Bible Questions & Discussion PAGE 377

Greta,

My apology. That was Hebrews 2:4, not Verse 2.

Greta Murphy,

Mark 16:17 says, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;"



New tongues means new languages, known languages!

Mark 16:18 says, "They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

And then Mark 16:19-20 gives us the confirmation of the word.

And all these things in Verses 16-17 were done. But please notice these next two verses carefully ( Mark 16:19-20):

"So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen."

Hebrews 2:2 tells us that when the apostles went out and preached that there were signs that followed in order to establish the apostles preaching as the gospel of God. And that is what he is saying here.



We know that there are various signs that were worked by Jesus through the disciples in order to confirm the message they were hearing is the gospel. It doesn't say everybody, that every person that believes down through history is going to manifest all these various things, but rather for the confirmation of the establishment of the Word of God, which we have with us today.

Hope this helps!

Alex1939...Michael Lim...The very reason Jesus died was to destroy the works of the Devil, all sin is of the Devil....ALL SIN

.....1 st John 3:8...He that comittieth sin is of the Devil;...For the Devil sinneth from the beginning...For this cause was the Son of God was made manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil.

..... 1st JOHN 3:9...Whosoever is born of God doeth not commit sin...For his seed ( the living word ) remains in him...Gods seed remains in him and he cannot sin....Not the written word but the living word which is the H.G...That Child of Promise....The letter is a killer but the living word is spirit and life...She brought forth a man child that is gonna rule all nations...The spirit of truth that is gonna be born in us...The H.G. The kingdom...No Eternal life in the scripture per se....Search the scriptures in them you think you have eternal but it is them that testify of me...The New Covenant that book that he wrote with his own blood,...The words of LIFE....But God told Daniel go thy way Daniel these words are sealed till the last days...Then the woman

will travail in birth pains...For that spirit of truth the man child..Gbu...Our new hearts and new spirits

What is the difference between the soul and the spirit of a person? ( 1 Thessalonians 5:23 - Hebrews 5:12 - Ecclesiastes 12:7)

What makes up the soul and what makes up the spirit?

I really enjoyed reading it, it made me understand the bible more and the way God used to operate in the old testament

The author of every book in the Bible is God himself.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Hi Michael,

I would ask the question: forgive for what?

Does someone who chooses to sin assume that satan is responsible and not themselves?

My understanding is that satan only tempts us with evil and doesn't cause us to do anything- people choose that themselves, so why would blame fall on him and not on us?

In which gospel does Jesus say "these are the signs that will be associated with believers".

Do you have a list of authors for each book of the Bible?

Psalm 77.

This Psalm seems to indicate illness of Asaph much like in David's Psalms (particularly in verses 9 through 10); but also discusses the works of old when Moses led his people by God's help from verse 11 through the end of the Psalm. Certainly; we could see some themes intersecting both his personal situation and the national one which reflects writings such as Lamentations which describes the horrors of God's judgment during the Babylonian invasion and subsequent captivity with the starvation of the people in particular.

The "days of old" in verse 5 also could be used in a broader sense to future time periods such as the intertestamental period. There was also the time of the Judges when generally there wasn't much organized worship and or righteous kings. Whether past reflections or future prophecy it is clear that there have been repeated patterns of deliverance and temporary obedience followed by long periods of decline and then another brief burst of repentance among the people. We could certainly find some similarity in the dispensation of the church age when things started off with a "bang"; then there were long periods of time in the Middle Ages and of course in recent years when there was great decay overall in the Body of Christ.

We can look to "righteous Lot" ( 2 Peter 2:7) as an example of a sort of half hearted righteous man who sort of was saved through the fire in a literal and figurative sense.

The fact that God uses all things for our good including the terrible judgments of the end times certainly doesn't diminsh from the suffering of God's people which is particularly intense when foreknowledge of such events makes keeping silent being like fire in his bones ( Jeremiah 20:9). God Himself is also pained as the book of Hosea states in judgment of Ephriam in chapter 11 verses 8-11. The prophets would feel this pain as the Spirit moved them. Again this shows Asaph was prophetic even though he is only found in Psalms.

I appreciate you and Gigi's thoughts on thinking more deeply on the scripture and letting God reveal himself. The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth if we seek him diligently and have the faith to believe the scripture.

I like to ask a question please keep it simple I'm not that smart if we're saved by grace through faith in Jesus gives us free will does that mean that it's okay to not do his will in other words they say we're not saved by our works but when you're saved and you get to know Jesus how can you not want to tell people about Jesus walk with him I hope I explain that please I'm not that smart

Psalms 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Isaiah 66:2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Gigi is correct , it's not our place to forgive satan .

GOD said to King David: 1Chronicles 17:8,

Even in the cave.

Revelation 11:1, Revelation 3:7-13, The Church of Philadelphia is interestingly encouraging to me. Philadelphia as being the Miraculous place of USA Declaration of Independence, Liberty Bell, US Mint (still printing IN GOD WE TRUST ) the faith filled prayers, sacrifice, devotion to GOD & freedom to worship GOD, documents the give & gave GOD glory, honor & reverence, started in Philadelphia USA spreading into most US State Constitutions including California & even unto many countries constitutions. In the modern age.

Notice; it says "to the angel of the church" I'm assuming it's because it's not to the people as a whole. Exodus 33:16, 1Thessalonians 5:22,

Hopefully these are helpful in your studies

Psalms 25:4,5, Psalms 37, Matthew 6, Psalms 86:11, Psalms 143:10, Isaiah 26:3, Romans 12:2, Luke 11:1-13

2Corinthians 13:11, Romans 10:17,

Hopefully these are helpful

Could I ask a question that I am really confused? God told us to be forgiving. But can we forgive Satan? You may say Satan did something really bad. But people did it too. We need forgive people, why don't we forgive Satan? I know Satan is Ghost created by God, have a free will. (I am a protestant who is already been baptized.)

Giannis,

Thank you for the explanation. I know it is never your intention to offend. We don't agree on everything but I always feel comfortable discussing those things with you.

I do understand free-will. We all have free-will to choose whether or not to obey God.

Personally, I do believe that God can violate a believers free-will. If God wills something to happen and it involves me, and He puts it on my heart, I believe it will happen the way He wills it to happen, no matter how much of my free will I choose to exercise.

Jonah was a great example. God says you're going to Nineveh. You see, Jonah had free will. Jonah exercised his free-will and went the opposite direction, against God's will. We know what happened there. Did God violate Jonah's free-will. It would seem so to me.

Brother, I know we are not robots. As far as God wanting us to choose freely what we want to do, I'm not sure I can agree completely with that.

I think about when Jesus was calling His disciples and He said follow me. That was not an invitation. It was a command. Remember some of the responses? "Let me first" go bury my dad, or "Let me first" go say goodbye to my family.

When Jesus said "follow me," it was a command. They had no choice. It was going to happen one way or another.

God does allow me to choose. But if my choice goes against what He has willed to to happen, His will is going to override my free-will choice.

I am about out of space so I will respond in a second post to your question on Philippians 2:12, and "Why fear and trembling."

It has nothing to do with loss of salvation and I'll explain why I say this.

Hello Mary B. Just on the matter in John 3:3-5 (as you quoted), the full reading should also include verses 6-8.

In Verse 3: Jesus speaks of a re-birth; Verse 4: Nicodemus thinks of a physical birth; Verse 5: Jesus speaks of a birth that is both "of water and the Spirit" (here the Greek for 'of' is 'from or coming out of'); Verse 6: Jesus qualifies verse 5, that which is physical & that which is spiritual (i.e. water & spirit); Verse 7: re-birth is a must; Verse 8: re-birth is only by the Holy Spirit & not of man's invention or decree.

If we take only verses 3 to 5, then it appears that water (i.e. a water baptism) is necessary (with the baptizing of the Holy Spirit) to enter the Kingdom of God. But we have the problem of the word 'of' which is 'coming out of/from'. Water baptism can never give a spiritual re-birth - only by God's Spirit. The one being baptized in water cannot be said as being born again as a result - he can be immersed in it & rise up out of it, as his testimony of confession, but water is just that - water - giving no possibility of re-birth.

As well, it's interesting that there appears a correlation between verses 4, 5, & 6. Could Jesus' mentioning of 'being born out of water' equate to His qualifier in verse 6 'being born (out of) flesh', as He referred to Nicodemus' question in verse 4; even as He talks of being born from the Spirit is spirit? Water then, is the metaphor for that which of the flesh/the earthly - and carnality is suggested as well. But a Spirit baptism is altogether Holy, which gives the believer a new Spirit indwelling him, controlling him, ministering to him. Thus "that which is born of the Spirit IS spirit" and that "which is born of flesh (water) is flesh" - and this can only be flesh/living in the flesh without the indwelling Spirit of God.

Daniel 2:34 shows how the stone will crush all world empires (symbolized by the various metals in the human figure from Nebuchadnezzar's dream). This shows the stone as symbolic of Christ; THE Rock who will come back and vanquish His enemies and grind them to powder (see Malachi 4:3). Those who are stubborn will be broken suddenly; and without remedy. ( Prov. 6:15).

We are to have a broken and contrite spirit ( Psalm 51:17). That is "falling on the rock". Again; those who would not have Him rule over them will be killed ( Luke 19:27). Thence; our rebellion needs to be broken and our old selves made dead through a new heart replacing a stony one ( Ezekiel 36:26). This allows purification and refining through sanctification whereas a stone remains hardened and is thus crushed to powder. This will be the fate of an individual as well as a nation (or empire) as a whole that is left behind in the Tribulation ultimately; those "earth dwellers" used in Revelation 3:10 and apparently in 8 other verses in that book. That shows where the heart of men as well as their physical presence is if they are "not written in the Book of Life" ( Rev. 13:8) and the end result is to worship the final "Beast" who is an amalgamation of the previous 4 empires (Babylon; Greece; Persia and Rome). This also is shown in a prototype with the image in Daniel 3 which was commanded to be worshipped.

Hi Giannis.

Thanks for replying. I also believe the person John is engaged with in Revelation 1 is Christ.

I also believe the Angel of the Lord is the pre incardinate Christ.

I believe this is who Paul speaks of in Acts 27:22-23. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship.

For there stood by me this night "the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve",

I believe the person speaking to John in Revelation is Christ, not only by the description but by what he says.

" I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

"SAYING",

I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last;

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

God bless.

2 Chronicles 7:14,

I think you, yourself have to determine how & if you fast. By your faith.

Isaiah 58, Galatians 2:6, Hebrews 11:6, James 1:5-7,

The problem, you've stated you have is considered 'high blood sugar' usually less sugar intake is better for your body. Less food would be less sugar, but that means don't take the same insulin amounts. You should talk about it with the people you're trusting that diagnosed you & prescribed medicine to you, if you're taking insulin.

I guess the first act of faith in fasting for you could be, eating healthy. Cut out unnecessary sugars.

Several fellowships do a 15 day no desserts. Some turn off TV, radio etc to take time to listen to GOD. Usually all fasts reading the Bible & praying more. Turning from sin, like things that displease GOD. Like abusing someone's own body: 1Corinthians 6:9-10,11, Romans 14:22,23, Philippians 3:9,

Hebrews 11,

Interestingly the Bible mentions taking off Kingly garments & putting on sackcloth with fasting: 1Kings 21:27, Daniel 9:3, Isaiah 37:1, Jonah 3:5-10,

(this is the chapter Daniel 9, that the fellowship, takes the 'no dessert' fast from.)

Matthew 6, praying & asking Luke 11:1-13,

Then extreme fasts, for extreme situations: Books of Esther, Matthew 17:14-21,

Hopefully these are helpful

Principles of Bible study and interpretation:

The following are the fundamental rules of Bible study that the Bible lays down:

> Christ is the author of the whole Bible. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:1,14

> the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit 2 Peter 1:21

> Christ spoke in parables (earthly stories with a spiritual meaning). But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. Mark 4:34

> We compare spiritual with spiritual. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 1 Corinthians 2:13

The historical-grammatical method of interpretation employed by the churches seeks to discover the writer's intended meaning, customs of the times, and the writer's intended audience and thus fails to recognize that God is the author and that the Bible is written for us today.

Moreover, the method of Bible interpretation employed by the churches fails to recognize that as we approach the end of the world, and the coming of the bridegroom, God is unsealing truths that have been kept sealed until the time of the end ( Daniel 12:9-10). This is spoken of in the Bible as a vision that will speak at the end and not lie ( Habakkuk 2:2-3).

God ultimately must lead us into truth as we apply these principles and pray for understanding with a view to being obedient to His Word.

Dear Myra:

I think I did a commentary a few weeks ago on that subject. At any rate there are various lengths of time and types of fasts (such as Daniel eating only vegetables for a period of time; probably long term to avoid the Babylonian items probably offered to idols). There are one day fasts and longer as scripture indicates. God knows your heart; if you skip a meal then He will fill you with enough sustenance in the Spirit to persevere in prayer and meditation on the Word. Water obviously affects sugar levels so I would think it would be inadvisable to be without for any great time period.

I'm not sure who is in fellowship that you attend and what their policy is; normally it is pretty rare seeing fasting today; although some may push it who of course we need to be wary of if there is some forced control issue here. If urgent prayer is needed and you can't do what others are then you certainly shouldn't be excluded. It appears normally fasting is something an individual does; although it certainly could be suggested at least in the above situation.

At least in my current church; it seems getting anyone to do more than a "starvation diet" of prayer is a constant battle; I mentioned today that I am pressing as hard as I can without being obnoxious about it. My point being; that if people under ordinary circumstances aren't pressed and convicted to pray frequently and without "formally scheduled" periods where they are basically told who and what to pray about and limited to say half an hour (if you're lucky) even if the DID fast probably not much more would be accomplished--if they even attempted such a thing. Apparently my old church in Pittsburgh recently had an all night prayer (in shifts). Good for them. The other thing is; of course if people don't want to live for the Lord and their hearts aren't right God can't be expected to respond to their prayers.

Sorry to "rant" just thought some of this could be relevant. I ask for wisdom 4U.

Psalms 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

Psalms 49:3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

Psalms 49:4 I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

Mark 4:33 And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.

Mark 4:34 But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.

Matthew 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

Matthew 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.

Matthew 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Matthew 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Matthew 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

Matthew 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Matthew 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Matthew 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Okay last post for real.

The final example is the lack of belief in fundamental tenets such as Creation (sadly found in some Bible believing churches with certain members). There is also those who have other Christ's that will inevitably end up changing who He is by some image; or imaginary "escape" of His crucifixion; or putting Him into the category of "ascended Master"; etc. Hebrews 9:27 slays the pundits of "reincarnation". Man is destined to die once and face the judgment (also eliminates "purgatory").

Then there is the example as in Genesis 3 "did God really say this?" There are plenty of source materials explaining the accuracy of the original writings in the Bible by the priests; how they would discard things even one LETTER off from the text of a scroll of an entire manuscript; etc. This is not a posting on apologetics; but on rightly dividing the Word.

Going back to 2 Timothy 3:16 we see the "God breathed" aspect of ALL of the Word followed as stated before as being suitable for all things needed in our walk (loosely translated). That being said; IF a truth is found (for instance to an event in the intertestamental period) then we can accurately put together the puzzle (for example the many prophecies in Daniel 11). If there is a moral statement in other writings; no doubt the essence comes from the Holy Scripture as to any true wisdom found. Such is the case admittedly in most major religious writings along with the error; we need to be careful of course determining these things. We can't play the game of some who want to detach from the Old Testament (I won't mention the name again) in order to focus just on Christ and the Resurrection in the N.T. All scripture fits together as glove; as a web of knowledge. We must all seek to be careful that we are reading with "spiritual eyes" these immortal truths of the Living Word of God. There is no "perfect translation" but the picture is clear enough for all to see; and the original text true.

Final thoughts on scripture plus poison. (Also BTW maybe my first posting was not put on because of something wrong I said so I don't have the original 3 things listed).

As to point 3; taking literal scripture to symbolic; again anothe real life example was with the book of Jonah. I was told by someone in a "Presbyterian" church when I was in Pittsburgh about 15 years ago that it wasn't a true story. That would make it symbolic at best; or spurious according to this preacher's opinion (not sure his official title maybe Bishop or elder). That was my last visit there; of course it was already showing signs of other issues at the time of liberal interpretations etc.

Going back to the original example of the church replacing Israel in all things (besides the New Covenant for now including Jews and Gentiles) and the assumption that national Israel and the many scriptures on the final fulfillment of the destiny in numerous O.T. prophecies (and some in the N.T. such as Romans 14) we have a large chunk of the Bible we have to say is symbolic despite obvious explanations and meanings to the contrary. Ezekiel 47:9; for instance on the Dead Sea having fresh water has already occurred at least partially with the discovery in recent years of fresh water springs intruding and some sea life found.

As I have mentioned before here or elsewhere there is usually not an issue with past prophecies on the FIRST coming of Christ and O.T. ones being iterally fulfilled. There are of course those who choose not to believe the Bible that make language symbolic. People like to leave things out; such as the mention of the sin of pride with Sodom and Gomorrah in Ezekiel 16:49 which ignores the obvious literal attempt at assault of the angels visiting the city recorded in the Genesis narrative and the laws in the Pentateuch on the penalties for such behavior. There are those who misapply the Bible in regard to female Pastors and others that "cherry pick" what suits them.

Thank you, Richard. Your postings here remind us to be vigilant so as not to be led astray by false teachers and doctrines that are so prevalent in the church today. I was just thinking on this a night or so ago as I was trying to get to sleep (which is when I often turn things over in my mind because of lack of distractions). I was thinking about how in my own lifetime so many false ideas have entered the body of Christ and taken root, grown, and become common belief in many branches of the body of Christ.

I can reflect back on how many of these false ideas are of more recent "revelation" and there are so many people so eager to latch on to something "new" not realizing that the Scriptures are completed and no new revelations will be given to the world. The past few hundred years have incubated and birthed many heresies and false teachers from within the church family. And some of the heresies are age old ones repackaged. These are doctrines that the church has consistently refuted as erroneous, but keep cropping up to lead people astray.

It makes me sad to see this happen. I have decades-old believing friends who seem to jump on the bandwagon of every new trend in the churches. I try to warn them and pray for them often. Whenever I hear or read something that is patently false from someone who claims to be a believer I give them the benefit of the doubt that they are just deceived but not necessarily deceivers and I pray for them. If I get the opportunity I try to speak out what I know to be true. But we all should be watchful of what we accept as truth and speak because any of us can fall into error so easily even if we are true believers. We need to be humble when people try to challenge our thinking and go to the word to test what we say and what others say. Paul exhorted leaders like Timothy as well as to the members of the churches he planted to be diligent and watchful and careful about their doctrine. This is good advice for us to follow today, too.

PT 2

Jesse

Before that verse 13 (ie in verse 12) it says, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

Why fear and trembling? Because if one doesn't follow the narrow road but walks the wide highway then no matter if that person is born again or not the end will always be distruction. And because God does not want us to get there, He uses all sort of ways to affect our behavior to make us follow His commandments.

Jesse I know what you believe about this topic, salvation, we have talked about that many times in the past. My purpose is to explain myself and not to offend you. Have a blessed week. Your brother in Christ.