Budman

Dear Reaperman, Let me ask you this: When it comes your time to die, do you think it will take God by surprise? No, of course not. In the Bible, Solomon wrote long ago that "to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die..." (Eccl. 3:1,2). God knows when your death is going to be. It's in His hands. So why even worry about it? Also, I believe our prayers make a big difference in the lives of unbelievers. If it were not so, God would never have commanded us to pray for them. (Matt. 5:43-48) You have heard that it was said, ' You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. So, keep prayin' my friend! warm regards -bud

God-man, The recommended location of the microchip is in the triceps area between the elbow and the shoulder of the right arm. But it can be implanted anywhere under the skin. warm regards -bud PS: The FDA CLEARS VERICHIP FOR MEDICAL APPLICATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. News: DELRAY BEACH , FL and So. ST. PAUL, MN -- Applied Digital (NASDAQ: ADSX), a provider of Security Through Innovation

Hi Carly, It seems that some fallen angels, or "sons of God," possessed human men who then cohabited with "the daughters of men." Genesis 6:1-4) For remember, angels are sexless (Matthew 22:30) This gives us the clue as to why some fallen angels are presently bound in prison and others are not. It appears that what these angels did was a particularly heinous deed in God's eyes, so He "delivered them into chains of darkness." warm regards -bud

VeriChip is a miniaturized, implantable radio frequency identification device (RFID) that has the potential to be used in a variety of security, financial, and other applications. About the size of a grain of rice, each VeriChip product contains a unique verification number and will be available in several formats. The verification number is captured by briefly passing a proprietary scanner over the VeriChip. A small amount of radio frequency energy passes from the scanner energizing the dormant VeriChip, which then emits a radio frequency signal transmitting the verification number. ------------------------------ ------------------------------ -------------------- Security Identification In the security field, the company is actively developing applications for VeriChip in a variety of security, defense, homeland security and secure-access applications. These opportunities include using VeriChip to control authorized access to government installations and private-sector buildings, nuclear power plants, national research laboratories, correctional facilities, and sensitive transportation resources. VeriChip can enhance airport security, airline security, cruise ship security, intelligent transportation and port congestion management. In these markets, VeriChip could function as a stand-alone, tamper-proof personal verification technology or it could operate in conjunction with other security technologies such as standard ID badges and advanced biometric devices (i.e. retina scanners, thumbprint readers or face recognition devices). The Company recently unveiled VeriPass and VeriTag, which will allow airport and port security personnel to link a VeriChip subscriber to his or her luggage (both during check-in and on the airplane), flight manifest logs and airline or law enforcement software databases. The concept of using VeriChip as a means for secure access could also be extended to include a range of consumer products such as PCs, laptops, cars, cell phones, and even homes and apartments. Financial Identification In the financial arena, the company sees enormous, untapped potential for VeriChip as a personal verification technology that could help to curb identity theft and prevent fraudulent access to banking (especially via ATMs) and credit card accounts. VeriChip's tamper-proof, personal verification technology would provide banking and credit card customers with the added protection of knowing their accounts could not be accessed unless they themselves initiated -- and were physically present during -- the transaction. ------------------------------ ------------------------------ -------------------- How VeriChip Works An implantable, 12mm by 2.1mm radio frequency device, VeriChip is about the size of the point of a typical ballpoint pen. It contains a unique verification number. Utilizing an external scanner, radio frequency energy passes through the skin energizing the dormant VeriChip, which then emits a radio frequency signal containing the verification number. The number is displayed by the scanner and transmitted to a secure data storage site by authorized personnel via telephone or Internet. ********** It seems like everything is falling into place for the Anti-Christ to come to power. Here is the perfect way for his government to keep track of everyone. "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, (see Financial Identification above) save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (Rev. 13:16-17). KJV (Notice. The King James Version says "in" their right hands, or foreheads. Thoughts? warm regards -bud

Hi LT, I believe that there are indeed degrees of punishment in hell. Those passages you quoted clearly show this. It is against God's character to punish everyone the same. I mean, think about it. Why would someone who lived a decent life, who never stole, or murdered, or tried to hurt anyone, but who simply rejected the Gospel message, suffer as much as Hitler, Stalin, or Mao, etc.? warm regards -bud

How can death burn? Again, do you believe that there are degrees of punishment in hell? Will a person who lived a good, decent life, but rejected Christ, suffer as much as Hitler? warm regards -bud

Hi Melody, Infant baptism is not Biblical. When a person receives the Lord Jesus as his Savior, he dies to the domination of sin, and this is the truth signified in baptism. By going down into the waters of baptism, we who have placed our trust in Christ testify that through our union with Him we have been buried with Him in His death. Having died to sin, we are no longer under its condemnation or bondage. Then, our emergence from the waters of baptism signifies that through our union with the living Lord we have been raised from death with Him. It is symbolic. A baby cannot understand these things. Also, baptism does not save you. Accepting Christs sacrifice for our sins is what saves. I believe eternal security is Biblical. According to the New Testament, there is only one basis upon which anyone can qualify for eternal refuge from the judgment of God's law. That one hope is summed up in two very simple words: in Christ. When I believe and trust in Christ, God sees me as being "in Him." My life is then "hidden with Christ in God" (Col 3:3). I have a protection that begins and ends with God. Of this wonderful plan the apostle Paul wrote: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Eph. 1:3-7). In light of this passage, could I be "in Christ" today but lose that protection at some point in the future? Could my faith or lack of faith determine whether I am presently "in" or "out" of Christ? What if I told you that I knew my future was secure because I have already paid for all of my sins by being executed on a Roman cross? What if I told you I was buried and then raised from the dead to enjoy immunity from the eternal punishment of God? According to Romans 6, I have been: * co-crucified in Christ (v.3). * co-buried in Christ (v.4). * co-resurrected in Christ (vv.4-5). * freed from sin in Christ (vv.6-7). This is the Christian's basis for security. In Christ, I have already paid for my crimes against God. That's history. It's past. It's done. Paul said it so clearly. In Christ, I died to sin. In Christ, I am alive forever. My past in Him frees me from the terrible, eternal death penalty of sin! But how do we know we're not just reading into Paul's words the kind of safety and security we want to believe in? We know because in Romans 6 Paul dealt with an objection that wouldn't make sense if he hadn't been teaching something that some would interpret as a license to sin: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? . . . Therefore we were buried with Him . . . that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:1-2,4). Knowing this objection would be slow to die, Paul went on to write: What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:15-18). It is only when we realize that our salvation depends on our confidence in what Christ has done rather than on what we will do, that we truly have reason to live a life of grateful praise. This is the current dimension of a security that doesn't depend on what we do, but on what Christ has done for us. It reminds us that our Savior has not only paid the price for our salvation, but He has also promised to intercede for us in the present on the basis of what He did for us in the past. That's important because no matter how much we despise the idea of looking at security as a license to sin, we don't live up to our new potential and privilege in Christ. When we are so overcome by our guilt that we seriously wonder if we have lost our position in Christ, then we need to take comfort in the fact that in Christ we have the ultimate Advocate and Intercessor. We need to read over and over the reassuring words of the apostle John, who wrote: My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world (1 Jn. 2:1-2). This deals with Christ's protection of our salvation in the present. It says that when we find ourselves slugging it out with the consequences and emotions of our foolishness, then we need to realize that being in Christ we have the ultimate defense. You may not even know that you have a Lawyer. But you do if you are in Christ. He's been retained by God for the very purpose of handling your daily sins. Trust Him. There is no better. He's never lost a case--and He never will. Some have speculated that this Public Defender has never actually had to argue a case. They believe He merely holds up His hands whenever an accuser mentions the names of anyone He's agreed to defend. There's something about those hands that always wins. How could you possibly lose your salvation when you are in Jesus Christ. He Himself is your: * Advocate. * Intercessor. * Payment for sin. * Righteousness before God and man. We can agree with Paul, who wrote, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31). God has already announced that He has given authority to His Son to judge the earth (Jn. 5:24-30). It is at the judgment seat of Christ where we who are in Christ must one day appear (Rom. 14:1-12; 2 Cor. 5:10). And it is that same announced Judge who has already assured all who are in Him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" (Jn. 5:24). If you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, count on those words. They are God's promise to you. You don't ever have to worry about losing your salvation, because in Him you have: * A Savior who died for all your sins. * The best defense possible. * A Judge who loves you. * A preannounced verdict. In that light, then, can you see that those who are in Christ really do have a security based not on their own record but on His? They are accepted not on the merits of their own name but on His. Can you see how those who are in Him have a permanent file that has been purged? They have an Attorney who has never lost a case, a Judge who loves them, and a preannounced verdict on all charges that might put their eternal salvation in jeopardy--all because they are in Christ! warm regards -bud

Should we portray hell as a literal furnace of fire where all the lost will scream in pain throughout all eternity? God will lightly punish those who did not know much about His expectations (Luke 12:48). A hell in which all burn in a literal fire does not allow for significant degrees of punishment. Do you, in fact, believe that there are degrees of punishment in hell? Will a person who lived a good, decent life, but rejected Christ, suffer as much as Hitler? Then too, it's important to remember that the Bible often uses fire as a symbol. In 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, our works (or doctrines) are portrayed as "wood, hay, straw" that will be consumed by the fire of judgment or as "gold, silver, precious stones" that will endure the fire. In James 3:5,6 the tongue is a "fire," causes "fire," and is itself "set on fire by hell." Hebrews 12:29 declares that "our God is a consuming fire." Jude 23 speaks of people who have been doctrinally misled and are in need of being snatched "from the fire." In all of these references, the fire is symbolic. I believe God will indeed punish those who have turned their backs on Him. But I don't believe God is a torturer. warm regards -bud

I just wanted to add that I am not so prideful that I can't admit that I may be wrong. I don't think that I am. I hope that I'm not. I mean, why would God torture people like that? Wouldn't being separated from His love, His presence, forever and ever, with no hope at all to become reconnected with Him, be torture enough? warm regards -bud

I believe hell is a place of torment, not torture. To be separated from God for all eternity, with no hope of reconciliation, would seem punishment enough without burning forever in flames thrown in to boot. Think about it. Could you hold someone's hand to a fire for even a moment? How could a loving God torture people forever - not allowing them to die, but to continue in that pain for forever? I don't think God runs a "torture chamber." I mean, the essence of hell is rational. Hell is separation or banishment from the most beautiful being in the universe - God himself. It is exclusion from anything that matters, from all value, not only from God but also from those who have come to know and love Him. That separation brings shame, anguish, and regret. And because we will have both body and soul in the resurrected state, the misery experienced will be both mental and physical. But the pain that's suffered will be due to the sorrow from that final, ultimate, unending banishment from God, His kingdom, and the good life for which we were created in the first place. People in hell will forever deeply grieve all they've lost. So it is a punishing, not just a punishment. I mean, people go to hell because they deny their maker and want to be at the center of the universe. Those who want to make it their way. Not the way God has prescribed, which is through Christ. But I believe God is still merciful enough not to set these people on fire for an eternity. warm regards -bud

It seems that if we take the flames of hell literally, it makes no sense. For example, hell is described as a place of outer darkness and yet there are flames, too. Another example that the flames may be figurative is that we are told Christ is going to return surrounded by flames and that He's going to have a big sword coming out of His mouth. But nobody thinks Christ won't be able to say anything because He'll be choking on a sword. The figure of the sword stands for the word of God in judgment. Also, in Hebrews 12:29, God is called a consuming fire. Yet nobody thinks God is a cosmic Bunsen burner. Using the flame imagery in regards to hell is a way of saying He's a God of judgment. In Revelation, we are told that hell and death will be cast into the lake of fire. Now, hell is not something that can burn. It's a realm. And how can you burn death? Death isn't something you can set a torch to and ignite it. I think the torments of hell are a description of how those there will feel for eternity. A state of anger or realization of great loss. An expression of rage at realizing that one has made a huge mistake. What is literal is that this is a place of utter heartbreak. It is a loss of everything, and it's meant to stand for the fact that hell is the worst possible situation that could happen to a person. warm regards -bud PS: (To Other One) I used "warm regards" for over a year when I was on ICQ. I like it, so I thought I'd carry it over here.

I have always wondered about this. Are the fires of Hell literal flames, or is the description just figurative? warm regards -bud PS: I'm leaning toward the figurative.

I was wondering.....on childhood hero's. I loved the band KISS. I bought all of their albums, all the magazines, posters, etc. I was a KISS freak! Here's the thing: I am a Christian, and have been for many years. I still love KISS. Now, as a Christian, is this wrong? Are we to only listen to Christian music? warm regards -bud