wayne0214

The idea of communicating with the dead is of Satanic origin. It reverts back to the account in Genesis 3:4-5 that "you shall not surely die". That the powers of the Occult have redefined the meaning of "death", a (complete) separation, and total isolation from the living. (Gen. 2:17) When anyone believes they are communicating with the dead, they are really communicating with impersonating (evil) spirits, and that they all present the same message, "there is no death, but only transition from one realm to another". In fact, all the occult discipleship teachings, including those that are considered "advanced", are only cover-ups for the original lie; "you shall not surely die"!

I don't believe that any church can be considered a cult unless they do not teach the scriptures, and with some peculair interpretation of those scriptures,

Joseph's geneology is given because he too was of the lineage of David, the king, but also because he married Mary, and the unity of marriage (Gen. 2:22-25) automatically made him the(caretaker) father of the child, Lord Jesus. .............wayne

This is the same qeustion Pilate asked Jesus ,(John 18:37-39), even though the (God's) Truth was standing before him! Jesus also stated that He is the truth in John 14:6,(".....I am the way and the truth and the life;") and He is that truth because through Him was everything created. (John 1:1-3). It escapes me as how anyone could not get closer to the truth than knowing the Creator of all things! .....wayne (Edited by wayne0214 at 4:30 pm on Feb. 5, 2002)

It was only touched on with the overwhelming evidence you presented, that the disciples (except John) all gave their lives for the witness of Jesus's resurrection, during their spreading of the Good News (the gospel), but they were alone when each one was martyred. If the resurrection were a fabricated story then why were they willing to die separately for its validity. Jesus' (invisible) presence is sometimes given to those who are rescued out of spiritism or Occult religions, such as Hinduism, or they are totally healed from an incurable sicknesses. This is a common occurance in India and other Hindu-dominated countries -as repeatedly read from various missions reports from those areas. This is a way of giving undeniable proof to those folks that He really did rise from the grave in an new type of resurrected body. This same resurrected body is also our hope of eternal life -a supernatural body that does not age or get sick or die! Luke 24:36-49, Acts 1:9-11, I Thess. 4:13-18).

CWJ; good thought, and I'm 100% with you on this one. Generally those who advocate NO prophesy is valid because we have the canon of scripture are also, (I believe) called "word only" folks. It seems to me that since our Bible does not state anything about any of the gifts of the Spirit becoming obsolete, that those who deny that part of His ministry are (in my estimation) greiving the Holy Spirit, because of His demonstrated lack of leadership in the lives of those who advocate that teaching. Therefore, they have not witnessed the gifts that they proclaim to be obsolete, nor any of the others, for that matter. What do you think? ..........wayne

Basically I'm with Angels4U on this issue. That the Lord Christ Jesus should be limited in foretelling to what is only stated in the human-selected canon of scripture? However, I do not believe that our Lord will add any more end-time prophetic messages to our Bible other than what is already given, because after 2000 years, there has been nothing said either from the Israelis nor the Church that would qualify for that. (That concerning the modern-day prophetic movement, I have yet to find any of them that foretell anything that is in accordance to our current revealed scriptures). But that He is free to reveal anything He wants to us. A case in point is Agabus, in the book of Acts, a New Testament prophet. He, presenting God's pronouncements, is mentioned twice therein (Acts 21:10-11, and 11;28). You can read the type of prophetic messages of the New Testament. It is seldom heard among those who advocate that NO prophesy is valid because of our securing a canon, about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Read John 16:7-15 and please note the last part of verse 13. If this isn't a promise of prophesy through a specific gift of the Spirit, then I do not know what else it could mean. And it should also be kept in mind that all divine initiative begins with God, for His glory, and not with man. (John 6:38-39 and 8:28-29). Therefore, I do not place any confidence in those who claim to have the gift of prophesy -the type that is additive (or more than likely, to alter) to our current canon. Yet, I do believe that there is a gift of the Spirit called the "gift of prophesy", but that it is used to foretell specific events, that are of importance, but only to those gathered (within a congregation) who would be so affected. The New Testament gift of prophesy is not something that one should flaunt, in order to draw a following -as many modern " Latter Rain prophets" do today. .........wayne