glff

Hey! shabana Javed... PTL, forever! We agree on all you've posted here, but we're not necessarily free from condemnation. This is why I consider the textus receptus over both the codex Sinaiticus and the alexandrian text, because Rom 8:1, NASB tells us: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Where textus recepticus adds to Rom 8:1 "..., who walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh." Then in Gal 2:11, NASB, we're told, "But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned." Just as the one in 1 Cor who was shunned and had his body delivered to the evil one and then who was received back into fellowship in 2 Cor 5 after he had repented. And for those who take the body and the blood of communion unworthily which resulted in many of them sleeping in a believer's death. And finally, we're told in Heb 12:11 that the Lord grievously chastens whom he loves to produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness. This is referring to the fruit of one's apparent righteousness which is grown just like the other fruits of the Spirit as mentioned in Gal 5:22-23 and has nothing to do with the imputed righteousness of Jesus' perfect life under the law which is ours by grace through faith in Jesus. Al least, that's how I see it. : ) glf

Forgiving others gets easier and easier as we do it. 1 Jo 5:16a "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death..." Above is a way to make your forgiveness active, by praying for a person who did wrong so that the Lord will give them life. I'm not sure of all of the ramifications here, but for the Lord to give someone life because we asked it of him is amazing!

I did a study once on Nimrod who was Ham's grandson. Interesting to note that a curse is unto the third or forth generation, so Nimrod should have been a servant, but instead, he ruled over mankind hunting down anyone who left his kingdom and brought them back, probably dead. It doesn't tell us how old Nimrod was, but Ham's brother, Shem had a grandson who lived 440 years. So Nimrod probably kept mankind from fulfilling the Lord's directive to replenish the earth for hundreds of years. When he built a tower into the heavens, the Lord took matters into his own hands and confounded their language so that they could no longer understand each other and off they went, en masse. glf

Hey! keet... PTL!!! There will be no soul sleep after we die and are present with the Lord; and here's why: Heb 11 talks about those who were faithful during their time on the earth. Verses 39 and 40 of Heb 11 in summation tells us, "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb 12:1 then says: "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." If they were asleep, they cannot be witnesses! imo... : ) glf

Phi 4: 6-7 "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace that passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

I consider New Jerusalem to be heaven, where the Father will sit on a great white throne under an emerald rainbow and whose presence will be the light of the whole of the new earth, even the far side of the planet will be brightly illuminated by the Lord's presence and there will be no darkness or night ever! And to take it a bit further, we are eternal kings and priests even on the new earth. I suspect that as kings, we'll need kingdoms, especially since the leaves from the tree of life are for the healing of nations and that's the only reason that I can think of for there to be any nations at all on the new earth. The top of New Jerusalem will be 5 times higher than the height that the space shuttle orbits this earth. And again, I suspect that the permanent new earth will be a lot larger than this earth to accommodate it. If the Lord made this temporary creation in such detail, with stars that are over 8 billion light years away with no end in sight; imagine what he'll do in the heavens then. Funny note: I used to pray that the Lord give me my mansion at the top corner of New Jerusalem so I could look down upon the new earth in two directions and with a sky light, I could see the new heavens; but then I realized that that room would be the furthest from the throne room that I could possibly get. : ( I stopped asking for such a room after that. lol@me... glf

Hey! Starise... : ) I don't really listen to music as my ears ring whenever I hear a high note, But my favorite verse is in Zeph 3:17 "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." I imagine that the throne room in New Jerusalem is large enough to hold the whole of the angelic host, and the faithful from both the old and the new covenants with plenty of room left over as the Lord himself sings songs of joy to us all. Jesus come quickly!

1 Jn 3: 19-23 "And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment." One might say that a clear conscience empowers full power faith. glf

Hey! Starise... PTL! I've enjoyed you posts and we agree on a lot of the same things, but I'm convinced that the demon seed doctrine is in error and here's why: In Heb 1 we're told that at no time has the Lord called an angel, son; and of the Son, he says, let all of the angels of God worship him, also in Heb 1. In the genologies we're told that Adam was the son of God. Its mankind whom the Lord as made to be the body of Christ, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus. Referring to mankind, Jesus said to the Jews who wanted to stone him, 'For which good work do you stone me? They replied, not for a good work, but for blasphemy by saying that you're God's son. Jesus responded, it says in scripture that they are gods unto whom the word of God came and scripture cannot be broken, why stone me for saying I'm God's Son?' My point is: how? this one time, does 'sons of God' mean someone other than Adam or one of his descendents? The only answer has to be that it doesn't! Adam and his descendents which includes Jesus are the only sons or son of God. The fallen angels wish...! So, I suspect that Adam and Eve had children before they fell and lost their innocence by eating the forbidden fruit, whose dna remained uncursed and perfect so as to produce giants, and who are being referred to in the book of Gen as sons of God to differentiate them from Adam and Eve's fallen offspring. This offers an alternative, that isn't against scripture, to having ghosts or spirits or angels who do not marry, producing offspring with flesh and blood. imo... glf

Hey! Jedi4Yahweh... PTL!!! Rather than repentance vs backsliding; let's call it, stumbling vs falling away since James tells us that we all stumble in many ways. Once we believed and repented and turned to the Lord for forgiveness and were given faith by Jesus and were indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we become babes in Christ. According to Heb 5 a babe is unskilful in the word of righteousness, needing to be tought or tought again: the first principals of the oracles of God before getting strong meat of understanding which is for the mature believer. The elementary principals of the oracles of God are: repentance from dead works, faith towards God, doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement. Repentance from dead works is the only do-over on that list, though the burden of the lost's resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement can be renewed to us by the Spirit since we are all eternal priests of the new covenant with both a word and a ministry of reconciliation from the Lord. A beliver who stumbles becomes out of fellowship with the Lord, usully from their own guilt and usully due to a sin. The promise of the new covenant and what makes it better than the old covenant is that the Lord writes his commandments into our hearts and minds; which is transforming our consciences to perceive sin as Jesus does. Things that we once delighted in become points of conviction and once delivered, the Holy Spirit will apply the blood of Jesus to that heart to purge that conscience from dead works to better serve the living God and then the Spirit will move onto the next sin as he chooses. It is thus that Jesus sanctifies and cleanses his church with the washing of water by the word which empowers us to even forgive ourselves and sleep the sleep of the innocent. The Spirit illuminates the scriptures here a little and there a little so that 3 to 5 chapters of daily devotions will lead to daily miracles in our hearts and minds, enabling us to keep the Spirit of the new covenant where Israel couldn't keep just the letter of the old one. The difference between stumbling and falling away is that when we stumble, we get back up. We do this by renewing our fellowship with the Lord who is found in the scriptures by the ministry of the Holy Spirit which is the only place where babes in Christ can grow up! glf

PTL Figure of eighty... The bottom line is that the Lord loves each of us as he does Jesus, Jn 17. And he isn't a respecter of persons. Its our faith that makes us pleasing unto the Lord and the less he has to move to produce or increase our faith, the more pleasing we are to him. Some of us need that move of the Spirit in order to believe God's word fully, much as Thomas to whom Jesus said, put your finger in my hand and believe; but to believe without that needed proof is better! The Lord knows our hearts way better than we do. The Lord takes our time in the scripture and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit fulfills the promise of the new covenant by writing his commandments upon our hearts and minds, by which we are being transformed us into Jesus' image. This is a miracle available every day to the faithful, here a little, and there a little (Is 25:9,10) with enough time in the word. For those who are no longer babes, then the Holy Spirit will feed them strong meat of understanding as he chooses, but it'll be in-part and as seen through a glass darkly. Our prayer and fasting not only get us closer to the Lord, it is how the Lord moves in the world today by moving with the church to reach the world for Jesus and in these lest days to keep as many as we can from departing from the faith. The prayer of faith on behalf of one who is in need and whom the Lord our God and Savior loves so so much can bring them life when we ask after seeing their sin, (1 Jn 5). what am amazing ministry is available to each one of us. The more fervent our prayers to more effectual they'll be with the Lord; who inhabits obedient ministers of the gospel with an outward anointing of his presence; which is something worth working for as able ministers of the gospel, with both the word and the ministry of reconciliation through Jesus Christ our Lord. glf

And... Heb 3:13 ''But exort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."

Amen! Logostician... As I see it, a component of our faith is our relationship with the Lord through Jesus Christ; our God, King, and eternal High Priest! I take Jesus' work even further than just fulfilling the OT Law: Since he also fulfilled the spirit of the New Covenant whose standard of obedience transcends the letter of the Law as a thought does the act. The Law says to not commit adultery, the Spirit of the law of life says that to lust is to commit adultery. The letter of the Law says not to murder, the law of the Spirit of life or the New Covenant says to hate is to be a murderer. My point is Jesus also fulfilled the standard contained in the New Covenant which completely goes beyond the requirement of the OT's letter of the Law. As well it should since the New Covenant's faithful have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are having the Lord write his commandments upon the hearts and minds as one grows from a babe in Christ to one who is of full age and ready for the strong meat of the word rather than milk. glf

Jn 17:23 "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me." The Lord shares his Spirit with us and we become one with the Lord in the same way that Jesus is one with the Father and in Jn 17:3 Jesus defines eternal life as knowing the Father and himself. Why didn't our Holy Creator just wait until after we've entered into our redemption and put on our resurrection bodies to indwell us. No sinful temples for him to inhabit and therefore endure that way, but no, its like the Lord didn't want to wait any more then he had to to begin our oneness together even though it's for forever. Instead he forgives us at great cost to himself and remembers our sins no more. Such is his great love for each of us! Through our devotions in scripture and prayer we grow closer to the Lord and he shares his heart with us, so that our love for others and even for ourselves can be ever increasing as we continue to grow and care.

Jas 1:27 "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."

To blaspheme the Holy Spirit To re-write the book of Revelations, while leaving out selected portions. To deny Jesus before man. To fall away or to depart from the faith or from believing in Jesus as their Savior. And we're commanded not to pray for the above as there is no more sacrifice available for them. 1 Jn 5:17 "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it." But imagine, for all others we're able to pray for them and they'll be given life from the Lord because of our prayers. How awesome is that! So do not neglect praying for the brethren, you might be used of the Lord to give them life! glf

The Lord is the God of love and mercy, forgiveness and patience and is therefore pro chastity and pro life!

Hey! canada... PTL!!! I know what "Merry Christmas" means to me. Remember, the Lord commands us not to judge by appearance, but to make righteous judgments and in another place we're told that "unto the pure all things are pure." So, its best to know the heart of a person before making a judgment. Deception abounds, sadly, so let's go by, "Let go be true and every man a liar," as shown in scripture by the believers in Berea, who were called a more noble sort because they searched the scriptures daily to see if what the apostle Paul told them was true or not. glf

Heb 1: 1-3 "God, who at divers times and in sundry manners spake in times past to the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by who also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."

Hey! bcbsr... PTL!!! I see it as a little bit more involved that that... While being ministered with the gospel to one who believes the Lord rewards those that seek him, the Lord will call such a one to himself and the Spirit will convict for sins. If that person, responds with a godly sorry, calling on Jesus; then Jesus will put a mustard seed of faith into their soul. The mustard seed is faith in Jesus as Savior. The Holy Spirit baptizes that one into the body of Christ and indwells their Spirit. In 1 Co 6:17 "But he that is joined with the Lord is one spirit." Not only are we temples of the living God, but as Jesus is one with the Father, so are we one with the Lord: sharing the Holy Spirit with each other, forever. 1 Cor 1:26 "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." 2 Th 2:14 "Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Heb 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." 2 Co 7:10 "For godly sorry worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorry of the world worketh death." Heb 12:2 "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Jesus' joy was in making us to be one with the Lord forever." Jn 1:13 "which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God." glf

No... But they'd have a hard time with me. 1 Jn 4:1-3 "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try try the spirits whether they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." glf

Jn 1:1 in the begining was the word and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All thinks that were made were made by the word and without the word was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. Then in vs 14 "And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." To my understanding, since we're made in the image and likeness of the Lord, I see that we are body soul and spirit a reflection of the Lord himself. So that Jesus is like the body that outward presence of the Lord, our infinite God. The Father is like the soul that inward part of God and the Spirit is like our blood moving and giving life. Jesus said that the words he spoke wasn't his own but was from the Father and if we didn't believe that his words were from the Father, then look at his works which the Father gave him to do. Of the Spirit, Jesus said that he would send the Spirit to us from the Father and that the Spirit speaketh not of his own, but whatsoever he hears, that shall he speak and he will reveal things to come. This shows us that the Lord has a distinction of roles from each self aware component, but that together the truth of the Lord's nature can be seen in Deut 6:4 "Hear, O Israel,: the Lord our God is one Lord." In another place we're told about Jesus, "he holds all things together by the word of his power." I take this to mean that Jesus holds ever atom in the universe together so that the atom's center of like charges do not repel and he keeps each electron in a tight orbit around its atom by the word of his power. We're given the definition of eternal life in Jn 17:3 "And this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent." So we'll have plenty of time to know our infinite God as we are fully known by him. glf

Hey! Samuel91... PTL and amen! James tells us that we all stumble in many ways. So, perhaps it would be better for us to know how to get back up rather than trying to be perfect. The difference between stumbling and falling away is that when we stumble, we get back up. And when we do stumble the Lord tells us in Phl 3:16 "Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." How to get back up can be found in Heb 5:12-14 "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principals of the oracles of God, and are become such that have need of milk and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them who are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." So the Holy Spirit who illuminate's scripture to us feeds the babes in Christ upon milk or the word of righteousness to teach the first principals of the oracles of God, which are given in Heb 6 being, repentance from dead works, faith towards God, the doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement. Now, faith towards God was given to us by Jesus when we first believed and should remain with us until we've entered into our redemption or until we receive our resurrection bodies. The doctrine of baptisms, being plural here, I suspect refers to the several types of baptisms that had in the early church's days. For example, gentile proselytes to Judaism were baptized, then we have John the baptist's baptism of repentance, and water baptism as commanded by the Lord Jesus and the baptism referred to when Paul says, one faith, one baptism, which refers to 1 Cor 12:13 "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." The laying on of hands refers to body ministry and both the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement is the Church's burden to minister the gospel to the lost. Faith towards God and baptism are one and done ordinances. The laying on of hands is also a one and done ordinance because the gifts and callings of the Lord are given to us without repentance by the Lord or are for until we enter into our redemption. The resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement or the church's burden for the lost will keep increasing as our love grows. The point here is that repentance from dead works is an ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit as Jesus sanctifies and cleanses the church with the washing of water by the word. As the Lord cleanses us from our sins and we have repented from our dead works, the Spirit applies the blood of Jesus to our consciences as seen in Heb 9:14 as the Paul compares Jesus blood with the OT's sacrifices; "how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." This makes our hearts to condemn us not and we can sleep the sleep of the innocent as we are empowered to even forgive our own selves. That we are growing can be seen in 2 Pet 1 where as we should be adding to our faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity: and in 2 Pet 1:8 we're told, "For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." and Paul adds in vs 10 "wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." glf

Please, let me add: The Thriller of Manila which was the Joe Frazier and Mohammed Ali fight was the first time that our satellites connected so that people all over the world could watch the same event at the same time. This made it possible for Jesus' prophecy to be literally fulfilled about the whole world watching the 2 witnesses be overcome, lay dead for three days and then come back to life. Probably on cable channel 666. The apostle John saw a vision and he described it with words that he knew and I suspect that he saw helicopters. Giant locusts rise up from the ground, with crowns on their heads and stingers on their tails. With breastplates of Iron and the faces of men and made the sound of many chariots rushing into battle. Its's the faces of men that really convinced me, the pilot and co-pilot. I really do love jumping out of helicopters! : ) The burning mountain that will destroy 1/3 of the worlds population, pollute 1/3 of its rivers, and sink 1/3 of its ships will not hit in Europe or China as they'll be to be able to meet at the battle of Armageddon. It can't hit in Russia as they'll be destroyed when they attack Israel and so too for N Africa or the Arabian people as they'll be destroyed just like Russia. So that leaves N and S America to supply the 1/3 destruction of the worlds population, rivers, and ships. Sadly...