tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480325884177424012024-03-12T20:23:38.515-07:00A Voice from the HeartAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17420603843060988201noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-548032588417742401.post-13420276004682279542016-02-04T13:26:00.000-08:002016-02-04T13:26:44.383-08:00"Hiding In Plain Sight"<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>By Charles Wheeling</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Philip one day approached Jesus and
said, “Show us the Father and we’ll be satisfied.” This direct request was unusual; most of the
time the disciples didn't dare just come right out and ask their questions pointedly. The woman at the well is a good example: when
the disciples returned to Jesus at the well, no man durst say anything to
Him. They were jabbering and thinking in the
background, but no one came right out and asked Him what was going on. Jesus’ answer to Philip was, “Have I been so
long with you and you still don’t know who I am.”</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I ask myself why God would want to
make himself known in a book, the Bible, that is so incomprehensible, that has
taken millions of people over thousands of years to explain what this book is
all about, and what this book is saying.
Why would God hide? I have
reached a conclusion: God is not hiding; He's in plain sight, but we don’t
recognize Him. What do we think Jesus
meant when He said, “These people have eyes … they have ears ….” But it’s not
doing them any good. Though God appears
hidden, Jesus says He's in plain sight — right here … “you're looking at Me … My
Father and I are One.” </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We could go into all kinds of discussion
about how 2,000 years ago their language, culture and whatever were all very
different from ours. We might conclude
that we are trying to read Jesus and God through all the accumulated clutter. And that would be true. But God, if He chose, could break through all
of that clutter in a moment. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There were a few times in the Old and
New Testaments where God, through the prophets, spoke very plainly. </span></h3>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Moses knew at the burning bush that he was
going to have problems; that's why he said, “I don't want to do this.” Moses knew this was going to be trouble. Moses probably didn't even have a whiff of
how great the problems were going to be.
He just sensed that Pharaoh was not going to be a happy camper. Moses inquired of the Angel of the Lord directly,
“When I get to Pharaoh’s chambers, standing in front of Pharaoh, who shall I
say sent me?” How many books do we
suppose have been written on that simple phrase, “I Am that I Am”? Do we have any idea how many books it takes
to explain that? </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People are still trying to plumb the
depths of the simple question from Moses to the Angel of the Lord: when Pharaoh
inquires, “Who is this God?” What was
Moses to tell him? His name is “I Am.” If you frame the expression “I Am” in English,
it means “From everlasting to everlasting, I Am;” “I Am eternal.” The expression is totally inclusive when you
say “I Am;” “There is no one greater than I Am.” This was understood even by the heathen. This is why the Jews said, “We’ve got to get
rid of this man, or we're all going to die.”
The Jews were in danger from the Romans because of, first, what Jesus
was saying, and second, because of what people were saying about Jesus. Jesus had purposefully ridden a donkey into
town, while the disciples and all the people were throwing their cloaks on the
streets and waving palm branches. Every
Jew knew that this was a prophecy being acted out. In an attempt to stop this perceived heresy the
leaders ran into the streets demanding that Jesus tell the people to be quiet. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The problem was that in the Roman
Empire there was one king and nobody else. “It’s better that this one Man should die,
rather than we all be put to death by the Romans.”</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There was great fear among the Jews in
Jesus’ day that they would all be wiped out by the Romans. That was the very first thing Pilate asked of
Jesus: “Art thou the king of the Jews?” And
Jesus would give Pilate no straightforward answer. This is part of the whole business of hiding
in plain sight. “Is this something you thunk up yourself?” Jesus
asked him, “Or did others tell you this?”
But Pilate has a different agenda: “The people say that you say you are
a king. Are you a king?” He’s looking for a straight answer. The question was straight enough. Pilate wanted an answer.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God is still very quiet about many
things. </span></h3>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A perfect example is the Bible
itself. Millions of people with millions
of ideas — all different — about what the Bible says, what it means and what
the book is all about.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Down through the ages people around
the world have asked how they might get to heaven. Each religion has a plan. The rich young ruler asked Jesus that very
question. The jailer asked Paul, “Sirs,
what must I do to be saved?” There are
as many different answers out there as there are people on the rock.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Salvation should be a pretty
straightforward issue. The question is
simple enough, “How can I get to heaven?”
In Jesus’ day they had it worked out, and the key word was “worked.” The rich young ruler asked, “What must <i>I do</i> that I might have eternal life?”</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I do something wrong I can be lost. We don’t have any argument with that
idea. Adam did wrong, God had told him he would die
if he disobeyed, he disobeyed and the process of dying set in. Well, then, a simple, reasonable process
begins in the mind … if I can do something and be lost, then surely I can do
something and be saved. If you can do
one thing wrong and be lost, surely you should be able to do something right
and be saved. I want to reverse this
process.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We’re back to the age-old question:
are people really good at heart? Is it
true? All we need to do is put them in a
job, give them a car, give them a phone, and they will behave themselves. Is that proving people to be good at
heart? Are people being revealed to be inherently
good … or inherently bad? People appear
to be born with both the seed of evil and the seed of good within them. Then they practice one or the other, or
both. People aren’t born with practiced
evil in them; but they are definitely born with the seed of evil in every fiber
of their being.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If the Holy Spirit were totally
withdrawn from us—which He is not—there wouldn't even be a glimmer of light in
us. The Scripture says there is a light
that illuminates every man that comes into the world. That
light is the Spirit of God; and only because of grace is there ever a glimmer
of goodness in—or through—anybody.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The evening news plays out like this: The
guy murdered 25 people, and while the parents are being interviewed it’s clear his
parents believed and tearfully exclaim, “He was such a good boy.” That’s
the morning news, the lunch time news, and the evening news. Is it not?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What the Bible really says is that not
there's not a good thing in any one of us. </span></h3>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“In me dwells no good thing.” So
if you see someone doing something good, how did he do it? How did something good come out of this
rotten person? Is it not because God
gave him another day, another breath? Heaven
hoping, Heaven praying that that one more breath will be all he or she needs to
bring him or her to the Savior, to the light, or at least to his or her
senses. The truth of the matter is that
we are so lost down here we can never save ourselves. We don't even know where we are on the road
to lostness. We don't even comprehend
how lost we are, and only God can save us.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Can the Scripture formula for
salvation be as simple as: “It shall come to pass in that day that whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”? Can it really be that simple? Where in there is keeping Sabbath and paying
tithe? Can we be kept out of Heaven for
not doing those things?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let's get back to hiding in plain
sight:</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God the Father, the I AM, is the One
sitting on the throne. I AM is not one, I
AM is <b><i>ALL</i></b>. God has the unique capability of being everywhere at once. He could be on the throne, and at the same
time appear on earth as a little baby in a cow stall. That's not two persons; because Jesus said,
“My father and I are One.” And that
concept is incomprehensible to the human mind.
In this regard the Bible makes no sense to human reasoning.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We see the One on the throne and we
say, “That's God.” We see this helpless
baby grow into a man, then a mighty prophet, then a preacher, a healer and a
miracle worker. Finally we conclude that
this is “My Lord and my God.” He wasn't
just a man. What He essentially said to Philip
was, “How many times do we need to go over this ground? If you have seen Me you have seen the Father.” We are one—not two. We can’t get our heads around that, because,
in our reasoning, if there's a Father and there's a Son, then that’s two. It is two, only reckoning by created math,
not Divine math. We could say that the Father
is God, and we could say that the Son is God, and we could say that the Holy
Spirit is God. You can call that the
Trinity or whatever you want to call it, but the bottom line is: that's God.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God is manifesting himself as one
sitting on the throne; as one coming with the humility of the lamb. He is the invisible One who can manifest Himself
as fire, as a still small voice. We
could ask, which one is God? The One on
the throne? The one in the manger? Is He the rushing mighty wind? Is He the fire over the head? The answer, of course, is that they are all
manifestations of God. Here was the
hitch in this get-along. Jesus told
Peter He came here to die; don't get in My way.
Don’t tell me I can’t do this; the devil is putting those words in your
mouth.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No matter how you look at it, God
can't die. It doesn’t matter if he's the
One on the throne, the One in the manger, or the One in the upper room. It is not possible for God to die, because God
is everywhere and in every thing. So the
mind of God devised a way in the which He could die and yet live. You and I can’t get our heads around that. The number of ways you want to try and define
God, or picture God, comprehend God are limitless. But we are in no position to be able to
define God; none whatsoever. The reason
being that we are created stuff, and that's all we ever have to compare
ourselves to or connect with. That’s
exactly what the disciples were doing with Jesus. All of the Jews were asking human questions:
“Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
“Search the Scriptures; you’ll see Messiah is not coming out of Nazareth.”</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In anticipation of His death, Jesus
got the disciples alone. </span></h3>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The crowds were
away, so He could talk plainly to them. He
told them He was going away. Where was He
going? He was going to the grave, and the
disciples couldn’t go with Him. “Where
I'm going you cannot go. Because if you
do, you cannot come back.” He’s hiding
in plain sight, telling them plainly He’s going away. The disciples begin to ask each other where He’s
going that they cannot go. From the
human perspective this is a reasonable question. Jesus understands the confusion, and enlarges
on things. “It's necessary—” the word is
“expedient” in the King James— “It's expedient for you that I go away.” Jesus had to practice the faith that God is
asking you, me and everybody else to practice.
Otherwise how could He say, “I go to the grave—but I'm coming back”?<br /> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The nearer Jesus got to the hour of His
death the more He started trembling. He
was trembling in the Garden, blood draining from Him. The death He’s fearful of is no ordinary
death—<i>this is the death of God!</i> None of the disciples understood what He was
talking about. None of the Angels
understood what He was talking about—fully.
The angels were there trying to save Him out of this horrible situation;
just like Peter was trying to save Him.
No one wanted to allow this to happen.
But Jesus said it was expedient for us that He go. “If I don’t go away [to death and the grave],”
He said, “The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, cannot come.” In His last words on the cross He said, “Father,
into thy hands I commend My Holy Spirit [My eternal spirit, My eternal life].”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let’s talk for a moment about Joseph:</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Joseph has dreams of majesty and power.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He dreams that one day everybody will bow
down to him.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But instead of being bowed
down to, Joseph winds up in Egypt, first as a slave, then as an inmate in the
prison.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Time passes; things change; Joseph
arrives at the moment where he knows he's going to die.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He repeats what his father Jacob said just
before his death: “Swear to me that you will not bury me in Egypt. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But take me and bury me in the land that was sworn
to our fathers." Historically the story is played out so that Jacob is a stand-in for Jesus. And Jesus is a stand-in for God.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But here we are with Joseph. Joseph is repeating the same scenario. Joseph knows he's going to die, so he calls
his brothers and his family, and he reminds them, “One day God is going to
bring you out of this place, and bring you into the land which He swore to our
fathers. Swear to me you will not leave
my bones in Egypt.” If you’ll check it
out in the Book of Exodus, the Hebrews didn’t leave town without the bones of Joseph. He told them, “Take my bones and bury me in
the land of promise.”</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus Himself has not yet arrived in
the land of promise; He is still waiting.
But before He left Earth Jesus told the disciples, “It's expedient [a
matter of absolute convenience] that I leave.”
It was necessary that He leave, because if He doesn’t leave, the Holy
Spirit will not come.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the human sphere God has done
everything necessary for the salvation of mankind. </span></h3>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Godhead had an obligation to deal with
our problems. Everybody can be saved,
but, of course, not everybody will be saved, because we are still left with our
own choice in the matter. It’s strange,
because even though God is all powerful, He cannot keep a hold on everybody. And everybody has the freedom to choose.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you’re trying to understand who
and what God is like, you cannot just write out a few words and say, here, this
is what God is like. No, there’s a whole
other side to look at. And then there’s
another side. And another.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we consider that God is
representing Himself in the stories of these Biblical characters down through
the ages, we get the idea that, through these characters, God is telling the
universe about Himself, revealing Himself.
Remember, we’re talking about hiding in plain sight: hiding in Abraham;
hiding in Isaac; hiding in Jacob, and hiding in the story of Joseph.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When Jesus told the disciples it was
necessary that He go, and where He goes they cannot go, they really didn't
understand that He was speaking of His death.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God made it possible for us to be
saved. </span></h3>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He originally made us free to do
righteously. But through process of
behavior we created the impossibility of doing right. A good tree is not going to bring forth evil
fruit. By contrast an evil tree (that’s
us) is not going to bring forth good fruit.
Of ourselves we can do no good thing.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our problem is that we are
shortsighted. We see a very small part
of the spectrum. But the spectrum is
really quite broad. I see that Jesus is
coming … <i>soon.</i> And the question I should ask is, do I see
that? Or do I want that?</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God is hiding in plain sight, not
because he's trying to hide from us, but because we just can’t comprehend
Him. Ellen White puts this thought together
like this: “Sin corrupts the thinking, and distorts our view of God.” Sin messes with our view of life, and of
basically everything. We cannot see anything
clearly. The New Testament says we see
through a cracked glass; through clouded glass.
We see everything through the distortion of sin, which in itself proves
that we are full of sin. Otherwise we would
all see clearly, and comprehend everything just as it really is and ought to be. But right now it’s just not possible.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What I do know is this: when I think I
have God figured out, He shows up somewhere else. I suppose we’ve all been tempted at one time
or another to think God is playing games with us down here. The reason why we see Him first here, then
there, is because He is everywhere. And
it really just depends upon your mood in that moment, and on where you are in
your life and in your thinking.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No, I really do not believe God is
playing games with us. </span></h3>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By contrast,
though, I think a lot of people play games with God. I think that salvation is the most serious
matter that has ever come into focus in creation … not just our creation, but
the whole creation. I think the
salvation issue is “the” issue. Either
God is good, or He’s not. God is not
somewhere in between good and bad. He's
either all good, or He’s not. We don't operate
that way. The way it works right now is
that a person can be good one day, and bad the next; good one moment, and bad
the next. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ll say it again, I really don't
believe God is hiding from us. I believe
that it is our condition that hides God from us. Jesus said, “They have eyes but they don't
see.”</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If there's any measure of truth in
what I'm trying to get to here, what might we consider to be a meaningful
prayer if we find ourselves in this condition? Might it not be something like, “Lord, anoint
my eyes that I might see”? Because,
realistically, we sing it, we preach it, we talk it … but we don't even know
what we’re talking about.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus said to them, “I've been here
all along. I've told you who I am. How
is it that you do not understand that My Father and I are the same?”</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rather than making things complicated,
He’s making things simple; so simple, in fact, that He’s hidden in plain
sight. Our eyes are focusing everywhere
but the right place.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The reason God is able to hide in
plain sight is because we are not prepared to see Him in the everyday affairs
of life, the little things. We’re always
looking for some grand and glorious demonstration in the heavens. We’re expecting to hear some booming voice
shouting, “I'm God, and you’d better straighten up.” </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you can stop your mind going off on
some pantheistic roller coaster ride, the truth is that if you look for Him,
God can be seen in every thing and in every where. The only real distortion is that everything
is full of and covered up with sin.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All the highs and lows that I feel in
my long life are a demonstration of the highs and lows that God is subjected to. “Let us make man in Our image, after our
likeness,” said God. So it makes sense
that if I can feel highs and lows, then God can feel highs and lows. If I can feel disappointment, God can feel
disappointment.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If there is a Gospel or Good News,
here it is: </span></h3>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">you don't have to be afraid of God.
Presently, because of our sinful nature, we are all naturally afraid of
God. It is fear that we're trying to see
God through. That fear distorts <i>everything.</i> God is not hiding, but we, because of our
fallen state, actually hide Him from ourselves.
Naturally we are afraid to see Him.
The voice within us rises: “Hide us from the face of him that cometh
….” Because of what He told Moses: “You
can’t see Me and live,” we are afraid that we would be destroyed.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One day we <i>will</i> see God—face to face—and live; live like we’ve never lived
before.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Come, Lord Jesus, come.</i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Amen.</b></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17420603843060988201noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-548032588417742401.post-72807618562415320632015-12-05T08:56:00.000-08:002015-12-07T07:31:49.985-08:00"Counting Time — Measuring Distance"<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>By Charles Wheeling</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Words can often play tricks on the
mind. When you use the word “distance,” you
usually think of something way out yonder.
But that’s not necessarily true.
Two ends of a one-foot ruler are separated by distance. Modern science asserts that time equals space,
and space equals time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Let’s kick off with the idea of an
equation:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">An equation is the idea in reality that
whatever is on one side of the equals mark is the same as, or equal to, what's
on the other side — if it's a true equation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Bible, from cover to cover, uses an
equation. Whether you want to talk about
an hour, a day, a month, a year, or a thousand years, this important equation
comes into play. We find God using a lot
of stretch words when he talks to us through the prophets about this equation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“When ye therefore shall come into the
land ….”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">There's the “when” and there's the
stretch. In other words, you're not
there yet; it’s going to happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Behold, I create new heavens and a
new earth.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We’re not there yet; there's a stretch. But it’s still the same equation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A few years ago we had a big to-do all
over the planet about the Mayan Calendar, and the end of the world coming on
December 21. The Mayans never said it's
going to be the end of the world. That
was just Hollywood garbage; newspaper-headline garbage. What the Mayans did say was that the earth
and the sky above us would enter into a Fifth Heaven. Well, the time, according to the Mayans, has
come and gone. The “stretch” arrived on December
21, 2012. We’re not talking about the
Heaven where God lives; we’re talking about the sky we can see when we look
up. And I’m not interested in proving
the change; I’m interested in understanding why people engage in the idea … and
why God engages in it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Let’s ask this: if there's a Fifth Heaven,
will there be a Sixth Heaven?</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The answer,
of course, is yes … when God shakes the heavens and the earth, and changes the
times and the seasons. I believe that, prophetically,
we are on the way to the Sixth Heaven. Right
now we’re not going to relate it to salvation, only to time and circumstance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">According to the Mayans, on December
21 of 2012 earth and the skies above us entered into the Fifth Heaven, the
fifth change, the fifth clock … the fifth something. Prophetically speaking, in Old Testament and
New Testament, we’re headed for a change in the earth and the heavens. We're talking about big change, in the moon,
the sun and the planets. And if you
change the measurement, just by a fraction, between the planets, you end up
changing the entire calendar. Even the
smallest change will affect the clock. In
the past it appears that the flood was one of those changes; something happened
in the sky that changed the clock. And
when the clock got changed … we got hit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Whatever has changed in the sky is
causing a whole lot more craziness. And
it’s no good to say, “Well, we’ve always had crazy.” Things have changed. More people are going crazy in public places. Crazy dyes its hair pink and goes to the
movie theater at midnight, then shoots as many people as appear at the end of
the gun. This is happening everywhere;
it’s multiplying, not just in America — the entire globe is going crazy. We're watching the same developments on this
rock that were there before the flood and shortly thereafter at the Tower of
Babel — <i>confusion!</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>In reality we live amid an ever-shifting,
ever-changing earth, and an ever-changing sky above.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Creation we live in is all very complex. The earth is spinning. The moon is going around the earth. The earth and moon are going around the
sun. The earth, moon and sun are going
around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
In our own solar system there are other planets that line up at various
angles. It takes an array of
super-computers just to sort all this out, and to keep our minds on an even
keel. People on earth are walking around
doing their Walmart shopping, and they pay no attention to any of this … but
they’re all affected by all of it. Everything
down here is affected by everything out there.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">God, through the prophets, refers
constantly to “The fullness of time,” “Times and seasons.” What are these cycles all about? We’ve got long cycles: years. We’ve got short cycles: days and weeks
(though weeks are not astronomical).
We’ve got months. We’ve got a
fifty-year Jubilee, which might eventually line up with some astronomical event
which we don’t yet recognize. It may be
seen one day that something astronomical happens in that fiftieth year. We ought not be surprised at such a notion;
every seventy-six years Halley’s Comet appears for a short time in our sky as
it speeds through its cycle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Count backward from where we are now
to the day of either the birth of Jesus, or the day of His leaving, and
continue counting back and back; we know that something grand and awful happened
at the flood that affected everything on the rock, and we have very good reason
to believe that after the flood there were other grand and great events in the
heavens that impacted our earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Is it possible that the whole scenario
of the Sanctuary, the Bible, the ongoing “time,” is all very natural?</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">By that I mean to say that we are absolutely
too small to see the big picture; we don’t live long enough to play the whole game. But God does see the big picture. He does live long enough to see the end from
the beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Pentecost is measured time. Through Jesus, God says to the disciples, “Wait
here until you receive the promise of the Father.” The Father knew what day that was going to
occur. The disciples didn’t know the day
it was going to happen. “After that ye
shall have received power …” or energy. They
were to receive power … energy.
Zapp! And they got it … every
which way. Something lined up which
affected the crowds, as well as the disciples.
It affected the disciples first because they were praying to be
affected. They were aligning themselves
with the alignment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">God knows these moments of alignment; they
are very real, and God knows exactly when they are, and when the astronomical wires
get connected. I see the end of the
world as either when all the wires are connected, or all the wires are
disconnected — one or the other. Could
even both be true? Perhaps some folk,
because they anticipate the time, the moment, or the event, put themselves in
alignment with it and the Spirit flows through them. God's energy will flow through them and they will
blessed by it. At the same time, though,
that same energy flows through other people and they just get fried by it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Every day, year, century and
millennium that goes by shouts to us that God is an observer of the times; He
knows when things are going to come together. Jesus told the disciples in Acts Chapter 1
that God has the times and the seasons in His own hands. That means that all God has to do is speak,
and He can change the clock. It looks to
me like, at the end, everything is aligned for evil. Everything will be bad, not only for the
human beings that are here, but it will be bad for the evil spirits that are
here. These evil spirits have been
captive in the pit, but they’ll be let out a little while to do their dirty
work, then they’re going back into captivity for 1,000 years and then they'll
be loosed a little season, whatever “a little season” is — two days, two weeks,
two months, two years. Evidently there's
enough time allotted that Satan can go out to the nations and sell them his
wonderful plan … again, and get them all to march from wherever they are on the
rock to wherever the city is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>The Scripture says the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Our world is
not even a corner, not even a speck, in the grand tapestry. The <i>whole</i>
creation groans and travails, awaiting the day of deliverance. Meanwhile, sin is a pox on the house; a
disease draining good energy from everything and everybody out there, in order
to feed its evil self. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">God knows how long it's going to take
until He intervenes, interrupts and interferes in order to save as many as can
be saved in that present moment. A lot
of folk have already lived and are dead; for them the resurrection morning
hasn't come yet. We’re talking about the
moment when everything that can go wrong … goes wrong. But when everything goes wrong for some,
everything, for some others, begins to go right. God will demonstrate that He is the Master of
time and space, He's the One that created it.
It exists by, in and through Him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It looks to me like there is a
Pentecost to come before the clock runs out.
Power from God will flow through people who choose to align themselves
according to the time. The Scripture
says, “Ye know not what hour … watch therefore and pray.” Timing appears to be everything. Those who make their own willful choices to
align themselves with God's call can receive this energy, this Latter Rain, Holy
Spirit energy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>What about the rest of the folk who
didn't know it was time?</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">How are they
going to be energized by the Holy Spirit?
I believe it’s because the first choice was a willful choice. The final choice coincides with a true
alignment, a true time, a true filling full.
At that last time the power is going to be available to <i>everyone.</i> Jesus said again and again that every kindred,
tongue, nation and people has to hear.
We have all kinds of ways to communicate information, but alone these
ways are not enough. Everyone hasn’t
heard yet because the power has not yet been available; the time has not yet come;
the deed is not yet done. God knows when
that time is coming. God knows when the
heavens speak, and He understands the language and the math.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">All of this is of great significance
to Adventist Christians. Daniel Chapter
4 portrays King Nebuchadnezzar going about his business in his attitude of
egotistical “Me, Myself and I.” The
Scripture goes on to portray a watcher and a holy one … who is watching what’s
going on down here and what’s going on up there. When the watched-for time comes there is a
command issued in heaven by the watcher and holy one, who by the way is no
ordinary man, person or angel. This
watcher is one that knows the time, the hour, and the day. The holy one orders the tree cut down, and
shortly thereafter Nebuchadnezzar loses his mind. No one else loses their mind to the same
degree because they weren’t in the way and interfering with God’s plans. If you or I are standing in the way of Heaven’s
business, God has a way of taking care of business. It was great mercy on the part of heaven not
to totally get rid of Nebuchadnezzar, or just let him go completely crazy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">No, Nebuchadnezzar was humbled, put out
in the field with the rest of the livestock, and left to eat grass for … <i>7 years</i> — there's that time and space
again. At the end of Chapter 4
Nebuchadnezzar looks up and praises God; there’s a new vista. He knew the God of heaven was to be praised.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It appears to me that we're not just
approaching the end, which would be the Seventh Heaven, but there's a time
before it during which we should be looking, we should be expecting. God, through the prophets, is telling us that
there’s at least seven years before this event.
I believe Daniel and The Revelation are among the most valuable writings
in the whole book; they are unlike the others in that God counts days and tells
you how many days until …. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the fourth chapter of Daniel we
have time and distance, because the Lord is coming at the end of the process;
at the end of this last seven years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>The coming of the Lord is the capstone
of the whole prophetic structure.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Scripture says at that time the sun is going to turn black. We might wonder how that can happen. Cosmologically-speaking it could happen in
several different ways. Before this
year's over we’re going to have a solar eclipse, which means, at least briefly,
the sun is going to turn black. Many
people who are interested in prophecy read about the events at the end, and
they say the blackness will be caused by a solar eclipse. I believe there will be a solar eclipse; I
also believe there will be a lunar eclipse; and not just any lunar eclipse, but
a blood moon. There are other
possibilities to consider: there are vast clouds of dust and gas in every known
galactic system. Our earth is part of a
galactic system called the Milky Way Galaxy.
If a sun should live long enough, and move far enough in the system, it’s
going to pass behind or through some of these immense clouds of dust and gas. Light doesn’t penetrate these clouds; the
blackness is as the blackness of sackcloth.
In whatever fashion, our sun is going to gather blackness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Scripture several times talks
about the coming of the Lord as from the east, from the rising of the sun. It’s possible that Jesus is going to approach
the earth from behind the sun, and is not seen or recognized until the last few
moments (prophetically speaking). Ellen
White speaks of the coming of the Lord as beginning as a small, black
cloud. As He draws near the earth, with
all the saints amassed, and all that energy and power collected in such a small
space, is it possible that the energy and power is so great that it temporarily
sucks the light out of the sun? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>You have to wonder what all this would
mean spiritually.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If a physical body as
great … as energetic … as powerful and as hot and bright as the sun goes black
in God’s presence, what could that possibly mean to us spiritually speaking? There is no light that outshines Him. There is no energy greater than His; no one
greater than Himself. I believe Ellen
White had it exactly right. With her
impossible three grades of education in the early 1800s, she talks about the
coming of Jesus in the clouds of heaven — the brightest most glorious event
ever known in the history of this rock — as like a little black cloud, that, “As
He drew nearer the earth the cloud became bright and overall glorious, and we
could hear the angels singing.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">There was a darkened sun while Jesus
was hanging on the cross about the sixth hour to the ninth hour. Now, <i>that</i>
was the ultimate solar eclipse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When God says the “fullness of time
was come,” it’s not just chitter chatter; He’s not just trying to fill space on
the page. God is the Master of Creation,
and what He created was time and space.
Time with nothing in it is boring.
Space with nothing in it is beyond boring. God created time and space and immediately began
to fill it. It’s possible that the
principle stated in the Garden holds true all the way along the path of Creation:
“Be fruitful and multiply.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">God did not create the heavens and the
earth without purpose, without a plan. Sin
has interrupted God's plan, and from our perspective the devil has almost
won. “The meek shall inherit the
earth.” But not this earth; no one wants
to inherit this rock the way it is. That
would be a nightmare — not a promise. New
heavens and a new earth, wherein the former things are passed away; I'll take that,
and so will you. Can you even put a
price on what it cost God to get it back? and to get us back? He could have said, “Blow them away and let's
start again.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>To try and define or describe God is a
lost cause.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shall we say God is a ball
of energy? How ridiculous is that? Energy flows from him to everything that exists. But God is not just energy. God creates, but then He also upholds what He
creates. That’s a marvelous
thought. I build a house and move into
it, and everything’s sparkling and new.
But in fifteen years I’ve got to paint it again, and again; eventually
I’ll need a new roof. In thirty years,
when the mortgage is paid, I’ll have to put a match to it and start all over
again. But this will not be true of the
world to come. When the universe is
perfect again, with a perfect heaven, a perfect earth, and perfect people, at
that time supreme energy — love — is going to flow out from God uninterrupted by
sin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Let’s for a moment talk about
families. Suppose you and I live 70 or 80
years down here, then suppose we have children, then suppose we lose a child
before we ourselves pass away. Do we cry? Do we weep? Do we experience pain? We sometimes say, “Lord, why didn’t you let
me die instead of my child?” We
sometimes say, “If I can’t have my children or my wife or my whatever, then just
let me die.” Some people, out of
absolute despair, commit suicide. But
what about angels? Angels are not blood kin
to other angels; they're not married kin to other angels. But there's obviously some kind of kinship, some
connection between them. There are families,
called orders: cherubim, seraphim. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>There have been several thousand years,
maybe a few million years, that angels have existed.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Angels are family, they love
God, and they love one another. When
this rebellion breaks out kin start cursing kin to their faces. Words are heard: “You know not to trust Him; He's
just out for self; you're letting us all down.”
At the end of the fights those angels who remained faithful to God are
still grieving over the fact that their family, their kin … are gone. We have this picture in our minds of the end
of the Millennium: we see the City of God; the saved, ransomed and redeemed are
inside the City. On the outside of the
City are not just bad angels; outside are people who are kin to us. It’s going to be painful to be on the inside
watching people you have known and loved in this life who are on the outside. Angels have never experienced death … yet. Those angels who lost loved ones in the
angelic order are going to be standing there watching for their own
family. And not until the end of all
this process is the last tear wiped away.
I don't think any of us are able to even begin to comprehend the pain
that sin has brought to the heart of God.
Angels are going to weep. Angels
are going to burn. People are going to
weep, and people are going to burn. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">God will not be dispassionate through
the end of this horrible mess. God is
not going to shrug His shoulders saying, “Well, I tried to tell them, but they
wouldn't listen.” No, not at all. Just like us, God is not looking forward to
that day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">By God’s good grace we have an
opportunity to be on the inside of the City.
Only to that end do we look forward.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><i>Amen.</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17420603843060988201noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-548032588417742401.post-38119861285717760542015-09-23T12:22:00.000-07:002015-09-23T12:22:37.172-07:00"Captivity Is Coming — for Some"<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>By Charles Wheeling</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Life as we call it on this planet is
very strange. There's not a sensible person
<i>anywhere</i> who would plan life the way
it is carried out on this rock, if in fact they had a chance to plan it. Nobody would plan it this way. Whether because of pain and anguish … or
trouble. If you had your choice in the
matter, you would not plan to have trouble, or pain. I don't believe this is God's plan; I believe
it's the byproduct of the sin problem. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are caught up in this mess. And the pain is physical, mental, emotional
and spiritual. In order to survive we have to invent escape mechanisms: if you’ve
got bodily pain, you have to invent a pain pill. If you have emotional pain, you have to
invent an emotional pain pill. You must
find some way to blunt the reality of life, as we call it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's interesting to me that if you go
to China, and you see a mother with her dead baby lying by her side, the mother
is crying. Same thing if you go to
Africa. If you come to America and see
the same scene, the mother is crying. It
appears that we all share the same sensitivity to pain. We all have different ways of dealing with it,
different escape mechanisms. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Religion is a wonderful way for many
to get a handle on the emotional and spiritual pain of life: <i>“My child is not
dead; she's gone to heaven.”</i> Ask the
question: <i>“Is she going to remain a child until you get there?" "Will she remain a child forever?”</i> These are the questions that should be asked. But those kinds of questions are not asked or
pursued. If the dead child has gone to heaven, why are
the mothers crying? Pain does not cause
rational thinking. Pain itself is
unreasonable, therefore the escapes that we invent are unreasonable. And that seems to make it okay for us to
invent unreasonable escape mechanisms. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even as a youth in the Baptist faith I
had problems with the idea that, <i>“If it’s the will of God that the tree falls
on you, then it’s the will of God — the tree’s going to fall on you.”</i> I have problems with that kind of
thinking. In other words, nothing can
happen to you, or <i>will </i>happen to you, except it’s the will of God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pain produces strange and bizarre
reactions, whether it’s physical, mental, emotional or spiritual; it matters
not. If bodily pain is so unbearably painful,
the mind and psyche — in order to survive — must produce some way of blunting
the pain. <i>“my child is not dead!” “My husband’s not dead; he's in heaven.” “Everything's okay. Besides that, it was the will of God.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Let’s take our thinking back a couple
of thousand years to the Roman Empire:</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Christianity did not have a choice as
to when it would be born. Obviously it
could not be born before Jesus came as a man, and when Jesus did come as a man,
Christianity was born. Christianity was
a burr under the saddle of Judaism. Christianity
was a pain, and a way had to be found of dealing with the pain. Jesus was a pain to their thinking; He was a
pain to their theology. <i>He was a pain!</i> Even though He was doing wonderful things, it
was those deeply spiritual, theological issues that mattered most to the
religious leaders. And they do matter
most. That's why Jesus was paining them
… because they were incorrect. But being
incorrect is painful … so we can't be incorrect. We’ve got to get rid of Him who is the source
of the pain. <i>“It’s better that one man
should die, than that we all should perish.”</i>
That’s reasonable thinking. We
cannot study Jesus and His activities and His sermons, and say He didn't know
what He was doing. He knew exactly what He
was doing. He knew He was stirring the
pot. He knew it … but He didn't stop
it. He didn’t stop because 1,800 and 2,000
years of Judaism had not brought the people to a safe, sound, correct position
in their thinking of God and their relationship with God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For reasons that I attribute to Heaven
as much to the people of Jesus’ day, they came to the conclusion that works were
salvation. If you keep every point of
the Law, then you’re going to Heaven. Jesus
brought that point up with the rich young ruler, who asked Jesus,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“What can I do?”<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“You know the Law.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“I've kept all that!”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And I don't even question the veracity
of that claim.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“I’ve done all that!”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus responded to the rich, young
ruler that the works of the Law — necessary and good as they may be — do not
save your soul. This is an enigma; it’s
a problem that doesn't make sense. If I
do a bad work, I can be lost; but if I do a good work, I can't be saved. That's not reasonable, and the entire human
family sees that it’s unreasonable … so they ignore it. Almost the entire human family who expect to
be saved, </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">practice a form of works for salvation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As far as the people were concerned, Christianity
was born at an <i>"inconvenient time."</i> But the
Scripture says it was in the <i>“fullness of time”</i> that God sent Jesus. It was inconvenient because of the Romans,
and it was inconvenient because of the Jews.
But Christianity was born when God wanted it to be born. Christianity, as an expansion of Judaism, was
inconvenient for the people. And if it
was inconvenient for the people, it was inconvenient for God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus invited people to follow Him, to
be His disciples. The word disciple is
where the word discipline comes from. In
other words, we’ve got to discipline ourselves.
What is it about us that has to be disciplined? We’ve got to put away sin in our lives. We must discipline ourselves to endure pain
and trial. Pain and trial? That's a different story. My
whole object in life is often to avoid pain.
That's the sermon Jesus is not preaching. He doesn’t say, <i>“If you follow me you'll
avoid pain.”</i> Far from it; He says, <i>“If
you follow Me you can expect pain.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Within 30 to 60 years of Jesus, Peter,
James and Paul there were thousands of Christians. Christianity was spreading. And just like Christianity within Judaism was
not appreciated, Christianity within Romanism was despised. Within a few brief years of Paul's beheading
and Peter's crucifixion thousands of Christians are thrown to the lions. Whole families: husbands and wives with their
children were thrown to the lions, to the applause, laughter and glee of countless
thousands in the bleachers of the arenas.
There were millions of Christians back then, today and everywhere in
between, who believe it was the will of God for those people to be thrown to
the lions. <i>“God wills it,”</i> say the
Christians. <i>“Allah wills it,”</i> say the
Muslims. And I don't buy it, not in the
Baptist Church, not in the Adventist church, and I don’t buy it in the history
books. I simply don't buy it. I think they were in the wrong place at the
wrong time. Can it surely be that simple? It's that simple. People cannot choose where they are to be born,
when they are going to live. We cannot
choose the circumstances that are going to surround us when we are to be born. We’re just here. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“Well, it’s the will of God!”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Honestly, I don't believe that. I don't believe the circumstances that haunt
you and me down here were ever the will of God — <i>ever.</i> I think that we are in
the wrong place at the wrong time. You
can reason positively and say, <i>“No, we’re here at the right time.”</i> And you’re free to think that way if you
choose.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Let’s consider Scripture:</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Revelation 13, verse 9 counsels us
that if any man have an ear he’d better listen up. Somebody is calling someone’s attention to
something. <i>“If any man have an ear, let
him hear. He that leadeth into captivity
shall go into captivity.”</i> Think of this
in the context of Revelation 13: the Mark of the Beast … you can't fight city
hall. Who's going to lead into captivity?
The Beast System … the Little Horn … the
Woman — all of them conspiring together to get rid of you, me and anybody that
doesn't go along with the plan. If you and I are there when that happens we’ll
be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Look at the phrase again: <i>“He that leadeth into captivity ….”</i> — that's
an action taking place — <i>“shall go into captivity ….”</i> — that's an action <i>yet</i> to take place. While he's leading into captivity folks are
being burned at the stake; their houses are torched while they and their
families are sleeping at night; they’re rounded up and beheaded publicly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“This is the will of God!”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don't believe that at all. They are simply in the wrong place at the
wrong time. But ask the question: does
God have any responsibility in this matter? Expand the question: were warnings given
through Jesus Himself to the early Christian church that when you see Jerusalem
surrounded with armies … <i>Run!</i>? Why didn’t
He tell them it’s the will of God that you stand there and be brave, and make a
demonstration? He didn’t say that at all,
did He? He told them to run for it … don't
even go get your umbrella or your coat — <i>run!</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you read the Gospels carefully you
will see that Jesus was brought to the point several times in His ministry
where His life was threatened … <i>prematurely.</i>
We know He was here to die, but not
before the time. Do you and I have a time
to die? If you’re a Baptist, then, yes,
you’ve got a time to die. This view
paints a very ugly picture of God, wouldn’t you say? God is pictured in Heaven making the declaration
that you will live till this hour, this minute, this day, and then you’re going
to get it. I honestly pray that this is
not a true picture of God at all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Let’s look again:</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“He that leadeth into captivity 'shall' go ….”</i> “shall” is future tense. In other words, <i>someone</i> is going into captivity, <i>before</i> the “captivator” goes into captivity. <i>“He that killeth with the sword … must be
killed with the sword.”</i> There’s a time
coming when somebody is going to be killed with the sword … before the killer
with the sword is killed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“Here is the patience and faith of the
saints.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you get caught in the big cities,
and the cordon is put up, and you can’t get out, then you’d better have the
patience and faith of the saints … that's all I have to say; Because you did not understand that it was <i>not</i> the will of God for you to stay
there.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can say all you want: <i>“God will
take care of me!”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If there is any such thing as luck,
well … good luck.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you're going to avoid the trouble
that is on the way, you're going to have to make difficult, painful decisions —
<i>before</i> the fact … not when the fact arrives.
That upsets families. That upsets paychecks. That upsets kids. <i>“My friends are here,”</i> we say. Yes, it’s painful. But do you want a little pain now … or a
whole lot of pain later? We’re all going
to experience pain down here; but reasonably, sensibly, logically, we should
avoid as much pain as possible, as often as possible; and the “as possible” is
important.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All these mature leaders in Islam tell
all these other young folks to blow themselves up. Why don't these Islamic elders blow <i>themselves</i> up first? They’ll tell you it’s important that they stay
here and tell everyone else to blow themselves up. None of this makes any sense. Life here makes no sense. The human condition here makes no sense. It makes no sense because it is not God's
plan. I believe God works through it and
around it; but this was never God's plan.
Just like you and I have to work around it, God is having to work around
it. I might live 70 or 80 years and have
to put up with it. But, unfortunately,
God has to put up with it far longer than that.
I'm trying to look at this mess, not just through human eyes, but through
Heaven's eyes, and see that this was never God's plan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Listen to it again:</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“If any man have an ear, let him hear.
He that leadeth into captivity shall go
into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I believe — if we can know the danger ahead of time — that it is the will of God that we get out of Dodge. I don’t believe God is glorified because we throw
ourselves to the lions. I believe there is
a practical side to religion and spirituality.
If I can live longer, I think I should.
I believe that is how we were created … to want to live, and not want to
die.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>So, what do we do with Revelation
12:11:</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“And they loved not their lives unto
to the death”?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This verse is speaking of people like
the disciples — maybe like us — who are caught by the circumstances of the day. They are going to have the patience and faith
of the saints. All they can conclude is
that God knows where they are, and if he wants them to be saved out of it, He
will save them. That’s the story of Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego, and Daniel in the lions’ den. Daniel didn't go out of his way to make sure
the shades were up while he was saying his prayers; he wasn’t sure to pray loud
enough that he could be heard all through the house. He had no intention of being thrown into the lions’
den. I don't believe the three worthies told
each other to stand up, so we can burn up.
I believe time and circumstance caught up with them, and they couldn’t
run anywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We're coming to the end of the world. But is it because God has said, <i>“I have declared
that there shall be no more time”?</i> Or is
it because of time and circumstance, and because the powers of heaven are
shaking, and because it's payday? Judgment
Day? It is the end of the rock; and
since we live on the rock and we’re part of the rock, we’re going to get caught
up in whatever is coming.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have come to believe and understand,
that the Bible is written by human beings who believe God sent the flood, and
that there could not be a flood unless God made it happen. I personally believe that if sin had not
flooded the planet before the flood of water, and all the circumstances were pointing to
the flood coming, I believe God could have spoken and moved whatever out of the
way and prevented the Great Deluge; the same way He spoke to the clouds and the waves,
and told them to stop … be still and go away.
God is caught up in this chain of circumstances as well, though not of His
own making; someone else is making and doing.
And here we are caught in this trap.
We, too, are in this prison.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By the way, had God stopped the flood
that drowned the world in Noah's day, the intelligent universe would not have
seen what sin produces … what the byproducts of sin are … and what the end result of
sin is. Evidently there's an end product of
sin that the world has not yet seen. Daniel
12:1 is all about a time of trouble such as never was. There's something coming on this rock that
nobody, in all the centuries and millennia before us, has ever seen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you're watching the news; if you're
reading the news; if you know anything about recorded history, or about present history being
written, you would have to be blind to not see that a storm is coming
relentless in its fury. Ellen White
spoke of a dream she had; she said she looked around the morning after a storm
had gone through in the night, and everything had been swept away. There was <i>nothing</i>
left.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You don’t have a while to think about
this. Your while time is over. What these verses are saying to you is <i>“Do or
die;”</i> when this time comes don't be in the way, because it's going to happen;
It’s coming — quickly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Amen, and Amen ….</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17420603843060988201noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-548032588417742401.post-70756098174575216962015-09-18T08:47:00.000-07:002015-09-18T08:47:09.163-07:00"Here Comes the Beast!"<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>By Charles Wheeling</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At its January, 2010 annual
<b>WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM </b>in Davos, Switzerland, many nations, including the
United States, signed <b>AN AGREEMENT TO REFORM THE IMF CAPITAL STRUCTURE.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a follow up,
it would be necessary for the U.S. Congress to vote and ratify that agreement —
so far they have refused to sign this agreement, even to this date! <i>Why?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At present, the U.S., as the largest contributor to the
IMF, holds 17.69% voting power, granting the U.S. veto power over IMF
decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 2010, the world said to the U.S., “Get out of the way
or we will get you out of the way!”
Because the U.S. has steadfastly refused to surrender its veto power and
keep the <b>2010 IMF Reform Agreement</b>, the <b>BRICS </b>was formed and 120+
nations have since joined this new alternative to the IMF.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 17.3333px;">In November 2014, </span><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In order to further pressure the U.S. Congress — pressure which had been increasing since 2010 — the IMF secretly bribed U.S. Congressional members by allowing
them and their families to purchase certain foreign currencies (soon to be
released and revalued), and exchange them (ahead of U.S. citizens) for hundreds
of millions of U.S. dollars. This bribe/favor was accomplished as IMF granted
SDRs (Special Drawing Rights); then U.S. banks would issue favored persons
SKRs (Safe Keeping Receipts), used as
collateral for $ loans.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Global Currency Reset (GCR) has been withheld to date, to
punish the US economy and coerce Congress to sign the 2010 agreement. This power-play refusal on the part of the
U.S. (Congress) and the IMF, has literally brought the entire world economy to <b>THE
BRINK OF ECONOMIC MELT-DOWN! <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now the Pope is
coming to the U.S. September 22, 23, to, <b>I BELIEVE,</b> pressure the U.S.
Congress to sign this “Death to America Agreement;” I believe he will succeed
and we (Congress) will accede (Surrender)!!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then we should expect the Pope to announce this “Good
News” to the whole world (via the United Nations) and the IMF will push the GCR
button before September 30. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">HERE COMES THE NEW WORLD ORDER!<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">HERE
COMES THE BEAST!!</span></span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17420603843060988201noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-548032588417742401.post-7977181765921863892015-08-27T14:13:00.000-07:002015-08-27T14:13:29.986-07:00"A Little While Lower"<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>by Charles Wheeling</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">From time to time somebody writes what
they believe is an intellectually, factually correct document to straighten out
the rest of us on the planet. This week I
received one of these documents, which tries to tell me that it is just not
possible for non-intellectuals to understand what the Bible is really saying,
because non-intellectuals don't read it in Hebrew and Aramaic, and don't
interpret it in Hebrew and Aramaic. I
can get a few paragraphs into it, but before long I see red, and can't see
anything else. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let’s ask the question right off: Did
the people who understood Hebrew and Aramaic murder Jesus? The Day of Pentecost illustrated that God is
no respecter of persons … <i>or
language! </i>It's ridiculous to paint a
picture of God as though He loves only Christians or Jews, and hates and
detests everybody else, and wants nothing to do with them. Denominationalism contributes to this kind of
ridiculous thinking. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For a few minutes here let’s think
about how God made us at a different time than He made the Angels.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>I'm in Hebrews Chapter 2, beginning
with Verse 5:</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Unto the Angels hath he not put in
subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the word “subjection” the Greek
also offers “submission.” In the
beginning of the Bible God made everything, then made Adam and put him at the
head of it all; everything subject to Adam.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“But one in a certain place testified
saying, What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the Son of Man, that thou
visitest him.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In other words, what are we? We’re just made of dirt. How are we worthy of God paying any attention
to us at all? Why come to visit us in
the Garden? Why converse with us and tell
us He’s turning all of this over to Adam?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Thou madest him a little lower than
the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the
works of thy hands. Thou hast put all
things in subjection under his feet. For
in that he put all in subjection under him ….”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The word “subjection” in verse 8, in
the Greek, is in agreement with “a
little lower;” “submissive;” “subjection.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“But now we see not yet all things put
under him.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In other words, things started out
with a plan. Man was to be Lord and King
over this rock, with all its animals, trees and people. He was to be a king in subjection to higher
powers, to the higher King.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“He left nothing that is not put under
him.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Paul speaks of Jesus as He Who made everything;
nothing made that He didn't make. There’s nothing that He is not Lord over.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“He left nothing that is not put under
him. But now we see not yet all things
put under him.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Evidently you and I are on a road that
doesn't look all that prosperous most of the time. We’re on a road going somewhere. The question is, what does it mean, “we're a
little while lower”? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Book closes with John seeing the Holy
City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. In other words, this rock is going to be God’s
everlasting, eternal resting place. That's
what’s meant when the Bible says God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom that will never
pass away. When it gets here, it’s not
going anywhere else. It’s possible that
the original intent of God was to bring Himself and His city here to the earth.
It’s possible that this was the original
purpose, especially when you consider that the Bible says Heaven is His throne,
but the earth is His footstool. This
suggests to me that there's some process going on. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I honestly think that the earth was
meant to be God's retirement home … vacation home … country home, or whatever we
want to call it. And evidently we human
beings are going to be elevated — not just re-created in body, but elevated in
some way. So when all of the visitors
from other worlds come to our world, we will be the greeters, the people who host
them. We will be the ones whom God
allows to represent Him. People come; we
find out if they can sing, and if they can we arrange for them to present Special
Music on Sabbath. This is how it seems
to me, right now anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Verse 9 says, “We see Jesus, who was
made a little lower than the angels …”</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Meaning He became one of us …<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“… for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every
man. For it became him, for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the
captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are
sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them
brethren…”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My question here is, when Jesus took
upon Himself humanity, was it a “forever” transaction? Or when all of this is done is He going to go
back and be what He was before?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Right now my feeling is that He's
going to be one of us forever. Perhaps
this is one reason He’s going to be King of kings and Lord of lords … here on
the earth. This earthly kingdom is the
kingdom that is going to be given to Him.
But there’s a larger kingdom. The
New Testament says that Christ will bring all things in subjection to the Father. The Father is the Great King; then there is
Jesus who is King of kings and Lord of lords, King and Lord over all that we
are and all that is here. And since He
made all the rest of the worlds, is He King of kings and Lord of lords out
there, too?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Verse 16 says, “For verily he took not
on him the nature of Angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be
made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the
people. For in that he himself has
suffered being tempted, he is able to succour [comfort] them that are tempted.”
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I believe that John, who was the
simplest of all New Testament contributors, was permitted to present some of
the most profound, complicated things.
God is no respecter of persons, says Paul. But John is talking about the same thing when
he says it does not yet appear what we're going to be, but were going take on His
nature, His appearance — <i>both on the inside
and on the outside</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another question is, when Jesus is
buying us back — redeeming us; ransoming us … when He’s buying us back is it an
incremental purchase? There’s a blood transaction,
then there’s a flesh transaction. If
you go into the sanctuary and just read the language, the process plays out
like this: You bring a sacrifice, then
you take the blood of the sacrifice, then the whole sacrifice is consumed by
fire. Whatever this redemptive process
is, it’s more than just buying us back.
It’s also buying the lawful right to make us all over again. And that’s the part I haven’t fully sorted
out yet. That's really the ultimate
decision in the judgment, when that final determination is made that Jesus is
worthy to be King of kings and Lord of lords, then He has the lawful right to
not only blot out our sins, but to make us brand-new.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What we we’re going to read next cannot
take place until after the two witnesses are put to death and resurrected.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Revelation Chapter 11, verse 11 paints
this picture:</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“After three days and a half the
spirit of life from God entered into them [the Two Witnesses], and they stood upon
their feet; and great fear fell on them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven
saying unto them, Come up hither. And
they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That cloud is interesting to me, since
the same thing is said about Jesus going up in a cloud.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Verse 13: “And the same hour was there
a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake
were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave
glory to the God of heaven. The second
woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were
great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world ….”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let’s clarify that the seventh angel
is the Archangel. This is the one that
shouts and the resurrection takes place.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“The seventh angel sounded; and there
were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the King and Kingdom we’re
talking about here.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Verse 16: “And the four and twenty elders, which sat
before God on their seats [thrones], fell on their faces and worshiped God ….”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whatever has just taken place is
causing the 24 elders to fall on their faces.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“…. They fell upon their faces and
worshiped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty ….”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We might ask right here, are they
praying to the One on the throne? Are
they praying to the One who has just become King of kings and Lord of lords? Let’s see:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“We give thee thanks, O Lord God
Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee
thy great power, and hast reigned.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It appears to me they are singing this,
praying this, glorifying this to the one who has just been addressed as King of
kings and Lord of lords.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Thou hast taken to thee thy great
power, and hast reigned ….”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Reign-“ed;” that's a completed act.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Verse 18: “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is
come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged [rewarded], and that
thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints,
and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which
destroy the earth.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are two verses in the Book of
Revelation that are similar to this verse 19, basically saying the same thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“And the temple of God was opened in
heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there
were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“…. And the temple of God was opened
in heaven ….”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That suggests to me that it was not
open until then.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“There was seen in his temple the ark
of his testament.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's the ark of the Covenant; the
Ark of His Testament, His Law, His will.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whatever sin was and is, if God had
not intervened as He did, I think there would have been instant judgment. I think that when the angel of the Lord came
back into the garden, Adam and Eve would have been consumed. They would have been consumed because they
had no covering; they were naked. They
did not have the covering of light, which is represented as the righteousness
of Christ; light we lost which is going to be restored. If God had not foreseen, foreknown, and had
not fore-planned for this, if He had not set in motion, or at least put a plan
in place, I believe Adam and Eve would have been destroyed. The brightness of His coming, His appearance,
would have killed them. If the Angel of
the Lord had appeared, they would have had no protection from His glory.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I agree in principle with the Apostle
John when he says it does not yet appear what things are going to be like on
the other side. Not just us, but what <i>everything</i>
is going to be like. Things are going to
be very different from what we know now. It all has something to do with this “little
while lower” business.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is it possible that the universe is
stuff, as well as energy? Stuff is
nothing but energy slowed down, cooled down.
The universe has many parts and pieces — this Creation; and is it
possible that God made man to appreciate all of it? Is it possible that God made man, not at the
bottom, but at the top? And is it also possible
that that's what Lucifer and his bunch saw and were jealous of? All of these stories seem to be as much for
them, or perhaps more for them, as they are for us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is this the older brother in the
Parable? What was he so angry
about? “You never threw a party for me,”
he said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are 10 brothers, baby Benjamin,
and Joseph in between. Joseph shares
with the family that he had a dream. The
older brothers promptly respond that they’re going to turn his dream into a
nightmare. They hated Joseph. Murder was in their hearts. The original purpose was to get rid of him, not
to sell him off down into Egypt, and have him pop up again later on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The point of all these lessons, which
are told all the way through the Book — Old and New Testament — is that the
first shall be last and the last shall be first. We are the last, made a little lower, and we
are going to be elevated. That means
that we are going to be dressed to be admired, we are going to be given
positions of trust and authority. Though
we’ll be very happy to just bring in the firewood, God apparently does not have
that plan for us. It appears to me that
we do not yet know what “we” shall be, or what “it” shall be like, or what “there”
shall be. We have nothing here to
compare it with. All we can do is look
around us and say, “There's got to be something better than this!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>And to that day we look forward with
great anticipation.</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Amen.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17420603843060988201noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-548032588417742401.post-65500285982403858472015-08-12T08:35:00.001-07:002015-08-12T08:35:47.805-07:00More Thoughts On Daniel & the Revelation<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>• A Faith Statement by Charles Wheeling</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Recent events in and from the Middle East now stir the
thinking of millions regarding Bible Prophecy and the End Times. For obvious reasons, many are focusing
special attention upon the apocalyptic writings of Daniel and the
Revelation. For some, reading these
prophetic writings in light of current events poses a challenge because they
hold preconceived opinions and interpretations.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To express the matter simply, these persons are at once
confronted with the difficulty of holding onto past interpretations while, at
the same time, considering Daniel and the Revelation as <i>new</i> or present
truth writings. For a variety of
reasons, they <i>believe</i> many of the prophecies contained in Daniel and the
Revelation have already met fulfillment.
For some, interpreting Daniel and Revelation as present or future truth
borders upon heresy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It seems most unreasonable to me that anyone could, after
becoming acquainted with the context of Daniel and Revelation, hold such an
uncomfortable and untenable
position. Both of these ancient prophets
wrote concerning the distant future, i.e., distant from their day. Both Daniel and John were told in their
visions that the things being shown to them pertained to <i>the time of the
end.</i> This is why both writings are
considered to be apocalyptic writings!
Daniel, for example, was specifically commanded by a mighty angel to
“seal up his book <i>until the time of the end.” </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /> <o:p></o:p></i></span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How then is it possible for anyone to claim <i>fulfillment</i>
of these apocalyptic writings before the time of the end? Are we to believe, for example, that
Alexander the Great (c. 330 B.C.) has fulfilled apocalyptic prophecy? Impossible!
The only reasonable conclusion here is that all previous attempts to
interpret Daniel and Revelation with past history represent applications, <i>not
fulfillments!</i> In truth, past
applications are but <i>shadows </i>of a future fulfillment (filling to the
full), not the inverse. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dedicated students of Bible prophecy should be aware of
some <i>critical</i> problems (scholarly issues) associated with the two books,
Daniel and Revelation. For example, many
Bible scholars do not consider the Book of Daniel to be older than 200-165
B.C. In plain English, many Bible
scholars believe the book of Daniel was <i>written</i> perhaps 150-200 years
before Christ was born. The difficulty
here of course is that the author of the book, Daniel, claims to be living
circa 600 B.C. This alleged contradiction,
for some, makes suspect the genuineness of the book, and thus casts doubt upon
its end-time predictions.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unless, or until, additional copies of the book of Daniel
can be discovered pre-dating the Dead Sea Scrolls, the historicity (historical
authenticity) of the person (Daniel) and the writing itself cannot be
considered beyond scholarly dispute. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Similar scholarly issues surround the book of Revelation
in the New Testament. The great German
Reformer, Martin Luther, considered the book of Revelation as unworthy of
Scripture. He did not believe the
writing should have place in the Sacred Canon.
Yet, the author of Revelation claims to be John, the youngest, beloved
disciple of Jesus and claims to have received words and visions directly from
Jesus Christ.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is a simple solution to this “tempest in a teapot,”
however, that I wish to offer. I accept
Jesus of Nazareth as being a genuine, historical person, even though
archeological evidence or extra-Biblical evidence regarding the <i>man</i>
Jesus is rare. Nevertheless, I
personally believe He lived, died, was resurrected and is alive today in
Heaven. For me, this is a <i>faith</i>
transaction. I accept Jesus of Nazareth
as the Christ of Scripture, and He accepted the person of Daniel and the book
of Daniel as authentic! Jesus quoted
from the book of Daniel. Jesus spoke of
“Daniel the prophet and,” and even more significantly, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Jesus placed the context of Daniel’s visions at the time of the end! </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Personally, I accept both apocalyptic writings, Daniel and
Revelation, as valid, with the same faith that I accept Jesus as the
Christ. For me, this is the only
reasonable position to hold. I believe
the book of Daniel in Old Testament Scripture and the book of Revelation in New
Testament Scripture contain apocalyptic prophecy, that is, having to do with
the end of time. I reject every claim to
<i>fill-full</i> their visions at any other time in history than at the time of
the end. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I cannot believe that Alexander
the Great fulfilled Daniel’s second vision (Daniel, Chapter 8) or that
Antiochus IV Epiphanes (c 175-163 B.C.)
fulfilled Daniel’s third and fourth visions (Daniel, Chapters 9; 10-12). While it may be reasonable to take the
position “history repeats,” I cannot see that it is reasonable to propose <i>multiple
fulfillments</i> of prophecy. <i>Multiple
applications</i>, absolutely, but <i>fulfillment</i> means to
fill-in-full. To fill-in-full means
100%. What can one add to 100%? Though some events or persons in past history
may parallel or appear similar in some respects to apocalyptic predictions, the
past is the past, and <b><i>past</i> <i>history is not the time of the end!</i></b> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Charles
Wheeling is author of this faith statement.
Others may freely copy or quote this statement, <i>but in its entirety
please. </i> Questions or comments may be
directed to: Charles Wheeling, P.O. Box 352, Jemison, AL 35085, USA; PH (205) 646-2941 or e-mail:
seminars@inbookseast.org. </b> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17420603843060988201noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-548032588417742401.post-62040884973960976172015-07-31T08:16:00.000-07:002015-07-31T09:20:11.936-07:00The "Stuff" of Life<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>By Charles Wheeling</i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let’s consider the relationship
between God, and “stuff” that He created, that originated with Him, out of Him,
from Him, and for Him. It’s not easy to
work this phenomenon out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus became “stuff.” Any spirit that does not confess that Jesus
is come as “stuff” … is not of God. So
if God, in the Person of His Son, came and took the form of “stuff,” then that
was a step down. That step demonstrates
to the thinking person that God is not unknowing of our circumstance. “The Lord knows our frame that we are but
dust,” the Scripture says. He knows what
we’re made of, what we’re taken out of, and, unless He intervenes, what we’re
going back to: just nothingness, except dirt.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>I'm in the book of Isaiah and Chapter
24: </b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Behold…” (Watch, or Look, would be
a modern expression) “Behold, the Lord
maketh the earth empty.” Empty of what? We keep reading, “…the Lord maketh the earth
empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the
inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as
with the people, so with the priest….” in other words God is not going to be a
respecter of persons in this day. “As
with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant so with his master; as with the maid so with her mistress; as
with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with a borrower; as
with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.” Here it is again: “The land shall be utterly emptied,
and utterly spoiled: for the Lord has spoken this word.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I maintain that if you follow these
few words in these few verses through Scripture you will see that God is going
to allow the earth in this Great Day of the Lord to waste and go back to
nothingness, to lifelessness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“The earth mourneth and fadeth away,
the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do
languish.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Obviously some judgment, some division, has taken place. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“The earth also is defiled under the
inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the
ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.”
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Are those things all one and the same?
The Laws? The Ordinance?
The Everlasting Covenant? I don’t
think so. There’s some large picture
being painted here. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Therefore hath the curse devoured the
earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate…” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Desolate:” that's an interesting word. It reads in the margin, “Uninhabited … Deserted
… Barren … Lifeless.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Therefore the inhabitants of the
earth are burned, and few men left.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I wonder who the few men would be. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“The new wine mourneth, the vine
languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh.”
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is going to happen is in the autumn
of the year, in the northern hemisphere, when the grape harvest is due. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“The mirth of tabrets ceaseth.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There’s no more music. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“The noise of them that rejoice
endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink
shall be bitter to them that drink it. The
city of confusion is broken down:…” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's Babylon. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“…Every house is shut up, that no man
may come in.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the reverse of Passover. You’re supposed to come in and be safe, where
nobody can get in; the house is shut up.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“There's a crying for wine in the
streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate
is smitten with destruction. When thus
it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the
shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice, they shall
sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I believe verse 14 is a description of
the resurrection of the righteous:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the
fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth have we
heard songs, even glory to the righteous.
But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous dealers have dealt
treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon
thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it
shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall
into the pit.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Fear” is one thing; the “Pit” is something
else … “Don’t send us to the pit!” said the demons. Evidently somebody is out of the pit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“… He that cometh up out of the midst
of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open,
and the foundations of the earth do shake.
The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the
earth is moved exceedingly. The earth
shall reel to and fro like a drunkard ….”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the beginning we read that He turns
the Earth upside down. Down is up and up
is down. Here the Earth is utterly
broken down, clean dissolved, and moved exceedingly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“The earth shall reel to and fro like
a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof
shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that
the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones on high and the kings of the
earth upon the earth. And they shall be
gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shut up in the
prison, and after many days ….” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Evidently 1000 years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After many days they’re going to be
visited. That word “visited” is a
powerful word, particularly in Old Testament Scripture and Old Testament
prophecy. God is saying, “I am coming to
visit you.” In other words, “I'm coming
in judgment.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Then the moon shall be confounded,
and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in
Jerusalem, and before his agents gloriously.”
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That’s Isaiah Chapter 24.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>A Little Bit of Cosmology:</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The solar system used to have nine
planets, now only eight. Mercury is the
first planet, then Venus, and the third rock from the sun is us — Planet Earth. In
scientific terms, these planets are held in their orbital positions by
something called angular momentum. In other
words, there’s a force pushing the planet out, but another force holding the
planet back. It’s really strange. The earth’s going to be clean removed. It's interesting that Isaiah says God’s going
to turn the earth upside down. That fits
Ellen White, because she says the sun comes up at midnight. How do you get the sun to come up at midnight? The earth is going to be clean removed, the
Scripture says, out of its place; a cottage clean removed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many people pooh-pooh Immanuel Velikovsky,
but they really don’t know what they’re talking about, because since his death
many of his assertions have been proved to be factual. Cosmological history suggests the possibility
that if one of these planets is moved out of its place—by whatever force—you
can ellipse (or extend or lengthen) its orbit.
It looks like this is what most likely happened in 701/702 BC. Whatever the flyby was it added 5¼ days to
the earth’s orbit. Whatever the flyby is
that is coming will add a thousand years to our orbit, so that it will take
that long to come back to our place in the solar system. Something is going to kick us out of our
place; that’s what the Bible says.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Said Jesus, “Think not that I'm come
to destroy the law, or the prophets: I'm
not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For
verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass [that’s our sky and ground],
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled.” Matthew 5:17. Jesus said heaven and earth are going to pass. This is confirmed again in the Gospel of
Luke. These words are mentioned again,
but even more expressly. “Heaven and
earth are going to pass away, but the law … is not going to pass away.” In other words there’s something more
permanent than heaven and earth: the word of God, God's Law, God’s will—the
doing of God. “Till heaven and earth
pass …” is a statement of affirmation that one jot or one tittle shall in no
wise pass from the law till it’s all fulfilled.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We’re going to be kicked out of the
comfortable orbit we’re in, and evidently we’re going to be sent on a very long
elliptical orbit for a thousand Earth years.
Apparently we’re going to be brought back very near the sun, where the
sun will be seven times brighter; the moon will be many times brighter, as
well. In order for that to happen you need
to be nearer the sun. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These verses in Revelation 20 will be
familiar to you; the story goes like this: An Angel comes down from heaven; he
has the key of the bottomless pit. We’re
back to the pit again. The angel has a
great chain in his hand; he lays hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which,
according to Revelation 9, got out of the pit.
He laid hold on the dragon — the devil … Satan — and bound him a
thousand years. The binding evidently takes place at the
beginning of the thousand years, not the end.
The angel casts the devil into the bottomless pit and shuts him up, setting
a seal on him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand
years should be filled full. After that
he must be loosed a little season. John
says he saw thrones and those who are sitting upon them. Judgment is given to those sitting on the
thrones. This is Chapter 20 we’re
considering. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chapter 4 of Revelation opens with
thrones and those who are sitting upon them; and judgment is given to
them. Here in Chapter 20 judgment is given unto them,
and John saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, beheaded
for the word of God. These had not
worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their
foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand
years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The judgment being described here is
at the beginning of the thousand years. But the rest of the dead live not again until
the thousand years are finished. This is
described as the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that has part in that first resurrection, on such
the second death has no authority … no power, but they shall be priests of God
and Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. Whatever the thousand years is, it’s a big
deal, for it to be repeated over and over.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When the thousand years are expired
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and go out to deceive the nations which
are in the four quarters of the earth. How
can Satan deceive the nations, since they’re all dead? They're all dead for a thousand years and then
all brought back to life. When the thousand years are expired Satan will
be loosed out of his prison, and he’s going to go out to deceive the nations in
the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle,
the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
These nations will go up on the breadth of the earth, compass the camp
of the saints and the beloved city, until fire comes down from God out of
heaven and devours them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You and I are out here 93 million
miles from the sun. Suppose when we come
back we’re a bit closer to the sun. What
could we expect to happen? Verse 9 tells
us that the devil and the nations will go up on the breadth of the earth and
surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Fire comes down from God out of heaven and
devours them. The camp of the saints at
this time is in Jerusalem; it's come here to this rock. Is it possible this fire is produced by the
sun and our being so close to it?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some people believe all this happens
at the beginning of the thousand years, and some believe it happens at the end
of the thousand years. It really doesn’t
matter; you’re either with God for the thousand years, and with God at the end
of the thousand years, or you’re in hot water.
Whether the Holy City comes down at the beginning of the thousand years,
or at the end, I careth not.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh
away. What does that mean? Did He give just life? Did He also give substance? Did He give origin, birth, creation to all
things? And the answer is yes. We are “stuff” creatures; created out of the “stuff”
of creation, the Bible says … and so does science. God made us out of the stuff. Which was made first, stuff, or us? “Stuff,” of course. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God said to Adam and Eve that if they
do the wrong thing, or make the wrong choice, they’re going to return to dead,
lifeless “stuff.” Most of the world believes that when you die,
you don’t really die; it’s just the stuff that dies. But there is going to be a supernatural
destruction that is to include the destruction of angels … and we would regard
angels to be supernatural beings … spirit beings. These evil angels are not made of stuff, at
least, not stuff we’re familiar with. God
created “stuff” before the angels were created.
Angels, like us, are taken out of “stuff.” They may be at a different level of matter, or
energy, or whatever, but they're made out of “stuff.” The Bible states that they are created beings. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The point is that before there was “stuff,”
there was only God. All things that
exist are taken out of God’s breath. If
the end of a sinful man is returning to the “stuff” from which he or she was
taken, then I submit to you that the end of angels is a return to whatever
stuff they were taken from; whatever energy; whatever matter; they return to
that. Fire comes down from God out of
Heaven, says the Bible, and destroys them, or consumes them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A huge question is, why not take care
of business with the devil and his bunch right here at the beginning of the
thousand years? What is going on at the
end that couldn't go on at the beginning?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consider these verses again, and
notice that when the thousand years are expired Satan is going to be loosed out
of his prison and go out to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth,
Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the battle, the number of whom is as
the sand of the sea. Do we think there are going to be more good
folks in Heaven than bad folks in the lake of fire? Obviously, that’s up to God, but one thing we
need to understand is that when you start counting who's in the lake of fire
you have to count all the evil angels, because they are going into that lake of
fire. These wicked ones go out upon the
breadth of the earth, and they surround the camp of the saints and the beloved
city, and fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. The devil that deceived them is cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are, and they shall
be tormented day and night forever and ever.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John says he saw a great white throne,
and Him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. No place is found for them. This is talking about the heaven, the
atmosphere, around the planet. The
Apostle Peter said this heaven is going to be blown away. The earth and the atmosphere fled away, said
John, and there was no place found for them.
John saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were
opened, and another book was opened which is (“the book” is supplied) of life. The dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books according to their works.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A thousand years before this somebody
went somewhere. Who were the somebodies
that went somewhere? These are the folks
who are resurrected when Jesus comes with a loud voice saying, “Arise.” The Scripture record reads that we will be
caught up to meet him in the air at the second-coming. We read here that another book is opened
which is “of life,” and the dead are judged out of those things which were
written in the books according to their works.
Revelation 20 is the same as Daniel Chapter 7, telling us the Ancient of
Days arrives, the books are opened and the judgment is set. Then those who shall be lost are thrown into
the lake of fire. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Where do we place this judgment in
this context … at the end of the thousand years? or at the beginning of the
thousand years? Is judgment a one-day
process? A one-year process? Or is it a thousand-year process? It's an -ING to an -ED process. The book of life is not about the dead, bad
people. If their names were once in the
Book, their names don’t remain in the Book.
There is a process of elimination.
There's also a process of inclusion.
Everybody who's lived and died, eaten by sharks, blown apart by bullets,
can still be resurrected. While they
were here they were made out of “stuff.”
When they come up they made out of new “stuff.” John says, “Now brethren, we don't know what
we’re going to be … but we're going to be like Him.” That's all that matters. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus was here and lived among us; He was nailed
to the tree; put in the ground. But when
He came out of the ground He’s able to walk through walls. He is now made out of changed “stuff.” “Come and feel me,” He said, “Because a
spirit doesn’t have ‘stuff’ like I have.”
But He still walked through the wall and disappeared. Then He ascends, and they see it. Likewise, you and I go into the ground as “stuff,”
but when we come out we’re going to be “enhanced stuff.” We will still be “stuff,” but from then on it
will be changed stuff. We’re going to
learn what the reference in Hebrews is about, that God made man “a little while
lower than the angels.” Whatever angels
are made of, we're going to be made of even higher “stuff.” We’re going to be changed and glorified … from
glory to glory.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you know anything about physics and
the way the universe is ordered, you’ll recognize, in physical terms, that
there's an atom; but the atom is not just one thing, it's several things:
protons, neutrons and electrons. And it
appears to me that whatever we're going to be, we’re going to be energized
several notches up the ladder — beyond atomic.
Where would that energy come from?
Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Life, but they didn't live forever. They needed more than just “stuff” from this
planet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus came down here as “stuff,” and
while He was here He was receiving energy from His Father. He said the works He did were not His, but
His Father’s. He was receiving energy; He
told the blind man to look and see, and the lame man to get up and walk. But it was all temporary, because they died. But why was it temporary? Why
wasn't His healing … forever healing? Obviously
something had not taken place yet; He was not yet King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. God permitted Him, enabled Him
and empowered Him to work miracles here to give people hope; to give you and me
hope; to give us hope to hang on until He can get the job done. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My point is that Jesus left whatever
dimension God exists in, and took our form.
He took “stuff;” He made Himself of no divine reputation and became “stuff”
like us. When He came out of the grave He
was the same “stuff,” but enhanced, glorified, whatever we want to call
it. Did He have to go to heaven to find
out if that was a permanent arrangement?
The answer is yes. “Don't hold me
back,” He said, “I have not yet ascended to my Father.” The purpose of ascending to His Father was
part of the plan of salvation. As our
faithful High Priest He had to be verified clean, so He went with that earthly
“stuff” into the presence of His Father.
He asked His Father, according to Ellen White, if His sacrifice was
acceptable. What the judgment will do is
declare that everything necessary has been done. “It is done,” has not been spoken yet. That's why I can say, at the risk of my neck,
it is not yet finished; it’s not yet done.
The only way we can make sense of our still being here after, not two thousand
years, but six thousand years, is that there's something still lacking. Something is yet required and to be accomplished. God is in the process of doing whatever is
necessary, while He's got a whole bunch of kids down here in the backseat saying,
“Are we there yet?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is where we are, and who we are; and
God is in the unwinnable position of having to be Daddy, Granddaddy, Judge and
Savior. He's got to be all things. So He gives us a little hope down here,
because He's a God of love. He understands
our condition and knows that we are sick and fed up with all of this. So is He!
The fact that time lingers proves to me that it is necessary, otherwise
you cannot justify time stretching out the way it has. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have to be forgiving to the fathers. I'm not forgiving to my neighbors — the
church in its current state — because we ought to know better. We ought to know far more than we do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John goes on to say he saw the dead, small
and great, stand before God. The books
were opened. Another book was opened,
which is (the Book) of Life, and the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to their works. John saw the sea give up the dead which were
in it. Death and hell (the grave) delivered
up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to
their works. Death and the grave were
cast into the lake of fire. This is the
second death, John says. Whatever the
lake of fire is going to be, whether it's God saying, “Be gone,” or whether it's
black hole radiation, it doesn't matter; the lost will be thrown into a fiery end
— a fiery lake. John goes on to say that
whosoever is not found written in the Book of Life is cast into the lake of
fire. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This judgment the whole world needs to
witness is about finding out if your name is still in the Book of Life. Right now everybody's name is in the Book. I'm not sure the devil and his bunch are in
there. But once the judgment is finished
Christ will make the declaration that it is complete … done … over. The work of salvation will be filled full, and
whoever is in … is in, and whoever is out … is out. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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