Posted on 06/09/2007 4:21:19 AM PDT by DouglasKC
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:1
Good piece.
My girlfriend who just successfully had a 3 organs transplant (pancreas + 2 kidneys) believes in this stuff. She read the book when it came out and then she had the surgery. She is convinced her good thoughts helped with the success of her surgery. Oddly enough, she never considered the prayers from her friends and family but I was able to send her the link you had. She just called me, she wants me to take her to my church. So thank you for that!
In word studies of PISTIS, faith, we find there is faith associated with our mind, our logic, our thinking inwardly, our ability to recall, our outward expression of our thoughts, with our heart, with Bible doctrine, and all of it is provided to us by God.
By remaining in belief of Him through faith in Christ, He is free to bless us in how He has planned in eternity past and at any moment per His will.
Just as He has created man originally perfect through the creation of Adam, in body, soul and spirit, and cares for the welfare of every small bird, so too and even moreso does He care for us.
There are also, though, other creatures, with volition, who might attempt to counterfeit His provision by their own volition independent of Him, in rebellion to His will. Accordingly, just because some might experience success without faith in Him, doesn’t mean eternal paradise has been successfully counterfeited. Likewise, the suffering or misery of believers remaining in faith through Him in physical, soulish or spiritual domains doesn’t mean the Adversary has succeeded in conquering His will. On the contrary, while the problem of sin has been resolved on the Cross for all eternity, the issues of good and evil must be resolved in time.
Those who remain faithful through Him have eternal rewards created in eternity past awaiting us at the bema seat, and He is still free to bless us as He knows best in His plan.
The gnostics may have identified the existence of spiritual phenomenon, but failed to realize that through faith in Christ, all things are possible and for divine good, rather than mere human good. The gnostics also failed in believing only the spirit or maybe some aspects of the soul were worthy of eternal good, but failed to realize that even the physical domain was created by God and not evil when lived within per His plan by faith through Him.
If we are in faith through Christ and find it good for the mountain to be moved and seek for it to be moved through His will, then the movement of the mountain by Him with us as His agents may still be divinely good. Those who seek to move the mountain through faith, independent of Him, might observe counterfeit results, but will not prevail in the final analysis of what works are indeed good in His perspective.
That's wonderful news. Anything that takes one on the journey to truth is a good thing.
Say what?
Mark 10:17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" 18 So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 19 You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and your mother.' " 20 And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth." 21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." 22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!"
That's a pretty straightforward teaching -- without parable.
Good News Magazine hardly has the corner on 'REAL' secrets.
I think you need to show the rest of the quote. When Jesus was on earth relatively few were able to understand the parables he used:
But He promised that the way to the Kingdom of God would be a secret, a mystery except to His disciples—and they would be very few.
He told His disciples: "It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given . . . Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand" (Matthew 13:11, 13).
Only by having the spirit can you know exactly HOW to get to the kingdom of heaven:
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned
As for your example, yes, keeping the commandments CAN bring eternal life. But we can't keep the commandments perfectly, physically or spiritually. However, when the spirit of Christ dwells in us, can stop doing our own will and let the spirit of Christ live in and through us. This spirit WILL keep the commandments of God insofar as we let it.
The Lord's speech is Divine -- it had meaning to all that believe in Him. Then as now.
The whole of the NT deals with salvation, repentance, how to love the Lord and the neighbor to lead a good life according to one's religion. That's what leads to Heaven.
You quoted Corinthians. Look at the beginning of the next chapter...
3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal?
Paul is challanging those to raise their mind to the spiritual, which really anyone can do who is sincere about his faith.
That doesn't fit with what's written:
Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
That seems relatively clear.
The parable of the marriage supper ends with:
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen
3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal? Paul is challenging those to raise their mind to the spiritual, which really anyone can do who is sincere about his faith.
Paul was addressing Christians. Those who had repented of their sins and had accepted the indwelling of the holy spirit. Granted they struggled with carnality, as all Christians do, but part of the purpose of the church is to help other overcome, which is what Paul was attempting to do here.
Scripture is abundantly clear that one does need the spirit of God to understand the things of God.
1Jo 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
But as the article points out, there are also many decievers gone out into the world, many of whom call themselves Christians:
2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
As for the 'Seven Truths' from the article, #1 is a tad off compared to Luke:
Being demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them, and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20-21).
The Lord loves all and wishes salvation for all...
Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. (John 14:23)
Taken out of context and without scriptures that show to the contrary, this is a common explanation of this scripture.
However, if you think about this, it doesn't make much sense. Jesus is saying this to the Pharisee's. But he also said:
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Hypocrisy and lawlessness were within the Pharisee's, not the kingdom of God.
An explanation that makes more sense is that the word translated "within" can just as easily be translated "among" or "in the midst of". Several translations render it this way:
(Bible in Basic English) And men will not say, See, it is here! or, There! for the kingdom of God is among you
(Contemporary English Version) There is no use saying, 'Look! Here it is' or 'Look! There it is.' God's kingdom is here with you."
(Darby) nor shall they say, Lo here, or, Lo there; for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.
(EMTV) neither will they say, 'Look here!' or 'Look, there it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is among you."
(ESV) nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."
(ISV) People won't say, 'Look! Here it is!' or "There it is!' For the kingdom of God is among you."
(MKJV) Nor shall they say, Lo here! or, behold, there! For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.
What Jesus was likely telling them was that he, as the Christ, represented the kingdom of God. You can't have access to the Kingdom of God unless you go through Christ. So Christ was standing right in their midst and they couldn't even observe it.
The Lord loves all and wishes salvation for all... Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. (John 14:23)
I agree with this. But it isn't a free ticket to salvation. Other scriptures make clear that obedience is a clear requirement:
Heb 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
In John 14:23, 'keep' means 'obey'.
I don't. The doctrine of the immortal soul is unbiblical. Eternal life is a gift of God:
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Man doesn't have eternal life. We were created mortal, out of elemental substances:
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
We return to dust when we die.
Unbiblical?
One doesn't have to have an immortal soul to see visions. Plainly those who saw visions weren't impeded by this. :-)
Unbiblical?
Unbiblical. Scripture after scripture affirms that the fate of man is death:
Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
We don't already have eternal life, an immortal soul. Everlasting life is a gift of God.
Perish = apollumi - From G575 and the base of G3639; to destroy fully (reflexively to perish, or lose), literally or figuratively: - destroy, die, lose, mar, perish.
What about hell? Jesus spoke more about that than he spoke of heaven.
Biblical. But the word "hell" was used in the new testament of the King James version of the bible for three different greek words.
I'm going to cut and paste from this article to show the three words:
Greek words translated 'hell'
The counterpart of sheol in the Greek language is hades, which also refers to the grave. In the four New Testament verses that quote Old Testament passages containing sheol, hades is used for sheol (Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15; Acts 2:27, 31). As with sheol, hades is rendered as "the grave" or "death" or left untranslated as Hades in recent Bible versions.
Hades likewise does not refer to a place of fiery torment. Indeed, the apostle Peter refers to Christ Himself as having been in "Hades" (Acts 2:27, 31) or "hell" (King James Version), referring to the time He was entombed before His resurrection. Both words simply refer to the grave.
A second Greek word, tartaroo, is also translated "hell" in the New Testament. This word is used only once in the Bible (2 Peter 2:4), where it refers to the place where the fallen angels, or demons, are restrained awaiting their judgment. The Expository Dictionary of Bible Words explains that tartaroo means "to confine in Tartaros" and that "Tartaros was the Greek name for the mythological abyss in which rebellious gods were confined" (p. 337). Peter used this reference to contemporary mythology to show that the sinning angels were "delivered . . . into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment." These fallen angels are in a condition or place of restraint awaiting their ultimate judgment for their rebellion against God and destructive influence on humanity.
Tartaros applies only to demons. Nowhere does tartaroo refer to a fiery hell in which people are punished after death.
It is only with the remaining word translated "hell"-the Greek word gehenna-that we see some elements people commonly associate with the traditional view of hell. However, this word also has significant differences from the popular concept of hell.
Gehenna "is derived from the Hebr[ew] expression, ga-Hinnom, Valley of Hinnom . . . Religiously it was a place of idolatrous and human sacrifices . . . In order to put an end to these abominations, Josiah polluted it with human bones and other corruptions (2 Kgs. 23:10, 13, 14)" (Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament, AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, 1992, p. 360).
Thanks in large part to its evil reputation, this valley bordering Jerusalem came to be used as the city garbage dump. Trash was burned there, along with the bodies of dead animals and criminals. Fires day and night consumed the refuse.
Inferno to destroy the wicked
Gehenna is used 12 times in the Bible, with 11 of those recording Christ's words. When Jesus spoke of gehenna, His listeners knew that this "hell" was a consuming fire in which garbage and the bodies of the wicked were destroyed. He bluntly warned that this destroying fire would be the fate of the incorrigibly wicked (Matthew 5:22, 29-30; 23:15, 33; Luke 12:5).
But when would this take place? Many of those who opposed Christ were among the religious and civil leadership of His day; they weren't treated as criminals, with their bodies burned in the city dump. Christ knew that their ultimate judgment, along with that of the overwhelming majority of humanity throughout history, would be far in the future (as made clear throughout this booklet).
After being resurrected, those who are shown God's way but still refuse to repent will face gehenna fire, an all-consuming inferno that will completely destroy them and all memory of them, with no hope of further resurrection (Matthew 10:28).
The book of Revelation calls this inferno "the lake of fire" (Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14-15). In the time frame revealed in the Bible, this follows 1,000 years of Christ's reign on earth (Revelation 20:1-6) and a resurrection to physical life of all those who have never known God and His ways (verses 5, 11-13). Those resurrected at that time will have the opportunity to learn God's ways, repent and receive His gift of eternal life.
Some, however, will refuse that gift. The Bible records their tragic epitaph: "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (verse 15).
Those who willingly choose to reject God's way will not be allowed to continue living in the misery their choice will bring. They will die, not suffer forever. They will be consumed in this fire, leaving nothing but ashes (Malachi 4:1-3). An examination of all the words translated "hell" shows that the traditional view of an ever-burning place of torment where the wicked are punished for eternity cannot be found in the Bible.
Hope it helps...
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