last reply and chopped out the web address? Then I got a letter saying thanks for giving my feedback. What kind of deal is this? There are plenty of free thinkers out there. Thats what makes this country great.
--DON WROTE:
As a general rule, we do not put up the addresses to web sites that we feel are not in agreement with the Scriptures. However, because B'Ann's reply refers to your site, we have put its address up for our visitors so they can know what's going on.-- B'ANN WROTE AGAIN:The "thanks" for giving your feedback is a courtesy that we extend to WRAPpers. Now as to "computers being an interactive link between the biospheres," and my resultant reply which you evidently did not appreciate, let me back track. First I decided to find the definition of biosphere.
...irregularly shaped envelope of the earth's air, water, and land encompassing the heights and depths at which living things exist. The biosphere is a closed and self-regulating system (see ecology), sustained by grand-scale cycles of energy and of materials—in particular, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, certain minerals, and water. The fundamental recycling processes are photosynthesis, respiration, and the fixing of nitrogen by certain bacteria. Disruption of basic ecological activities in the biosphere can result from pollution. Certainly, computers are a communications system that moves freely through the biosphere. Do waves pick up "piggy-backed" or "subliminal" messages as they travel back and forth? I have no earthly idea. How far do they go if they do not bounce back from a satellite? I have no idea about the "decay time" of these waves of energy. However, now that I have looked up the definition of biosphere, I will venture further into the idea of "other speakers/messages." We do have an example in the Bible of a creature receiving from God. This happened when the people of God were moving further and further "away" from the government of Theocracy, from His Truths and Precepts, and the Scriptures say that God had to use a "dumb donkey" to get His message across.
Note: This was a time when the human person was doing his own little, twirky thing and God had to do something drastic in order to tell him to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT. DON'T LEAVE ME YET. KEEP READING. Another time, God did say that the "rocks and hills would bow down and give Him homage.
As we can see, the penning of the Bible was a mastery of literary writing still unequaled by later writers. The use of similes such as mountains, hills, and rivers to designate the bodies of believers throughout the ages was excellent. We are to be mountains of faith, give the sincere milk of the word to unbelievers, and have a river of life flowing out of us to be a help to mankind in general. The passage in Luke simply means that during this time of trouble, people will want to be "covered" by the true church just as they wanted to be able to get into Noah's Ark when it was too late. If nature itself has to start intervening/undergirding/upholding the order that God set in motion, then it certainly does not put mankind in a wonderful "receiving from God" position. It puts mankind in a position of being so far from the Truths of God that a Bible based message is very unlikely. In our age, many of the truths in the Bible have virtually been untouched. The Scriptures do declare that if all the things Jesus did were written, the world could not contain the books. I, personally, do not feel that we need to reach out and get understanding from animate or inanimate objects, when so little time has been given to Bible study led by the Holy Spirit. LEST I APPEAR A SCOFFER Lest I appear to be a scoffer of any new revelation about the Scriptures, I will share this. During the mid-1800s, here in our own U.S., archeologist began to dig up giant bones. They published these findings, and one man was put in prison largely by the church community of the day because he wrote about these bones. It is evident that the church did feel threatened by the idea of a life form with which they were not familiar. Mostly, the threat had to do with the timeline used which paralleled the carbon dating theory associated with Darwin's Theory. Well, anyway the dinosaurs did exist and the man was exonerated when piles of dinosaur bones were found and placed in a New York museum, where they remain to this day. The reason they were not studied further was because they were duplicates of the same herd. I say all this to say, plainly, I would not want to be a "spiritual dinosaur" and not embrace some new thing that is uncovered. But I am completely correct in being skeptical of any new, off-the-wall, "spiritual" ideas about the Bible. And I am to be true to the Spiritual growth and understanding within myself, not the growth and understanding within you. You may be a giant of faith, I might still be learning the sincere milk of the word or just learning to "eat meat." I really don't know what level of spirituality you have attained, however, I do know that it MUST be thoroughly grounded in the "sincere milk of the word." The Scriptures admonish:
Supposing I am "weak" which simply means that I might not know everything about the Bible. Considering that the world could not contain all that Jesus did, I need to stay humble and not be puffed up or offended when someone does not embrace my ideas or writings with a "WOW!" It was for this reason that we put our writings on the web and added the WRAP—because if we are "off-base," then we are wide open for correction. Indeed, we did ask the people of the world to critique anything we put on the web. This is as it should be. It MUST bear witness among the brethren. IF IT DOESN'T, then the brethren has the responsibility to correct us in the Spirit of love. We can either receive their reproof or have our great learned pride hurt and refuse to grow in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ:
My great concern is that too many people will start "receiving" from other sources and completely BY-PASS THE BIBLE. A good teacher will ALWAYS start a person on the "SINCERE MILK OF THE WORD/BIBLE" and let the Spiritual growth process begin. It cannot be short-circuited without dire results. HOW LONG ON THE MILK? The Scriptures specify this, also.
This is another study within itself,but here God tells us through His Word that it doesn't matter if we are a king's son, extremely wealthy, or socially above others; we all have to learn about Jesus through the "sincere milk of the word". We are "babes" first; next, we are little children; then we progress to young men; then, fathers. Does not nature itself teach us that children and young men should not be burdened with the cares of fatherhood; but rather be allowed to enjoy these stages of growth, which are just that—growth. We do not want people to become "attached" to our ministry, but to become "attached" to "Jesus Christ." If you receive your messages while you are studying the Scriptures, and if you can base them on the Whole Word of God, then you are on "safe" ground. The Bible truths, however, are much like a car's windshield wiper. They must wipe all the way to the beginning (Genesis) and then sweep all the way over to Revelation. If there are any areas on that windshield that isn't clean or is still smudged, then the driver does not have a clear view. In the natural, we go and buy a new wiper blade that will clean up the situation so we can see clearly. Only a rebellious child in the Lord would say in his heart that things do not need to be cleaned up in the Spiritual realm.
I meant it when I said , "Oh, please! Get a life!", I sincerely meant this. Consider this Scripture: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). If "Get a life!" jolted you, then take the jolt and run with it. See where it takes you. We are willing to apologize and remove anything that is on our web site that might not be Spiritually sound. We are challenging others to do the same. Before you and me, there was God. We are just created and we need to remember that.
Before Don writes anything about Revelation, I remind him of the Scripture that says: "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book," (Revelation 22:18). Yes, we are commanded to witness, rebuke, exhort, reprove, love, … and endless stream of things. However, I believe it when God said of His Holy Scriptures,
It is imperative that we study the Scriptures already written before we start searching for new sources!!!*Note, in June of 2004 I noticed that Mark no longer has his web site up--however, we should continue to pray for him. Don |
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