No124get1952

Gentlemen, I think it time for some dispassionate reason to enter into this debate. I side with Jesus, who stated, "In my Father's house are many mansions..". Now I tend to be a literalist. When Jesus stated something, in general, the literal interpretation was the correct one (and I know that He did speak a lot in parables; we will discuss those later). So when Jesus speaks of God's House, I am admittedly assuming God lives in a dwelling which we interpret as Heaven. Implied in this terminology, of course is location or a physical place. When I read the entire scriptural body of verses on Heaven, I get a description of a pretty neat, 3-dimensional place. What I do NOT get is a specific GPS coordinate for where Heaven is at....why should it matter? If there are no more tears, no more disease and constant worship of God going on, who would care about anything but being in God's House (Heaven for short) and WITH God for eternity? I take my views on Heaven directly from Jesus.

Rather than dive deeply into Scriptural interpretation, I am going to go back to my basic Christian training. In general, the first death is physical death and the second death is a negative result at the Great White Throne judgment where failure leads to eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire. Now, we go to resurrection. Jesus was the first person resurrected that stayed that way, so when we speak of the first resurrection, we are speaking of an event where those who are dead in Christ, come alive and stay that way. If you believe in the rapture, then the first resurrection occurs at the rapture where all the dead in Christ arise and go to be with Jesus. If you do not believe in the Rapture of the Church, then the first resurrection occurs just before the final Great Throne judgment where EVERYONE stands judgment. Thus, if you don't believe in the rapture, you generally don't believe in a second resurrection because God resurrects everybody before the final judgment. However, if you do believe in the Rapture, the second resurrection occurs after the Millenial reign of Jesus Christ on the earth, again when everyone is resurrected for the final judgment day. The real bottom line here is that each of us should be living our salvation out daily so that we have no worry about our eternal destination or the outcome of the judgment. Having trusted in Christ, we have an Eternal advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous.....Yaaaaay!!!!

Arphaxad, Congratulations, my brother, on keeping your marriage vows inviolate. That is apparently very rare these days. While your position may appear to be extreme compared to "modern" business standards, you are complying with the biblical injunction to "avoid the appearance of evil". I have been in such situations where I was required to meet in an office with a female supervisor....I requested the door be left open for exactly the reason of avoiding the appearance of evil. In most corporate settings, you are allowed to have an HR representative at any meeting with a supervisor, male or female, so there is no excuse for relaxing your standards. Your standard is yours. It does not apply to anyone else but you. Nor should you apply it to anyone else, lest you become a pharisee. You live with your standard and find joy in keeping it. If the Holy Spirit moves you to reconsider, then most likely you will and He will guide you on any changes to make. Otherwise, go forth and rejoice because your witness speaks volumes about the integrity of Christian men. I hope your wife sees your actions and praises God for the Mighty Man of Valor she is married to. Yes, you are a Mighty Man of Valor because you are willing to take a stand where most other men would "give in" to convention. Blessings and prosperity to you, my brother.

"My wife fell pregnant".....This is a new one on me. I raised 9 children and not once did my wife become pregnant by falling. I am jesting a bit. This is a serious situation. There are few people AFTER 25 years of marriage that consider pregnancy as a viable option. My wife was 42 when our 9th was born and that was NO easy delivery. I am sensing that communication concerning sex and pregnancy was lacking in order for her to "accidentally" become pregnant. That means there are other issues in your marriage than just the pregnancy. But now ALL of the issues are magnified because now we are speaking of a new life. You do not want the child and I am guessing that she does. I do not condone abortion. However, you might suggest some genetic testing to eliminate the possibility of major birth defects. You certainly need to have a conversation about the safety of child bearing at her age (I am assuming she is in her 40's or older). These are conversations that must take place. Unfortunately for you, you have only two choices. First, you can divorce her. That may make you feel better but it will be abandoning both her and the new baby. Second, you can stay married and learn to enjoy being a father. This is the choice I vote for because, in the long run, being a father has many advantages both in this world and in eternity. Either choice you make, things are going to be difficult. Personally, I would choose the option where there is the most chance for happiness and fulfillment....choice 2.

Sight, Thank you for being honest and transparent. It takes courage to admit that you cannot feel God's love. I give you honor as a result. Perhaps it is not so much that you do not feel God's love but more that you do not feel connected with God in a spirit-to-spirit fashion. Though this is hard to describe, it IS what God created Man for and God really does want to connect with you. The others who have responded are correct, that God loves you whether you can feel it or not. But Christianity is essentially a relationship that requires 2-way communication. We do need to "hear from God" for ourselves. And though I can tell you how I connect to God and recommend some things to do to enable you to connect with God, only you can finalize that connection. You have stated that you accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. That is good because your eternal destiny is settled. We do not have to worry about that. But Jesus promised us blessings in this life, and I sense that is what you are desiring. Others have said to be thankful. I cannot disagree. An attitude of gratitude for what you currently have and where you currently are is essential. It is essential because thankfulness prepares our heart to connect with God. It causes us to look on the "bright" or "light" side of things. That means instead of looking for flaws, we are more interested in what is right about things. That change in our heart attitude draws God's attention to us. And when we get His attention, what do we ask Him for first? Rather than asking Him to meet my own emergency, personal needs, I have learned to ask God to give me joy. You see joy is a gift of God that provides me with strength to "go through" all of the bad stuff that happens in life. Happiness is not really promised in the Bible because happiness depends upon circumstances. If I get a speeding ticket, I can't really be happy about the fine or being late to work. However, if God has given me joy, I can thank God for the officer defending the law and I can thank God that I made it to work and that I have a job. Joy is the strength to work in a pile of horse manure and think that at the bottom there just might be a horse in there. Connecting with God happens around reading the Word. My wife and I do the "one year bible challenge" with people. We each read one chapter a day (starting with Matthew 1) and pick a verse that stands out to us. Over a 9 month period of daily bible reading and choosing a verse, we have a new understanding of who Jesus is and what His purpose is for us. The Bible says that it is "living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword...". That "living" part is key, because the Bible IS God. The first step to connecting with God is to connect with His word and find some verses that speak blessing and peace to your own situation....then thank Him profusely for that...and you will find yourself "in the Spirit" and sensing His physical presence in your life. Blessings. Let me know how your search for connection comes out.

Mat007, I have GREAT news for you!!! As long as you are worried about losing contact with God, that is evidence that the Holy Spirit is moving in you to pray and seek God. And the Word says God searches out those whose hearts are perfect (seeking and praying) toward Him. You see, God knows you have OCD and He is willing to deal with you and actually heal you from that. But He is a gentleman and He will only take you as far as you want to go. But IN THE MEAN TIME, while you are still dealing with OCD, He wants you to know that He loves you and will never leave you nor forsake you. That means that it's probably not a good idea for you to watch horror movies any more. Philipians talks about thinking about things that are good and peaceful and praying on those things. It is my personal belief the born again Christians cannot be demon possessed. They can be demon oppressed, but not possessed. One way to keep from being oppressed is to go to church, pray, read your Bible and keep away from toxic friends who would rather serve the devil than the Lord. And that even includes ungodly relatives. But again, the good news is, YOU are OKAY!!!!

Kevin, You ask a very, very good question. It is a good question because in searching out its answer, you will grow in faith. Your questions boil down to law versus grace. The Mosaic Law given in the Old Testament was given to a people who had no law and it was for a time before the coming of Jesus Christ. Both stoning and slavery were set out in the Law and explained very carefully for the people and the priests to follow. God was establishing His people to serve one God at a time when every other culture in the world was polytheistic. Their practices (even the "good" ones) defiled those who followed them and God wanted His people to be holy. Therefore most sin was punishable by death, especially those sins that represented blasphemy or violence against others. Stoning was a punishment that involved everyone because God wanted everyone to realize that the sins requiring stoning were such that they defiled the entire community. God also outlined slavery in the law, but it was not slavery as we have come to know slavery. When a person became financially insolvent, it was up to his family to take care of them. They obligated themselves as servants and the family took care of them, providing food, shelter, clothing, etc. in return. If, at the year of jubilee, the individual did not want to go free for themselves, they could obligate themselves to permanent servitude (or slavery) by their own free will. This form of slavery was written into the law in order to provide for those who could not provide for themselves. It was NOT the involuntary slavery we have come to know today. Nevertheless, the Law actually provided for slavery in the Old Testament. When Christ came and established the Era of Grace by His death and resurrection, much of the Law was superceded by grace. Hence, with the woman caught in adultery, the men were ready to stone her, but Jesus set the standard by saying, "he that is without sin, cast the first stone". He then told the adulteress (because she was caught in the act), to go and sin no more. Jesus extended grace and forgiveness. The law against adultery still stands; Jesus did not change that. He merely instituted grace and mercy before judgment. His shed blood paid the sinner's death penalty for sin. So, as we become more mature in faith, we recognize what a terrible price He paid for us and we realize that we were bought with a price...the blood of our Savior, so we are now bondservants (slaves) to Jesus Christ. Again, though, we are willing slaves. So we can thank God for setting down the Law so we know the difference between right and wrong. And we can thank Jesus for paying the death penalty so we can still have fellowship with God and the promise of eternity in heaven.

Pre-trib, post-trib, a-trib, none of it really means anything if you are not serving the Lord Jesus Christ. I think Jesus point about mentioning the "great sign" or "rapture" or whatever you want to call it was for the Church (and every individual in the Church) to be watchful and serving Him like they are ready to go home to heaven at "any" moment. When the trumpet sounds, I hope I am "stomping a mud-hole in the devil". If I am not, then I probably deserve to go through the great tribulation.

You may be technically correct that Jesus never actually said, "I am the Messiah". However, in straining at a gnat, you have swallowed a camel. Since Jesus spoke in parables, figures of speech and other techniques of oration, He spoke of His mission and identity many times indirectly, i.e. (I love i.e.), I and my Father are one; if you have seen me, you have seen the Father; destroy this temple and in 3 days I will raise it; etc. Jesus quite often quoted the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah and applied them to Himself; again, an indirect identifier. So if I tell you that you are receiving an email from one whose name is Stephen George...it can be said that is the same as saying, I am Stephen George. To base one's faith on a point such as this which is very flimsy, is eternally dangerous. Many people have tried to disprove Jesus throughout the centuries. C.S. Lewis was one; Josh McDowell was another. Both wrote books and I can recommend any of their writings for a very logical discourse about the identity of Jesus. Blessings

You ask a very good question. In those days, in most of the cultures at that time in history, if a woman was barren, she would choose a maidservant for her husband to impregnate, then, when time for delivery came the pregnant maidservant would lay between the wife's legs and give birth, the child then belonging to the wife, not the maidservant. Please note that this was a "cultural custom" known to both Abraham and Sarah. After waiting nearly 75 years, we can understand their impatience at the promise of God. The result of that whole affair was the creation of the Arab nation/culture and today's perpetual conflict. Nowhere in God's Word does any sort of cultural custom supercede God's law or God's Word. So Abraham made a mistake by agreeing to what his wife wanted to do. In the flesh we could say that Abraham was just a horny old man, but I don't think that's true. When Ishmael grew up, even though Abraham loved him, Sarah despised him and made Abraham's life very uncomfortable until he sent them away after Isaac was born. Hence Paul's scriptural admonition, "all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient."

We are ALL praying for the Holy Spirit to soften the girl's hardened heart. I agree that Mom and Dad should not participate in any way and offer as many other options as possible. If the girl wants to make this particular "adult" decision, then she must be prepared for ALL of the consequences, including those to her health (both physical and emotional). If she decides to go through with the abortion, we will all grieve, especially Mom and Dad. However, after the example of Paul in I and II Corinthians, first disfellowshiping a sinner, then bringing him back in, once the deed is done, Mom and Dad need to extend forgiveness and provide the support the daughter needs without making her feel judgment. This is going to be tough for all because, over time, God is going to convict the daughter and it may not be up to Mom and Dad to participate in any way but being loving, compassionate examples of forgiveness. I believe that if we all agree in prayer, God will intervene and save the child. Please keep us informed, so we can pray informed.

The Outer Darkness question is a very interesting one. God IS light; that is firmly established. Because God is omnipotent, anywhere He is or can go can have no darkness. However, because He is also all powerful, the idea of "outer darkness", a place where God will no go is very terrifying. We all know that the farther you get away from light, the more shadows there are. It's why most of us have a fear of the dark....because we cannot see in the dark and we do not know what is in the shadows. Therefore, a place of outer darkness implies a place where God's light doesn't penetrate. Please note that I said doesn't and not can't. God is Sovereign so He can do anything He wants. But if He has designed a place of outer darkness where His light does NOT go (because He chooses not to send it), then that is a place of utter separation from God and I do NOT want to go there; I don't even want to think about it. As for black holes, I am not certain we know enough about them to be able to classify them as outer darkness. I think I would rather be in a black hole than in outer darkness. I am not sure we are scientifically informed enough on this one. It comes down to a binary choice. If it is light, it is God. If it is NOT light, it's not God.

Everyone has give excellent answers, but let me expand. The term "yoke' does, historically refer to teams of animals used for work. The key term here is "work". Most all of us have jobs (and even the unemployed have the "yoke" of finding work). Whether we like our work or hate our work, we are very rarely teamed up with someone exactly "equal" to us. Sometimes our work mates are stupid, silly, ignorant or just plain lazy....so work really becomes a burden just to keep our job. Even when our job goes well, there are times when it becomes a burden that is really heavy to bear. Jesus is saying in this part of the verse that His yokes are easy. When we are burdened down by work issues, much of the time we can't see anything "easy" about work. What Jesus is saying is that IF we allow Jesus to help us, He will yoke with us in our work yokes and He will teach us how to work smarter, not harder; he will allow us to work with joy so we don't feel the heaviness of our burden. And Jesus, if we tie into Him fully will do more than that: He will allow you to be a witness for Him and even allow you to participate in miracles...yes, even at work!!! Now, ALL us us have burdens. All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. We ALL have burdens. We don't like burdens; most of what we consider burdens are heavy just because we don't know how to handle them. If we did know, we would solve them, drop them or do something to get someone else to carry them. Jesus is telling us in this portion of the verse is saying that HE will bear our burdens or He will send someone to help us. This is a very important point. IF you understand this verse completely, you begin to understand that Jesus WANTS bear our burdens--He wants us to carry "light" burdens!! Why? Think about it...if you are carrying a 500 lb. burden, how much joy are you going to have? But if Jesus makes that burden 5 lbs because He knows that is all you need to carry, how much joy are you going to have then? Much of the time, we choose how much of the burden we carry and most of the time we carry way too much because we don't ask Jesus to help us OR we don't allow Jesus to help us. So the really summary of this verse is that Jesus is offering to help us with work AND with anything else that we will ask him to help us with. So, if we are smart, we will ask Jesus to carry it ALL and then be very thankful when He gives us very easy yokes and very light burdens. I apologize if this is too simple an analogy. Jesus is still renewing my mind so I don't have to think hard or burden myself with things too hard to understand.....

I can see that you are very conflicted. You believe in "god" because you can see intelligent design in the universe, which matches what Romans 1 says that God is evident in the Universe. But you also claim to have read the New Testament and seen its beauty, you missed the entire point of the New Testament, that Jesus came to live a life, just like us, yet without sin...and was crucified for it...ON OUR BEHALF!!! But not only did He die, he resurrected, in the flesh and appeared to over 500 people after his death. The resurrection of Jesus is one of the most legally provable facts in existence( I recommend "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell). Josh McDowell was a Christian hater who set out to prove, once and for all that Jesus was a lie....instead he found out that Jesus is real. I do not want to sound judgmental. But most people who claim to be Christians have not really taken the time to find out who Jesus is and what His message is. This means an intentional, consistent study, preferably with someone who can mentor you. You have misunderstood the "beauty" of the New Testament because its message is all about what Jesus said and did AFTER His death and resurrection. If you have felt the presence of God, then you have felt the presence of Jesus as well. You need to find someone who will take the time to mentor you and pray for you so that when you "feel His presence", you can have someone to witness that and document that Jesus has interacted with you. If, as you say, you have been trying for 20 years, I commend you on your persistence. But I submit that Jesus has been speaking to you and you have not recognized His voice. The fact that you are still interested in pursuing Him testifies to the fact the Holy Spirit is still moving in you to seek Him. One thing that I have found that draws His presence and interaction is gratefulness. We have so much to be thankful for that it is easy to take Him for granted. When we do that, we close off our own hearts and we become unable to hear accurately or to hear at all. But opening up to becoming thankful for all that we have changes our attitude and it draws Him close. No, we don't have everything we want, and sometimes, we don't have everything we need, but those are only temporary situations and not to be compared with the blessing of our very lives; our lives in America; our freedom; our jobs, etc. When we really begin to analyze our lives, there is really precious little we can claim as truly being totally originated by us. Most of us had okay moms and dads...that is a blessing. Even if we had bad moms and dads, the fact that we survived in spite of them is a huge blessing. So instead of looking at life from a "needy" perspective, let's look at it from a thankful perspective and see if that doesn't allow our hearts to "see and sense" Jesus. Blessings Bless

simpleJeff, since God created ALL men, his appeal is to ALL men. Pharoah only had to let Moses' people go, but the Bible records that even Pharoah's mother in law went with the Hebrews, so they did take some Egyptian converts with them. That is very interesting because the Hebrews themselves were barely converts of YHWH. So Pharoah had an opportunity to actually serve God. Pharoah was NOT a descendant of Abraham. If you study history long enough, you will find that, of all the tribes and nations on the earth at the time of Pharoah, the Hebrew sons of Abraham and the Ishmael sons of Abraham were the only two mono-theistic cultures....meaning they believed in only one God.

Let me say this about that: The discussion of election is a very interesting one. Pharoah, as explained by others, was given a choice to serve God or not serve God. In that choice he was no different than any of us. Through 10 trials and 10 successive defeats, Pharoah was still given the opportunity to believe God. It was the hardness of his own heart that caused him to interrupt grieving for his own son to pursue revenge. In the end, God got ALL the glory, which is always going to be the end of any issue, no matter what our decisions are. Our only hope is to be on His side because God shares his blessings with us even though most of the time we don't deserve them. The Hebrews were elected based upon God's covenant with Abraham. They certainly proved they did not choose God all by themselves. Again, they represent us, given a chance we still want to go back to the "old ways and old days". We are so weak of faith that unless God continually "shows us" signs, we get screwy. But I am very grateful for the Holy Spirit who guides me into all truth. I thank God for His grace because I need it to keep on going in Christ.

I feel your pain. I raised 9 children and only one is still serving the Lord. I am sure that when the Rapture occurs, many of them will be left behind. But I think the root of the issue you have is more personal. I get a sense of uncertainty about your own condition....and I am NOT questioning your salvation. The Rapture teaching is a definite New Testament doctrine, though from my intense study, the exact timing is still hotly debated and cannot be solved by further study of scripture. There are some Christians who maintain there is no Rapture. A very wise Pastor of mine taught all positions of this doctrine to make sure he completely covered the subject and then said it DIDN'T EVEN REALLY MATTER!!!! Can you believe it? Why did he say that? And why do I agree with him? Well, our Great Commission is to preach the gospel to all creatures and make disciples. We will either complete that mission before He comes or we won't. Since preaching the Gospel to every person on earth is one of those things that happens before the rapture, He won't come until we finish that, so the rapture could be this afternoon or a century from this afternoon. So we need to be about the Great Commission as our first priority IF we want Jesus to come soon. If we don't want that to be our priority, we are going to get left anyway. From one perspective, Christians left behind will be the biggest preachers during the Great Tribulation...or they will completely fall away and take "the mark" and change their eternal destination. Either way, the decision is a personal one, up to each one of us. If you do not want to see your relatives, friends, etc. "left behind", the best way to get busy is to begin praying for them and asking God to send them signs and testimonies that will win their heart. Your nagging them about it is probably NOT going to encourage them to get straight. But your active, powerful prayer life combined with a healthy dose of acts of service to help win others, will speak volumes to them. The other thing that will make them thirsty is your own joy-filled, secure life serving Jesus. If they get jealous of your Spiritual life, God may be getting ready to use you to witness to them. All we can do is pray and occupy and thank God in advance for their spiritual renewal. I am not concerned about the devil because I am pretty sure I am going to be stomping a mud hole in the devil when Jesus comes. Most Christians want a little more warning than a trumpet blast to "get right" before Jesus comes. The secret is to get right now and to stay right for then. Blessings

Hi Chris, I have some very good news for you....God STILL loves you and not once has He ever indicated ANY regret at sending Jesus to die for you. Your question is a very deep, theological one, but you don't need a deep, theological answer. IF you plan on killing yourself, you will need permission to do so from God Almighty. See legally, you aren't your own any more since you accepted Christ. Paul said "you are bought with a price". That means the disposition of your life is no longer up to you. That being said, you now need to seek an answer to why you think Jesus hasn't been answering your prayers. Because, I agree that prayer not answered is a HUGE disappointment. But rather than blame either you or God, let's take a different approach. Let's begin by looking at some Bible verses that indicate God will provide for us. We have to look no further than the sermon on the mount in Matthew 6:25-33 25-26 “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. 27-29 “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. 30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. That's a big gulp of scripture from the message Bible, but it shows how much God has pledged Himself to provide for us. IF we are NOT seeing that provision, then we must look to ourselves. In reality, our relationship with God is a big contract. He pledges to do certain things if we do certain other things that mainly involve us being obedient. My guess is that somewhere you have gotten off track on the obedience, so God is not necessarily obligated to answer you. I also surmise that perhaps you haven't gotten really established in the Bible and don't understand some things regarding prayer and obedience so you are expecting results that God may not provide. But, if you challenge Him to provide for you like it says in Matthew 6, be prepared to see some really cool stuff as answers to prayer. See, sometimes the problem is that we ask God to do something for us and then we do it ourselves anyway. That's a really bad thing to lay on God. If you are going to ask Him something, let Him answer. Our job after prayer is to learn patience and to learn to be thankful. So we grow our faith by asking God for something, then being patient and thanking Him in advance of that thing actually coming to pass. Yes, it is a risk but that is what faith is all about....being willing to risk everything on a God we don't fully trust, so that when He answers, we may be faithful in Him and to Him. The good news is....God still loves you and wants to hear from you before you make any rash decisions about taking the life He gave you.

In doing a bit more research on Carbon 14 dating, it IS accurate, IF...if you have a "wood" sample of known age as a reference. THEN you have to calibrate your dating process. Since we do not have a lot of "wooden" artifacts of known age available as references, Carbon-14 dating only goes back a maximum of 7000 years....or in other words, about the same time frame as the Biblical record...that is very interesting. Dating of rocks and geologic formations is a bit more accurate, but still, every radiometric means of dating, including magnetic resonance, is based upon assumptions and reasoned logic that have yet, to be confirmed through actual experimental data. So the dating of fossils, geologic formations, rocks and all other things are still based upon assumptions of what the original values of certain elements or isotopes WERE in the distant past. Unfortunately for them, even a one decimal point inaccuracy can cause a timeline in geologic history to move from billions of years of history down to a few thousand years.....so, the Bible still shows up as highly reputable in the scientific arena. All of the other theories are just that...very intricately defined theories with complex models and assumptions hung on them to dress them up as science.

Since Carbon-14 dating has been discredited for being inaccurate for years, it is very difficult to accept any relic as coming from any farther back than what Genesis says as the beginning of history. What the Nephilim and such looked like is really NOT central to the story of the Gospel, so although interesting to consider, I generally ignore those questions as non-essential to my faith.

In short, Jayneseek, I do not believe you have committed the unforgiveable sin, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. If you had, you would not even be worried about it. If you read the Gospels closely and watch what the Pharisees and Saducees do and say, some of them actually DO commit the unpardonable sin....they are lost forever. Hebrews 6:1-6 speaks of the impossibility of those who have been in the faith and fallen away. Verse 4 speaks of 5 conditions of belief (or 5 parts of belief, if you will): a) having been enlightened; b)having tasted of the heavenly gift; c) were made partakers of the Holy Spirit; d) have tasted the good Word of God; e) and have tasted of the powers of the world to come. So the impossibility of getting back into the faith is predicated on failing all 5 parts of the faith. Let's explore these 5 parts. First, having been enlightened. This could represent when you first became aware and accepted Christ as your Savior. Second, having tasted of the heavenly gift. That gift is the peace that Jesus said He would give us. Peace here means that sense of security concerning your eternal destination. If you accepted Jesus but did not have peace, then you haven't yet tasted of the heavenly gift. Third is being made partakers of the Holy Spirit. When you are saved, you receive the Holy Spirit; many charismatic believers think there is a second blessing of empowerment called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as listed in Acts2 and other places. Most believers agree that the Holy Spirit is to guide us into all truth and to empower us. If you get saved, but do not experience the sense of guidance and empowerment from the Holy Spirit, then you have not fully partaken of the Holy Spirit. Fourth, is the tasting of the good Word of God. This is where many seasoned Christians fail....they never truly taste the Word of God. What do I mean? I personally have dedicated my life to reading through the Scripture once for every year of my life. I am currently 64. The Word of God is alive, quick and powerful and it is the ONLY book that declares AND PROVES itself to be the Word of God. Failing to read and study it consistently is failing to have tasted the Word of God. Part 5 is the part where many believers have not entered into. Tasting the powers of the world to come, for me at least, means miracles. Jesus said in John14:12, that we would do the same works He did and even greater ones. I have experienced physical healing; I have seen physical and spiritual healing; I have watched God do things that I never knew He would do....all of them miraculous. According to Hebrews 6, I believe that unless you meet all 5 conditions of faith, you can still "get back". Let's just consider that if you HAVE met all 5 conditions, you have experienced a LOT of Christianity. IF you have done ALL THAT and turn your back on Christ, you have essentially renounced your faith (and may very well have blasphemed the Holy Spirit along the way). I feel pretty confident that you have "backslidden", like most of us have at one time or another. The only difference is the length and depth of the backslidden period. But I have good news: God still loves you and your trials at no time invalidated Christ's work on the cross for you. Now that the Holy Spirit is wooing you back to being connected with Jesus, your biggest challenge will be to accept Jesus' love and pursuit of you. As you "warm up" to Him, He will provide you all 5 of the areas of blessing and your heart will begin to sing His praises. As your heart heals from all the years of loneliness and shame, your testimony will be rich with victory and confidence in Jesus. Let us know how you are proceeding. Blessings

Just a quick question here....what happened to the idea of reading a work of fiction and enjoying the story? I read "The Shack" years ago and enjoyed the story. It was very cathartic. However, I did not read it for doctrine, encouragement, belief, faith or anything spiritual...it was just an enjoyable read. The furor over doctrinal purity smacks of censorship. Yes, millions of lives could possibly be harmed if they take this book for anything other than a work of fiction. Millions of lives are already being sacrificed over the deception of Islam. Where is the outrage there? Are we, as Christians, crying (or supposed to cry) for the instant destruction of the Koran? My response to those who ask me about The Shack is to ask them if they have ever met the "real" Jesus in person? That way I get to tell the "truth" about my Savior and they get to experience Him in real life...not just in a book or a movie.

No problem. When we experience things like this, we have to be careful to give them their rightful interpretation. The basis of that is the Scripture.

In general, Muslims view Jesus as a great teacher and perhaps even prophet, but that is all. since Islam came 700 years AFTER Christ, they had to deal with him somehow. They also had to deal with Abraham and Moses. The real problem with Jesus, Abraham and Moses is that they were all Jewish and that is a bad thing according to Islam. So they honor them on one hand and then elevate Mohammed and Allah to places of deity that they cannot support with their version of holy scripture. In the final analysis, the Bible of Christianity (and by inclusion Judaism) is the story of God's redemptive work throughout history through His only begotten Son. The Qu'ran is a very beautifully written story of a god named Allah, who neither loves nor redeems his followers but requires their total devotion to death before they even know if he will save and deliver them.

Spiritual gifts are gifts from God, given to his saints to deal with something that is happening in their lives. Sometimes those gifts are temporary, meant for the situation at hand. Sometimes those gifts are permanent, given for the strength and edification of the believer and those they choose to share them with. In ALL cases, the gifts are to glorify God. This is one of the primary discernment factors that help us "test the spirits". According to I John4, every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God; every spirit that does not confess that fact, is NOT of God. So we, as believers, have the right and responsibility to question the spirits (or gifts, if you will) and discern whether they are of God. Please note that this "testing of spirits" is intended to be a personal activity. It is not intended for public consumption. Those who attempt to do this in public are not operating according to Scripture. I cannot judge whether their gifts or their "spirits" are of God. My reaction would be to pray and judge the results. If God is given the glory and the fruits of the spirit follow, then I walk in grace. If they do not, then I ask God to deal with them and give me the opportunity to minister to those who are wounded or remain unhealed. I have witnessed miraculous things that I did not expect God would ever do. God did them out of His sovereignty and for the purpose of showing His healing love for His hurting children. Many things I cannot share because I cannot prove them by any scripture other than Jeremiah 33:3, come unto me and I will show you great and mighty things thou knowest not. God did them. I saw them. And I saw the fruits of what God did. And I am very grateful God allowed me to participate and witness. In general, I find it dangerous to limit Yahweh. He can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.