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For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. II Corinthians 5:10
But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Matthew 12:36
A: Indeed it does; that is, unless there exists someone who could be our substitute in bearing the punishment of eternal damnation for our sins. That someone is God Himself, who came to earth as Jesus Christ to bear the wrath of God for all who believe in Him.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53.6
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. I Corinthians 15:3-4
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. II Corinthians 5:21
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]]> http://parables911.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/we-are-almost-there-video-shared/ Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:18:16 +0000 parables911 http://parables911.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/we-are-almost-there-video-shared/ http://parables911.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/does-god-love-you/ Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:49:49 +0000 parables911 http://parables911.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/does-god-love-you/However, God has more to say:
The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he lveth him that followeth after righteousness. Proverbs 15:9 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm 1:6
A: By God’s standard of righteousness, even the most moral person is looked upon by God as a desperate sinner on his way to Hell. The Bible teaches that no one is good enough in himself to go to heaven. On the contrary, we are all sinners, and we are all guilty before God.
As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. Romans 3:10-11 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12
A: The Bible teaches that at the end of the world all the wicked will come under God’s final punishment in a place called Hell on this earth and this time is very near. There is much Biblical evidence that the rapture of believers will occur on May 21, 2011 and this world will cease to exist on October 21, 2011. Please contact Family Radio for the books, “Time Has An End” and “We Are Almost There” that offers a great amount of Biblical information concerning the time table and judgment for the end of the world.
For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. Deuteronomy 32:22-24
For more information on God’s coming judgement on all mankind, go to:
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(f) Meaning, that he declared by effect, that he knew their wicked enterprise; for God’s power is everywhere, and neither ascends nor descends.
(g) God speaks this in derision, because of their foolish persuasion and enterprise.
(h) He speaks as though he took counsel with his own wisdom and power: that is, with the Son and holy Spirit: signifying the greatness and certainty of the punishment.
(i) By this great plague of the confusion of tongues appears God’s horrible judgment against man’s pride and vain glory. (from Geneva Notes, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
But the problem with assuming that God could only appear in spiritual form comes with this passage in Genesis:
Genesis 18:1-15 1Then the LORD appeared to him [Abraham] by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.” They said, “Do as you have said.” (NKJV)
There is some debate among Bible commentators as to whether God did in fact come down in spirit or body as he did in the garden, but my research shows that most lean towards the understanding that God simply became aware of the building project as He is aware of all of man’s deed; in other words, His spirit came down to see what they were doing. I however do not see that in the scripture. Theologians are telling us all the time that we must take the Bible literally, and yet when we do in areas such this they say we are wrong. They can’t have it both ways. Still, the argument is that God is too Holy for any man to look upon his face as was demonstrated in Exodus when he passed by Moses but did not allow Moses to look directly at Him. I don’t know what the truth is here and arguing the finer points such as this are not beneficial to the church, so I will simply say that if God wants to manifest Himself to a man in bodily form, who am I to tell Him he can’t, but if you choose to believe otherwise, that is fine as well. I am not going to argue with centuries of scholarship on this point so I will move on to the next point, but regardless of how God “came down”, He was obviously displeased with what He saw and so scattered the people by confusing their languages.
Another peculiar point of this passage however, is the reason the people came together to build the tower in the first place.
Genesis 11:4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (NKJV)
When Noah and his sons left the ark, God commended them specifically to spread and fill the Earth.
Genesis 9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” (NKJV)
Here in this passage, after just a short time, already we have man in mass rebellion against God. They decided that they did not want to spread out over the face of the whole earth. They basically put a stake in the ground and said, “God, here we are and here we will stay!” They began to build a city and then the tower after words as a monument to their greatness and to make a name for themselves.
Curiously enough, the Bible says nothing about God destroying this tower, which happens in almost every depiction of the event I have ever seen on TV or the in the Movies, but rather the scripture simply says that they just stopped building it after their languages were confused. In my book The Witness Chronicles, I also destroy the tower, because it makes for a more dramatic story, but there is no biblical evidence that it was destroyed, but merely abandoned.
Also, consider the fact that we almost always cast Nimrod as the main villain in this story, mainly because the passages about him are in such close proximity to this one.
Genesis 10:8-12 8Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.” 10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city). (NKJV)
Nimrod is this first ruler mentioned in the Bible and is credited for founding many of the great cities of early Mesopotamia on the Plains of Shinar and in Assyria including Babel. There is no direct Biblical link between Nimrod and the building of the tower in Genesis 11, but the proximity in the story is so close that we draw the conclusion that Nimrod was the instigator of the tower which we are told was built at Babel. It does say that the beginning of his Kingdom was Babel, but not that he was responsible for building the tower and from this we usually draw the inference that Nimrod instigated the building of the tower. I must admit that in my fiction book, The Witness Chronicles, I too make Nimrod the main protagonist. However, in my non-fiction works such as this, I am sensible enough to admit that we do not know with any degree of certainty that he was the builder of the tower. It does make for a good story however, to make him the fall guy.
There are great difficulties in tracing languages from one civilization to another, but it is not impossible to do so. Many scholars have devoted their entire careers in the pursuit of just that. The remarkable thing is that most etymologists (scientists who study language and their roots) agree that all the known languages of the world today, can be traced back to three root languages families. In fact, much of the anthropological evidence there is of the migration of the peoples of the world from one location to another, is done through the study of languages as they moved and evolved from one culture to another. It is believed by etymologists that all the known languages in the world today can be traced back to an Indo-European, Semitic, or Hamitic language root, although as Arthur C. Custance states in his thesis, The Table Of Nations: A Unique Document in relation to the sons of Noah:
“The three families are not predicated on the basis of language, either. Again it is perfectly true that the children of Japheth, in so far as they have given rise to the Indo-Europeans, would seem to be a single linguistic family. The same may be said of the Shemites. But when we come to the descendants of Ham we run into difficulties for it appears that in historic times the Canaanites, Philistines, and many Cushites spoke Semitic languages, while the Hittites (also Hamites, from Heth) may have spoken an Indo-European language. The trouble with linguistic evidence, in this instance, is that it really appears too late in history to be decisive.”
I believe there is a good reason for this that I will discuss in the Table of Nations section, but it is clear from more than one hundred years of research that all the known languages in the world have evolved from three root language families that very closely, if not completely, fall along the dividing lines of Noah’s three sons.
To read more of my essays on Genesis or to learn more about my fiction books, The Witness Chronicles and Table of Nations, visit my website at http://thewitnesschronicles.com.
]]> http://justinlessard.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/reality-of-halloween-what-are-you-celebrating/ Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:19:26 +0000 justinlessard http://justinlessard.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/reality-of-halloween-what-are-you-celebrating/ Who can deny that virtually all of the symbols of Halloween are evil? Witches, monsters, ogres, vampires, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, devils and demons all portray evil. Christians are to “… have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” [Ephesians 5:11]“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” [Romans 12:2]
“For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?” [2 Corinthians 6:14, 15]
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. [1 Peter 5:8]
]]> http://scietech.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/the-vatican-looks-to-harness-technology-to-spread-the-word-of-god/ Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:45:55 +0000 Scietech http://scietech.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/the-vatican-looks-to-harness-technology-to-spread-the-word-of-god/ http://embracetheprocess.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/the-add-bible/ Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:01:36 +0000 Kenny Liles http://embracetheprocess.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/the-add-bible/ http://elmantheman.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/who-does-the-bible-calls-whore/ Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:03:59 +0000 elmantheman http://elmantheman.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/who-does-the-bible-calls-whore/Ukok claimed I said something that provoked her. But let us analyze whether I provoked her or the Holy Bible provoked her instead. Ukok, from her comment in her post, “ Scripture - Picture 10“, in her Blog entitled, ” … Ukok’s Place … said the following:
Searching,
I appreciate the honesty of your comment. The reason that I sometimes post Catholic faith-defence style posts is because I am provoked by individuals, or requested/prompted via email, to do so. For example; Elmantheman is currently telling me in the comments box that I belong to a church that is a whore.
What do I do? do I ignore him and delete his 4 or 5 anti-catholic comments (in a row!) or do I seek to respond to him?
On the one hand there is scripture telling us to give an explanation of what we believe (1 Peter 3:15-16)….on the other hand, isn’t apologetics served best on catholic.com or over at Jimmy Akin’s blog or Dave Armstrong’s Blog? That’s the business they’re in. I’m just a mum and parish secretary with a little bit of free time to go online each day…and truth be told, even that time would be better served elsewhere for the most part.
I conclude that there will indeed be more posts of this type that I hope will prove spiritually uplifting to all who visit, but I can’t ignore ignorance about Catholicism when it embraces hatred. For the most part, people who raise objections to Catholic Teaching/practices are just poorly catechised or have no proper understanding of Catholicism. But every now and then there is vileness that seeps into the comments box or my email inbox, and I believe if not corrected, then by silence it can be perceived to be condoned.
God Bless you!
Since you haven’t let my comments appear on your comments area, let me instead then post here my reply to you, Ukok.
I beg your pardon, Ukok?
What do you mean I am calling your church a whore?
Am I the one describing your church as a whore? Am I not reading from the scriptures? Ain’t the bible itself who gives description of what a whore is, religious and scriptural speaking?
Don’t try to make that kind of description out of me, please.
By the way, can you give me a description of what a church whore is exactly according to the Bible?
There is a mystery to those who are called whore in the Bible, and some of these might be saved too. I know God loves sinner and don’t get me wrong. If a sinner knows what to do, she will be saved, firstly from the spiritual death caused by false religion, and will be saved by earning eternal life.
Isaiah 57 (New International Version)
3 “But you—come here, you sons of a sorceress,
you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!4 Whom are you mocking?
At whom do you sneer
and stick out your tongue?
Are you not a brood of rebels,
the offspring of liars?5 You burn with lust among the oaks
and under every spreading tree;
you sacrifice your children in the ravines
and under the overhanging crags.6 The idols among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion;
they, they are your lot.
Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings
and offered grain offerings.
In the light of these things, should I relent?7 You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill;
there you went up to offer your sacrifices.8 Behind your doors and your doorposts
you have put your pagan symbols.
Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed,
you climbed into it and opened it wide;
you made a pact with those whose beds you love,
and you looked on their nakedness.9 You went to Molech with olive oil
and increased your perfumes.
You sent your ambassadors far away;
you descended to the grave itself!10 You were wearied by all your ways,
but you would not say, ‘It is hopeless.’
You found renewal of your strength,
and so you did not faint.11 “Whom have you so dreaded and feared
that you have been false to me,
and have neither remembered me
nor pondered this in your hearts?
Is it not because I have long been silent
that you do not fear me?12 I will expose your righteousness and your works,
and they will not benefit you.13 When you cry out for help,
let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
a mere breath will blow them away.
But the man who makes me his refuge
will inherit the land
and possess my holy mountain.”Then what is the mystery to those who accepted that they are whore and wants to be cleansed?
14 And it will be said:
“Build up, build up, prepare the road!
Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.”
15 For this is what the high and lofty One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.16 I will not accuse forever,
nor will I always be angry,
for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me—
the breath of man that I have created.17 I was enraged by his sinful greed;
I punished him, and hid my face in anger,
yet he kept on in his willful ways.18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to him,19 creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,”
says the LORD. “And I will heal them.”But to those who pursue whoredom:
20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
which cannot rest,
whose waves cast up mire and mud.21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
Jeremiah 3 (New International Version)
1 “If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
Would not the land be completely defiled?
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—
would you now return to me?”
declares the LORD.2 “Look up to the barren heights and see.
Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,
sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and no spring rains have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
you refuse to blush with shame.4 Have you not just called to me:
‘My Father, my friend from my youth,5 will you always be angry?
Will your wrath continue forever?’
This is how you talk,
but you do all the evil you can.”End of my comment
Ukok, you having said that, “…On the one hand there is scripture telling us to give an explanation of what we believe (1 Peter 3:15-16)…”, haven’t you realize that this is an instruction, warning and advice to the Church of God? To have a clear conscience is first to realize that you are part of the Church of God, and the teachings are thoroughly explained to you that no one needs to teach you outside the Church of God.
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
Ukok, let us avoid wandering away from the truth, those that are in the Holy Scriptures, please ponder on the following verses instead for some more real biblical definition and explanation of our topic:
Jeremiah 3 (New International Version)
6 During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.
9 Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
11 The LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. 12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north:
” ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD,
‘I will frown on you no longer,
for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD,
‘I will not be angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt—
you have rebelled against the LORD your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods
under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me,’ “
declares the LORD.
14 “Return, faithless people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16 In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD, “men will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance.
19 “I myself said,
” ‘How gladly would I treat you like sons
and give you a desirable land,
the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’
and not turn away from following me.
20 But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel,”
declares the LORD.
21 A cry is heard on the barren heights,
the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel,
because they have perverted their ways
and have forgotten the LORD their God.
22 “Return, faithless people;
I will cure you of backsliding.”
“Yes, we will come to you,
for you are the LORD our God.
23 Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills
and mountains is a deception;
surely in the LORD our God
is the salvation of Israel.
Let us read Peter, considering that you consider him as first Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
Ukok, and I take this opportunity to address the author of St. Michael the Archangel - And Other Angel Stories, and his readers, having shown you some verses of the Holy Bible, let me leave you a warning from St Paul instead, as being regarded by St Peter as a minister to the Gentiles. St Paul, being entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, with the right and authority also coming from God, which you most probably, even me, belongs to in some definition in the Holy Bible itself:
Colossians 2:17-19
These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize.
Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Colossians 2:6-8
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
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