Down to the Rapture

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(desynch @ Mar 9 2007, 11:48 AM) [snapback]402819[/snapback]</div>

Sorry Desynch, quoting scripture does not make one a false prophet, anymore than quoting Buddha makes him a false Buddhist.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(loveit @ Mar 9 2007, 10:56 PM) [snapback]403118[/snapback]</div>

Scripture also tells us that God knew us before we born, and that He knows everything we will ever do.

Even at this moment when I am typing this sentence, correcting this spelling, He knew it before I was born.

So if that is true...then He has no need for prayers, since He knows what is going to happen already, and no amount of prayer will change that, since it's happened to God, already.

Now, for the record, I don't pray. Never have felt comfortable with it. Seems like a forced exercise. I might meditate on a issue, think about it, ponder it...but I don't expect God to change His mind for me, so why bother?

I can't change God's mind, and that is alright with me. I think, if my life is already planned out, I would trust God to take me down the path of least resistance, the easiest path available, since He wants the best for me.

The path for you might be easy, and smooth, which is fine, but I like my path with the rocks and thorns. Makes for a better adventure, experiencing life to the fullest. Also makes me wonder how much harder my life would be, if things were not like they are now. I would not trade my cancer, my arthritis, my life for anyone. I love where I am, and what I am doing, and how I am doing it. To that, I thank God!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Mar 9 2007, 01:04 PM) [snapback]402924[/snapback]</div>

So I guess if your recharging to be good for others than your fine?
Jesus took times in the wilderness when he could have spent that time ministering....
but it is important to "recharge" and have something to give.. otherwise you only get depleted.

But when Jesus went to the wilderness.. it says he was lead of the Holy Spirit to the wilderness.. while there he got tempted of the devil and won......

The bottom line is doing what your being called to do at the time.... obedience to God is better than sacrific.

sometime God will call you to run and run and run.... and he will give you grace to make it and the energy to sustain you if you obey, other times he may "call" you to sit out for a while.... likewise you can enter into sin if you do good works when God is asking you to step out for a while.

You must be able to hear the leading of the Lord before you can please him.... good works on your own accord will only get in his way. But people like control and fear releasing control to God.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Mar 9 2007, 09:02 PM) [snapback]403140[/snapback]</div>

If thats your mentality, you may as well not go to work...your life is predestinated anyway.. so whats the hope?
Heck, why even get up in the morning?.. its all predestinated anyway right? what can you do to improve it?
What about suicide?..... maybe God knows you are going to do it anyway, so why not?

This shows the craziness of that kinda of defeatest thinking.

God has given you authority and he has withdrawn his supreme foreknowledge in judging you.

The moment He forgives you, He knows you are going to sin again... Don't try and figure out Gods mind.

God does give power to your will..... its true he knows the beginning from the end, but its a lie of the devil to say you should do nothing because its all designed in advance anyway?

Maybe God knows you will make the right decisions and live with him forever too?.. so you might as well get on with it right?




<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(desynch @ Mar 9 2007, 11:14 AM) [snapback]402842[/snapback]</div>

You are not a christian, yet you know what makes them sick?.. how do you know anything if you don't even know yourself?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Mar 9 2007, 10:02 PM) [snapback]403140[/snapback]</div>

Because God wants to help you. He doesn't mind.

It's not very hard to understand. When a child comes to his dad because he hurts, he asks his dad or mom to fix him up. When a child is excited about doing well in school he/she wants the parents to know all about it.

It really is all about relationship with the Heavenly Father. Some people want it and others don't.

But the Heavenly Father doesn't want us playing martyr because when we do, we are the only ones hurting. Nothing gives the Father more pleasure than to have us come to Him and ask for help and He's more than willing to give it.

Now granted, there are times when we grow tremendously from the things we go through or struggle with, but the Father has made the way smooth for us through His Son.

I tried for many years to be all that I thought God wanted me to be, whatever that was, to be pleasing to Him. As a figure of speech, I almost died trying. But I am so glad because I don't have to because Jesus did it for me.

That's why it God says, "I swore that they would never enter my rest." Entering into God's rest cannot be done by works/working for it.

That's why Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you for my burden is light." He wants to do all of it for us, especially those things we cannot do for ourselves.

That's also why it says, that "When we are weak, then God is made manifest in our weakness by His power and might."

I will continue to pray for your health TJ. Take care!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(windstrings @ Mar 10 2007, 12:25 AM) [snapback]403145[/snapback]</div>

No, it show the craziness of believing each and every bit of scripture in the Bible. I was pointing out one (of the many), conflicted areas of the Bible. If God knows each and every move made by you, then there is no free will. But if there is free will, then God can not know everything, can He?

Thus, proving once again, that the very book you cling to, for every decision you make, is illogical, and flawed, because man wrote it.
Man wrote the Bible. It's got inspired parts from God, sure. But written by flawed man. But that's okay with me; I would rather have the imperfect word, at least knowing that some is correct.

Too bad ALAN that your narrow minded vision can't see what others see.




<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(loveit @ Mar 10 2007, 12:27 AM) [snapback]403159[/snapback]</div>

Please, don't. Really. If cancer is going to take me, then take me fast. Not long and drawn out. Despite how you and I can disagree, loveitoomuch, I too, am expecting to see God in heaven. And I want to get there! Soon!

Not so soon that I will kill myself or anything rash. But I don't want to live in pain any longer then I have to. Who would? I have no children, and my wife wants me to be happy and pain free.

I live with pain, 24/7. Hard pain, that I have grown so used to, that when I first got cancer, I looked at as a release. From the pain.

Alas, it seems as if I will be a survivor of cancer, dang it. It's there, but not spreading, which means treatments, and all, and that just annoys me.
Why I got cancer, when I never smoked, I can't tell ya...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(livelychick @ Mar 9 2007, 06:30 AM) [snapback]402726[/snapback]</div>

Livelychick, you sure seem totally filled with a ton of bitterness for some reason?.. I'm not your enemy, but if it makes you feel better to attack me, thats ok.

You are misinterpreting that scripture. When you interpret scripture, you must know:
1. Who wrote it
2. Who were they writing to
3. Why they were writing.. what problem were they addressing.

Anyway.... if you go back an read that scripture
(Mat 19:9 NKJV) "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."

the last part of that sentence "implies" that the woman that someone is trying marry has been divorced "legally" pertaining the the first part of the sentence.

In other words.. if her husband divorced her because she was sleeping around "that made her an adulterer"
Now if someone else marries her... since they are bonded as one with her.. that makes "them" an adulterer too!

Marriage bonds the two as one.


Sin is sin.. it simply separates you from God, but God still loves the person that has sinned.

I don't know your situation, but it seems you want to be accepted "without" having to repent or say your sorry, or admit any wrong..... maybe your not guilty of any wrong... maybe all the wrong was done to you.. I don't know and its none of my business....

But this scripture is trying to say that if one is an adulterer, her sin is trasmitted to her next husband unless that is removed.

This next scripture I believe helps reveal the foundation as to why Jesus made that statement as that was part of the law and a type and shadow of our relationship with him:
(1 Cor 6:15 NKJV) Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!
(1 Cor 6:16 NKJV) Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "the two," He says, "shall become one flesh."
(1 Cor 6:17 NKJV) But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.b

Please remember, it was Jesus that took the woman caught in adultery and forgave her even though others wanted to stone her.

Good news!
By the same rule and token..... and unbelieving spouse can be made righteous by the believeing one!

I know scripture seems to torque you.. but sometimes it says it best....

(1 Cor 7:8 NKJV) But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am;
(1 Cor 7:9 NKJV) but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
(1 Cor 7:10 NKJV) Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband.
(1 Cor 7:11 NKJV) But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.
(1 Cor 7:12 NKJV) But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her.
(1 Cor 7:13 NKJV) And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him.
(1 Cor 7:14 NKJV) For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.
(1 Cor 7:15 NKJV) But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace.
(1 Cor 7:16 NKJV) For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(loveit @ Mar 9 2007, 05:56 PM) [snapback]403118[/snapback]</div>

I agree with you, but there are those that believe God only hears the prayers of the saved. Dr. Bailey Smith, while President of the Southern Baptist Convention, made the statement (it is quoted in this old TIME Magazine article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...,952810,00.html).

It's important to note that the Baptists do not have a "normal" top-down denominational structure, so the leader of their Convention saying something is not analogous to the Pope saying it for Catholics, or a Bishop saying it for the United Methodists. Each Baptist church is an independent body, and not beholden to the denominational structure.

The sentiment is out there among some fundamentalist folks.

 

I was reading ALAN'S posts, and I got to thinking...about this verse.

Matthew 5:13

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by
men.
==============

I immediately thought of a scripture, when I read the above. Revelation 3:15-16, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."

Is this not what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 5:13? Don't be wishy-washy about your faith. Don't be afraid to be strong and independent; don't be afraid to use your mind. Don't be afraid to speak the truth, even when all around you, are people trying to put you down.

Even if your truth upsets others, have strength in your convictions.

Have flavor! Be on fire for the Lord and let everyone see that you are a Christian by your every word and action!

Every word, every action being key here.

Sorry. BOT, what ever that was.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(livelychick @ Mar 9 2007, 04:20 PM) [snapback]402931[/snapback]</div>

You are cool. Can I say that to a single girl, being a married man?

Thanks for your support!

Oh, and I don't like divorce, but I do think that it would be awesome if we had marriage contracts, that you could renew, say every 'x' set amount of years. This way, you stay married as long as the contract. And at the end, if both parties agree that it ain't working no more, then 'poof!' all done.

Sounds simple, maybe, but I think the idea is valid.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Mar 10 2007, 03:44 AM) [snapback]403270[/snapback]</div>

Thanks, TJ. You know I think you're cool too! And as I've told you before, while I don't share a few of your beliefs, I certainly respect you for having them and the way you present them. I'm sorry that some of these posters have gotten to you.

And to the marriage contract idea...hmmm...I've never thought of something like that. My initial reaction is "great idea." Then I start thinking of all the people who were so sure they'd make it...so full of love and hope...then their relationship implodes in 2 years when they realize that all the things they used to find cute about each other are now just annoying (e.g., "Could you please, just please, stop that breathing...in and out and in and out...it's making me nuts!").

I think initially, they'd take a contract out for too long to "show love." Then, they'd just end the marriage before the contract wore out anyway. Nope, practicality and love don't often meet. Geez--that sounds like something out of a romance novel. Blech.

Thanks for the idea, though. Gives me a new topic on love and marriage to think about!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fshagan @ Mar 9 2007, 10:57 PM) [snapback]403197[/snapback]</div>

I think he can hear them all, but those from people with faith have more impact and are honored more or at least carry more power in the spirit realm.... something about being in right standing with God really increases your faith.... God honors faith in him.
harboring sin and being unrepentant is a big big faith killer.
It also has to do with who has what authority over you. Satan carrys some degree of authority to vex and torment when a person clings to his camp and won't surrender to God.

(James 5:14 NKJV) Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
(James 5:15 NKJV) And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
(James 5:16 NKJV) Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
(James 5:17 NKJV) Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
(James 5:18 NKJV) And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

(1 Cor 11:27 NKJV) Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
(1 Cor 11:28 NKJV) But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
(1 Cor 11:29 NKJV) For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
(1 Cor 11:30 NKJV) For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
(1 Cor 11:31 NKJV) For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
(1 Cor 11:32 NKJV) But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

Drinking in an "unworthy" manner is taking the blood of Jesus upon you by drinking as if its a symbol of you allowing the blood of Jesus to wash and to cover your sins, yet in your heart your a lier and are not repentant at all buy only putting on a show to impress the onlookers.

There is much more that could be discussed on this subject.... LOL!.. we are already a few country miles off topic and I think its healthy sometimes to be so, but thats just a little comment.




<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Mar 10 2007, 02:15 AM) [snapback]403262[/snapback]</div>

Wow!... I'm touched!... way to go!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(livelychick @ Mar 10 2007, 06:37 AM) [snapback]403314[/snapback]</div>

That would be a wonderful solution "it it would work".. I think the only people that would work on now are those whose hearts are so protected and calloused that the majic of what marriage does is deeply scarred and no longer in jeapardy anyway.

Regardless of what is done on paper... marriage bonds hearts and souls... its a God think.. its just the way he made it... most don't realize how they are bonded at all until that bond almost gets ripped apart and only then are the strong ties noticed.

Much deeper than friendship, but truely two being made one and then ripped apart is about as traumatic as a baby being born with two heads and then being surgically separated.
The children are the same way.... God made us in such a fashion that divorce was not part of the equation of normal coping skills.

We are made to
1. Love God and bond to him as one in love and a contract of marriage.
2. Mimic that union with our earthly fleshly marriage between a man and woman.
3. Our children are "offspring" of that total union, so when its ripped apart, they seek it to be united somehow the rest of thier lives......


My parents split up when I was 12.... even though she has remarried 3 times and he twice.. he has not been married for 25 years and my mother is alone.

Even if something was to happen to my dads wife and she died leaving both my original parents alone again...... with "my head".. no way in my friggin wildest dreams would I want that union reunited... The path of desvestation and destruction from the first go around was bad enough... they are two different people now....

But emotional and spiritually... what once was bonded together in marriage always seeks to be renunited "if it were possible" (but its not).

Once you've ever bonded to someone in marriage and though it be 40 years later after that divorce, and you still think you hate thier guts.. there is still a majic special place in your heart for that person... "or at least who you thought they were"

The mind has little play in this dialouge, these are matters of heart and spirit.

Divorce is not in the heart of God "nor man" but its a necessary evil to prevent total destruction in some cases.

But people have abused divorce to hop from relationship to relationship leaving a trail of destruction and devestation to satisfy thier emptiness and lust... never addressing the real problem or solution to thier deep saddness and sense of incompleteness.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Mar 9 2007, 09:53 PM) [snapback]403165[/snapback]</div>

I"m starting to understand your viewpoint and appreciate it....

There are thousands who ask for healing and don't get it and so say the word must be flawed or think God must not love them.

There is indeed confusing issues as to why some recieve and others don't.

It was no different in Jesus day.. thousands thronged him, but only a few were touched and healed...

and some were touched several times as Jesus said...

(Mat 17:20 NKJV) So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
(Mat 17:21 NKJV) "However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

It think its important to move past the disease and to relationship with God..

So many people I have seen get thier healing when they finally quit asking for it and just worship God.

I've seen so many people in worship get thier healing when they didn't even ask for it that day!

Whether you get it or not should not be criteria on whether God is great or not..the blockage is with us.. not God... we are the resistance point... and sometimes the resistance point is in the spirit realm and we have to wait and battle through it as sometime there is literal warfare going on in the heavenlies on your behalf between good and evil.

Other people do not have thier heart right as they they are not humbled and think God is a quarter machine to go get their coke and then walk away to there normal unholy life.

Many different issues that can block things.....

Just as many issues can block love towards your wife... so it is with God...

I'm not making excuses, only throwing in a few "reasons", none of which may apply to you... but I pray you just hang in there and this whole time can be turned around for your good and God can use it to bless you and make a far more powerful instrument against evil than you ever imagined possible.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fshagan @ Mar 9 2007, 11:57 PM) [snapback]403197[/snapback]</div>

Cowa Bunga Man! That article was back in 1980! :blink:

Hopefully, the man had time to change his mind! We learn something new every day!

I was raised a Baptist and spent the first 24 years of my life in the Baptist church, but then when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit at the age of 24 my life began changing, and I began growing spiritually. It was a turn for the better.

I was at one time, (at the age of 24), going to 3 different churches, searching for God with my whole heart, and that was when I was baptized with the Holy Spirit. One of the churches that I was attending was a Pentecostal church. I knew that they believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and I wanted to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. (Unfortunately, most Baptist churches kick their pastors out if they find out that they have been baptized in the Holy Spirit.) The first pastor at this particular Baptist church was born again, but I didn't know that until many years later and that was after he had retired and moved to another state. What a shame!

Then I talked to God about deciding whether or not to leave the Baptist church which I was attending at that time, and go to a New Testament church. Basically I said, if the pastor of the Baptist church decides to leave, then I would leave too. If he decided to stay, then I would stay.

In two weeks time I had my answer.

Well, he left to go to another Baptist church, and I left to attend a New Testament church.

Mind you, even though I went through a lot, I grew and am still growing many years later.
That would have never happened if I didn't stay close to the Lord when I went through those hard times.

A lot of things and questions I put on the back burner of my mind and eventually learned a great deal from the Holy Spirit, and from those that were like minded. I did a lot of reading and had many questions which for the most part have all been basically answered to my satisfaction. The questions to which I didn't have answers for, I figured that the Lord would eventually show me, and He did.

Yeah, there were times when I was stupid, ignorant, and full of pride, but I definitely had no doubt about God existing and Who He was.

So I know that a person may mean well, but sometimes the way we present ourselves can really turn people off.

There are many, many examples in the bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, where "pagans", (people who were not Jewish), came to know God and He honored them and blessed them.

God has a way of drawing people to Himself and He doesn't really need us to do it for Him; but when He calls us Friend, then when we know Him as He truly is and value His friendship, then we do like what most people do when they have a friend that they want us to meet, they introduce their friend to us, and likewise with God.

But the Jews are God's chosen according to God's word, because it was through them, that He would make Himself known, and God would not only bless the Jews if they followed His commands, but it would also be through the Jews that the rest of the people the world over would be blessed.

The bible is very explicit in that God says, I will bless those who bless you, (the Jew), and I will curse those who curse you, (the Jew).

Why is it this way?

Well, the existence of the Jewish people is an actual eyewitness testimony to the very existence of God because that is God's plan for the Jewish people.

Jacob when he took refuge with the household of his mother's brother, Laban, God not only blessed Jacob but also Laban. Even after Jacob married both Leah and Rachel, and lived with his uncle for all those years, his uncle didn't want Jacob to leave and go back to his mother's country. Laban knew a good thing when he had it.

But, it was never God's intention for anyone not to be blessed. He has principles that need to be followed and He tells us that; and that we have a choice in deciding whether or not we will heed those principles.

Like gravity, what goes up, must come down. It's a given

Just like the story about the man who gets up in the middle of the night and goes to his friend's house knocking on the door asking for a loaf of bread because he had visitors who have come to stay and he has nothing to offer them for sustenance.

Of course the friend is going to get up and get him a loaf of bread. That's what friends are for. Likewise with God, when we come to Him, no matter what time of the day or night it is; and He won't turn us away no matter who we are: black, red, yellow, white, man, female, slave, free, Catholic, Jew, Protestant, or whatever.

No, I do not for one second believe what that Baptist pastor said is true, and I bet by this time, he doesn't either.

I trust that the Lord has shown him the error of his way; and if not by now, who knows, maybe he will know better in the future.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Mar 9 2007, 10:53 PM) [snapback]403165[/snapback]</div>

TJ, my heart goes out to you. It was never in God's will that man should suffer in this way.

I had a friend many years ago who died from asbestos in the lungs.

So I can understand where you are coming from in not wanting it to be a drawn out thing. Yes, I can also understand that you would want it to take you quickly also.

I can also understand where your wife if coming from. No one wants to see their loved one going through pain. I know that I wouldn't want to see my loved one suffer either.

TJ, I would like to share with you about some of the things that I learned from praying the Lord's Prayer. I would like to give you a different perspective on it so that you will be able to pray not only for others but also for yourself.

But for right now, I have some things that I need to do and need to be away from the computer for a couple of hours, but I will post again, I promise you.

Take care!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(loveit @ Mar 10 2007, 08:41 AM) [snapback]403378[/snapback]</div>

Now you're talking. We're always learning; what we knew yesterday we recognize today wasn't the whole story, or even the correct story - and if we're smart, we likewise recognize that what we know today isn't complete, that there are discoveries yet to be made that will modify or even overturn what we think is true today.

So yours is a strange outburst to come from one who regards a clutch of articles written well over two thousand years ago to be the be all and end all of knowledge. If an article written a relative blink of an eye ago (less than 30 years) is subject to the revision of new knowledge gained since, it's a tad ridiculous to assume the two thousand year old essays can't be similarly improved, revised, and augmented with two vast millenia of accumulated knowledge. Yet doing precisely this is fiercely resisted by every religion I know of.

This is not to say some observations aren't timeless. Not even two thousand years of new experience can add much to "do unto others as you would have others do unto you." So we shouldn't be so quick to discard the article above just because it was written when bell bottom jeans could still be worn in public. Some of what it has to say could be just as timeless as the golden rule.

But we can't know that without the light of what we know today, and will learn tomorrow.

Mark Baird
Alameda CA

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(airportkid @ Mar 10 2007, 12:33 PM) [snapback]403405[/snapback]</div>

Well, Mark, I can only write about that which I know to be true and that is my relationship to the Lord Jesus and the Heavenly Father.

Sure, I spent many years reading and praying but I also spent many years learning a lot of things about Jesus and His Heavenly Father and it was through the bible.

As a young person in my late teens, I remember asking a Youth Pastor about trying to understand the King James version of the bible. He simply said, get a version that you can understand and so I did.

I got the Living Pharaphase Bible. It was easy, it was simple, and was I hungry for God's word. I read that particular version from cover to cover at least 6 times; and other parts of the bible over and over again. But I read it day in and day out~meditating on it. I was really enamored of the stories which spoke to my heart, but also about the greatness and awesome power of God and the wonder of the miracles which He performed.

I still have that particular bible and to this day it's held together with rubber bands!

I came from the only Protestant family in the neighborhood.

There were many Jewish families, some orthodox Jews too. The rabbi lived on the corner opposite from us and he was nicknamed "The Clipper" for very obvious reasons!

When they celebrated the Feast of the Tabernacles, they built booths outside and adjacent to their homes to follow their religious protocol. It was all very interesting and exciting as it bought the bible to life for me as a child.

To this day, the Jew will always have a very special place in my heart.

But there were just as many Catholic families as Jewish ones! Most of the Catholic kids went to their private school within walking distance. All of us kids got along. The Jews went to their synagogue on Friday night before sundown, and couldn't leave do any type of work such as turning on or off the light switches, ect. Lots of kosher rules to follow.

But then again, the Catholics went to their masses on Sunday and did their thing. The kids had CYO, Catholic Youth Organization. On Saturdays they would have movies and cartoons along with popcorn, sodas, and other such goodies. The Father at that particular church use to sell the candies and such.

Surprisingly enough, many years later, like say about 10 years, when I met my spouse, (who was Catholic), in another county at a different Catholic church, and we decided to get married, this same Father married us!

But the long and short of it, I put to the test the things that were written in the book of Proverbs. There is much wisdom in that book although it was written several thousand years ago.

And there were many different things that came to pass as the result of my relationship to the Lord. Especially when walking with the Lord. Things that only God could do, and those were the things that made my relationship to and with the Lord grow strong and stronger as the days and years went by.

But, even though there were some really hard times for me emotionally and sometimes spiritually, I would probably have never made it without the help of the Body of Christ and its many members.

I stayed in church, I learned submission to authority and how it benefits not just me but everyone else when I do my part. I also learned much more about the stories in the bible and it was like having the scales fall off my eyes a little bit at a time, until I was able to see more clearly the spiritual side of it.

But I think the most important thing that I learned was that it was not all about me, it was about Him, Jesus Christ and what He did for me. But it is also about living my life in such a way that it will glorify Him because of what He did for me. Not that I, nor anyone could ever earn such a precious gift, but that He gave it freely because that is His nature.

Even today my learning has never stopped. I just recently got another bible, but a different version this time: The New Living Translation which is the Life Application Study Bible.

I am still learning about the principles and patterns that were set forth in the bible.

I have found that over the years, as the bits and pieces fall into place, (for me), that the more I learn, the faster I learn, and the more I grow in Him.

It's like being a baby crawling, then toddling, then walking, now running. Then one day my running will slow down, and I will look back on my life and all the things that the Lord allowed me to experience while living here on earth. Then, maybe I will be ready to be called home.

I will tell you that I am by no means perfect, but I just have a peace that only God can give about my life.

To this day, I will still always point to Jesus as The Way to the Heavenly Father, and the plumb line was the Word of God the bible.

"In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and He was God." John 1:1

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Mar 6 2007, 11:56 PM) [snapback]401506[/snapback]</div>

You need to read the following question and answer from Chabad.org:

And this:

And one last resource: Why Don't Jews believe in jesus? Jews for jesus?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Mar 10 2007, 11:56 PM) [snapback]403638[/snapback]</div>

Sorry, IsrAmeriPrius, I disagree with you.

The completed Jews I personally know, are just that: Completed Jews. That means that they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Who left His Glory in heaven and came to earth in the form of a baby to save mankind from his sin. They are Jews with Jewish blood running through their veins and their DNA will testify to that.

I know from FIRST HAND experience, not just say so. Like I said before, they live worldwide.

Many Jews today are looking for the Messiah to bring in an earthly kingdom; and rightly so, but that will not be until the earth and heavens as we know it today, will pass away with elements of heat and God Himself will creat a new heaven and a new earth for His people, (including Gentiles), to live in.

The bible says that the ways and thoughts of God are so much higher than ours.

I am very much interested in what you have to say.

Since you are a Jew, you tell me how you expect Messiah to come? And do you expect Him to come at all?

I know that many Jews just follow ritual, and some have given up believing that Messiah will come.

Messiah came a way many not thought possible. He was born of a virgin named Mary. He was fully human, yet the FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD resided in Him.

To be born of a virgin, now THAT'S SUPERNATURAL. But God in His wisdom did this. It was His choice to send the Messiah to His people in this way. So, who's to tell God how to do things? Not me.

Jesus is the Son of God. But many Jews thought how could this be? Isn't He just a carpenter's son? The son of Joseph?

I, myself, personally believe that God had His reasons for doing it this way.

The way I see it was that, the bible says that through one Adam sin had come to reign in the world, and every man, woman, and child would be affected by it because they had now taken on the sin nature of the evil one. Otherwise, why offer up animal sacrifices?

But now, God in His wisdom was to offer up another type of Adam, to take away the sins of the world, for once and for all time, and it would be through this type of Adam that would be the sacrifical lamb to make atonement for those sins.

So, the LORD GOD, decided that He would do away with the daily sacrifices and offer up HIMSELF AS A ONE TIME SACRIFICE for all sin: past, present, and future. And it would be through the SHED BLOOD, THE COVENANT, THE BLOOD OF CHRIST JESUS HIS SON WHICH COVERS ALL SIN, WHO WAS THE LAMB OF GOD, slain for the sins of the world.

It was God's plan to do this since BEFORE the foundation of the world was laid.

Just like when you celebrate Passover, and many thousands of years ago, the sacrifical lamb was slain and not a bone was broken in it's body, the animal's blood was smeared on the door post so that the angel of death could pass over before Jews' flight out of Egypt. Then the animal was roasted and eaten as the Passover meal.

This in itself is a type, a forerunner of what the LORD GOD would do in the future for His people through Jesus Christ. He was cursed for our sins, that is why He hung on a "tree", the wooden cross was made from a tree.

As Jesus hung on the cross, when He breathed His last, the Roman soldier pierced His side, where blood and water mingled and flowed out of His side. In doing this, not a bone of His body was broken. He was THE SACRIFICAL LAMB for all people for all time, for all sin.

And when He died, the veil of the HOLY TEMPLE was rent, FROM TOP TO BOTTOM, signifying that the way hade been made for man to approach THE LORD GOD through the death of His Son on the cross.

His Blood when applied to our lives and when we accept what He did for us on the cross, the LORD GOD accounts it unto us as RIGHTEOUSNESS. There is nothing else that we need or can do.

We can never earn our righteousness. It's our belief in God in what He says He will do that is accounted unto us as RIGHTEOUSNESS. For when we believe what He says He will do, which is the plan of the sacrifice of His Only Son, (like Isaac who was to be sacrificed and was Abraham's only son), atonement for sin has been made.

We are now made righteous and are in right standing with the LORD GOD. Not only that, when we accept what the LORD GOD has done for us, He breathes into us not just breath, but a very part of His Holy Spirit, just like He did with the mighty prophets of old. We now have A BRAND NEW SPIRIT living inside of us, one born of THE LORD GOD'S very own seed. That is why we are called Sons and Daughters of the Most High God. That's why He calls us His Sons and Daughters. We have taken on His very own nature. The Seed of God produces after it's own kind. God's Spirit cannot sin. But if man sins, and he confesses his sin to THE LORD GOD, He who is righteous will cleanse us from all sin, and our sin is as far as the east is from the west and He will remember them no more.

The bible says that "in the end times, my sons and daughters, (those that believe in Him), will dream dreams, and prophesied in His name." That is happening today, and many miracles are taking place.

If you wonder why there is an Old Testament, and a New Testament, it means that the Old Testament is a confirmation or a foreshadow of what is to come.

All I can say to you is to ask the LORD GOD to make Himself real to you and to show you what it is that you want to know about the Messiah and who the Messiah is. I can tell you right now, that the LORD GOD will make Himself known to you.

Jesus said, many thousands of years ago, "My kingdom is NOT OF THIS WORLD."

Meaning that His reign/rule/kingdom will be in the hearts of people.

This is what is meant by the LORD GOD saying that He will write on the tablets of their hearts His commands.