Shalom dear doves,I wanted to share this question with you:
"IF we ARE in the last days, THEN where is Jesus, according to
scripture, with refenence to any official church?"
(note Rev 3:20)
Also, this ...
important insight from:
http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org
(Jan. 2004)... see from ... Scripture ...
*******************
that the antichrist is not discovered or figured out
*******************************
but rather is revealed!
************This is a vitally important point for us to understand.
Truth is never discovered by sinful man; truth is only revealed
from above! Thus, sinful man will never catch on nor understand
what is truly happening. Sinful man will never regard the
antichrist as evil.Truth comes to the heart of man only by revelation from above.
The sequence is simple. If people hear the call of God and truly
repent and obey the Gospel, they will rise to walk in newness of
life and will fight the powers of darkness. If they fight the
powers of darkness spiritually, they will be given a special
gift from the very throne of God called discernment. This is the
gift of spiritual sight to those who were spiritually blind.
When this happens to people, they begin to see a world full of
things that they had never seen before, even though those things
were always there.Thus, the gift of discernment is given only to those people who
will fight Satan! If churches and the people in them stop
fighting the devil, they quickly lose the gift of discernment
and find themselves thrust into the outer darkness of idolatry
and continuous deception. What is truly sad is that they do not
even realize it! If they do not receive a love of the truth, it
is God who will send them the strong delusion, and they will
believe the lies of the antichrist and will be caught up in a
religious and patriotic frenzy that is not of God! We remember
the story of one Samson, who was seduced by a woman to reveal
the conditions that secured his supernatural strength. When he
told this deceiving and false-hearted woman what she wanted to
know, she enfeebled him, and he was unable to fight the enemy
but soon became a blind and captive servant of that enemy. The
saddest of words regarding Samson are found in Judges 16:20 as
follows;***************************************************
"And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him."
***************************************************This is the very condition of so many churches in these last
days. Thankfully, there is always going to be at least a small
remnant of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Now please read this ...
Which Church is Emerging? - Greg Lobdell
The word revival may be a bit too strong in describing the
growing number of church-goers who now rely for inspirational
guidance on Rick Warrens The Purpose Driven Life and Dan
Kimballs The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New
Generations. The timing for change appears to be perfect
depending upon whose church you are talking about. Roger
Oaklands commentary on this apparent inspiration, now a national
church movement, raises the question of whether biblical
fulfillment or warning is served. My sense is both. Rogers
article, posted by Koenigs International News, entitled, THE
EMERGING CHURCH commanded my attention.My Bible tells me there are two churches and they are both
emerging, each with very opposite destinies:One, to glorify the returning Christ, or Machiach (Jewish
Messiah), and the other to glorify the coming false Messiah,
described in Revelation 13 and 17. Of course the faithful of
both churches can be seen attending church, and followers
engaged in earnest attempts to demonstrate their faith.
Spiritual seduction and deception appear attractive. It will not
be easy to distinguish between churches without resorting to the
Bibles Act 17:11, the famous test of the Bereans, who searched
the Bibles passages to see for themselves if Pauls comments were
true.How can we tell which church we belong to? A clue arose for me
on pages 285-6 of Rick Warrens The Purpose Driven Life. Rick
discourages everyone from inquiring or pursuing an understanding
of the biblical End Times. His interpretation of four biblical
passages (Acts 1:7-8; Matthew 24:14, 36; Luke 9:62) urges the
reader to avoid any effort to seek greater awareness of G-ds
plan, or timetable for its completion. I am a 21st century
Berean. What might I investigate to see if Rick Warrens
discouragement meets the biblical test? History books tell us
that rejection of the Hebrew biblical covenant has defeated
world empires for three millennia. Since Roman Emperor,
Constantines Jewish cleansing of his newly adopted Christianity,
at the Council of Nicaea in 325AD, discernment of God's chosen
events and timing for the wrap-up of history have been obscured.The world continues to vent its ancient resentment of the Jews
for their selection as God's trustor of salvation. When I read
my devotional there are two different spirits speaking: One is
like a raging bull bent upon defeating Jewish life and
existence. Israeli history speaks for the evidence. Revelation
12 summarizes the spiritual warfare. The other spirit places her
at the head of the nations (Deuteronomy 26:19 and Isaiah 14),
blesses her as the original branch of faith, through which the
end times must pass (Romans 11), and for whom the Messiah
promises to return (Zechariah 12 & 13). For those who have read
the biblical conditions imposed on Israel for leadership in
Deuteronomy 28, read Ezekiel, Hosea, Isaiah and Zechariah
together before deciding if the conditions survive in the 21st
century.Rick makes no allowance for the uncertainty of the day and the
hour as a Hebraic idiom of the first century. Matthew 24:36
encourages us to watch, just as the Jews did in the first
century, to visually determine the exact day and hour of the new
moon, or the first day of the month of Tishrei. This was the
Jewish Sanhedrins way of declaring when to start the celebration
of the Feast of Yom Teruah (Rosh HaShanah). Without this
understanding, none of the dozen or so watch commandments of the
New Testament carry any power. Especially Revelation 3:3But if
you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not
know at what time (hour) I will come to you. If we accept Rick
Warrens displeasure at such watching, we have made a choice to
stay in a church that is asleep.Webster gives the definition of the apocalypse (future shape of
end time events) as the revelation of future events by means of
symbols, understandable to the faithful, but hidden from others.There is more than one church emerging. Which one are you in?
GREG LOBDEL
WatchBeReady Publications
watchbeready2004@yahoo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shalom shalom,
David
dwzavitz@yahoo.com
dwzavitz@mymelody.com
http://www.geocities.com/dwzavitz