Teachings, Church History and Bible Prophecy (Part 1)
BIBLICAL THEMES - VOLUME I
Do you think about what you read in the Bible?
I greet you with grace and peace from God, Yehowah, our Father Almighty, the awesome and glorious Creator of Universe, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our King!
Teachings, Church History and Bible Prophecy
Are you righteous enough?
Or are you a modern scholar and Pharisee?
Matthew 5:20
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
God will be judge in righteousness
1.God will be judge in righteousness
With no one Him gainsaying;
His will, not ours, will be the test,
His sentence just pronouncing.
2.His Word does prove the hearts of men,
All seekers true converting;
Believe that Word and be baptized,
Obey your daily reading.
3.He marks you out from all mankind,
From Sin's grim power releases;
And for the wayward, godless, blind,
Their sad affliction ceases.
4.And so, Zion, God's people called,
Show all you have been given;
You will obtain a glorious crown,
With all your sins forgiven.
5.The Last great Day comes hastening on,
It warns us to be watching;
So help us, Lord, to bear the cross,
Your holy Purpose matching.
6.O Lord, direct us by Your grace;
And on Your love depending,
May Providence our lives control
Your Mighty Hand defending.
7.And as I now must part from friends,
From brothers, sisters weeping;
My soul I leave in God's great Hand,
Until Your Kingdom, sleeping. (167, 8)
TRANS. A.E.
The Last hymn of the anabaptist Georg "Blaurock",
written in 1529, before his death
(He advocating that the soul are sleeping until God's Kingdom:
My soul I leave in God's great Hand,
Until Your Kingdom, sleeping. (167, 8))
KNOW THESE FACTS ABOUT some men and women who mocked God
(From the internet)
This will curl your toes. How important words, and feelings are.
KNOW THESE FACTS?
I SURE DID'NT TILL NOW
Death is certain but the Bible speaks about untimely death!
Make a personal reflection about this.....
Very interesting, read until the end....It is written in the Bible (Galatians
6:7):
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap."
Here are some men and women who mocked God:
John Lennon (Singer):
Some years before, during his interview with an American Magazine, he said:
"Christianity will end, it will disappear. I do not have to argue about that. I am certain. Jesus was ok, but his subjects were too simple, Today we are more famous than Him" (1966).
Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, was shot six times.
Tancredo Neves (President of Brazil):
During the Presidential campaign, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from Presidency.
Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, then he died.
Cazuza (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet):
During A show in Canecio ( Rio de Janeiro),
while smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said:
"God, that's for you."
He died at the age of 32 of AIDS in a horrible manner.
The man who built the Titanic
After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be.
With an ironic tone he said: "Not even God can sink it"
The result: I think you all know what happened to the Titanic .
Marilyn Monroe (Actress)
She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. He said the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said: "I don't need your Jesus".
A week later, she was found dead in her apartment.
Bon Scott (Singer):
The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs he sang:
"Don't stop me,
I'm going down all the way,
down the highway to hell".
On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been choked by his own vomit.
Campinas (IN 2005):
In Campinas, Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend....
The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter holding her hand, who was already seated in the car:
"My Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You.."
She responded:
"Only If He (God) Travels In The Trunk, Cause Inside Here.... It's Already Full"
Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident, everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was intact.
The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact. To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none was broken.
Christine Hewitt (Jamaican Journalist and entertainer):
She said the Bible (Word of God)was the worst book ever written.
In June 2006 she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle.
Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other name that was given so much authority as the name of Jesus.
Many have died, but only Jesus died and rose again, and he is still alive.
"Jesus"
PS: If it was a joke, you would have sent it to everyone. So are you going to
have courage to send this?
I have done my part, Jesus said.........
"If you are embarrassed about me, I will also be embarrassed about you
before my father."
If you are a bad kid or adult, don't forget, that exist somebody, who is worst
like you: the evil Satan, the fallen celestial cherubim, your first and
greatest enemy! You are ready to go in the lake of fire, with him, for eternal
destruction, after your trial? Because in the last day a trial of all sinners,
all your sins will be opened, before a celestial court... Your life is keep
like in a film. You are ready to see your film in that day?
For another information, please contact the Great Creator of all, the Heavenly
Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ, the high priest and mediator for all
mankind.
Read the Bible daily!
Think about what you read!
Keep God's will: Repent!
Did You Know?
Who where the Ancient Inventors of Hell's eternal torment?
What is "THE FIRE THAT CONSUMES" the wicked?
Why this fire is "Eternal" with Words of Action in the Bible?
What is death, if exist a resurrection?
Why many Christians reject the Christianized view of pagan Hell?
Where is the soul, till the resurrection?
What will be happened with those men and women who mocked God, in the resurrection time?
Lazarus and the Rich Man: A literal, historical event or an extra-Biblical source?
Could the woman of En-Dor speak to the prophet Samuel, or did she simply lie to the naive king Saul?
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Lazarus and the Rich Man: A literal, historical event or an extra-Biblical source?
Why did God allow his Word to be altered?
Know this fact about God’s word?
A must read:
Lazarus and the Rich Man a real story?
Lazarus and the Rich Man: A literal, historical event or an extra-Biblical source?
According to Wikipedia "Some Christians view the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man as an actual event which was related by Jesus to his followers;[9] this was generally the view of the medieval Church. According to this view, this story is not a parable but literal biography. Supporters of this view point to the amount of detail in the story. For example, in no other parable does Jesus give a character's personal name, but refers to the characters as "a certain man", "a sower", etc."
But another view holds that the story was not told by Lord Jesus, because this story is in contradiction with the Old Testament statement about Abraham (Psalms 146:4, Isaiah 63:16, Daniel 12:2), with his own words (John 3:13, John 5:28,29) and of his followers words (Acts 2:34, Hebrews 11:39).
Proponents of this view suggest that it is significant that only the Gospel of Luke mentions Jesus telling the story, but the original is lost, so is not certain if it exist in the autograph text. Also, about Lazarus virtues we read nothing, just he was sick and poor. It is interesting that Jewish Ebionite communities believe in afterlife and consider this kind of man a virtuous. This story could be an Ebionite story put later in the Gospel of Luke in some manner like The Pericope Adulterae in the Gospel of John.
See, for the comparison:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_and_the_woman_taken_in_adultery
According to Dr. F. H. A. Scrivener:
"In the second century we have seen too many instances of attempts to tamper with the text of Scripture, some merely injudicious, others positively dishonest". He states that "it is no less true to fact than paradoxical in sound, that the worst corruptions to which the New Testament has ever been subjected, originated within 100 years after it was composed: and that Irenaeus and the African Fathers, and the whole Western, with a portion of the Syrian Church" (used altered manuscripts) (F. H. A. Scrivener, Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament).
According to G.D. Kilpatrick (Atticism and the Text of the Greek New Testament, at 125-131):
"Deliberate changes in all text types appear to antedate A.D. 200... as distinct from errors... all categories of deliberate alteration... are present in both groups. Tatian is the last author to make deliberate changes. The vast majority of deliberate changes were older then A.D. 200. They came into being in the period A.D. 50-200."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_man_and_Lazarus#As_a_literal.2C_historical_event
Deleted information
Deleted view from wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_and_Dives
Why and who deleted this information?
"A fourth view holds that the story was
not told by Jesus. Proponents of this view suggest that it is significant
that only the Gospel of Luke mentions Jesus telling the story"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_and_Dives
How the scholars seeing this:
"Some hold that the story, in its entirety, can be attributed to Jesus
(Bauckham 1991, 45; Marshall, 634; Blomberg, 203-5; Jeremias 1972, 186;
Fitzmyer 1985, 1127; Hock, Vol. 4, 266-7) while others consider it as a
pre-Christian tale attributed to Jesus (Bultmann 1963, 203), later Apocryphal
interpolation (the entire story, Cairus 2006, 35-45) or Lucan redaction (Drury, 159-60)."
"The story seems abrupt in its present place (Reiling
and Swellengrebel, 569-70). Aecio Cairus argues for,
while excluding 16:19-31, a smooth transition from 16:18
to 17:1 (Cairus, 43). He sees vv. 19-31 as an interruption of the flow and that 17:1-2 belongs “to the same condemnation of Pharisaic doctrine introduced in 16:15-17” (Marshall, 632)."
Daniel Berchie, Samson Dakio, Luke 16:19-31: Intermediate State of the Soul
About Luke 16:19-31 II century interpolation
http://peshitta.org/for/archive/index.php?thread-2324-4.html
Supporters of the endless torment in the so called hell fire
A few of the more famous figures of church who have given whole-hearted support
to the traditional doctrine include: Tertullian, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas,
Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, George Whitefield,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and Dwight L. Moody. The Westminster Confession of
Faith was very clear in its affirming of hell as eternal punishment: "but
the wicked who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be
cast into eternal torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power" (Grudem 1196).
They all were wrong. Is no endless
torment in the Bible. See the explanation on this topic in the book of Edward
William Fudge: The Fire That Consumes
http://edwardfudge.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/excerptTFTC3.pdf
Other:
"Names in the so called story of the Rich Man and Lazarus: Phineas, Phinees, Neues, Nineue and Eleazar
Pascha Computus, he is referred to as Phineas, 26 in Priscillian (A.D. 385) it is Phinees, and in a marginal note to the versified Bible of Peter of Riga it is Amonofis.27 In the Bodmer Papyrus (P75), the oldest Greek text of the Lukan Gospel, he is named Neuēs.28 Neuēs itself is unintelligible; thus the name is suggested to be a scribal error for, Nineuēs. 29 or a shortened form of, 30 This is also found in the ancient Sahidic version (II century) as Nineuē Fitzmyer states this is an unusual personal name; (Nineveh).31"
http://www.scribd.com/doc/39687808/Final-Paper
Tertullian named the beggar Eleazar
"But when the world rejoices, let us grieve; and when the world afterward grieves, we shall rejoice. Thus, too, Eleazar in Hades, (attaining refreshment in Abraham's bosom) and the rich man, (on the other hand, set in the torment of fire) compensate, by an answerable retribution, their alternate vicissitudes of evil and good."
"On Idolatry" (chapter 13, verse 9)
It was probably horror vacui that prompted more than one copyist to provide a name for the anonymous Rich Man. In Egypt the tradition that his name was Nineveh is incorporated in the Sahidic version, and seems to be reflected also in P, which reads πλούσιος ὀνόματι Νευης (probably a scribal error for Νινευης). During the third and fourth centuries a tradition was current in the West that the Rich Man’s name was Phineas. The pseudo-Cyprianic treatise De pascha computus, which was written in the year 242/3 in Africa or in Rome, declares (ch. 17): Omnibus peccatoribus a deo ignis est praeparatus, in cuius flamma uri ille Finaeus dives ab ipso dei filio est demonstratus (“Fire has been prepared by God for all sinners, in the flame of which, as was indicated by the Son of God himself, that rich man Phineas is burned”). The same tradition is repeated toward the close of the fourth century in the last of the eleven anonymous treatises that are customarily assigned to Priscillian, a wealthy, highly educated layman who became the founder of a gnosticizing sect in southern Spain. Here the name is spelled Finees (in the only manuscript extant of Tract ix the name is spelled Fineet with the t stroked out and surmounted by s). The reason that the name Phineas was given to the Rich Man may be because in the Old Testament (Nu 25.7, 11) Eleazar [compare Lazarus] and Phinehas are associated. A note in the margin of a thirteenth century manuscript of the poem “Aurora,” a versified Bible written in the twelfth century by Peter of Riga, states Amonofis dicitur esse nomen divitis (“The name of the Rich Man is said to be Amonofis [i. e. Amenophis]”).
Metzger, B. M., & United Bible Societies. (1994). A textual commentary on the Greek New Testament, second edition a companion volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament (4th rev. ed.) (140). London; New York: United Bible Societies.
About the "inspiration" of so called "church fathers":
From where Hippolytus got his views about Hades?
We die or not we die? What is our state of death: are we alive or dead there?
Question 1
Are we dying or not? What do God and Satan say in the oldest controversy?
What does God's word say:
- About the body
- About the spirit
- About the soul
- About the life
- About the first death
- About the resurrection
- About the judgenet of the death
- About the second death
- Misinterpreted texts
Question 2
What is in the place named “Sheol” in Hebrew and “Hades” in Greek, according to the whole Bible? Is there death or life? What if the sermon "The Merciless Rich Man and the Poor Lazarus" was not part of the Gospel of Luke?
Question 3
Was King Saul lied by the woman in En-dor, or did she really talk to the prophet Samuel?
Where did some get their explanations about the place called Hades?
Hippolytus, Agaist Plato, On the Cause of the Universe
Another “Church Father,” Hippolytus (ca 170-236): "Against Plato"
1. And this is the passage regarding demons. But now we must speak of Hades, in which the souls both of the righteous and the unrighteous are detained. Hades is a place in the created system, rude, a locality beneath the earth, (...) And those who are so near hear incessantly the agitation, and feel the hot smoke. And when that vision is so near, as they see the terrible and excessively glowing spectacle of the fire, they shudder in horror at the expectation of the future judgment, (as if they were) already feeling the power of their punishment."
This is an interesting comment but is this really in the Bible? Or this view is from pagan sources. For example, the priests of Babylon and other pagan nations taught about a fierce punishment and agony in Hades and this was the inspiration of some so called church father like Hippolytus. This view about Hades is not in the Bible, excepting the Gospel of Luke. But it does not appear elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible or the New Testamen. Could be a fake, like this view about the Hades, from Hippolytus of Rome, in his book “Agaist Plato, On the Cause of the Universe”: “But now we must speak of Hades, in which the souls both of the righteous and the unrighteous are detained…The righteous will obtain the incorruptible and unfading Kingdom, who indeed are at present detained in Hades, but not in the same place with the unrighteous (…) Thus far, then, on the subject of Hades, in which the souls of all are detained until the time God has determined; and then He will accomplish a resurrection of all, not by transferring souls into other bodies, but by raising the bodies themselves...
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0520.htm
On the following page you will see this segment on “MYSTERY BABYLON”. http://www.everlastingkingdom.info/article/150/favorite-articles-index.html
“MYSTERY BABYLON”: The “ancient mystery religion” of Babylon taught about
everlasting agony in hades, hoping to paralyze the wicked pursuits of the
populace. Similarly, it also emphasized the idea of instant gratification at
the gates of heaven, and the eternal bliss of the “immortal soul”, to keep the
oppressed pacified. Pythagoras, a pagan Greek, and then Plato (probably closet
humanists) perpetuated these highly effective tactics, which soon spread thru
the Roman Empire. From there the “mysteries” branched out into Hermeticism,
Neoplatonism, and Gnosticism. “MYSTERY BABYLON”: quickly contaminated even the
teachings of Yeshua (Jesus) the Nazarene, which in essence remains the
resurrection of mysticism—Neoplatonism and Hermeticism—calling itself
Christian. Later the Arab adaptation became Sufism and Shiism. The same
mysteries were also spread by the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons. In fact the
Mysteries were almost universally accepted until they began being replaced by
Darwinism. The following links identify the most easily recognized MARKS of
“MYSTERY BABYLON”,condemned in the Revelation 17.
1) Do you have an immortal soul?
2) Heaven, will we go there?
3) NEW Soft on Hell?
Eze 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also
the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
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The controversy between the Arab Christians and Greek Christians from Alexandria, in the third century, about the soul
In this big controvercy from the third century, "the last great gnostic" Origene (184 – 254), was the head supporter of the immortality of the soul, against the Arab Christians from Arabia Felix, from the third century, as we read:
"After his conversion of Beryllus, however, his aid was frequently invoked against heresies. Thus, when the doctrine was promulgated in Arabia that the soul died and decayed with the body, being restored to life only at the resurrection (see soul sleep), appeal was made to Origen, who journeyed to Arabia, and by his preaching reclaimed the erring."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen
"During his career in Caesarea, Origen made several more journeys, all to
assist in the correction of heresy. In the first, he succeeded in bringing
Beryllus, Bishop of Bostra (Roman Arabia/modern Jordan) out of adoptionism and
back to orthodoxy.
The second journey was also to Arabia, and this time dealt with those who believed the soul dies with the body and is resurrected with the body. A council was convened with Origen present, and those holding this view were converted.
A third mission, the place and time of which is unclear, found Origen conducting a council and questioning Bishop Heraclides on several matters, including the diversity and unity of Father and the Son, the two natures of the Son, adoptionism and the the immorality of the soul."
http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/people/origen.htm
"The first mention of Christianity in Arab lands occurs in the New Testament as the Apostle Paul refers to his journey in Arabia following his conversion (Galatians 1: 15-17). Later, Eusebius of Caesarea discusses a bishop named Beryllus in the see of Bostra, the site of a synod c. 240. Christians existed in Arab lands from the third century onward.[6]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Christians_and_Arabic-speaking_Christians
"The Councils of Arabia were two councils of the early Christian Church held in Bostra, in Arabia; one in 246 and the other in 247. Both were held against Beryllus, the bishop of the local see, and his followers, who believed that the soul perished upon the death of the body, but that it would one day rise with the body. Origen, who was present at both councils, convinced them that their belief was heresy."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Councils_of_Arabia
Councils of Arabia
In 246 and 247 two councils were held at Bostra in Arabia against Beryllus, Bishop of the see, and others who maintained with him that the soul perished and arose again with the body. Origen was present at these synods, and convinced these heretics of their errors (Eusebius, Church History VI.19; Baronius, Ann. Eccl. ad an., 249, sect. 6-8).
Sources
HARNACK, Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums (1902); WRIGHT, Early Christianity in Arabia, (London, 1855); MANSI, Coll. Conc., I, 787.
About this page
APA citation. Shahan, T. (1907). Councils of Arabia. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved May 8, 2010 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01674b.htm
MLA citation. Shahan, Thomas. "Councils of Arabia." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 8 May 2010 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01674b.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by John Fobian. In memory of Helen L. Johnson.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01674b.htm
Who holds the true, biblical view about the soul?
Bishop Polycarp of Smirna and Arnobius of Sicca view about the soul
Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna (second century) believed that the soul will be resurrected (so it die):
“O Lord God Almighty, the Father of thy beloved and blessed Son ("servant" in original) Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of Thee, the God of angels and powers, and of every creature, and of the whole race of the righteous who live before thee, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast counted me, worthy of this day and this hour, that I should have a part in the number of Thy martyrs, in the cup of thy Christ, to the resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and body, through the incorruption [imparted] by the Holy Ghost. Among whom may I be accepted this day before Thee as a fat [Literally: “in a fat,” etc., or, “in a rich”] and acceptable sacrifice, according as Thou, the ever-truthful [Literally: “the not false and true”] God, hast foreordained, hast revealed beforehand to me, and now hast fulfilled. Wherefore also I praise Thee for all things, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, along with the everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, with whom, to Thee, “in the Holy Ghost”, be glory both now and to all coming ages. Amen.”
Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., iv. 15)
According to this view, the soul is mortal and must be resurrected with the body: "to the resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and body"
The doctrine of the mortal soul was very popular in some places:
"After his conversion of Beryllus, however, his aid was frequently invoked against heresies. Thus, when the doctrine was promulgated in Arabia that the soul died and decayed with the body, being restored to life only at the resurrection (see soul sleep), appeal was made to Origen, who journeyed to Arabia, and by his preaching reclaimed the erring."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen
The opposite views of immortal soul it was based on philosophical arguments from the books of certain pagan philosophers rather than on the Bible.
The quotation of "Abrahams blossom" is foud in some ancient jewish Apocrypha, but never in the Bible books, excepting the Gospel of Luke’s Lazarus and the Dives - but, this was not in the original Gospel of Luke, as some scholars seeing.
1.F. Preisigke, Sammelbuch Griechischer Urkunden aus Aegypten 2034:11
2.Apocalipse of Zepaniah 9:2
3.4. Maccabees 13:17
4.Rabh Adah Bar Ahavah said, by way' of prophecy, This day doth he sit in Abraham's bosom" Lightfoot p161
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocrypha
How the scholars seeing this Lazarus and the Dives
story:
"Some hold that the story, in its entirety, can be attributed to Jesus
(Bauckham 1991, 45; Marshall, 634; Blomberg, 203-5; Jeremias 1972, 186;
Fitzmyer 1985, 1127; Hock, Vol. 4, 266-7) while others consider it as a
pre-Christian tale attributed to Jesus (Bultmann 1963, 203), later Apocryphal
interpolation (the entire story, Cairus 2006, 35-45) or Lucan redaction (Drury, 159-60)."
"The story seems abrupt in its present place (Reiling
and Swellengrebel, 569-70). Aecio Cairus argues for,
while excluding 16:19-31, a smooth transition from 16:18
to 17:1 (Cairus, 43). He sees vv. 19-31 as an interruption of the flow and that 17:1-2 belongs “to the same condemnation of Pharisaic doctrine introduced in 16:15-17” (Marshall, 632)."
Daniel Berchie, Samson Dakio, Luke 16:19-31: Intermediate State of the Soul
Arnobius of Sicca (4th-century) as
annihilationist
His doctrine is known as "annihilationism". Arnobius propagated a doctrine that unbelievers passed into
"nonexistence" either at death or at the time of resurrection. "As
to man, Arnobius . . . denies his immortality. The
soul outlives the body but depends solely on God for the gift of eternal duration.
The wicked go to the fire of Gehenna, and will ultimately be consumed or
annihilated" (Schaff 859). It was condemned as heresy at
the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 A.D. This
doctrine reappear again in church history time to time, is special after the
12th century.
Did you know?
Who
were the ancient inventors of Hell's eternal torment?
What is THE FIRE THAT CONSUMES? Why is described as
"eternal" with words of action?
What is death, if exist a resurrection?
What said Bishop Policarp in his last prayer about
the soul in the second century?
Lazarus and the Rich Man: A literal, historical
event or an extra-Biblical source?
About the "inspiration" of so called
"church fathers": From where Hippolytus got his view about Hades?
The love for enemies
The hardest commandment is to love your enemies while they kill you or torment you to death. That such hard things have happened can be seen in the pictures of the Inquisition.
And yet this is what we are commanded, so that salvation may be given to them also.
Matthew 5:43-48
Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Inquisitions pictures
Pictures with the inquisition
Catholic inquisition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition
Protestant inquisition
http://socrates58.blogspot.com/2007/03/protestant-inquisition-reformation.html
Also exist Buddhist, Muslim, pagan and atheist inquisition.
What is „addiction”?
When you are captive and not free in your mind, as God created you, but your mind depends on someone or something. So this is very important to know: I am free? And you are free, my sister, my brother, my friend?
"Historically, addiction has been defined as physical and psychological dependence on psychoactive substances (for example alcohol, tobacco, heroin and other drugs) which cross the blood-brain barrier once ingested, temporarily altering the chemical milieu of the brain.
Addiction can also be viewed as a continued involvement with a substance or activity despite the negative consequences associated with it. Pleasure and enjoyment would have originally been sought; however, over a period of time involvement with the substance or activity is needed to feel normal.[1] Some psychology professionals and many laypeople now mean 'addiction' to include abnormal psychological dependency on such things as gambling, food, sex, pornography, computers, internet, work, exercise, idolizing, watching TV or certain types of non-pornographic videos, spiritual obsession, self-injury and shopping."
Wikipedia
The credulity of certain people, whether secular or religious, can also be a form of addiction. And many have suffered, losing their health, money and even their lives.This is very important to see if I, or you are free from the theological errors?
Now, what is, if God is only the Father
Almighty and not a trinity of persons?
What is, if God is only Yehowah? Did
you know God's holy name?
What is, if the story of The rich man
and the beggar Lazarus is a fake, and not a literal history or parable? Why couldn't it be a counterfeit? A fake.
Many laugh at the opinion, but without having researched it, that Archangel Michael, is the Son of God. But if the Son of God have a pre-human existence, he also had to have a pre-human name.
Solomon's Proverbs 30
1. The words of Agur the son of Jesse. The wise words spoken by this man for Itiel, for Itiel and for Ucal.
2. Undoubtedly, I am worse than anyone and I have no human skills.
3. I have not learned wisdom, nor know the knowledge of the saints.
4. Who ascended to heaven, and who descended from them? Who gathered the wind in his fists? Who gathered the water in his coat? Who decided all the ends of the earth? What is his name and what is his son's name? Do you know this? -
Are Christians allowed to swear a vow?
Old and New
Matthew 5: 33. Ye have heard again that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not swear falsely, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
34But I say unto you, Swear not at all; nor in heaven, for it is the throne of God;
35. Nor on earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
37. Let your speech be, "Yes, yes; no, no"; what goes beyond these words comes from the evil one.
(...)
A vow sent by Markus,
Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. May Thy rule come into my heart more and more, and Thy will be done in my mortal body. Relying on the assistance of Thy promised grace to help in every time of need, through Jesus Christ our Lord, I register this Vow.
Daily will I remember at the Throne of Heavenly Grace the general interests of
the harvest work, and particularly the share which I myself am privileged to
enjoy in that work, and the dear co-labourers everywhere.
I vow to still more carefully, if possible, scrutinize my thoughts and words
and doings, to the intent that I may be the better enabled to serve Thee, and
Thy dear flock.
I vow to Thee that I will be on the alert to resist everything akin to
Spiritism and Occultism, and, remembering that there are but the two masters, I
shall resist these snares in all reasonable ways as being of the adversary.
I further vow, that with the exceptions below, I will at all times and in all
places, conduct myself toward those of the opposite sex in private exactly as I
would do with them in public -- in the presence of a congregation of the Lord's
people.
And, so far as reasonably possible, I will avoid being in the same room with
any of the opposite sex alone, unless the door to the room stand wide open.
Exceptions in the case of Brethren -- wife, children, mother and natural
sisters: in the case of Sisters -- husband, children, father and natural
brothers.
~~~~
With kind regards,
Marcus
Why is the Gospel „good news”?
What is „salvation”?
Who will save you?
And how will save you?
1Corinthians 15:1-11
The word "euanghelion" translated as „gospel” comes from the Greek and it means „good news”. Does humanity need good news? Yes! Because all people die (Ecclesiastes 9:1-7) and death is an enemy that must be „destroyed” (1Corinthians 15:26). If death is our enemy that must be destroyed, then life is precious and we really need someone to save us from death and to lead us to eternal life. But is this possible? Does anyone have the power to destroy death? Yes! We have the promise from the Creator that He will destroy death „forever” (Isaiah 25:8).
The only begotten Son of God, came from the highest heavens to earth, to testify that God His beloved Father, loves us very much and wants us to have eternal life: „God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).
If God did not want people to die, some will ask “why did he make the world like this”. Why didn't he make people to not die? God himself answers through His Word: „Say unto them, As I live, says the Lord Jehovah (American Standard Version, YHWH in Hebrew), I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11).
So the Creator did not want Adam and Eve to sin and die. He said he was sorry that things have taken such an unfortunate twist and that he was forced to apply the death penalty so that people would not degenerate to chaos and anarchy (Genesis 6:5-7). Think how the world would be if wicked sinners might live forever and do all that came to their mind? That scheming angel that had fallen and became Satan the Devil, is guilty of the death of all men (Genesis 3:1-5; John 8:44).
No, God had not wanted men to die. Death had entered in the world because of disobedient and scheming creatures working against their creator. Disobedience and scheming against a law is lawlessness and in bible terms is named „sin”. Who among employers would let their employees act as heads in a firm that is not theirs?
God also could not tolerate the same attack that tramples on the feet of his sovereignty. We are cautioned that a single sin contaminated the entire human race, the same way a single virus is able to contaminate the entire human race if there are not measures taken against it. Sin multiplies lightening quick like a virus, going from degradation to degradation creating chaos and anarchy that has to be stopped: "Therefore just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12)
„Really all”, some will ask? How this guilt? Are we all sinners and worthy of death? Yes, conforming to what we read above; if we would not have sin, God who is a God of righteousness could not without unrighteousness make us suffer death. Just as a defective machine cannot make a thing of quality, for example a defective Xerox; however the ink flows it cannot copy things at the quality of the original. Not even Adam was able to procreate something better than he was in his condition. We have inherited all the deteriorating genes of the first man because of his sin, so that we can see how we follow in falling from perfection. „...Are we better than they? Not at all! For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.” (Romans 3:9)
But why has God permitted something like this? Because he couldn’t do anything else. God didn’t want cold, unfeeling robots. He wanted creatures like himself who could be the image and similitude of he himself. Nature in the same way is not able to create and bring to a stable perfection except through obedience to the authority and word of God. If sin were not introduced through Satan, the worldly creation would have arrived at a mature knowledge of God through obedience and submission.
Sin introduced by Satan is like a virus of higher technology. Whoever has an infected computer knows what it means to get this kind of virus. Once the virus of sin had been introduced into the world as it had been developed by Satan, it continued as a warning in the universe. Even if God had destroyed Satan and Adam and Eve immediately, creating another cherub Lucifer and another Adam and Eve, that microbe once started could not be so easily destroyed and whenever it was able, it would strike again. And so because Satan had launched some clever controversies against God, many of the angels of the heavenly courts had taken notice of him. We only have to read the book of Job and we will see that. With the same controversies raised and unresolved, the universe would never be stable. What then was a sure antidote? The single antidote was to let Satan’s sin developing to its peak, that is till it is fully baked and erupts. When Satan’s sin will reach its peak it will erupt in all its hideousness, and then it can be totally rooted out and eradicated from the universe. The wonderful scope and salvation of God is to reestablish harmony in the universe for ever!
With all this said, we have to consider with all men the mercy and patience of God, because we are contaminated with a virus toward death; sin, because we have a fierce enemy in the person of Satan and his demons (other angels who have fallen). And because we cannot save ourselves through our efforts, we have need of a savior who not only shows the way to salvation, but especially who makes us pleasing again in the eyes of God, healing and annulling our contaminated way with the virus of sin.
Can’t man really do a specific action, or submit an offering to God as a ransom in full for eradicating the virus action of sin in his body? The answer of sacred scripture is no: „None of them can by any means redeem his bother, nor give to God a ransom for his soul.” Psalm 49:7
So we see that mankind cannot ransom itself to absolve, to annul the ill fated consequences of the ways of their sin. Mankind cannot make themselves righteous before God, but have the need of a perfect sacrifice, which, as we have seen, was not in the hands of the dying. The solution was in the hand of God and depended totally on him.
What then was God’s solution? God’s solution was „atonement”, that is the death of a perfect man who did not have the virus of sin, to be offered voluntarily (not constrained by anyone) to be this perfect sacrifice, and through his death to „atone” (absolve) our guilt done through the nature inherited from Adam. In this way he became the new father’ to whom the believers are indebted for life, and they will accept and appreciate his sacrifice and will obey him. „Through him (that is Jesus Christ, the Son of God), God has given „atonement” (Romans 3:25) „For as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19)
Of what does the good news therefore consist; what is it? The good news consists in the sacrifice of atonement of the Son of God and is wonderful news, because through Him, we are able to be saved from sin and from death; through faith in Him and in the righteousness He gives, and through obedience to Him. He is the only mediator of salvation: „Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you believed in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:1, 2)
What does he ask therefore? That we believe in the gospel. First of all, what is the gospel?
1Corinthians 15:3 "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
1Corinthians 15:4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,"
Do you believe this, that Christ died for our sins, and therefore for all of yours? Are you meek and sincere enough for you to consider yourself a sinner who has the mortal virus of sin? Only thus will you arrive at your proper salvation through the Son of God, if you will be crushed in recognizing that you have a sinful nature; degenerate. This means repentance. You need to disown, to drop your nature and to recognize publicly, to the glory of God the Father, through baptism in water, done in the name of Christ, the Son of God, and for Him (not for a group religion or for some men). He became a perfect man and since he has died for your sins, you accept him as Lord in your life and you will follow the way of life that he traveled. For those who believe in God, His beloved Father, as it is written „Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17
There is no other solution to the crisis in which we all find ourselves. There does not exist a middle way (Matthew 7:13, 14,19). What does this mean? We arrive there only if we think on the following phrase uttered by our Lord, the Son of God: „ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. “
To leave the usual philosophy and theories to Origen, philosophy that has contaminated Christianity with universal salvation and other subjects such as purgatory, a new opportunity for repentance in the millennium or after the millennium, etc., and to believe the Word of God which warns us with all solemnity and seriousness: „He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36).
“unless you repent you will all likewise perish.“ Luke 13:3, 5
Be then obedient to the Word of life and fill yourself up with it, that God will bless you with eternal life that comes through faith in Him who brought us the good news. (Matthew 7:21-27).
Now, ask yourself, how are you saved? Through the blood of Christ and your good
works or, only through the blood of Christ, in order to do your good works?
--------
Why was Lord Jesus’ „Passover” a day earlier than others?
They brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the judgment hall: it was morning.
They did not enter the courtroom so as not to get dirty and be able to eat the
Passover. (John 18:28)
Many Christians have celebrated Jesus Christ's „Last Supper” - which was a Passover supper (Luke 22:15), on Maundy Thursday. But when was in fact this day?
Apostle John claims it took place before the Passover of the officials and this because they have been using a different view of the Jewish calendar.
Lord Jesus and others went by an old-time Jewish view about this calendar, rather than the officials.
What you want from yourself in the matter of faith?
What I want from myself
My desire is to be a true Bible believer, a true witness for God, the Father
Almighty, and for His heavenly Son, Lord Jesus Christ, with all my entire life.
I want to be free in the truth, "free" in Biblical sense, free from
the Devils' errors, strong in faith in God and His Son, in the Bible and it's
message, true in true love and honest in the holy repentance.
For me the Bible is the last authority in the matter of faith. It is written in
the Bible, and I agree that the Bible contain the inspired word and will of God
for the ancient, present and future time. That's why I believe this book is The
Holy Scripture, inspired by God (but not written by God) and it is useful for
our fulfillment and salvation: 2Timothy 3:15-1, 1Corinthians 4:6. Any teaching,
prophecy and conduct must be verified with the Bible, but careful, because it
can be misinterpreted: 2Peter 3:15,16, Revelation 22:18,19.
Why I believe in God's existence?
Because:
"The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world."
Psalm 19: 1-4b
And because:
"since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made
it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible
qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
Romans 1:19
Why I believe in the Son of God?
Because is written about Him:
"The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back.
I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame."
Isaiah 50:4-7
"See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
so will he sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand."
Isaiah 52:13-15
"Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors."
Isaiah 53:1-12
Why I believe in the Bible?
For it's prophecies, which was confirmed by the history (for example Josephus
Flavius)
"Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to
him to call his attention to its buildings. "Do you see all these
things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be
left on another; every one will be thrown down."
Matthew 24:1,2
Titus and his army fulfilled this prophecy.
Time always tells the truth!
The Lord's Prayer and The Great Commission
The Lord’s Prayer
Matthew 6:
9 'Now, this is how you should pray:
Our Father who is in the heavens;
May Your Name be treated as Holy;
10 May Your Kingdom arrive;
And may Your Will take place on the earth,
As it has in the heavens.
11 'Give us our bread for this day,
12 And forgive us of all our debts,
As we have forgiven those who owe us.
13 Into temptation, may we not be led,
And from the Wicked [One], save us.
http://www.2001translation.com/MATTHEW.htm
The Great Commission
Matthew 28:
19 So, go make disciples in all nations in my name, 20 and teach them to obey all the things that I commanded you. {Look!} I will be with you every day until the completion of the age.'
http://www.2001translation.com/MATTHEW.htm
See also:
http://www.apostolic-bible.com/Appendix/Initial.htm
http://www.apostolic-bible.com/Primary/GOSPELS%20WITHOUT%20THE%20TRINITY.htm
F.C. Kenyon, in The Text of the Greek Bible, pages 241-242 said:
"At the first each book had its single original text, which it is now the object of criticism to recover, but in the first two centuries this original Greek text disappeared under a mass of variants, created by errors, by conscious alterations, and by attempts to remedy the uncertainties thus created."
"Codex Bezae (MS Nn.2.41)
(...)
This manuscript is a notable evidence of what could do and did (alter a text) a copyist (scribe) when he copy a biblical text:
It is the oldest manuscript to contain the story of the adulterous woman (John 7.53-8.11). It is on Folios 133v to 135.
The
genealogy of Jesus in Luke's Gospel is arranged in reverse order so as to
conform more closely with that in Matthew. It is on Folios 195v to 197.
There is a story about Jesus found in no other manuscript (the story of the man
working on the Sabbath, placed after Luke 6.4). It is on Folios 205v and 206.
It is the oldest manuscript to contain the longer ending of Mark (16.9-20). The
last pages of Mark are missing, so all that remains is the Greek text of verses
9-15. What follows is text supplied in the ninth century. It is on Folio 347v.
In Acts, when the angel delivers Peter from prison the detail is added that
they go into the street down seven steps (Acts 12.10). It is on Folios 463v-464, eleven
lines from the bottom of the page."
http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-NN-00002-00041/371
It is hard for some of us, but this is an answer. The Bible text was altered in some places.
The Monkey's Disgrace
(Author Unknown)
Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree,
Discussing things that are said to be;
Said one to the others, "Now listen you two,
There's a certain rumor that can't be true:
That man descended from our noble race,
The very idea is a disgrace!
"No monkey ever deserted his wife,
Starved her babies, and ruined her life;
And you've never known a mother monk,
To leave her babies with others to bunk,
Or pass them on from one to the other,
Till they scarcely know who is their mother.
"And another thing you'll never see,
A monk build a fence round a coconut tree,
And let the coconuts go to waste,
Forbidding all other monks to taste;
Why, if I put a fence around a tree,
Starvation will force you to steal from me!
"Here's another thing a monk won't do:
Go out at night and get in a stew,
Or use a gun, a club or a knife,
To take some other dumb monkey's life!
Yes, they can theorize and they can discuss
but, brother, he didn't descend from us!"
http://www.talkjesus.com/poetry/31428-monkeys-disgrace.html
If you are free from sin, you are free from law: "for you are not under the law" (the law of Moses) Romans 6:14
Romans 6:14
New
International Version
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but
under grace.
New Living Translation
Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of
the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace.
English Standard Version
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under
grace.
Berean Study Bible
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under
grace.
Berean Literal Bible
For sin will not rule over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.
New American Standard Bible
For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under
grace.
King James Bible
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under
grace.
Holman Christian Standard Bible
For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.
International Standard Version
For sin will not have mastery over you, because you are not under Law but under
grace.
NET Bible
For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under
grace.
New Heart English Bible
For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under
grace.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And sin has no authority over you, for you not under The Written Law, but under
grace.
GOD'S WORD® Translation
Certainly, sin shouldn't have power over you because you're not controlled by
laws, but by God's favor.
New American Standard 1977
For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under
grace.
Jubilee Bible 2000
So that sin shall have no dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but
under grace.
King James 2000 Bible
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but
under grace.
American King James Version
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but
under grace.
American Standard Version
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under
grace.
Douay-Rheims Bible
For sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law, but
under grace.
Darby Bible Translation
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law but under
grace.
English Revised Version
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under
grace.
Webster's Bible Translation
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but
under grace.
Weymouth New Testament
For Sin shall not be lord over you, since you are subjects not of Law, but of
grace.
World English Bible
For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under
grace.
Young's Literal Translation
for sin over you shall not have lordship, for ye are not under law, but under
grace.
How do you know if you really love Jesus?
„If a man love me, he will keep my word”
What you can say, if you are honest: do you really love Jesus?
"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John 14:23 ASV (American Standard Version)
It is hard to say, but according to the Bible, many people don't love Jesus, if
they don’t keep his words.
To say that you love Jesus, but not to do what he says, is not enough.
What does “sanctification” mean?
The key of correct understanding of the sanctification
"Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but they that are wise shall understand." Daniel 12:10 ASV
The opposite meaning of sanctification is described as follows
"But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." 2Timothy 3:13 ASV
"He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness still: and he that is filthy, let him be made filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him do righteousness still: and he that is holy, let him be made holy still." Revelation 22:11 ASV
When and why does the law change?
The law is a relationship between the law-giver and the law-receiver. The one who gives the law can annul it, if the one who receives it does not execute it in the proper way.
"For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law." Hebrew 7:12 ASV
The law can be without effect, if you do not fit it correctly, in the correct parameters. From Peter's words we learn that some have made from the law an impossible yoke to bear.
“Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” Acts 15:10 ASV
The law can be a path to a certain goal. When the goal is reached, the law is useless.
"But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." Galathians 3:24,25 ASV
This goal was Christ
"For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth." Romans 10:4 ASV
The law is dead only if you die to it
"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God." Romans 7:4 ASV
One law can be replaced by another, if circumstances so require
"to them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law." 1Corinthians 9:21 ASV
If you have a law, it must be fulfilled
"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Galathians 6:2
Faith and Law: what is the difference?
Faith is a certainty for someone when you do something out of trust. While a law comes out of as an obligation, under penalty of death. We see this in the case of Abraham, who had faith, and in the case of the Jews expelled from Egypt, who had the law. The latter always complained about what they were doing, because they were not doing it out of faith, but out of obligation.
It is said of Abraham
For what does Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." (Rom.4: 3)
Likewise, Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. (Gal.3:6)
and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God. (James 2:23)
"But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." Galathians 3:24,25 ASV
It is said of the Hebrews brought out of Egypt, of those without faith
For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
“As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest,’”
although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For what is the Law?
"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet: but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin is dead. (...) Did then that which is good become death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good; --that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful. " Romans 7:7,8,13 ASV
Now, ask yourself, if you have the faith of Abraham for righteousness or you need many laws, for knowing the sin...
What is grace? Which is greater, the grace or the law?
What is "grace"?
"And the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly:" Romans 5:20 ASV
"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." John 1:17 ASV
"But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace." Romans 11:6 ASV
"for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory." Ephesians 2:8,9 ASV
What is „law”?
"For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh." Hebrew 10:1 ASV
"What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made; and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator." Galathians 3:19 ASV
"because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin." Romans 3:20 ASV
"as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers" 1Timothy 1:9 ASV
What happened at the pillar of torture - the cross?
„The pillar of torture” is for our illumination and salvation
You guided them by day through a pillar of cloud, and by night through a pillar of fire that illuminated the path they were to follow. Neem. 9:12
"Now therefore why make ye trial of God, that ye should put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" Acts 15:10 ASV
"What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin;" Romans 3:9 ASV
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:" Galathians 3:13 ASV
"having abolished in the flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that he might create in himself of the two one new man,'so making peace;" Ephesians 2:15
"having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out that way, nailing it to the cross;" Colosians 2:14 ASV
"I do not make void the grace of God: for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nought." Galathians 2:21 ASV
"for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory. (...) But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both one, and brake down the middle wall of partition" Ephesians 2:8,9,13,14 ASV
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say , of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus. Where then is the glorying? It is excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of faith." Romans 3:19-27 ASV
"1Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth? 2For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from the law of the husband. 3So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man.
4Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God. 5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 6But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet: 8but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin is dead. 9And I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died; 10and the commandment, which was unto life, this I found to be unto death: 11for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me. 12So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.
13Did then that which is good become death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good; --that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful.
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15For that which I do I know not: for not what I would, that do I practise; but what I hate, that I do. 16But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. 18For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not. 19For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practise. 20But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.
21I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
Romans chapter 7 American Standard Version
To reiterate: for what is the Law ... ?
Did you understand that the "law" is for:
"as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers" 1Timothy 1:9 ASV
Again, this is very important ... Do you understand what happend at the pillar tree of torture?
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:" Galathians 3:13 ASV
And again ... Do you understand that the union with Christ, is the death for the old life and reborn for a new life:
"For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him , that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin." Romans 6:5-7 ASV
Some are dead to all kind of sin, because some fight against all kind of sin, through the faith of life, like their chief example, Lord Jesus:
"looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrew 12:2 ASV
"We know that whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not; but he that was begotten of God keepeth himself, and the evil one toucheth him not." 1John 5:18 ASV
That’s why we are not under the Law of Moses and Prophets:
"The law and the prophets were until John: from that time the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and every man entereth violently into it." Luke 16:16 ASV
This law was fulfilled at the pillar tree of torture:
"Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished." Mathew 5:17,18 ASV
The key of a good understanding of these verses is in the "till all things
be accomplished" words from verse 18.
Our Master didn't say here that the Law and the Prophets are forever. He said all this is before "till all things be accomplished".
So, why the Law of Moses and the Prophets ended?
Because remember what is written:
1. "as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous man, but for the
lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane,
for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers"
1Timothy 1:9 ASV
2. "Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not
to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth
pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till
all things be accomplished." Mathew 5:17,18 ASV
So, if we are sinners, yes, we are under the law of God, and this law is for
death, but if we are righteous, we are not, we are free in Christ Jesus, His
Son, and this freedom is for life. We are living by faith in righteousness, as
Abraham did.
What is love?
It is the art of not harming, not hurting.
1 Corinthians 13
The Art of Love
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Footnotes
a.1 Corinthians 13:3 Some manuscripts deliver up my body [to death] that I may boast
b.1 Corinthians 13:5 Greek irritable and does not count up wrongdoing
Submission to the authorities, how far?
What should we do if the authorities ask us to do something wrong?
Romans 13
Submission to the Authorities
13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Fulfilling the Law Through Love
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
There are cases where the authorities ask for something that is not in line with our beliefs, what can be done in this case? Here is such an example. Eusebius of Caesarea was a bishop who attended the Council of Nicaea in 325. At the end of the debate, each participant had to sign an act approving the decisions written there. He asked for a break, after which he signed, but not out of conviction, but out of fear of the consequences written in the decree. After the Council of Nicaea (325), a fellow participant Bishop of Ptolemais, Secundus, noted this:
“You subscribed, Eusebius, in order
to escape being sent into banishment. But I place my confidence in a
revelation made to me by God, that within a year you too will be sent into
exile.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secundus_of_Ptolemais
After arriving home at Caesarea, his church helped him in
this problem.In fact, within three months after the conclusion of the
council, returning to his church view Eusebius was sent into exile as Secundus
had predicted.
After the Council of Nicaea, Christians who claimed that the Son of God did not
always existed before his birth in heaven were persecuted and exiled. Arius and
his fellow-Lucianist brethren were persecuted and exiled:
"I
pray that you fare well in the Lord, remembering our tribulations,
fellow-Lucianist, truly-called Eusebius [i.e. the pious one]."
Who was this Lucian, according to Wikipedia? A Bishop. The Bishop of Antioch.
The spiritual leader of the so called heresy of Arius, is Bishop Lucian of
Antioch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian_of_Antioch
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_%281913%29/Lucian_of_Antioch
Later, after the split with the genuine Arians, Eusebius of Caesarea and others
started a new party, the so-called "Semi-Arians".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Arianism
It's interesting to remember, how God works with us, through His Church, like in the case of Eusebius of Caesarea:
Eusebius of Caesarea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusebius
No Christian in the Church is allowed to persecute anyone. All they can do in case of disagreement is to depart (disassociate) from the culprit.
“If he doesn't want to listen to them, tell the church; and if he will not hearken unto the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man, and as a publican.” (Matt. 18:17)
Why "without excuse"... Think about this!
Why many believe in God's existence, and why many don't?
We believe, because:
"The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world."
Psalm 19: 1-4b
And because:
"since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made
it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible
qualities—
his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
Romans 1:19
Amen.
Why you don't believe... ...in God's existence? I don’t know. But, according to apostle Paul: You are "without excuse"... Think about this!
God is still God without us, but we without God ... we are nothing.
An old mystery from the Noah's ark time: Where is the water?
In the ancient time God flooded the whole earth with water.
The water comes from two side: from the sky and from the earth (underground water).
Even the highest mountains was flooded with this water. The evidence is the remains of the marine (sea) creatures in the top of the highest mountains:
"You can see clearly that these areas were under water because the nearby
peaks of the mountains are formed largely from marine sediments containing relative
recent marine fossils"
http://semneletimpului.ro/revista/noe-si-potopul-de-dovezi.html
BUT WHERE IS THE WATER?
"The waters of seas and oceans cover about 71% of the earth's surface. Therefore,
the Flood waters are still on earth. And if the glaciers and ice caps at the
poles would melt, sea level would rise so much that the waters would cover
cities like New York and Tokyo."
http://wol.jw.org/ro/wol/d/r34/lp-m/2008411#h=6
The remaining 29 percent of the water is still a mystery ... Where is it? This water is underground water, because that's where it came from.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPpKnwh3AvE&feature=related
A question for Sabbath-keeping churches: Why is missing the Sabbath from Acts 15?
I wonder and ask this churches why is not a command for a Sabbath day in the New Testament's Acts chapter 15, if the Sabbath is so important? Why in the first council of Jerusalem, the leaders of the believers don't said that the Sabbath must be held (kept) by the foreigners (pagans) who comes to the faith?
Acts
15, Aramaic Bible in Plain English
1But men had come down from Judea and were teaching the brethren: "If you
are not circumcised in the custom of The Law, you cannot have life."
2There was great tumult and debate with them for Paulus and BarNaba, and it
happened that Paulus and BarNaba and another with them would go up to the
Apostles and the Elders who were in Jerusalem because of this dispute. 3And the
church accompanied and sent them and they were traveling in all Phoenicia and
also among the Samaritans, as they were recounting the conversion of the
Gentiles, and they were creating great joy to all the brethren. 4And when they
came to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and by the Apostles and by
the Elders and they recounted to them everything that God had done with them.
5But some of the school of The Pharisees who had believed stood up, and they
were saying, "It is necessary for you to circumcise them and to command
them to keep The Law of Moses."
6But the Apostles and the Elders assembled to look into this matter. 7And as
there was a great dispute, Shimeon arose and he said to them, "Men,
brothers, you are aware that from the first days God chose the Gentiles to hear
the word of The Gospel from my mouth and to believe." 8"And God, who knows
what is in the hearts, testified to them and gave them The Spirit of Holiness
as to us." 9"And he made no distinction between us and them, because
he purified their hearts by faith." 10"And now, why are you tempting
God, so as to put a yoke on the necks of the disciples, which not even our
fathers nor we were able to bear?" 11But by the grace of Our Lord Yeshua
The Messiah, we believe in order to receive life, as they do".
12And all the crowds were silent, and they were listening to Paulus and to
BarNaba, who related everything whatever God had done by their hands -- signs
and mighty deeds among the Gentiles.
13And after they had ceased, Yaqob arose and he said, "Men, brothers, hear
me." 14"Shimeon has related to you how God began to choose from the
Gentiles a people for his name." 15"And the words of The Prophets
agree with this, just as that which is written:
16'After these things I shall return and I shall raise the tabernacle of David,
which had fallen. And I shall build that which had fallen from it and I shall raise
it up,
17So that the rest of the children of men may seek THE LORD JEHOVAH, and all
the nations upon which my name is called, says THE LORD JEHOVAH, who does all
of these things.'
18Known from eternity are the works of God." 19"Therefore I say, let
us not trouble those who are being turned to God from the Gentiles."
20"But let it be sent to them that they separate from the defilement of
sacrifices and from fornication and from what is strangled and from
blood." 21"For from the first ages there have been preachers for
Moses who read him on every Sabbath in every town* in the synagogues." *
22Then the Apostles and the Elders, with the whole church, chose men from among
them and they sent Yehuda, who is called Bar-Shaba, and Shila, to Antiakia with
Paulus and BarNaba, men who were Leaders among the brethren." 23And they
wrote an epistle by their hands thus: "The Apostles and Elders and the
brethren, to those who are in Antiakia and in Syria and in Qiliqia, brethren
who are of the Gentiles, peace." 24"We hear that men among us went
out and have alarmed you with words and have subverted your souls, as they were
saying, 'Be circumcised and keep The Law', which we have not commanded
them." 25"Therefore we counseled when we all assembled and we chose
men and sent them to you with our beloved friends, Paulus and BarNaba,"
26"Men who have surrendered themselves for the name of Our Lord Yeshua The
Messiah." 27"And we sent Yehuda with them and Shila, for they shall
tell you the same things by speech." 28"For it was the will of The
Spirit of Holiness and also of us that we would not put upon you a burden
greater than those things which are necessary:" 29"Abstain from what
is sacrificed, from blood, from what is strangled, and from fornication, for
when you keep yourselves from these things, you will be well. Be faithful in
Our Lord."
30But those who were sent came to Antiakia, and they gathered all the people
and gave them the letter. 31And when they read it, they rejoiced and were
comforted.
SDA (Adventists)
Sabbath-Keeping Churches, Non-Adventist:
(alphabetical listing)
Assembly of God in Christ Jesus
Associated Churches, Inc.
Associates for Scriptural Knowledge
Biblical Church of God
Body of Christ Church of God
Church of God (Anadarko)
Church of God (Jesus Christ the Head) (UNICO)
Church of God (O'Brien)
Church of God (Philadelphia Era)
Church of God (Sabbatarian)
Church of God (Seventh Day) Salem, West Virginia.
Church of God Evangelical Association
Church of God's Truth
Church of the Great God
Congregation of God, Seventh Day
Congregation of God
Congregation of Yah
Foundation for Biblical Research
Foundation of Life Fellowship
General Conference of the Church of God (Seventh-Day)
General Council of the Churches of God
Global Church of God
Harmony of Life Fellowship
International Church of God (ICG)
Philadelphia Church of God
Restoration Church of God
Sabbath Day Christian Church Small church of evangelical christians from Poland keeping Seventh-day. Branch of Polish SDA Church
Seventh-Day Church of God
The Eternal Church of God
The Pure Truth
Triumph Prophetic Ministries (Church of God)
Twentieth Century Church of God (Pennsylvania)
Twentieth Century Church of God
United Biblical Church of God
United Church of God
United Seventh-Day Brethren
Universal Church of God
World Insight International
Worldwide Church of God
Seventh-Day Apostolic Church - "Romanian"
Who are the witnesses of God and of His Son?
* Proof texts to be God's witnesses
*Isaiah 43:10 ""You are my witnesses," declares Jehovah,
"and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one
after me."
*1Corinthians 15:15 "Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God,
because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise,
if in fact the dead are not raised."
*Hebrews 12:1 "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before
us,"
*Revelation 3:14 "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These
things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the
creation of God:"
** Proof texts to be His Son's witnesses
**Acts 1:8 "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
**Revelation 2:13 "I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne
is; and thou holdest fast my name, and didst not deny my faith, even in the
days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where
Satan dwelleth."
Some want only to be witnesses of God, and others only to be witnesses of his Son, but the Bible calls us to be witnesses of both heavenly Persons, the Father and His Son, the most important Beings in the Universe.
A general call, for all people, from the Bible, the Holy Scripture
The message of God and His Son for all of us is: Repent and be faithful so that you can escape from Babylon the Great! —Luke 13: 1-5, Revelation 18: 4.
Luke 13:1-5
New International Version
Repent or Perish
13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Revelation 18:4
New International Version
Warning to Escape Babylon’s Judgment
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
“‘Come out of her, my people,’[a]
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
Read full chapter
Footnotes
Revelation 18:4 Jer. 51:45
Be wise to could help Bible believers and others who care about their eternal future! - Matthew 25:1-13
Matthew 25:1-13
New International Version
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Read full chapter
What the Bible really teach about the Bible?
The Holy Scripture, the Bible, is inspired by God and it is useful for our fulfillment:
2 Timothy 3:15-17
New International Version
15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Read full chapter
Footnotes
2 Timothy 3:17 Or that you, a man of God,
The Bible is the standard of faith:
1 Corinthians 4:6
New International Version
6 Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.
The apostles were sent by God, through Christ Jesus, so their word is like the Word of God:
2 Corinthians 5:20
New International Version
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Any teaching, prophecy or conduct must be verified with the Bible, but, be careful, it can be misinterpreted. The apostle Peter says that those who misinterpret the Scriptures to justify their sinful way of life and thinking will perish.
2 Peter 3:15-16
New International Version
15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
In the book of Revelation we are told that the modification of the Scriptures brings with it the punishment of God's wrath:
Revelation 22:18-19
New International Version
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.
Modifying God's word is like lying:
Proverbs 30:6
New International Version
6
Do not add to his words,
or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.
It is forbidden to trade in what is written in this Word of God. God's message to mankind must be free.
2 Corinthians 2:17
New International Version
17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God:
What is free, remain free: „Freely you have received; freely give.”
Matthew 10:7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep.
What the Bible really teach about salvation from sin and death?
Salvation is given through grace, through faith:
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
The justification for this act of salvation is in Christ‘s sacrifice.
Romans 3:21-31
Righteousness Through Faith
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Luke 22:41-44
41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Salvation is not by deeds, because then we would annul both Christ’s sacrifice and God’s grace, which is given on the grounds of the belief in this sacrifice and thus the reason of our salvation would not be the belief in Christ’s sacrifice: Galatians 5:4-6; Galatians 2:21 and also the grace would no longer be grace Romans 10:6. However, salvation is for good deeds. This good deeds that God has prepared for us to do, are indispensable because faith without deeds is void, dead; that is why we must show our faith through good deeds: James 2:14-20.
What happens if you're not saved? Are you going to hell, to eternal punishment in endless pain? No. God is right and good, even if you are evil enough. God’s Word teaches us that the payment for sin is death and not the sinner’s eternal torment in endless pain: Romans 6:23. “The lake of fire” is a great warning signal of the eternal destruction that awaits the lost ones: Revelation 20:14. This "lake" is the eternal death, the eternal destruction, as it is so clearly shown: “The lake of fire is the second death.” You will go to eternal death, which is the second death.
What the Bible really teach about God’s love? How long will it be for those who oppose it?
God loves every person and He commands all the people everywhere to repent:
Acts 17:30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
Romans 2:1-16
God’s Righteous Judgment
2 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
There is no possibility of salvation once a man dies unrepentant, that is why, out of true love for our neighbors, we must do our best to evangelize those who are lost: Matthew 24:14; Revelation 20:11-15. What would you say about a father who, before any of his children are even born, decides that he will kill the second and the third one, no matter what they could be, good or evil? There are a lot of Christians (Augustinians and Calvinists) who think that God has decided, in this way, the faith of billions of people. Does God wish the fall or the salvation of His children? The next verse shouldn’t be indifferent neither to an Augustinian, not to a Calvinist: “God, our Savior, who wishes all the people to be saved and to see the truth:“ 1Timothy 2:3, 4. As we see, God wishes the salvation of all the people, but those who through their bad deeds reject this free grace, fall from grace and cannot be saved. That is why , when the Apostle Paul writes about our predestination we must bear in mind God’s wish shown to all people and by what and how we can enter in this predestination of salvation, which is a predestination as a group of believers and not of individuals: Romans 9:30-33. God didn’t create a man more sinful than another. He hasn’t arbitrarily decided one’s destiny, neither one’s fall, nor salvation, and this even before the individual’s birth: through repentance everybody can receive the grace! Luke 13:1-5.
What the Bible really teach about God’s person? Who is He?
According to the Holy Bible, there is only one, supreme, sovereign, eternal, immortal and unchanging God. He is one single being, one single person distinct from all: the Creator, the Father who bears the name of YHWH (transl. Yehowah): Exodus 3:13-16. This means that it wasn’t God who died in pains on the cross, the torture pillar, but it was His Son, Jesus Christ who died: John 3:16; 1Timothy 6:16; John 20:17; Luke 23:46. Jesus Christ didn’t always exist, because otherwise he would be God’s “Brother” and not His Son, but obviously, as God’s Son, he inherited God’s nature and this nature is also promised to us, the faithful: 2Peter 1:4. Of course, Jesus Christ existed in heaven as a distinct person from the Father, before His coming on Earth and His human birth, Jesus being the beginning of God’s Creation: Revelation 3:14; John 8:57,58; Philippians 2:5-8. In the beginning, He was created, that is, brought into existence by God, his Father. It is only when He came from heaven and was born like a man that He literally was given birth by the virgin Mary. The Holy Spirit is not a distinct person from God, because then it would be God’s “Brother”; it is God’s spirit. Being created in God’s image - Genesis 1:26, every person has a spirit, which, however, doesn’t make of him the residence of two person: the copy looks like the original, in the same way as God has own spirit, which is incomparably more powerful than our spirit, taking into consideration that we are only miniatures of the original. The idea of the concept of the godly “one-trinity” has been taken from the pagan philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras of Samos, via Plato, Aristotle, etc. and “dressed” in meanings from the Bible, by certain prominent Christians of neoplatonic orientation from Egypt and Cappadoccia and imposed on Christians as Bible teaching.
Did you know that the Satan is a liar (John 8:44)?
Satan is the greatest Liar! We must not believe Satan’s lie that people don’t die: Genesis 3:4, John 3:13, John 11:11-14. The man is a divine creation, God’s creation, being the result of the joining of flesh and breath or, let’s put it in another way, the joining of flesh and the spirit breathed by the Creator: Genesis 2:7. As long as the flesh and the spirit coexist, the man is a being; in biblical terms: the man is a living (breathing) soul. When this union ceases to exist, the man is no longer a being, a living and breathing soul. He just doesn’t live anymore, death being the opposite of life. The only hope for those who die is the resurrection: John 5:28, 29. There is no conscious or subconscious “life” or the purgatory state after death: Ecclesiastes 9:1-12. Don’t let yourselves be fooled by those who explain the biblical parables in literal terms: Matthew 13:10-15. If the man could live after his death, there would be no need for resurrection.
Are you a true worshipper?
The Christians are forbidden to worship (with the meaning of divinizing) gods, objects, images, people (either living or dead) and angels: Exodus 20:1-5; Acts 10:25, 26; 14:15; Revelation 19:10; 22:8, 9. They have only one God, the Father and they worship Him, only Him, as Jesus Christ, God’s Son, did and taught us to do: Luke 22:41-45; Matthew 4:10. Our worship is in Spirit and truth and only through His only begotten celestial Son, our High Priest and only Mediator: John 3:3-7; John 3:13-21; John 4:24; John 8:31,32; John 14:6; Hebrews 4:14-16; 1Timothy 2:5. If a person bows down to somebody else in sign of obeisance, prayer, courtesy, gratitude, it doesn’t necessary mean that he or she is worshiping that person: Genesis 23:12; Luke 8:41. According to the Book of Revelation 22;15, the false worshipers will be cast out from the Eternal Kingdom of God.
Did you know that you must be a pacifist in order to inherit the kingdom of God?
Do you love peace?
Christians are forbidden to kill and to revenge themselves on their enemies, whatever the reason: Matthew 5:21, 22; Matthew 5:38-48; Romans 12:17-21; James 1:19-21.
According to the Book of Revelation
Whoever leads others into captivity will also go into captivity. Whoever kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints. (Rev. 13:10)
Be a peacelover!
Do you know the value of a sign?
Christ means „the Anointed”. Did you know for what he is anointed? To be a glorious King on the Earth, the New Earth, for a thousand year period. Before he’s coming as God’s Anointed there will be great sorrow and trouble on Earth, which will show that God’s kingdom and the coming of His Anointed designated as King is near, is at the door: Luke 21:25-31; Matthew 24:29-33; Revelation 6:12-17. This „signs” show that the Anointed comes after the signs, and not before them.
Be ready to know and believe the „meaning” of this signs in their time:
In some places there will be great earthquakes, famines and plagues; there will be frightening looks and big signs in the sky. (Luke 21:11)
There will be signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars. And there shall be trouble among the nations, and they shall not know what to do with the roaring of the sea and the waves; (Luke 21:25)
How do you pray?
Are you reasonable and humble when you pray or do you want to be artistic and impress those around you?
How and why should we pray?
When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who like to pray standing in synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have taken their reward. (Matt. 6: 5)
When praying, do not mumble the same words as the pagans, who think that if they say a lot of words, they will be heard. (Matt. 6: 7)
That is why I tell you that whatever you ask, when you pray, believe that you have received it, and you will have it. (Mark 11:24)
And when you stand to pray, forgive whatever you have against someone, so that your Father who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:25)
Pay attention, watch and pray; for you do not know when that time will come. (Mark 13:33)
He said to them, "When you pray, say, Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (Luke 11:2)
When
he came to the place, he said to them, "Pray that you may not be
tempted." (Luke 22:40)
So in private or public gatherings prayer those artistic or chaotic
manifestations of pagan type prayers which dishonor God’s gathering must be
avoided: Matthew 6:5-8; 1Corinthians 14:23, 40.
Why are vegetarians weak in faith?
When Christians preached the Gospel, they met many pagan people who were lead by their false prophets to believe in vegetarianism, because they told to the pagans that killing an animal is a sin. There are ancient sources that show that certain pagans did not kill animals for food and drink wine, considering these a sin. These being pagans, they did not have the Old Testament and did not know the position of God, after the Great Flood.
Killing an animal is a sin only when it is done without good reason. And drinking alcohol is a sin only when it leads to drunkenness, drinking a larger amount than is appropriate. The properties of wine are praised even in the Bible, one being the apostle Paul. He recommends wine for a certain disease and not must, as some mistakenly believe (1Tim.5:23).
Likewise today, many being indoctrinated by the teaching of some, do not know that the Sabbath or day of rest is given by God only from Mount Sinai, through Moses, and was not given from Eden, as some say.
Nehemiah 9:13 You descended on Mount Sinai, spoke to them from the heights of heaven, and gave them righteous commandments, true laws, wonderful teachings, and ordinances. 14. Thou hast made known unto them thy holy Sabbath, and hast given them by thy servant Moses a commandment, and a statute, and a law.
So, the Old Testament Sabbath and the abstention from certain foods are not obligatory now, because these commandments have been unbound: Mark 7:14-23; Acts 15:1-11; for example, vegetarians are called weak although they believe are strong in their faith; we must treat them wisely so they won’t completely lose their faith: Romans 14:1-23.
What is the "sign" of Jesus?
Why is given such a sign, the "sign" of Jesus?
Then shall the sign of the Son of man be in heaven: and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Mat.24: 30)
Our Lord Jesus Christ said that the world will not see Him, only His disciples will: John 14:19. How does this truth tone with that which says that every eye shall see Him, even those who pierced Him: Revelation 1:7?
Very simple: after the big and frightening sign, which will be the last in a series (plagues, catastrophes) which will come over the unfaithful: Matthew 24:29, 30. Revelation 6:1-17.
So, this sign is the sign of his great revelation.
How should different opinions be discussed?
Why is Christianity so divided? What led to this condition?
Here is a sample of a dialogue that the emperor Constantine the Great had with Arius, in a theological dispute, about Jesus Christ.
"(18.) Lend your ears and listen a little, impious Arius, and understand your folly. O God, protector of all, may you be well – disposed to what is being said, if it should admit of faith! For I, your man, holding to your propitious providence, from the very ancient Greek and Roman writing (WOW!!!) shall demonstrate clearly Arius’ madness, which has been prophesied and predicted three thousand years ago by the Erythraean sibyl. (19.) For she indeed says: “Woe to you, Libya, situated in maritime regions, for there shall come to you a time, in which with the people and your daughters you must be compelled to undergo a terrible and cruel and very difficult crisis, from which a judgment both of faith and of piety in respect to all persons will be given, but you will decline to extreme ruin, for you have dared to engulf the receptacle of celestial flowers and to mangle it with a bite and you have polluted it with iron teeth.” (20.) What then, knave? Where in the world do you admit that you are now? There, obviously; for I have your letters, which you have scraped with the pen of madness toward me, in which you say that all the Libyan populace is of the same opinion with you – doubtless in regard to salvation. But if you shall deny that this is so, I now call God to witness that truly I send to Alexandria – that you may perish more quickly – the Erythraean Sibyl’s very ancient tablet, composed in the Greek tongue."
http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/urkunde-34
Arius view - that the Son of God has a beginning - was well received in his
country and the emperor did not contradict this notice "in which you say
that all the Libyan populace is of the same opinion with you", but
it infuriated him terribly and he tried to fight this popularity with a popular
pagan oracle. Do we need what a certain pagan prophet or prophetess said to
support the statements in the Bible? Did not pagan ideas creep into
Christianity through these pagan prophets and prophetess, as it is written?
But the Spirit plainly says that in the latter times some will forsake the faith, clinging to deceptive spirits and the teachings of the devils, (1Tim. 4:1)
The Erythraean Sibyl was a pagan prophetess of classical antiquity, presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Erythrae, a town in Ionia opposite Chios, which was built by Neleus, the son of Codrus.
Apollodorus of Erythrae, says that one who was his own countrywoman predicted the Trojan War and prophesied to the Greeks both that Troy would be destroyed and that Homer would write falsehoods.
The word Sibyl comes (via Latin) from the ancient Greek word sibylla, meaning prophetess. Sibyls would give answers whose value depended upon good questions — unlike prophets, who typically answered with responses indirectly related to questions asked.
Presumably there was more than one sibyl at Erythrae. One is recorded as having been named Herophile. At least one is said to have been from Chaldea, a nation in the southern portion of Babylonia, being the daughter of Berossus (who wrote the Chaldean history) and Erymanthe. Berossus was a Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer, a priest of Bel Marduk and astronomer who wrote in the Koine Greek language, and who was active at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. Versions of two excerpts of his writings survive, at several removes from the original.
It is said that one of these pagan prophetess (it is not known which) foretold Christ.
But why should we support Christianity with sources outside it, as many did in antiquity, including Emperor Constantine, as we see in this sample?
Why do we not have the power to discuss, pursuing peace and sanctification, which are so necessary in order to be saved?
Pursue peace with all and sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord. (Heb.12:14)
Love one another with brotherly love. In honor, let each one give priority to the other. (Rom.12: 10)
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2 Tim. 3:16)
Why we don’t talk in peace, holiness and love, from the Bible?
So, back to the Bible way. For a good dialog we must have first: peace, holiness and love, and a good Bible translation.
A dialog is a work in progress, and slowly. We must be patient.
Our
only purpose is to give glory to our God, the Father Almighty, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior, and to acknowledge their authority in our lives.
Who are "the other sheep" from John 10:16?
The "other sheep" is also of God and of his Son. They are also saved.
I am sure that the “other sheep” are Gentiles, who believe in Lord Jesus
Christ. This is so clear from Genesis to Revelation, that many Gentiles will
join in the holy worship of the only and Most High God of Jews, Yehowah. Jesus
Christ will gather those ho accept the message of heavenly calling, both
Hebrews and Gentiles. At the end of this age, before the mark of the New World
Order, and great tribulation, all nations, tribe and language will “hear” a
last calling to accept God’s rule and kingdom. Unfortunately, many, both
Hebrews and Gentiles will disagree with God’s will and will follow the last
earthly ruler, the Antichrist.
What is our reward, as Christians
(followers of Jesus Christ)?
Matthews 19:27,28
Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
You will observe here if you are not blinded with hate against this Biblical
teaching that Christians (the true ones) will sit on the thrones – so they are
rulers – and will judge people – so they are judges, but also priests:
Blessed and holy are those who have the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Rev. 20:6).
Exist other verses who teach the same thing. But I think for all who love the truth this is sufficient.
Now, the question arises: Are you a true Christian to deserve all this?
If you are a Christian, I urge you for a final review of your life stile, to be a real one.
When God will shut the door?
It is interesting how some of the religious leaders of the past thought. For example, the Adventists and ex-Adventists.
.
The “shut-door” in the Adventist imagination:
„Shut-door theology was a belief held by the Millerite group from 1844 to approximately 1854, some of whom later formed into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It held that as William Miller had given the final call for salvation, all who did not accept his message were lost. The door of salvation was shut, hence the term "shut door". They later understood it was concerning the sanctuary and not the events on earth so abandoned their earlier understanding. As an interpretation of the year "1844", it was connected to the investigative judgment belief, which forms one of the official 28 Fundamentals beliefs today.” Shut-door theology, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Here is some interesting things, about 1881. It is a kind of William Miller and Ellen Gould White and others view about Adventist "shut door"
"November 18, 1844--William Miller Believed His Work Was Done and the Door
Was Shut.
We have done our work in warning sinners, and in trying to awake a formal church. God, in his providence has shut the door; we can only stir one another up to be patient; and be diligent to make our calling and election sure. We are now living in the time specified by Malachi 3:18, also Daniel 12:10, Rev. 22:10-12. In this passage we cannot help but see that a little while before Christ should come, there would be a separation between the just and unjust, the righteous and wicked, between those who love his appearing, and those who hate it. -- William Miller Letter of Nov. 18, 1844, quoted in The Advent Herald, Dec. 11, 1844, p. 142." http://www.whiteestate.org/issues/shutdoor.html
The “shut-door” in the ex-Adventist (Bible Students) imagination:
In 1916 (Reprint 5918) the ex-Adventist (from George Storrs’ branch) pastor Charles Taze Russell stated:
"... the full complement of Body members of Christ is being secured,
despite Satan's vigorous efforts to prevent it. Now the number is almost full;
indeed the few now coming in, we believe, are merely taking the places vacated
by some who by unfaithfulness have lost the crown laid up for them; for we understand that the full number had accepted the offer
and been begotten of the Spirit when the general Call ceased, in the fall of 1881."
http://www.network54.com/Forum/89087/message/1276833932/Re-+An+interesting+read!
I read an interesting, but fanatical discussion at the same point, which justifies what should not have been justified, but humbly acknowledged as an error, an opinion that has no justification in the Bible.
He replied, "It is not your business to know the times or the periods; the Father has kept them under His control." (Acts 1:7)
Here
it is how the ex-Adventist "Bible Students" or Russellites, explain
the "shut door" are still open, once their leader considered closed
it in 1881:
"No, you're reading it correctly, just not reading enough.
"That narrow way stood open ever since, till Oct. 1881" "Till Oct. 1881?" Hmm, I though it was Johnson who closed the entrance into the narrow way! Perhaps I'm not reading this correctly!" - Bro. Harold
_________________________
How the "Bible Students" explain the "shut door" are still open:
"No, you're reading it correctly, just not reading enough.
Yes, the Pastor did believe and teach that 1881 would mark the closing of the
door to enter into the little flock, this is clear from his early writings. In
fact, he believe that 1881 would see the "rapture" of the feet
members in 1881.
"We know not the day or hour, but expect it during 1881, possibly near the
autumn where the parallels show the favor to Zion complete and due to end, the
door to the marriage to shut and the high calling to be the bride of Christ, to
cease.)" R191
In May 1881 issue, there appeared an article entitled: "The Year
1881" in the article were some thoughts as to what was to be expected on
October 02, 1881. The Pastor believed and taught that the door to the high
calling would be shut and all opportunity to enter in would be fruitless.
"We have no desire to dogmatize nor to keep any one out, but we [believe]
(and therefore speak) that the favor which ends this fall, is that of entering
the [Bride company]. We believe the [door of favor] is now open and any who
consecrate [all] and give up [all], can come in to the wedding and become
members of the Bride, but that with this year the company will be reckoned
[complete] and the [door to that high calling] (not the door of mercy) closed
forever." R224
In R833, the Pastor still believed the door was closed with no opportunity to
get in, although he did believe that the sleeping saints were resurrected in
1881.
Later the Pastor would amend his thoughts, and redefine what he believed was
"closed".
"Our thought is that a large number of those who consecrated prior to 1881
failed to "make good." It is our thought that you are still in time
to make your consecration, with every reason for hoping that you may make your
calling and election sure by zealous faithfulness in sacrificing earthly
interests in favor of the Heavenly."
So before there was no opportunity to run the race after 1881, now there is
opportunity. So what ended? In the same article the Pastor states:
"We make a distinction between the end of the public Call and the shutting
of the door. We understand that the public Call ended when a sufficient number
had been invited and had accepted the invitation--in 1881. But of these invited
and accepted ones there was still to be a testing."
So it was the public call that ended, and not the call itself. Mind you the
above quotes come from the July 1915 Watch Tower
In 1916 Reprint 5918 the pastor stated:
"... the full complement of Body members of Christ is being secured,
despite Satan's vigorous efforts to prevent it. Now the number is almost full;
indeed the few now coming in, we believe, are merely taking the places vacated
by some who by unfaithfulness have lost the crown laid up for them; for we
understand that the full number had accepted the offer and been begotten of the
Spirit when the general Call ceased, in the fall of 1881."
So up until the time of his death, he still believed that the door was opened,
replacements, but nevertheless, the door still open.
This change, no doubtr was a result of so many falling away during the 1909
schism, and then again those who left when the expectations of 1914 were not
realized. I would then add the many who fell away during the 1917 split.
RR
-------------------
Final words
Any speculation is a great and terrible sin and according to the Bible the speculators „does not have God”, and this is why: "Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son." 2John 1:9
So, all who speculate are under the the demon's control. It is painful to say to the Adventists branches and ex-Adventist Bible Students branches, but according to this words of the Bible, their leaders were under the demon's control.
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