Denadii

I'm Soooo glad God took my Lady and I out of churches....What a wondrous blessing!! I took my daughters out of the school system to teach them myself, because I wanted them to have an education. Then God took us out of churches because He wanted to teach us Himself so we would know the truth. God is so loving!!

It says conceited hey? Good Keep reading. God used something debilitating to keep Paul from getting conceited....Wonderful And He broke somebody's leg to teach him something, and He gave someone cancer so they would lean on Him more....That is a doctrine of demons. God does not inflict bad upon anybody. You are right about one thing though.....That's not logic, or truth, or sense. God is a good God. He does not put sickness, disease, poverty or anything else on His people. His desire is to bless and what you claim is the opposite of blessing. What you say God did to Paul would be like me giving you a car for your job, then so you won't mile it out, I put sugar in the tank.

.So, how does that go with James 1:13-14 (KJV) 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

My bible says "To keep me from being exalted..." Not 'to keep me from being conceited' Do you honestly think that God is not capable of dealing with Paul directly and has to use someone who hates both God and Paul to make Paul more upright? You're using logic instead of Word to get your conclusions. Ask the Holy Spirit what He says about it

Why are you blaming God for a demon attacking Paul? The bible does not say that.

I really don't understand why Christians choke in this question. You named the thorn. It was a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him. Who is Satan...Yeah. That's a dumb question. We all know who Satan is. So, if Satan sends a messenger to you, what would that messenger be? Right. It would be one of his minions, a demon. Well Satan sent a messenger to Paul to harass him and give him a bad time. All you need to do is follow the kiss principle. (KISS = Keep It Simple, Silly). There is not rocket science involved, no mental gymnastics required, and certainly no intellectual effort needed. Simply read the Word and believe it as its written. Satan sent a demon to buffet and harass Paul. Then here's the cool thing.....Paul sought the Lord about it. And God told him right off how to deal with it, how to get rid of it. Paul missed it, and asked God again, and missed the answer...Again Paul asked God about it, and again God told Paul how to get rid of this demon! Talk about patience! What a good God we have! Paul caught on, and he used Gods awesome authority and Gods PRESENCE backed up Paul to send that demon packing.

How to Walk in Love "Therefore, be imitators of God, as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints" (Ephesians 5:1-3). When we speak of "love" here, we mean the kind of love that God has for us. It’s a self-sacrificing love that endures personal pain and seeks the benefit of the other person. It has got nothing to do with a "love life" of a sexual nature, nor are we really talking about the kind of love friends have between them, which is based on a common interest or some kind of desirability in the other person. There is a special word for the God-kind of love - "agape". It’s a word picked by the New Testament writers to distinguish the love of God from other loves, even parental love or affection. Jesus said that the whole law of God hangs on the commandments to love God with everything you've got, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. (See Matthew 22:37-40). Paul pointed out that all the commandments are summed up in the saying, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Romans 13:9) This means that understanding how to love as God wants is really important. It is so important that Paul basically says in 1 Corinthians 13, that even if you move in all the spiritual gifts, including gifts of revelation and power, but don't have love - God's kind of love, you are nothing. This kind of Love is not an option. A life which manifests NO love for others is a life where the seed of God is not germinating. The basic motivations of such a person are all wrong. A person whose principle motivations are to make a name for themselves, to feed their pride, to satisfy their fleshly longings, or their desire for more stuff is a person who is living according to the flesh. A person, whether they claim to be a "born again Christian" or not, is on the path that leads to destruction (Romans 8:5,6). "Those who live like this shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:21). "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15, 16). It’s one thing to know that God demands the fruit of love from us - but how do you do it? I know for many years my life was totally devoid of the love of God, even though I was brought up with the Bible in a good Christian home. I didn't have the love of God in my heart - therefore I could not give it out or walk in it. Even after encountering the reality of God it was a slow process to learn to walk in the love of God, and I am still learning. The first step to walking in the love of God is to be born again and receive a new nature from God, which is able to love. That step is vital. If you are not born again, you can be born again simply by calling upon the name of Jesus, asking Him to save you and make you a new person, trusting in His sacrifice of Himself for you, and his resurrection, and giving your life to Him. Once born again, we still need a lot of change before we are really walking in love. The programming of our brain does not cause us to react in love. Rather, until our minds and hearts and renewed, we may act with the same kind of irritability, selfishness, pride, anger, envy and faithlessness in certain situations which "press our buttons". There is an ongoing process of sanctification which we must embrace if we are going to walk in love, as God requires us to. Although our spirits are made new when we are born again, our minds are not - they need to be renewed also, by an application of the Word of God to our lives. Receiving God's Love "We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19) Unless you experience the love of God for yourself you cannot love God or others with this kind of love. We are not originators of this God-kind of love. We have to receive it first. We must know it experientially, and then we can give it out. We find healing from God as we realize that in Christ, God truly accepts us. He doesn't love us stoically - sort of grinning and bearing us only - he actually likes us. And with our sins taken away through the atonement of Christ, God actually has a real pleasure in us. He loves us. He wants us to respond to His love. It’s a work of the Holy Spirit to come to know this love. "The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5). We cannot achieve this knowledge of God by striving, by trying to, or anything like that. We have to be willing at some point just to "open our hearts" and receive it. What can make this hard for us is when our hearts are hardened and crusted over by layers of pride, cynicism, anger, selfishness and unbelief. This can be happening even when we are not conscious of it. I know from my own experience. It can take a work of God to soften a hard heart. It takes a work of God to heal a heart that has been hurt by rejection over the years. But God can do it, and does do it. If you want to know God's love for you, don't try too hard. Instead, just talk honestly with God. And talk out loud. This helps a lot. Tell Him how you feel. Invite Him to work in your life. Then wait. It may not happen immediately. He may be talking to you about forgiving others first. Respond to what he shows you, and in time, He will reveal His love to you personally. Our Needs are Met in God In order to begin walking in love, we need to believe that "my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). Even though this verse has a definite financial application, I believe it applies also to all our emotional needs as well. We need to trust that God will give us what we need in terms of companionship and love. Even if there is no human being who gives us this, God Himself can truly satisfy our hearts. Jesus truly is both the bread of life and the water of life. He does satisfy. This is true even for single people wanting a spouse. If you are single, God is able to satisfy the longing of your heart until such time as he is ready to give you a good spouse. But you need to go after God in prayer and with meditation on the Word and the cross also, if you want to know this fulfillment in reality. God does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to endure, in terms of loneliness and sexual longing (1 Corinthians 10:13). His plan is good for us. He requires us to be pure in heart while we wait. But we need to make sure we are looking to HIM for the provision, and not in other directions, because if we are looking elsewhere - to ourselves or to others, we will be miserable. The true love of God will enable us to give ourselves in joyful service to God and others even while we are still waiting for the right partner. When we truly have our security in the Lord, and we know that He will provide our material needs as well while we follow Him, we are then freed to think about others, and how we can bless them. "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." (Philippians 2:4). We are free to do this when we TRULY believe that we have a Heavenly Father who is watching out for us. Then we don't have to use all our mental energy on getting what we need or want, instead we trust God, and start to consider how we may be a blessing to those around us - our immediate family, our friends, neighbors, the people at church, our colleagues, and so on. When this consideration translates to actions of kindness, a joy is released in our life that surprises us. And many unexpected blessings of favor and goodness tend to come our way also, as we begin to be released from the tyranny of selfishness and pride. Some Practical Things Loving God will reflect itself in voluntarily choosing to spend time with God, listening to Him, praising Him, praying to Him. If we love God, we will love His Word, the Bible, and read it, and let Him speak to us through it. We won't do this if we are hiding from God, or unwilling to have His Will done in our lives. The love of God is closely related to doing the commandments of God (see John 15:10 and 1 John 5:3). Jesus said that the things we do for others we are doing to Him. In Matthew 25, Jesus said of those who visited the sick, visited the prisoners, fed the hungry and thirsty, and clothed the naked in their life - that they did these things for him. So what we do counts - if it is done in faith and love! If we never do those acts of mercy despite having had the opportunity, we will end up as the goats in Jesus' parable. In the gospels, Jesus keeps emphasizing the idea of doing good to those who cannot repay us back. Many times worldly people will show kindness and favor to those they hope to receive something back from in the future. This is not the love of God. Jesus told us that when we put on a banquet, we should invite the poor, the blind, the lame, the crippled - those who will never be able to repay us - and then we will be repayed by God at the resurrection of the righteous. It is possible to give thing to people without showing love. If by our attitude we show that we really hate being with the people we are serving, this is not love. If we are impatient with them, or gloomy, there are defects in our love walk. May God help us to show mercy with cheerfulness, as the Scripture says! (Romans 12:8). Family Life We need to show the love of God in our families. Love can be expressed in different ways. Two very important ways that we can show love is through words of affirmation, and through acts of service. The world can be cruel out there and things don't always go as we hope. Words of affirmation can rekindle hope and confidence in a person who has suffered blows in life. They are also needed by people who do well. We need words of affirmation to spur us on to greater levels of fruitfulness and achievement. Acts of service are important. It can mean a lot to parents for children to volunteer to do the dishes, or to vacuum the floor. Many wives need the practical help of their husbands at times. If the husband is always pursuing his own interests and not helping his wife, this is not an expression of the love of God. Normally it is women who show far more of the character of God than men, through their unselfish acts of service. Men need to follow the Scriptures, and "Lay down their lives for their wives" (Ephesians 5:25). One way they can do this, apart from words of love and affirmation, or simple acts of service, is to SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH THEIR WIVES. Many women feel emotionally alone and abandoned by their spouses. They need someone to tell their story to. Sometimes it can take years before the story of past hurts is fully told. Men need the love of God to listen and be there for their wives. And sometimes, the giving of flowers is exactly what a woman needs. We need to be quick to ask forgiveness of one another if we fail and get angry or irritated with one another. It is very important to be humble enough to say words like "I was wrong", "I am sorry", "Please forgive me". We are to forgive one another if we have a complaint against one another. This is a Huge Topic More ought to be written on this theme of walking in love, and I hope to do so as the Lord enables me. It’s a challenging area to write on, because it deals with personal character, and not simply giftedness. May God help us to abide in Jesus, and be renewed in the spirit of our minds, so we can better express the love of God in every area of life in which we are involved. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen". (2 Corinthians 13:14). Mikha'el

You ask "How is Abraham a prophet?" Cut and paste..... “What do we mean when we speak of prophets, and who are prophets?” We must find what the Bible says about this subject. The first person in the Bible to be called a prophet was Abraham, the “Father of the Faithful.” It is important to notice also, that it was God who gave him this title. The story is found in Genesis 20:6-7. A heathen prince had taken Abraham’s wife, and God commanded him to restore her, saying of Abraham, “he is a prophet. . . .” (the Hebrew word is “nabi” as it is also in Arabic). Without doubt there were other men before Abraham who were prophets. Enoch was one, for instance (compare Genesis 5:24 with Jude 14). But Abraham was the first person to be designated a prophet by the clear Word of God. Many God-appointed prophets arose after Abraham. They were chosen from many walks of life. Moses was adopted in infancy by an Egyptian princess and thus received a prince’s education. (Read in your Bible, for example, Exodus 2:5-10; Acts 7:21-22.) Ezekiel and Jeremiah were priests as well as prophets. David was first a shepherd, then warrior, king and poet and a prophet as well. Amos was a herdsman (Amos 1:1). Elisha was a plowman (1 Kings 19:15-21). Daniel was a government administrator (Daniel 2:48). From such diverse backgrounds, God chose His prophets. Their influence and authority did not come from their rank, education, wisdom or wealth, but entirely from the fact that God chose them to be His messengers. So we may define a prophet as one appointed by God Himself to be His messenger. Now we must examine the Bible to expand this brief definition. Notice first that God chose His messengers. The following Scriptures demonstrate this: Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you. Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing. I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name.” So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do, and Lot went with him. (Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.) (Genesis 12:1-4). Now Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked—and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! So Moses thought, “I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” God said, “Do not come near here. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He also said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and large, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. And now, indeed, the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. So now, go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He replied, “Surely I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:1-12). Then the Lord came and stood nearby, calling as he had previously done, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel replied, “Speak, for your servant is listening!” The Lord said to Samuel, “Look! I am about to do something in Israel; when anyone hears about it, both of his ears will tingle.” (1 Samuel 3:10-11). The Lord said to me, “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I chose you. Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” I answered, “Oh, Lord God, I really do not know how to speak well enough for that, for I am too young. The Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ But go to whomever I send you and say whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, for I will be with you to rescue you,” says the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me. Know for certain that I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.” (Jeremiah 1:5-10). God in His wisdom chose men who would obey Him faithfully and He gave them authority to speak on His behalf. Prophets were not chosen or elected by men, and they were not permitted to inherit the title or regard it as an official post to be filled by a man specially trained for it. Notice also that God told them what to do. We may find example of the work of a true prophet in a number of references as follows. Their work was: 1. To reveal the nature and attributes of God to men. The following Scriptures show this: The Lord spoke face to face with you at the mountain, from the middle of the fire. (I was standing between the Lord and you then to reveal to you the message of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain.) He said: “I am the Lord your God, he who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the place of slavery. You must not have any other gods besides me. You must not make for yourself an image of anything in heaven above, on earth below, or in the waters beneath. You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject me, but I show covenant faithfulness to the thousands who choose me and keep my commandments.” (Deuteronomy 5:4-10). The Lord spoke to Moses: “Speak to the whole congregation of the Israelites and tell them, ‘You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Each of you must respect his mother and his father, and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols, and you must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal. I am the Lord your God.’” (Leviticus 19:1-4). 2. To make known to men the laws of God. For example Exodus 20:1-17 says: And God spoke all these words: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on earth under it, or that is in the water below. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, who visits the iniquity of fathers on children, even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but who extends faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. For six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or your resident foreigner who is in your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God is giving to you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.” 3. To call the people back to obedience to God’s laws. Read 2 Chronicles 24:19— The Lord sent prophets among them to lead them back to him. They warned the people, but they would not pay attention. 4. To exhort the people to sincerity in worship. An example of this is found in Jeremiah 7:1-11: The Lord said to Jeremiah: “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s temple and proclaim this message: ‘Listen, all you people of Judah who have passed through these gates to worship the Lord. Hear what the Lord has to say. The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. If you do, I will let you continue to live in this land. Stop putting your confidence in the delusive belief that says, “We are safe! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here!” You must change the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop paying allegiance to other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. If you do all this, I will let you continue to live here in this land which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession. “‘But just look at you! You are putting your confidence in a false way of thinking that will not help you at all. You steal. You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to other gods that you do not really know. Then you come and stand here in my presence in this house I have claimed as my own and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! Do you think this house I have claimed as my own is to be a hideout for robbers? You had better take note! I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.’” 5. To warn them of Divine judgment upon sin, both personal and national. See Jeremiah 36:30-31: So the Lord says concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, “None of his line will occupy the throne of David. And his dead body will be thrown out to be exposed to scorching heat by day and frost by night. I will punish him and his descendants and the officials who serve him for the wicked things they have done. I will bring on them and the citizens of Jerusalem and the people of Judah all the disaster that I threatened to do to them. I will punish them because I threatened them but they still paid no heed.” 6. To foretell future events which God had willed. A good illustration of this would be Jeremiah 30:1-3: The Lord spoke to Jeremiah. He said, “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll. For I, the Lord affirm that the time will come when I will reverse the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors and they will take possession of it once again.’” 7. To foretell the coming of the Messiah, the Savior. See for example Isaiah 9:6: For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us. He shoulders responsibility and is called: Extraordinary Strategist, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 8. To record the history of God’s dealings with men. An example of this is in Deuteronomy 31:9-13: Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all Israel’s elders. He commanded them: “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the cancellation of debts, at the Feast of Temporary Shelters, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, you must read this law before them within their hearing. Gather the people—men, women, and children, as well as the resident foreigners in your villages—so they may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the words of this law. Then their children, who have not known this law, will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” 9. To record the Word of God in the Holy Scriptures. The following are examples of this: And the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in Joshua’s hearing; for I will surely wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens.” (Exodus 17:14). And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” (Exodus 34:27). So on that day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites, and the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will take the Israelites to the land I have promised them, and I will be with you.” When Moses finished writing on a scroll the words of this law in their entirety, he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant, “Take this scroll of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. It will remain there as a witness against you” (Deuteronomy 31:22-26). The Lord spoke to Jeremiah in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. He said, “Get a scroll. Write on it everything I have told you to say about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now. (Jeremiah 36:1-2). The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after Jehoiakim had burned the scroll containing what Jeremiah had spoken and Baruch had written down. He said, “Get another scroll and write on it everything that was written on the original scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned.” (Jeremiah 36:27-28). This list is by no means complete but it shows the importance of the work of a prophet. Even the humblest and most ordinary men became important, influential and authoritative in Israel when called to be prophets. Some prophets were called to challenge the whole nation (1 Kings 18:21), or to rebuke evil kings (1 Kings 21:17-24; Daniel 5:17-28) and many were given power to perform miracles to support their authority. An example of this is in Exodus l7:5-6 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your rod with which you struck the Nile and go. I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel. In the nation of Israel, prophets were more important than kings, warriors or priests. Because the prophets were so influential, it is not surprising that early in history, false prophets appeared, pretending to be God’s messengers in order to support their own ambitions for power, authority and personal advancement. Because of this, God gave clear instructions to the people to examine the credentials of all who claimed to be prophets. These Divine instructions are found in Deuteronomy 18:9-22. This paragraph is so important that the student should read it before going any further with this lesson. Here it is: When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations. There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination, an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner of the occult, or a necromancer. Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these things the Lord your God is about to drive them out from before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God. Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not given you permission to do such things. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you—from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him. This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die.” The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good. I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command. I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet speaks in my name. “But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. Now if you say to yourselves, ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord?’— whenever a prophet speaks in my name and the prediction is not fulfilled, then I have not spoken it; the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.” Notice that God warned the people that all pagan practices and customs were strictly forbidden. In particular, God warned them not to seek help or guidance through occult practices like divination, witchcraft or necromancy (the belief that spirits of dead people can be used to obtain help). We are expressly told, Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord. As these practices were strictly forbidden, how were the people of Israel to obtain help and guidance? God gave them a clear answer; I will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you. . . . God would not permit pagan methods of seeking help, but He would appoint His own prophets through whom He would speak and guide those who desired to know the truth. From this important Scripture we find certain definite rules by which the people could know a true prophet sent by God. A TRUE PROPHET SPEAKS IN THE NAME OF JEHOVAH We have already explained that this name of God, used so frequently in the Bible, was spelled by the Hebrew consonants Y.H.W.H. and was probably pronounced Yahweh, but is found in our English Bibles either as Jehovah or more often as Lord. In the passage just quoted we find 10 occurrences of this Divine title. God, speaking through Moses, made it clear that only those prophets who spoke in the name of Jehovah were to be accepted. A TRUE PROPHET WILL BE CHOSEN BY GOD FROM ONE OF THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL Verse 18 says he shall be from among their fellow Israelites. Moses was speaking to Israelites and it is clear that he said that God would raise up a prophet from among you (verse 15). This same expression (fellow Israelites) is found in Deuteronomy 3:18 and Deuteronomy 17:15 where God said that the future kings of Israel must be chosen from among their brethren—they were not to set a foreigner over them as their king. Thus it is clear the prophet must be an Israelite. A TRUE PROPHET WILL SPEAK THE WORDS WHICH JEHOVAH PUTS INTO HIS MOUTH (VERSE 18) God’s message is often rejected by sinful men because God demands obedience to His Word, but a true prophet will not try to make his message popular. A false prophet however appeals to popular enthusiasm. Notice the example in Isaiah 30:8-11 where the people ask the false prophets to prophesy nice things—Now go, write it down on a tablet in their presence, inscribe it on a scroll, so that it might be saved for a future time as an enduring witness. For these are rebellious people—they are lying children, children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law. They say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!” and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! Tell us nice things, relate deceptive messages. Turn aside from the way, stray off the path. Remove from our presence the sovereign king of Israel.” Jeremiah shows us that a true prophet does not invent his message—he is inspired by God— Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me.” (Jeremiah 1:9). A TRUE PROPHET WILL BE VINDICATED BY THE FULFILLMENT OF HIS MESSAGE (VERSE 18) Again Jeremiah gives a clear illustration of this. Read Jeremiah 14:14-16: Then the Lord said to me, “Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority. I did not send them. I did not commission them. And I did not speak to them. They are just prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions, and the delusions of their own mind. I did not send those prophets, though they claim to be prophesying in my authority. They may be saying, ‘No war or famine will happen in this land.’ But I, the Lord, say this about them: ‘War and starvation will kill those prophets.’ And the people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem and they won’t even be buried. That will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.” God had told Jeremiah to announce that Jerusalem would be captured by the Babylonian army, as a punishment for the sins of the people. False prophets opposed Jeremiah and denied his words, suggesting that he was a traitor. But God said that the false prophets themselves would die by the sword of the Babylonians. This was literally fulfilled, and thus the words of Jeremiah were proved to be God’s message, while the popular message of the false prophets was shown to be lies, even though they had dared to use the name of Jehovah. A similar incident is seen in 1 Kings 22:5-28 where Micaiah was sent to prison for speaking God’s word, but the king who foolishly believed the words of the false prophets was killed in battle. A FALSE PROPHET MUST BE PUT TO DEATH FOR TEACHING REBELLION AGAINST JEHOVAH, THE GOD OF THE ISRAELITES This commandment is found in the following Scriptures: Suppose a prophet or one who foretells by dreams should appear among you and show you a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely, “Let us follow other gods”—gods whom you have not previously known—“and let us serve them.” You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him with all your mind and being. You must follow the Lord your God and revere only him; and you must observe his commandments, obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him. As for that prophet or dreamer, he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from the place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within (Deuteronomy 13:1-5) But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die (Deuteronomy 18:20) The severity of this penalty emphasizes how dangerous false prophets are. No matter how important a person might be, or however closely he might be related to the king or anyone who might help decide his fate, he was to be treated as a traitor if he dared to speak a message that turned people away from the worship of Jehovah. In all these verses notice the constant emphasis on the words, the Lord (Jehovah) your God. Pagan nations had degraded the meaning of the word God (Elohim) to include their idols, and so God the Creator stated that henceforth He would be known by His personal name, Jehovah. Not only was this a distinguishing feature of the worship of the One True God, but we find that the oft-repeated expression the name of the Lord was a Hebrew idiom which means “in the authority of the Lord” and “in the character of the Lord.” Thus a prophet who spoke in the name of Jehovah was speaking by the authority of Jehovah and in the character of Jehovah. Jehovah is holy, therefore the message must be holy in character and the messenger must likewise display the holiness of life which would be evidence of his truthfulness. All prophets were to be tested thus concerning the origin of their words, and the meaning and the purpose of their teaching. That teaching must come from Jehovah; it must be true to the earlier revelation of the character of Jehovah, and it must be designed to encourage men to be faithful to Jehovah. Put these points together and you will find God’s method for testing the credentials of a true prophet: 1. He must be a true Israelite. We are grafted in making us true Israelites. 2. He must speak in the name of the Lord (Jehovah). 3. He must call men to living obedience to Jehovah and worship of Jehovah. 4. He must be tested and vindicated by the fulfillment of predictions made by him in the name of Jehovah, by the authority of Jehovah and in keeping with the character of Jehovah. This explains why the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles in the New Testament were members of the Hebrew (Israelite) people. Apart from these Biblical prophets and apostles, no man has ever been known to fulfill the Divine requirements laid down in the above verses. Many men have claimed to be leaders, teachers and prophets, but when we examine their credentials, we find that they were not members of the Hebrew race, nor did they speak in the name of Jehovah. Thus the Bible alone contains the authentic teachings of God’s chosen messengers, prophets and apostles, and although the message of the Bible is not a popular one that appeals to the hearts of proud men, it is the Word of God and shows the way to eternal life. There is one final comment which is of vital importance to this study. We have noted that God revealed the criteria for the recognition of a true prophet. But the verses in Deuteronomy 18 go further than that. They contain a definite prediction of the coming of a specific prophet. The Jews always understood this verse to be a clear promise concerning the coming Messiah. This is clear from the following verses. Read for example John 1:19-23 and note that when John the Baptist began to preach, he was asked, “Are you the Prophet?” Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed—he did not deny but confessed—“I am not the Christ!” So they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not!” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No!” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us so that we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” John said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Also in John 6:14 we see how the people, impressed by the power of Jesus, said, Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” In John 7:40 again the people said, When they heard these words, some of the crowd began to say, “This really is the Prophet!” It is clear that the Jewish people expected a precise and personal fulfillment of this prophecy and when John the Baptist appeared they thought he was The Prophet, but John humbly disclaimed that honor, and directed their attention to Jesus—(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) So they asked John, “Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize, who is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal!” These things happened in Bethany across the Jordan River where John was baptizing. On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’” (John 1:24-30). The people then recognized Jesus as the Prophet. The people were right in thus recognizing Jesus as The Prophet. The Apostle Peter clearly taught that the great prediction was completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We read Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you—that is, Jesus. This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored, which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets. Moses said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey him in everything he tells you. Every person who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed from the people” And all the prophets, from Samuel and those who followed him, have spoken about and announced these days You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, “And in your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.’ God raised up his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each one of you from your iniquities.” (Acts 3:19-26). This one short paragraph then in Deuteronomy 18 contains remarkable truth. It sets out for all time the criteria for the recognition of a true prophet, and also a prediction of the coming of The True Prophet, a prediction which was finally and perfectly fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ. When Jesus came to the Jews, He fulfilled all the conditions of the prediction in Deuteronomy and thus His disciples accepted Him as the promised Prophet and Messiah. So certain is this fact that the Apostle Peter said, Every person who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed from the people.’ (Acts 3:23). This is a solemn warning to those who reject the claims of Jesus Christ. https://bible.org/seriespage/3-what-prophet

Well hey. Looks like it was a really short sabbatical. I went to answer one question..... But I do feel better.

I don't thinks so.....You were whining and taking offense when I got here.

So then When are you people going to stop whining?

What's the name of the thread?

Just because you disagree does not mean you are not wrong. You are wrong.

You do not correct, You attack. You're caustic, You lash out and there is no love at all in your manner. Yet you're the first to complain about being insulted. That's a skill I do not possess. That's why I was asking how you manage it

As I said...You need to learn the Word and stop telling God what He means when He says something

You need to learn the bible and what it really says. You cannot continue to tell God what he means in the Word. So, do you take delight in being so caustic in your talking to others? Does it come natural or do you have to practice? I would like to know because you are so good at it. I'm not knocking you, or attacking you, I'm taking note of a skill you display.

Yet the bible says we are coheirs with Jesus, Everything He has, we have too. The bible says we are adopted by God, that makes Jesus our adoptive brother....

You're not anointed to preach the gospel? Yes you are, You're not anointed to deliver people from demons? Yes you are. You have the same anointing as Jesus.

In that 'Christ' is not Jesus' last name....Jesus Christ simply means Jesus the anointed one and His anointing....If we are anointed too, with the same anointing, you could be called Couppy Christ LOL but it sounds funny. 'Christ is a greek word that for some reason was not translated in the bible.

I am taking a sabatical. That does not mean I'm not reading posts. I felt I needed to answer this one. Is that a problem? Did I hurt your feelings?

It seems foolish for you to mock what I said and then answer your own question. Jesus trained us as you said, Then He sent us out to do just what He did...That's being anointed by Him. Luke 4:17-19 (CJB) 17 and he was given the scroll of the prophet Yesha‘yahu. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of Adonai is upon me; therefore he has anointed me to announce Good News to the poor; he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the imprisoned and renewed sight for the blind, to release those who have been crushed, 19 to proclaim a year of the favor of Adonai.” This too is what we were sent out to do. You need to lay foolish and empty strife aside, and dig into the Word. You might just learn something.

rt I came into this forum hoping to meet other Christians. I told everybody very clearly that I speak bluntly and to the point. The welcome was wonderful and very encouraging. The problem comes this way. I make a post, on any subject and the result is a target on my back. People do not discuss, they attack. So I answer in my usual lovable way, and I get reported for being insulting. (Did you not read my profile?) I address a girl, female, as 'girl' and its degrading, disrespectful, insulting? What? Would it be insulting if I called my wife, 'Wife' (She loves that by the way) I tell someone they need to listen to the Word...How is that bad. Well the upshot of all this is this; I don't need the stress. I'm recovering from a nasty bug..Heart attack....so, I'm taking a sabbatical from this group. I need a rest after such a short time with this group. I'm amazed. We'll see you someday. Glorify God in all your doing. By the way...I met a man here named George. He was nice to talk to. I like him. I met an Amazing Horse too. Witty, smart, and spicy in his talk (not bad language lol) He is worth knowing. and a lovely lady named Willa oh yes! Marilyn (I hope I spelled her name right) Both these Ladies are real, not plastic. People could really learn from these women. Talk to you another time.

I did enjoy your post my friend.

I'm not saying any are unreasonable....It just seems uh....But then I've never thought about it before. So....Its like biting a lemon for the first time....LOL

Yeeeaaaah but.....