Michael Colunga (13 July 2013)
"Oops!  I forgot a Scripture reference at the end of this post at the first go-round.  Here is my corrected post."

 
Hello, John and Doves,
 
Oops!  I forgot a Scripture reference at the end of this post at the first go-round.  Here is my corrected post.
 
~Blessings,
Mike
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Michael Colunga (11 July 2013)
"One of the signs of the end times is..."

 
Hello, John and Doves,
 
One of the signs of the end times is...

    “...[I]n the days before the flood,

people were eating and drinking,

marrying and giving in marriage,

up to the day Noah entered the ark...”

Matthew 24:38  NIV

 
There are four distinct levels of meaning of this passage
regarding the phrase, "marrying and giving in marriage."
 
P'shat (simple):  Biblical, God-ordained, heterosexual marriage
                                   [Genesis 2:24], accompanied by a society where
                                   divorce was rampant to the point of being ordinary.
 
Remez (hint):  Buying and selling of stocks, companies--
                               the whole stock market thing.  [Revelation 18:1-3]
 
D'rash (seek):  Alternative unions that imitate marriage,
                                and thereby give silent assent that Biblical,
                                heterosexual marriage is the ideal.
 
Sod (hidden):  Divorcing one's heart from one religion
                               and cleaving to another--often over views
                               about sins like homosexuality.  [2 Timothy 4:3]
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            And yet, for anyone who does seek after the things of God,

we know that He goes out of His way to meet us just where we are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHuTZxSqOe0

                                                           
For it is written,
    8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
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~Blessings,
Mike