Hidden In Him

He was outright telling me publicly that we should agree to use his English translation alone for any debate. The implication behind this statement is that he regards his English translation as superior to any Greek text, including the one his English translation was based on.

I understand, and as it goes this is an excellent rule of thumb. I take this position as well much of the time, but I also take into account what the Spirit is saying to the churches (through prophetic utterances), as there are sometimes things which are revealed through prophecy, visions and dreams. The revelation that the gospel was to be extended to the Gentiles is a good example of this (Acts 10:3, 10-16). I think the issue here for me would simply be one of consistency. Revelations states that the ten kings will hate the whore and burn her with fire. In one hour will her utter destruction come by fire, and she will be cast down, never to be seen again (Revelation 18:21). Firstly this would seem to be inconsistent with what scripture says about the reign of the Antichrist. He will rule from Jerusalem until he is destroyed at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven, rather than by the ten kings. Secondly, that Jerusalem would be utterly destroyed so as to never be seen again seems inconsistent with Revelation 21:2. I realize the "New Jerusalem" could be interpreted as a different city entirely, but it seems inconsistent to say that Jerusalem will never be seen again only to talk about a New Jerusalem existing forever soon thereafter. But I certainly have no issue with the RCC personally. In fact, I kinda cringe when I think that Catholic friends might be reading a post like that. It's sad what will become of Rome in many ways, so I don't believe what I do out of spite for the RCC or any Catholic. I simply believe it's the proper interpretation of scripture. Thanks for your kind and courteous reply. Much appreciated.

Actually, Wingnut, WilliamL's answer comes the closest to the truth in my opinion. Jerusalem became a spiritual whore in God's eyes (Ezekiel 16), just as a unified Christian denominational movement led by Catholicism will become a spiritual whore in His eyes during the end-times. That she will lead any movement that unifies the Christian denominational world is only logical, as she is the largest, and this is why she will be called "the Mother of the harlots, and the abominations of the earth." The argument that the Catholic Church did not exist when this prophecy was spoken and therefore cannot be its fulfillment supposes that the Lord does not prophecy well beyond the times in which the prophecy itself is delivered, but we know that not to be the case. Most end-time prophecies have not yet come to fulfillment.

Pray that the Lord allows you to distance yourself a little from these situations. Even if he is your husband, and she is your boss, He will. But Satan wants you to feel trapped. Yet if you ask Him to reveal to you how, He will begin showing you things you can do; maybe it will be cooking some things where you know EXACTLY how long it is going to take, LoL. Maybe He will empower you to do things exactly the way she likes it done... But the reason why you want to create a little distance is to give yourself time to readjust your thinking. I've worked for some real jerks before myself (not saying that about your husband or your boss. Just saying), and the irritation was enough to potentially make me lose my job (or worse) if I acted on it. But by seeking the Lord and asking Him for His help when at home in my private time, He turned those situations around completely every time. He empowered me to treat them with forgiveness, kindness and respect, which in turn created changes in the way they treated me and viewed me. The principle is to overcome evil with good, and in some cases you may find out that they didn't even realize how much what they were doing was effecting you. But even if they do, show them the power of God operating in your life by praying to become empowered with His mercy, love and forgiveness. It will have its effect on them, so long as you keep praying for God to empower you (and not just praying for a "miracle" to happen in their lives or something, LoL).

Don't get me wrong, Neighbor. I fully believe that having a good group of brothers and sisters in Christ to be in fellowship with is a tremendous blessing, even if they don't necessarily move in gifts as they should (provided they are at least alive in Spirit, and in love with one another and with Christ). I'm simply saying that taking the position that it is a law we should hold over believers gets into an area of spiritual oppression if we are not careful, where the Spirit is no longer free to lead believers as He should. I currently have no church, the reason being that most of the churches in my area would actually slow me down rather than bless me at present. And since I would not be in a position of leadership going in, it would be an serious investment of my time before they trusted me with a position (or positions) of leadership in the church to begin being a blessing to them. And that's IF their leadership honored my authority in Christ, which is always questionable. Some feel threatened by me, and are only comfortable with me if I sit in a pew and shut up, LoL. But you are correct. Much can indeed be missed by not gathering together with a local body.

LoL. Let's hope it doesn't. I'd feel like someone's pet, like a dog wearing one of those electric zappers or something. Wait, it won't let me post my GIF. Darn! Where's the fun in that!

Though I can't go into detail, I have been experiencing something similar; a definite depression at times, and a type of loneliness and longing that no one can fill. I am being shown by the Lord that I will eventually have to go to Him to heal me of my emotional pain, which is strange to me because I have always turned to other human beings for things like that. He and I have never been that close that I could feel as though He would entirely heal me of emotional sorrows (My relationship with God has always been very close on a mental level, but not that much on an emotional one). But He has promised me that if I go to Him with my pain, I will emerge with the fire of God operating in my life to a far greater extent, so I am going to have to do this, even if it means spending significant time in prayer until I finally know beyond doubt He has become my Truest Companion in every way. Just in case this experience ends up leaving you with a void no one else can fill. He is always there for you, and He is the best friend we can ever have. That much I know. God bless, Hidden

I certainly hope so, cuz I'm sunk if not, LoL. In my opinion, a church that is not operating in a full array of genuine spiritual gifts is not manifesting true New Testament Christianity (1 Corinthians 12:8–10, 1 Corinthians 12:28). Does that mean the people in that church do not belong to God? No, of course not. But trying to hold believers accountable to church attendance while ignoring far more weightier matters has a way of making me not all that concerned about people's judgments as to what believers are and are not supposed to be doing.

LoL. Well, personally it would give me the creeps, so I wouldn't be wild about the idea, that's for sure. But then I never cared for things like vaccinations either. See, I don't believe a microchip will be what the mark of the Beast actually is, so my answer may be different than what others will say. Believing it is actually NOT the mark or anything resembling it, I suppose I would just go with the flow and get a microchip if it were passed as a law. But that's just me. Btw, I hope I'm not messing up your thread by saying that, LoL. Just throwing my two cents in.

Wow... No, Carm. I cannot recommend "attempting" any out of body experiences. This is an occult practice when you attempt to manufacture it. Occasionally the saints of God experience what might be referred to as OBEs (2 Corinthians 12:3), but for servants of the Lord Jesus Christ this only happens as God allows it to, not as an attempt to "try it out." Please don't dabble in the occult, Carm. Any association with demons will only lead from bad to worse. They want your eternal soul, and will stop at nothing to deceive you. Just give the pain in your heart and the images you saw to the Lord, and ask Him to cleanse it from your mind. He will heal you from the pain and help you move on in life if you ask Him to. Eventually you'll begin to see how dangerous this proposal was that you were considering. God bless, Hidden

He apparently meant all Greek texts, because his argument was there should be an agreement to go by his English translation alone.

This reminds me of something I read at another Forum one time. This guy was adamant about claiming there was no Devil, so he angrily proclaimed to another poster, "There is no Satan! Read your Bible!"

I would agree with Gandalf here. Good counsel involves finding out exactly how He made you, and what things are most important to helping you fulfill your calling in Christ Jesus. For some, fellowship with others is deeply important. For others, not so much. We are all made different, but if good fellowship with other believers is vitally important to you, just rest assured that He will provide it for you if you keep asking Him to with all your heart, even if it means just getting to know people at this website for now. That having been said, let me encourage you that God sends the Holy Spirit as our Teacher, and if you ask Him to begin teaching you, I can promise you He will. Many just go through the motions of trying to pick up the Bible and read through it. But without asking the Teacher to explain it to you, this often just results in very dry study times where your mind wanders off into things that happened yesterday, or things you need to do tomorrow, or would prefer to be doing today. Just focus for little bit on spending some time in prayer (maybe a few days) asking Him to become your Teacher and lead you to places (in scripture, on TV or radio, or even in the real world) where you can receive genuine revelation from God that quickens your spirit, lets you know He is active in your life, and gives you personal exhortation to lift your heart and spirit. Also spend the time in prayer telling Him exactly what you are telling us: How you now feel burned out. Trust me, you will not offend Him because He knows where you're at already. Ultimately, He probably has just been waiting for you to turn to Him this whole time, knowing that those you were with were not able to help you much anyway. So take heart. Even very strong saints of God go through periods where they experience similar things. Sometimes it comes through spiritual oppression. But the trick is to wait Satan out in such instances, because he can't keep it up forever. The dark clouds eventually part and the sun comes out again. God bless, and welcome to Worthy. If you should need any help or mentoring, please post any of us in private. There are several strong believers here who would be more than glad to help you out.

You had me a little curious as to who this was in the first post, and now I want to know for real. If you don't think it's appropriate to post it publicly, send me a conversation about it. It now has me wondering.

Wow. That started out funny, but got a little scary towards the end there... Prophecy is returning to the church in keeping with Joel 2:28, but Satan has always been notorious for counterfeiting the gifts whenever they surface, and she sounds like a case in point. With the near deification of Mary in some Christian circles, you can see why that seduction would sell for anyone who was seriously deluded.

Not sure what you are waiting on Him for, but I relate this discussion to something I seek after greatly which is spiritual gifts. There is a Christian movement which has gained popularity in the last 10 years or so that teaches all believers should just "step out in faith" and begin laying hands on the sick and administering "healing." While some minor healings do appear to occur, most of it is obviously just hype. And I don't see the healing gift as something every believer receives (1 Corinthians 12:28), and even with those who are called to it I think it is something that one waits on God's timing for, so as not to enter into temptation or handle the gift irresponsibly. That having been said, I think the principle of waiting on God is a wise rule to live by. The number of horror stories that have resulted from believers NOT doing so are too numerous to count, especially regarding things like marrying the wrong person.

I was already typing this up when GandalfTheWise posted his response. So I'll include below what I was going to post, which largely chimes in with what he was saying above: About your second situation, the obvious verses would be Psalm 34:7, with the singular "angel of the Lord" referring to a commander of the heavenly host, since the sentence mentions how he/ they will encamp around (i.e. surround) those who fear God. A very strong example of this 2 Kings 6:17, though it will doubtfully take an entire army of angels to protect your household. Just take a bottle of anointing oil that you have prayed over and walk around your entire house, proclaiming Psalm 34:7 over your home and anointing the corners of the house and every room you feel led to bless, including things like closets. Take your granddaughter with you, and remind her not to let anything in your home by her own volition by participating in anything occult. As for the first, just repeat what you did last time, the key being to speak it in faith. You could also recite the verse that He has given us the power to tread on scorpions and snakes (Luke 10:19), and then say "therefore...," and command them in Jesus' name. That would serve as a warning to any demons that if they dared in ANY way whatsoever to manifest, they will be cast out. It's mostly attitude, Melissa, which comes from true faith. The greater your faith, the less you will tolerate, and the more steadfastness you will have in expelling them. Faith increases as you grow in His word and in your relationship with Him, so keep focusing on that and you will be fine.

I've run into the two witnesses one before. Someone believed that a woman might possibly be one of them. Unfortunately the Greek uses the masculine, which would make her the wrong kind of woman indeed... maybe a witness for the LGBT community, but that's about it.

There's the belief that Jesus was actually a full-blooded Cherokee Indian, because one of His names in scripture is "Chief Cornerstone." On a serious note, I actually read someone teaching that a certain English Bible translation was more reliable than the original Greek. That one almost made me fall out of my seat.

A Ha Ha Ha! I have a cat that sits on my lap, or directly in front of the computer screen. He even likes to lay down near the mouse and then tries to slowly push it out of the way to get my attention. I also have a ongoing feud with auto-correct, but I can't say as I can blame either one of them for my illustrious education in the public school system, LoL. It has a way of rearing its ugly head when I least expect it.

I've been considering this issue quite a lot lately. Most believers don't realize it, but even the apostle Paul or the Lord Jesus Christ Himself could post incognito on a topic, and for the most part it would go right passed them and they would begin arguing. The reason is simply that we are not in a place in church history where many have ears to hear. Most just adopt a certain doctrinal line on a subject and then take it upon themselves to become a "defender of the faith." But what's usually missing is a combination of humility and genuine scriptural knowledge. The lack of humility makes believers insist on saving face even when they are clearly being disproven, and the lack of genuine scriptural knowledge makes them defensive if someone posts something that contradicts what they've been taught, or if something they post gets challenged. Look for mature believers, and interact with them. They are usually easy to spot. Often they are older (though not always), but what you will see is a habitual practice of manifesting respect for others, even during debate. James, Chapter 3 addresses this. The wise man can be distinguished from the foolish by how he behaves, not just what he teaches, which makes how they behave sort of a dead giveaway. I have friends of different persuasions, doctrinally and politically, with whom I very much enjoy discussing things even though we disagree, because I know they are of the right Spirit and even if I am wrong they will not insult me. Unfortunately, these types of believers are in the minority, but they are around. You just have to take note of people, watch their responses (i.e. their behavior), and learn what to expect. I haven't been here long, but there are certainly a few good ones here I've noticed already. Btw, the proper spelling for "bored," at least the way you are using it, is actually "board." Just thought I'd throw that in there while the context was about being good-hearted.

LoL. I would have to agree with Bk1110 and Debp. That questionnaire is liable to be answered by someone in ministry, and they may have too much going on with people who already are members of their church to be that worried about spending too much time on someone who may or may not become one. I don't want to discourage you or anything; I'm just saying you might want to trim that down to the bare essentials. Without it being intentional, your list also has a way of coming off like you will be the type to hold them highly accountable, and despite not having even met them yet. Most pastors already have members like that, and they generally aren't too wild about them, LoL, so I'm guessing the number of responses you get will probably be minimal. It would certainly be a way of giving yourself plenty of heads up if it worked, but in the real world that probably won't work out the way you hoped it would. God bless. If you'd like a word of advice, along with searching around, make sure you PRAY often for the Lord to direct you to a good church. Even sometimes when we think we have found the place God has for us, there may be factors involved that we don't realize, but the Lord can protect you from getting overly-involved in a situation that looks right but actually isn't.

Actually, enoob, I think the OP was from the outset addressing Christians discussing the word together, whereas your Luke passage is a reference to the word separating believers from those who refuse to, and instead stand opposed to Christ. The context is different, don't you agree?

Mary, I want you to pray for me. It shocked me to read the first few sentences of this, because it is precisely where I left off in a conversation I was having with some Messianic Jews recently over the feasts. I have been working on my own spiritualized interpretations of the feasts in relation to the path each New Testament believer in Christ is supposed to walk. But that is admittedly a spiritualized application, and I believe in partial, literal and even spiritualized fulfillments of prophecy. In other words, I also found their arguments about the fulfillment of the feasts to be very interesting as well and something I wanted to look into, but didn't have the energy. By His grace I need to get into this with you, and badly, but it will take His grace to devote myself to it fully. So pray He gives me the time and ability if you would. P.S. Should I not respond to this again, please post me privately. It's as if the Lord is requiring me to deal with this, so He's leading me right back to it, LoL. God bless, Hidden

If this is a double post, forgive me. Still slowly figuring out the quirks at this site, LoL. Thanks for your response, Pillar. My response to this would be that I think we simply need to return to a proper understanding of what the rules originally were. While I don't wish to get into strife with anyone over this, I do actually agree to much of what Alex posted. I think where the church went wrong is by reintroducing the Old Testament practice of tithing under the guise that it was the same thing as "giving and receiving," which is clearly not the case at all. Giving and receiving was voluntary, and mostly involved simple exchanges, like with food and clothing. There were larger exchanges, such as the sale of lands to provide all things common to believers (Acts 2:44). But again, this was all voluntary. Tithing on the other hand is compulsory, and in the modern era the application of this doctrine is what has opened the door for massive abuses in the name of Christ, even by conservative preachers, which seem to completely contradict the example Paul was trying to set that it is better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). I do not stand in judgment over others, including those who disagree with my position on this. God is their Judge, and will judge justly. I simply think the church would be reaching the lost more if the example we are setting returned to the original New Testament doctrines laid down by the apostles. I see no problem in giving and receiving when there is true need, but obligating believers to give massive amounts of money that tempts ministers to live exorbitantly at the expense of the church needs to be corrected, and it will only start when we finally correct our understanding of what true "giving and receiving" was meant to accomplish among the brethren.