The Frightening Reality About Sin and Repentance

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ScottA

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I understand what you mean, but I would still have to ask who are your brotherhood? Certainly not the church you attend, if you know that they do not teach the truth of God’s word….

Unless you have a brotherhood, how can you meet with other like-minded Christians? (Heb 10:24-25) We are to meet with our brethren regularly in order to support one another in these difficult days.
I am of the brotherhood of broken and imperfect vessels, some of whom are named in the scriptures, but most who are not. We are not a sect of like-minded people, but a body of many members, all of whom have need to call upon and come before God--to God--and have come.
 

ScottA

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How did Jesus make sure that his message went out to the people? He sent his disciples out to find them.
He did not tell them wait in a building for the sheep to wander in....it was an urgent search and rescue mission....people were reached ”publicly and from house to house”. (Acts 20:20)
Why do you find disagreement in everything? Did I tell you that I have been waiting "in a building for the sheep to wander in" or any such example? No--I did not. But what is it to you if it is God's will to sent me in a manner you were not expecting?
 

ScottA

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Then why are you going along to hear his “delusion”? If we are to separate from those who teach false doctrine, what is your purpose there, especially if you have been “restrained” for 40 years?
What did you do for those 40 years?
It's not all "delusion." But should I not go and "forsaking the assembling of ourselves together", because many have become victims of evil men and their teachings? Should Christ likewise not "have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness?"

Where is your mind, that you would think that we should not also walk in that same light and do likewise?

For forty years I have followed His direction.
 

ScottA

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That begs the question.....”where do you think we are in the stream of time”? What has your 40 years of silence accomplished?

In the 50+ years that I have been a student, a preacher and teacher of Christ’s message of “the Kingdom”, and I have helped countless people to learn what their own Bibles teaches about that Kingdom of God and what it will mean for the citizens of that Kingdom, on a cleansed “new earth” ruled by the best “government” that mankind have ever had. (Rev 21:2-4; Isa 9:6)

As you are no doubt aware, Jehovah’s Witnesses are very active in this work that Jesus commanded his disciples to do....something he said he would support. (Matt 28:19-20)
Who else are out there publicly visible, and preaching Christ’s message door to door?
The church I grew up in never even mentioned that this preaching work was a command from Christ because they cannot seem to do it in any sustained manner....Most have no idea exactly what God’s Kingdom is, so how can they preach about it in any reasoned or united way?
The times we are presently in are those times of the end foretold by Daniel and John, who were themselves told that these times were to come; that what they were not given to write would be revealed finishing the mystery of God as He declared to His servants the prophets, just prior to the sounding of the seventh angel--when he is about to sound.

My forty years of silence was the fulfillment of me also waiting until the times are fulfilled--fulfilled by the measure of Noah, and Joseph, and Moses, and Joshua, and Jesus, etc.

As for the Jehovah's Witnesses, none are immune from the strong delusion of false teachers. Assume nothing except that which comes directly from the Father--the method by which Jesus revealed He would build His church.
 

ScottA

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Yes, what was foretold for this time of the end, when Christ was to return so as to “separate the sheep from the goats”....so, in what way are people expecting him, if they expect him at all?
We have so much information in the book of Daniel where it plainly states that he was to seal up his prophesies until the time of the end, when it would all be revealed. (Daniel 12:9)

How has Jesus revealed it? He spoke of a “faithful and wise slave” whom he would appoint at this time to give his true disciples “their food at the proper time”. (Matt 24:45) This slave is not one individual but a class of men who occupy that position, to educate (spiritually feed) and direct Christ’s disciples in the greatest preaching campaign in the history of the world....(Matt 24:14)....as in the first century and in Israel, there was one group appointed by God who led his people in worship. It was never left to just one man...God has always gathered his people into one body, nation, or brotherhood....with qualified leaders.These are to be united in every way....(1 Cor 1:10)...which I believe rules out Christendom completely....where is their unity?

Jehovah is an organised God who does things in an organised way......he always has.
Most, believing the "lie" of "false teachers" have and do expect Christ to return, not "soon" or "quickly" or among "the things which must shortly take place" as He said--but that He would come well after that time in the distant future as a one time mass event, rather than to "but each one in his own order."

As for a class, or group of faithful, as opposed to an individual, historically it has been the groups of God's people who veered off into all manner of evil, and had to be told so, usually by an individual. The group thing is a nice idea, it's just not what has really proven to be successful in doing the will of God. The only exception, is "One in Christ."
 

ScottA

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It is “the last days” of this world’s present form of corrupt rulership, and we are deep into “the time of the end”......an “end” that will catch the world by surprise as they will not be expecting it. (Matt 24:44)

It is likened to “the days of Noah” (Matt 24:37-39) where Noah had been warning the people all the time He was building the means of his own salvation and that of his family....probably for decades....so by the time Noah entered the ark, his message had fallen on deaf ears for a very long time.....but it wasn’t Noah who determined when those last days ended back then.... it was God who closed the door of the ark.

So again Jesus warned that the response to the warning message his disciples delivered, would fall on equally deaf ears. They would not only be ignored but hated by the world as well. (John 15:18-21) The “good news” is that, just as a minority listened to Jesus, so a minority would respond to the preaching of his disciples. (Matt 7:13-14)
Yes. Praise be to God!
 

ScottA

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Thank you for your response....my questions are usually ignored or are given weak excuses for answers.
It’s good when people know what they believe and why....but caution is needed if things don’t fit into the big picture....I find that most people don’t have a big picture.....the picture they have is not the whole story.
:thumbsup:pryw Thank you as well, for being well-mannered. Much appreciated!
 

Aunty Jane

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I called Him by name...and He answered, with confirmations innumerable.
Can I ask whose name you called?....and what kind of confirmations were you given?
Are you convinced that those who sincerely call out to God in their hour of need, have no who they are talking to, and that God is not faithful and would allow Satan to step in?
I am convinced that what I read in God’s word is true....and in the Christian Era especially, the devil is very active.
The closer we get to the end of his reign, the more desperate he gets.
Rev 12:7-12 shows us what is going on in these last days. The devil is angry, knowing his rule is about to end.
Some of his attacks are all out war, whilst others retain the deceptive subtlety he has used for centuries on the human race. Either way his goals are achieved.....and every human is fair game. (1 Pet 5:8) He knows our vulnerabilities and weaknesses better than we do.

All of us will be ‘caught in the act of being ourselves’....because we have free will, we will believe whatever we want to believe, and will be judged accordingly.
God will not interfere with our choices, or responses....he will allow us to be who we think we are, because he knows what drives our choices, even when we do not. He is reading our hearts not just our minds. He is choosing citizens for his Kingdom....very carefully.

Why are we living in this world where evil triumphs over good, where hatred conquers love and where everything is polluted...including our worship....?

What choices are we making in this life that determines whether we will inherit a place in the Kingdom as one of it’s citizens?
Is sincerity alone enough to gain us a place in God’s new world to come?
What is he looking for in the ones he invites into his Kingdom? (John 6:44; 65)
 

Aunty Jane

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I am of the brotherhood of broken and imperfect vessels, some of whom are named in the scriptures, but most who are not. We are not a sect of like-minded people, but a body of many members, all of whom have need to call upon and come before God--to God--and have come.
Yet, you don’t personally know your own “brothers”, nor do you meet with them as Paul instructed (Heb 10:24-25).....the Christians all had one faith, undivided (1 Cor 1:10).....do you not see the red flags in your situation?
If those with whom you worship would be stumbled by the fact that you describe their worship as “delusion”, why are you there?

It’s not about the “broken and imperfect vessels”...we all qualify under that description.....it’s about their unity and the love they have for one another (John 13:34-35)....and the fact that they are a united global brotherhood who are all taught the same truth, are engaged in the same assignment, and with the same message of salvation, in every nation. (1 Cor 1:10) Only God could arrange that....Jesus said he would be “with” his disciples in the work he gave them....(Matt 28:19-20) It cannot be done without him. Which is why the churches do not participate in “the great commission”.

In the first century, when people wanted to know the true God, they were pointed in only one direction...to the Christian congregations of those who had already accepted Jesus as the Christ. If you are sitting in a church, that is teaching false doctrines and remaining silent for 40 years, how is it that you were useful to God?

Sorry if that challenges your faith, but nothing about your story rings true to me....not much of it makes any sense. It’s the same for many who claim such experiences....if they all disagree, then who can we believe?
It doesn’t fit the first century model, and if you were told to remain silent, then there’s the first red flag, right there. Remaining silent was something God’s servants were told not to do.

2 Tim 4:1-4...
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (ESV)

This applies to all Christians..... who were told to be evangelisers....taking Christ’s message to anyone who will listen, but it is an active service, not a passive one....

what is it to you if it is God's will to sent me in a manner you were not expecting?
I could accept any person who could back up their claims with genuine actions.
How did the first century apostles, who were sent out by Jesus himself, display their qualifications to the people they were sent to? They backed up their claims with miracles.....and yet what do we see today? Only some churches claim to perform miracles...to speak in tongues...and heal people....receive prophesies etc...

Yet what do Christ’s words in Matt 7:21-23 tell us about those people? They did all that, and yet Jesus tells them that he “never knew them” and to “depart from him” as “workers of lawlessness”. How then are we to identify Christ’s true disciples in a sea of counterfeits?

The deceiver deceives the majority....so reasoned scepticism is called for. Test out everything and measure it by God’s word.
 

Aunty Jane

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It's not all "delusion." But should I not go and "forsaking the assembling of ourselves together", because many have become victims of evil men and their teachings?
Those who teach a fusion of Christianity tainted with pagan doctrines and celebrations are not to be our company in worship. Paul tells us God’s command to “get out from among them and separate yourselves”...to “touch nothing unclean” in God’s sight. (2 Cor 6:14-18)
How can you do that if you sit amongst them in silence?
Should Christ likewise not "have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness?"

Where is your mind, that you would think that we should not also walk in that same light and do likewise?

For forty years I have followed His direction.
I have no doubt that you are sincere in your beliefs, but I have to run them through the filter of God’s word...and your story and conduct are actually opposite to what Christ commanded his disciples to do.
For 40 years you have basically done none of what Christ asked of his disciples.....how can you think that your 40 year silence was achieving anything good?

The times we are presently in are those times of the end foretold by Daniel and John, who were themselves told that these times were to come; that what they were not given to write would be revealed finishing the mystery of God as He declared to His servants the prophets, just prior to the sounding of the seventh angel--when he is about to sound.
We have been in the last days for many decades as the features of the “sign” that Jesus gave to indicate his “presence” (not his coming) have been in evidence since the First World War.....the first sign mentioned. It was an unprecedented war in a world that had never seen every nation on earth drawn into such a conflict....and at a time when it was least expected....and the signs just kept coming. (Matt 24:3-14)

The mystery was finished some time ago, and this world system is about to end.....we have known about it all this time, and have been warning about it ever since....falling on deaf ears as Jesus said.
 

Aunty Jane

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My forty years of silence was the fulfillment of me also waiting until the times are fulfilled--fulfilled by the measure of Noah, and Joseph, and Moses, and Joshua, and Jesus, etc.
What measure? It appears that you have waited for something that is already history. Jesus has been here for over 100 years already, “separating the sheep from the goats”.....directing the work he assigned to his disciples....ready for the judgment to come at any time now.
The return of Jesus was to be in two stages....his “presence” (parousia) was when he returned in the same manner as he left....no fanfare, not headline news....just a quiet return in spirit to protect to his disciples when the foretold events took place and to oversee the assignment he gave to his disciples.

His “coming” as judge with his angels, is the final part of Bible prophesy for this world under satan....that is what will “end” all the evil that has taken place here.....so Christ’s return is two fold....it is not just one event. Everyone is waiting for the cataclysmic end, but have not discerned the beginning of the last days, which are clearly evident. It is during these last days when Jesus gives us his judgment on whether we have fulfilled our assignment in a very hostile world. This is when we prove to be “sheep” or “goats”.

The number 40 does feature in many instances in the Scriptures, but in your case, what did it achieve when your silence was not required by Christ, except in your own mind....so who did require it? Whose interests were serve by it? Only you can answer that question.
 

Aunty Jane

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As for the Jehovah's Witnesses, none are immune from the strong delusion of false teachers. Assume nothing except that which comes directly from the Father--the method by which Jesus revealed He would build His church.
Well therein lies the problem for me.....what is it that comes “directly from the Father”? How do we know when the devil is having a lend of us? Does believing something, even in all sincerity, make it true?

I am well aware that none of us are perfect....and that everyone who wears a label is not automatically a Christian. We have to show by our faith and obedience to Christ’s teachings that we understand what it means to BE a Christian, not to just calling yourself one. It requires something of us.

Jehovah is a God of order, and all that he does is well planned and executed according to his will and purpose....correct? Do we at least agree on that much?

So in this “time of the end” when the preaching work is about to come to its completion, how is God directing his “people” today?
He tells them to “get out of” “Babylon the great”. (Rev 18:4-5) What happens to those who don’t obey God’s command?

How do we remove ourselves as his “people” from that immoral “city” portrayed as a disgusting harlot?
And when were we to do that?
When did the first Christians have to remove themselves from corrupted Judaism? Wasn’t it when they saw that it was not serving the true God? How did they get to see that? Jesus revealed it....and the apostles continued to do so.
When those who governed Israel’s worship had orchestrated the murder of their own Messiah, that was a turning point for many. (Acts 2:37-38; 40-42)

The first Christians were all Jewish, so when Jesus came, it was to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” that he was “sent”....not to the religious leaders who had led the nation astray. Jesus didn’t have a good thing to say about those hypocrites. (Matt ch 23; Matt 15:7-9)

But Israel were offered first places in the kingdom, as God had promised Abraham....only after Christ’s death did the Christians separate completely from corrupted Judaism.....and gentiles were then added to “God’s people”, making them one “nation”, (Gal 6:16) who were a separate and easily identified gathering, with whom they had to join in worship of the only true God. They met together in congregations which grew, as more Christians were added due to the preaching activity that Christ initiated. (Matt 28:19-20)

This was the first century model.....and they were not to be silent! Just the opposite. So when I hear of those who are told to keep quiet...alarm bells ring for me, like those of the Catholic Church who proudly take ‘vows of silence’ when Christ never commanded such a thing. How is anyone benefitted by not speaking about the Christ and his wonderful teachings?

:thumbsup:pryw Thank you as well, for being well-mannered. Much appreciated!
And to you....also appreciated. Thanks for your time and patience. :ntmetu
 

Aunty Jane

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Have you noticed how that Peter was speaking to natural and proselyte Israel given that he was not the apostle to the Gentiles? Paul, who was/is the apostle to the body of Christ comprised of Jews and Gentiles,
Thanks for your reply....did you notice that it was Peter who was sent to Cornelius and who baptised the first Gentiles...not Paul.

Paul was appointed as an “apostle to the nations” but he was not one of the 12. He was not separated from them however, but remained under their jusrisdiction. He witnessed to both Jews and Gentiles as did the other apostles....but his role to the Gentiles was because of his background and education.

That the Gentiles were part of the Christian arrangement is shown by what happened when certain Jews wanted Gentiles to be circumcised....where did they take that problem for adjudication?

Acts 15: 1,2, 6-9....
“But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. . . . .
The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.”


Not a different gospel...not a different ministry...not separate from the apostles, but Jesus used Paul’s education to preach to a learned audience......something that they would not have accepted from humble uneducated fishermen.
Paul was also equal to the Pharisees because he was one...how could they argue with one of their own?
Romans 11:17-21 — And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

Romans 11:23 — And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
Ugh...sorry but the olde English of the KJV is an awful way to get the truth across to a modern audience.

From the ESV....

“Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? . . . .
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. . . . And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.”


Read in modern English, who is this addressed to ? Clearly it is to the gentile Christians.
What is Paul telling them?

Dont think that you are so special just because some branches (natural Israel) were removed so that you could be grafted in....the ones who were broken off failed to maintain their faith, so don’t think too much of yourselves because you could be the next branch to get the chop. Christians too can fall away.

“Continuing in unbelief” is the criteria....many natural Jews have come to realise that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, but they often refuse to be identified as “Christians”....do you know why? Their pride wont let them.
They will indeed be graffed in once again, after He deals with their millennia of rejection of Christ. The Tribulation will serve that ultimate end.
Paul said “some of them” not “all of them” would be saved.....only those Jews who receive Jesus as their Messiah will be grafted back in. Not the nation as a whole, but individuals from natural Israel would come to realise that their worship is as meaningless today, as when the Pharisees governed them in the first century. To this day, they still deny him as the Christ. Their country is ravaged by racial and religious hatred and bloodshed....not a holy place for God to reside.

Natural Israel blew it....what use are they to God if they never did as they were told? His relationship to Israel was based on their relationship to Abraham...one that they assumed was rock solid, but John the Baptist put them straight.....he told those wicked men.....

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matt 3:8-10 ESV)

What picture does that paint for you? What does “repentance” mean? Being forced to admit that you are wrong? Or coming to that conclusion on your own, and making the necessary adjustments in your life from a willing heart? The axe is there waiting to do some felling.....so who gets the chop? You tell me....
 

ScottA

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Can I ask whose name you called?....and what kind of confirmations were you given?

I am convinced that what I read in God’s word is true....and in the Christian Era especially, the devil is very active.
The closer we get to the end of his reign, the more desperate he gets.
Rev 12:7-12 shows us what is going on in these last days. The devil is angry, knowing his rule is about to end.
Some of his attacks are all out war, whilst others retain the deceptive subtlety he has used for centuries on the human race. Either way his goals are achieved.....and every human is fair game. (1 Pet 5:8) He knows our vulnerabilities and weaknesses better than we do.

All of us will be ‘caught in the act of being ourselves’....because we have free will, we will believe whatever we want to believe, and will be judged accordingly.
God will not interfere with our choices, or responses....he will allow us to be who we think we are, because he knows what drives our choices, even when we do not. He is reading our hearts not just our minds. He is choosing citizens for his Kingdom....very carefully.

Why are we living in this world where evil triumphs over good, where hatred conquers love and where everything is polluted...including our worship....?

What choices are we making in this life that determines whether we will inherit a place in the Kingdom as one of it’s citizens?
Is sincerity alone enough to gain us a place in God’s new world to come?
What is he looking for in the ones he invites into his Kingdom? (John 6:44; 65)
Evil does not triumph over good. As for me, I made my choice before calling out to God--that is what I call Him--the One true God.

I find it sad that you have such a grim outlook.

But what do you think--is one caught up to the third heaven not already in the care of God, who is greater than he who is in the world?
 

ScottA

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Yet, you don’t personally know your own “brothers”, nor do you meet with them as Paul instructed (Heb 10:24-25).....the Christians all had one faith, undivided (1 Cor 1:10).....do you not see the red flags in your situation?
If those with whom you worship would be stumbled by the fact that you describe their worship as “delusion”, why are you there?

It’s not about the “broken and imperfect vessels”...we all qualify under that description.....it’s about their unity and the love they have for one another (John 13:34-35)....and the fact that they are a united global brotherhood who are all taught the same truth, are engaged in the same assignment, and with the same message of salvation, in every nation. (1 Cor 1:10) Only God could arrange that....Jesus said he would be “with” his disciples in the work he gave them....(Matt 28:19-20) It cannot be done without him. Which is why the churches do not participate in “the great commission”.

In the first century, when people wanted to know the true God, they were pointed in only one direction...to the Christian congregations of those who had already accepted Jesus as the Christ. If you are sitting in a church, that is teaching false doctrines and remaining silent for 40 years, how is it that you were useful to God?

Sorry if that challenges your faith, but nothing about your story rings true to me....not much of it makes any sense. It’s the same for many who claim such experiences....if they all disagree, then who can we believe?
It doesn’t fit the first century model, and if you were told to remain silent, then there’s the first red flag, right there. Remaining silent was something God’s servants were told not to do.

2 Tim 4:1-4...
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (ESV)

This applies to all Christians..... who were told to be evangelisers....taking Christ’s message to anyone who will listen, but it is an active service, not a passive one....
That was then, this is now. Why do you quote what was, and not consider what now is, that they foretold? God is not different, but the circumstance are the same in some respects but not in others. But you have not challenged my faith, but yours. It is though you have not taken to heart what was foretold of these times enough to know what should come from God that also was foretold. Meanwhile, you are preaching what Paul preached to carry the church through until these times--"laying again the foundation." Again, that was then, this is now.

I could accept any person who could back up their claims with genuine actions.
How did the first century apostles, who were sent out by Jesus himself, display their qualifications to the people they were sent to? They backed up their claims with miracles.....and yet what do we see today? Only some churches claim to perform miracles...to speak in tongues...and heal people....receive prophesies etc...

Yet what do Christ’s words in Matt 7:21-23 tell us about those people? They did all that, and yet Jesus tells them that he “never knew them” and to “depart from him” as “workers of lawlessness”. How then are we to identify Christ’s true disciples in a sea of counterfeits?

The deceiver deceives the majority....so reasoned scepticism is called for. Test out everything and measure it by God’s word.
"What did you go out to see?" Do you hear yourself? Not even John the Baptist could satisfy you.
 

ScottA

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Those who teach a fusion of Christianity tainted with pagan doctrines and celebrations are not to be our company in worship. Paul tells us God’s command to “get out from among them and separate yourselves”...to “touch nothing unclean” in God’s sight. (2 Cor 6:14-18)
How can you do that if you sit amongst them in silence?
You misunderstand. If the light in us is not darkness, we are not partakers of that darkness. But we who are in Christ are to shine into darkness just as He has shined into us.

Which Paul did not contradict in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, but spoke of coming out of darkness into the light of Christ, that being in Him we would "be like Him" (1 John 3:2).

As for my being silent, "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." And for the same reason I have told you, "You misunderstand."
 

ScottA

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I have no doubt that you are sincere in your beliefs, but I have to run them through the filter of God’s word...and your story and conduct are actually opposite to what Christ commanded his disciples to do.
For 40 years you have basically done none of what Christ asked of his disciples.....how can you think that your 40 year silence was achieving anything good?
I have answered this already: All who are sent, are not sent to do the same. Were John the Baptist and John the apostle sent to do the same? Why would you lump them all together? How is it that you do not know these things, but question me as if I was the one who didn't know?
 

ScottA

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We have been in the last days for many decades as the features of the “sign” that Jesus gave to indicate his “presence” (not his coming) have been in evidence since the First World War.....the first sign mentioned. It was an unprecedented war in a world that had never seen every nation on earth drawn into such a conflict....and at a time when it was least expected....and the signs just kept coming. (Matt 24:3-14)

The mystery was finished some time ago, and this world system is about to end.....we have known about it all this time, and have been warning about it ever since....falling on deaf ears as Jesus said.
Why do you say His presence is not His coming? Because of this your timing is off, for just as He said "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" as a part of "the things which must shortly take place"--His coming began at Pentecost, and His coming is His presence.

As for the mystery of God being already finished-- Tell me then...what was it that John read of the little book shown to him and was about to write, but was told not to?
 

ScottA

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What measure? It appears that you have waited for something that is already history. Jesus has been here for over 100 years already, “separating the sheep from the goats”.....directing the work he assigned to his disciples....ready for the judgment to come at any time now.
The return of Jesus was to be in two stages....his “presence” (parousia) was when he returned in the same manner as he left....no fanfare, not headline news....just a quiet return in spirit to protect to his disciples when the foretold events took place and to oversee the assignment he gave to his disciples.

His “coming” as judge with his angels, is the final part of Bible prophesy for this world under satan....that is what will “end” all the evil that has taken place here.....so Christ’s return is two fold....it is not just one event. Everyone is waiting for the cataclysmic end, but have not discerned the beginning of the last days, which are clearly evident. It is during these last days when Jesus gives us his judgment on whether we have fulfilled our assignment in a very hostile world. This is when we prove to be “sheep” or “goats”.

The number 40 does feature in many instances in the Scriptures, but in your case, what did it achieve when your silence was not required by Christ, except in your own mind....so who did require it? Whose interests were serve by it? Only you can answer that question.
You have much to learn before these matters can be fully addressed. As I said, your timing is off--way off. It is no wonder that you are full of questions--but you are also making claims, and it is not helping you to hear and understand what is actually true.
 

ScottA

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Well therein lies the problem for me.....what is it that comes “directly from the Father”? How do we know when the devil is having a lend of us? Does believing something, even in all sincerity, make it true?
We are not suppose to know, we're suppose to hear His voice above the static.

Jehovah is a God of order, and all that he does is well planned and executed according to his will and purpose....correct? Do we at least agree on that much?
What you are not allowing for is that God is actually the Author of confusion and in addition to all that is good, also creates evil--meaning, just as it is written, He works all things together for good, for those who love Him according to His purpose. All things--even the evil. All of which, is His way of order.

So in this “time of the end” when the preaching work is about to come to its completion, how is God directing his “people” today?
He tells them to “get out of” “Babylon the great”. (Rev 18:4-5) What happens to those who don’t obey God’s command?
Look at what is happening in the world today, there are many signs: The rainbow symbol = His promise is at hand; transgenderism = the roles of God being portrayed by men and the church by women are confused, mixed; one world government and corruption covertly fooling the world's population, while good is also covertly at work--soon to be revealed, as all comes to light.

But God's command for His people? Live a quiet life, love God and your neighbor as yourself, and behold His every promise.

How do we remove ourselves as his “people” from that immoral “city” portrayed as a disgusting harlot?
And when were we to do that?
We simply call upon God to do His work in us--"quickly."

When did the first Christians have to remove themselves from corrupted Judaism? Wasn’t it when they saw that it was not serving the true God? How did they get to see that? Jesus revealed it....and the apostles continued to do so.
When those who governed Israel’s worship had orchestrated the murder of their own Messiah, that was a turning point for many. (Acts 2:37-38; 40-42)
Christians do not remove mountains of their own doing--the first Christians heard and believed. God does the work.

The first Christians were all Jewish, so when Jesus came, it was to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” that he was “sent”....not to the religious leaders who had led the nation astray. Jesus didn’t have a good thing to say about those hypocrites. (Matt ch 23; Matt 15:7-9)

But Israel were offered first places in the kingdom, as God had promised Abraham....only after Christ’s death did the Christians separate completely from corrupted Judaism.....and gentiles were then added to “God’s people”, making them one “nation”, (Gal 6:16) who were a separate and easily identified gathering, with whom they had to join in worship of the only true God. They met together in congregations which grew, as more Christians were added due to the preaching activity that Christ initiated. (Matt 28:19-20)

This was the first century model.....and they were not to be silent! Just the opposite. So when I hear of those who are told to keep quiet...alarm bells ring for me, like those of the Catholic Church who proudly take ‘vows of silence’ when Christ never commanded such a thing. How is anyone benefitted by not speaking about the Christ and his wonderful teachings?
Don't get too engrossed in all the history, keep it simple: Jesus came for the House of Israel--"It is finished." Then the Gentiles. "To the Jew first and also to the Greek."

As for the early church model--Jesus had somewhat against 5 out of 7 churches, and "false teaches" quickly took over...and their teachings are still being taught by most of Christendom, and at least some, yes, by the Jehovah's Witnesses too (according to your witness).
 
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