“I will spit you out” ....

[Not me]

Hello @Not me

I believe that the words of the book of Revelation refer to what will happen in 'the Lord's day' (Revelation 1:9), or 'the day of the Lord' (Isaiah 2:11), referred to elsewhere in Scripture: in contrast with 'man's day' (1 Corinthians 4:3); in which we now live. The letters written to the assemblies in that day, are not written to The Church which is The Body of Christ: which is the subject of the later epistles of Paul (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon) based on Romans 5:12-8:39: and only confusion can result by considering them to be so.

Thank you.
In Christ Jesus
Chris

I’m a bit busy, getting ready for work, let me respond to you later, it will give me time to think and pray about it..

All to Him, Not me

 

[amadeus]

He does love us very much and He is very diligent in finding excuses to save people and not condemn them. It is us who judge people harshly. If I may post a story...

There was an ascetic elder and anchorite, who had been leading an ascetic life in a desert place for seventy years, in fasting, chastity and vigil. Although he labored for God for so many years, he was never accounted worthy to receive a vision or revelation from God. Thinking about this and bearing this in mind he said, “Perhaps my ascesis is not pleasing to God for some reason I do not know, and my work is unacceptable; and on account of this I am not able to receive a revelation or behold any mystery.”

Contemplating these things the elder began to ask and supplicate God even more, praying and saying, “Lord, if my ascesis is pleasing to you and you accept my deeds, I – a sinner and unworthy one – ask of you, to grant even unto me a drop of your gifts, that I may learn from the appearance of a mystery that you have heard my prayer, so that emboldened and enlightened I may live out my ascetical life.” As the holy elder was praying and asking these things, he heard the voice of God say to him, “If you desire to see My glory, go to the inner desert and mysteries will be revealed to you.”

When the elder heard this, he went out of his cell and went far from there. A thief then came across him who, upon seeing the abba, violently rushed at him desiring to kill him. And when he caught him he said to him, “It’s a good thing I ran into you, Elder, so that I can finish my job and be saved. For we thieves have this custom and law and belief: that he who commits one hundred murders will surely go to paradise. So I, having labored hard, have murdered ninety-nine, and lacking one more I have tried hard to finish my hundredth and be saved. So I really owe you and thank you, because today I will delight in paradise because of you.”

And when the elder heard the thief say these things, he was beside himself and was afraid at this sudden and hopeless temptation. And turning the eyes of his mind towards God and reflecting on these things he said, “Is this Your glory, Lord and Master, which You promised to show me Your servant? What counsel is this You have given me, to leave my cell and be informed by this dreadful mystery? With such gifts you pay the recompense for the ascesis which I underwent for Your sake? Now I truly know, Lord, that all the labor of my ascesis was in vain; and every one of my prayers before You was considered as abhorrent and a desecration. However, I thank you for Your philanthropy, Lord, that, as You know best, You chastise my unworthiness, as is needed, because of my uncountable sins and you have given me over to the hands of a thief and murderer.”

Saying these things the pitiful elder thirsted greatly and said to the thief, “My child, since I am a sinner God has given me over to you for you to kill me and for you to have your way, as you have desired, and I to be deprived of life, as the evil man that I am. For this I ask you to do me a favor – a slight wish – and give me a little water to drink, and then cut my head off.” When the thief had listened to the elder, willing to fulfill the elder’s wish he put his sword back into its sheath, as he had been holding it out. And he pulled out a flask from his bosom and went to a river that was close by so as to fill it up and take to the elder to drink. And there where he went to fill the flask, he gave up his soul and died. So, when a little time passed and the thief did not come, the elder pondered and said, “Perhaps he was sleepy and fell asleep and that is why he is slow in returning and I will be able flee to my cell. But seeing as I am old, I am afraid, since I do not have the strength to run, and as one weak I will become tired and he will catch up with me. Then I will anger him and he will want to torture me without pity, cutting me in many pieces while still alive. Better I do not leave, but go to the river to see what he is doing.” So the elder went thinking about such things and found him dead, and when he saw him he marveled and was taken aback. And lifting his hands toward heaven, he said, “Lord Who loves mankind, if You do not reveal to me this mystery, I will not lower my hands. Therefore, pity my toil and reveal to me this thing.”

As the elder prayed these things, an angel of the Lord came and said to him, “Do you see, Abba, this dead man who lies before you? For your sake he was taken by sudden death, so that you may escape and he not kill you. Therefore, bury him as one saved. For obeying you by returning his murderous sword to its sheath in order to bring you water to quench the flame of your thirst, he pacified the wrath of God and was accepted as a worker of obedience (Matthew 10:42). And his divulgence of the ninety-nine murders was counted as confession. Therefore, bury him and consider him among the saved. And by this, know the expanse of God’s philanthropy and compassion. And rejoicing, go to your cell and be avid in your prayers, and do not feel sorrow and say that you are a sinner and deprived of revelation. For behold, God has revealed a mystery to you. And know this too, that all the toil of your ascesis is acceptable before God; for there is no toil that is done for God’s sake that does not come before Him.” Having heard this the elder buried the dead man.​

I know that you shared this with @VictoryinJesus but I was blessed very much by it as well. Thank you and give God the glory!

 

[bbyrd009]

google supplies about twenty diff defs of "day of the Lord," all by surely well-meaning ppl, but i am hard-pressed to accept any other def than today tbh; "this is the day that the Lord has made"
so i dunno, but i would not be paying a lot of attention to any "future" scenarios

 

[charity]

It is quite literally impossible to read the word of God and come to that conclusion unless you have been indoctrinated. It is the indoctrination that causes such arrogance.

Hello @stunnedbygrace,

It is not arrogance, but sheer gratitude for the grace of God which makes it possible, in Christ Jesus.

Thank you
In Christ Jesus
Chris

 

[stunnedbygrace]

Well then, let's all thank God that we are not like those other men.

 

[icxn]

I know that you shared this with @VictoryinJesus but I was blessed very much by it as well. Thank you and give God the glory!

Amen to that!

 

[stunnedbygrace]

do believe some and actually quite a lot of Christ’s warnings are written to humanity as a whole and not pointed at His people... As are those in Hebrews...But this may be a hard saying

Ah, yes, okay, and all the prophets sent to Israel to warn them were not for them. It isn't Gods people who God warns. For those He chooses to be His people, the warnings are not for them. He saved Israel from death and so the warnings were not for those He saved. The warnings were for the rest of humanity, not for those He had saved.The warnings are for those God hasn't saved. Glad we cleared that up. You say "this may be a hard saying," but...nope, it's not a hard saying for those He has saved. How could it be?

 

[stunnedbygrace]

Who did God become angry with in the wilderness? Wasn't it those He had saved?

 

[Bobby Jo]

Ah, yes, okay, and all the prophets sent to Israel to warn them were not for them. It isn't Gods people who God warns. For those He chooses to be His people, the warnings are not for them. He saved Israel from death and so the warnings were not for those He saved. The warnings were for the rest of humanity, not for those He had saved.The warnings are for those God hasn't saved. Glad we cleared that up. You say "this may be a hard saying," but...nope, it's not a hard saying for those He has saved. How could it be?

One thing about sarcasm, is being so subtle that it goes right over peoples heads.

And you're right, if GOD didn't WARN us and CHASTISE us, we'd abuse every liberty we're given. And equally, if GOD didn't WARN us of FUTURE events, we'd suffer loss:

Rev. 18:4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

“Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;​

With Blessings,
Bobby Jo

 

[Not me]

Ah, yes, okay, and all the prophets sent to Israel to warn them were not for them. It isn't Gods people who God warns. For those He chooses to be His people, the warnings are not for them. He saved Israel from death and so the warnings were not for those He saved. The warnings were for the rest of humanity, not for those He had saved.The warnings are for those God hasn't saved. Glad we cleared that up. You say "this may be a hard saying," but...nope, it's not a hard saying for those He has saved. How could it be?

I’m sorry, I don’t mean to upset...My meaning could have been made plainer...

What I meant was God’s warning are to all that need them..If a unsaved person needs to hear a warning from God, He gives it.. Like when through the prophets He spoke both to the Jews and Gentiles, both the saved and unsaved..That was my meaning and intent not to say God doesn’t warn His people..For He both warms and blesses...

Be at peace as we learn Christ, Not me

 

[icxn]

Who told you that you were naked? seems to completely remove any condemnation from Yah's realm even, eh

Not exactly. When someone (VinJ) shows symptoms of spiritual hypoglycemia (confusion, anxiety, despair...), you don't prescribe medicine that is meant to reduce your blood sugar levels, I mean the threats of condemnation that help reduce the lusts of our flesh. Abstractions about the process of salvation, while useful in doctrinal conversations and as bullet points or perhaps hollow points, with which to conduct our forum wars, they are of little use in healing our spiritual wounds. If anything, they increase our wounds.

 

[FollowHim]

Revelation 3:16 (NASB)
‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

The whole book of Revelations is about the witness and testimony of Jesus Christ...The bringing forth and the Glorification of Him in and by His body, His people...

This is the context that all the encouragements, warnings, need to be taken... For He says in Revelations itself, “those I love I reprove and discipline”...He does not cast away those He loves and discipline’s... Some will respond to this discipline more, some less, but what is at stake is the testimony and witness of Christ being manifested through that part of the body....When it says, “remove the lamp stand out of its place unless you repent”

Revelation 2:5 (NASB)
‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you repent.

It, once again is talking about the witness and testimony in a life being removed from out of its place, where it belongs...For the witness and testimony of Christ is the lamp stand, the shining forth of His light out from the believer....For Jesus does belong in each and every believer’s life. But, because, for whatever reason a believer loses that witness and testimony shining through them does not mean that God has given up on them and turned them over to a reprobate mind....They as we all have experienced, as those that are His, we can repent, and turn back to Him... It might, will and does take time and obedience to get the witness and testimony of Christ shining back through our life’s once again...But as long as today is called today, we can grow in Him, and put the lamp stand back in it’s place and once again have the light of God shine through our lives. Why? Because we are part and parcel of His body and can never not be part of His body.

Why?

Because we are His, because we are saved, born again, born into His family, which family relationship can never be broken. Because just like when we were born into this world this birth can never be undone for it has happened the Eternal Divine nature, that is our second birth. Which is even more glorious and eternal, because it is His life born in us which it to can never be undone....

But it needs to grow in us, henceforth all the warnings, cautions, encouragements against not growing, falling out of our place, the place we belong, where the light of God’s love shines through all His body fully. That the witness and testimony of Jesus Christ might be seen in our lives by all..

Blessings to all that are in His family, a brother in the faith, Not me

"family relationship can never be broken" This phrase some love to claim is a biblical idea, except the opposite is true.
Brothers murder each other, sons betray fathers. Jesus said of His family

26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.
27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:26-27

21 He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."
Luke 8:21

Now some claim to know God, yet do not put into practice God's word. So you can easily claim a false allegiance.
Israel were Gods chosen people, yet through unbelief where rejected.

20 But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
Rom 11:20-21

The warnings in revelation are there are no assumptions, no presumption, but rather the "elect" are His but if one stands against Gods ways one demonstrates one is not born of God.

 

[Not me]

Hello @Not me

I believe that the words of the book of Revelation refer to what will happen in 'the Lord's day

'

Hello, I appreciate you sharing your faith with me and I in no way want to upset anyone’s hope in God..

So everything I am to say please take before God for I too am a seeker after Him...

I have a hard time accepting what you put forth about Revelations being something that is only going to happen on the Day of the Lord for of that is true there will be no time to repent and listen to all the warnings and cautions given to mankind...

I therefore hold true as all of Revelations is describing the revealing of God’s Son to all creation and creatures..
Though most is in a figure describing this or that truth is it all for the purpose of the revealing of Jesus Christ..I hold true that all things in there are for the instructions in righteousness that all of mankind might read and come to the faith..

So all that being said please keep being faithful to your own personal relationship with Him and I will do likewise that out candlesticks won’t go out so we might get a full reward and not a partial one..

A fellow seeker in Him, Not me

 

[Not me]

"family relationship can never be broken" This phrase some love to claim is a biblical idea, except the opposite is true.
Brothers murder each other, sons betray fathers. Jesus said of His family

Hi, if you wouldn’t mind me bringing it forward you have the truth in your own post...Yes it is true that many times brother kills brother, one family member sins against another family member. But that does not mean that the brother did not kill the brother.. They are still the product of the same mother and father regardless of how they treat each other. For the starting of life (birth) can never change. Unless that one would be born again than that too would hold true for the second birth.

Food for thought..

A fellow believer, Not me

 

[charity]

Hello, I appreciate you sharing your faith with me and I in no way want to upset anyone’s hope in God..

So everything I am to say please take before God for I too am a seeker after Him...

I have a hard time accepting what you put forth about Revelations being something that is only going to happen on the Day of the Lord for of that is true there will be no time to repent and listen to all the warnings and cautions given to mankind...

I therefore hold true as all of Revelations is describing the revealing of God’s Son to all creation and creatures..
Though most is in a figure describing this or that truth is it all for the purpose of the revealing of Jesus Christ..I hold true that all things in there are for the instructions in righteousness that all of mankind might read and come to the faith..

So all that being said please keep being faithful to your own personal relationship with Him and I will do likewise that out candlesticks won’t go out so we might get a full reward and not a partial one..

A fellow seeker in Him, Not me

Hello @Not me,

Thank you for your honesty. May God's will be done in each one of us, for His name and glory's sake.

In Christ Jesus
our risen and glorified
Saviour, Lord and Head.
Chris

 

[VictoryinJesus]

@VictoryinJesus
The vision and understanding need to be your own... but you alone cannot form them, not correctly as God sees it. You can listen to or read the thoughts and beliefs of another person, and they sound good, but then along comes another one, with some very different ideas, which conflict with those of the first one. Study, listen, hear, read... but this for me is the eating his flesh alone. That flesh, even it is good or potentially good will ultimately do you no good without the quickening of the Holy Spirit in you.

When you read or study the Bible, talk to God while you do it. Read a verse or chapter and then talk with God and then return to the reading. Back and forth or the two together if you can do it that way. This allows the Holy Spirit in the thing for sure. This, as I see it, is the blood, the Blood of Jesus, which brings to Life the dead flesh so that the Word of God [Living Word] it is rather than a dead memory of something you read and/or studied.

Remember that a confirmed atheist can learn the Bible. You are not an atheist, so use the difference between what you are and where you are to accomplish something not working in an atheist, the Word of God. The Bible contains it, but without the Holy Spirit you cannot grow by consuming it.


If I know something worthwhile that you do not, it is something that the Holy Spirit has quickened within me. People often pay lip service to the Holy Spirit, but it definitely takes more than that to grow. Also at the other extreme, some people pray, talking tongues and carry on continuously with the gift they have received. I guess it is like a talented baseball player who exercises his body with calisthenics but never picks up a ball or a bat or a glove and never goes to the ball park and plays with a team. His talent never really used is wasted. People waste the Holy Spirit they have received and eventually somewhere along the way they lose what God has given them:

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

The Holy Spirit needs raw material to work with... Watching Batman of TV is not good material on which to build. The Holy Spirit will not bring to Life within you what you consumed while watching Batman. If however, you spent a hour or so studying your Bible while talking to God, something real just might be brought to Life in you: The Word of God!

You might get raw materials from your own Bible study and reading, or by listening to a Bible preacher of teacher... or even reading posts on a forum like this one. Lots of garbage here. The Holy Spirit knows the difference between 'good' food and garbage even if we in our own minds of flesh do not. This is why you must learn to let the Holy Spirit in you have his way leading you. That does not just happen. People grow up in their flesh learning to take control of their own lives. Children with less than perfect parents or even evil parents in the flesh, if they are to survive, must learn early to take hold of their own reins. That is the flesh and for the flesh it can be a good thing.

With God you must go in the other direction. If you had good natural parents, they would have been there to stop you from falling and would have taught you to do things the right way. To really follow God you must learn to let go of your own reins giving them to the Holy Spirit. Most churches where I have attended most of the time regularly teach you to abide by the rules of that church house as in 'stand up when the preacher stands', 'pray when the preacher prays', 'testify when someone [some person] in authority says it is time', 'talk in tongues', 'don't talk in tongues', etc. Maybe a person can grow some in the midst of all that mostly carnal leadership, but as we see on this forum and by the numerous denominations in our home towns with their conflicting beliefs and doctrines, something is not right. The Holy Spirit does not cause confusion, but, when followed, leads people into unity with Jesus as their Head, the Head of the Body of Christ.

Let go of your reins, regularly handing them to the Holy Spirit within you. You may need to do this every time you need to make a decision that matters to God. This could be once a day, but more likely it will be many times daily... at least, until you have formed the good habit of giving it to Him before confronted with some new perhaps controversial situation where you need to decide something.


Some people are unwilling to let go of what they have encountered or received already that seems so good when they look back and compare it with where they were and what they had before they met Jesus. But... I have found that we really need to let go of those things [everything] when we get together alone with God reading, studying, praying, just talking with God. This is what I call 'bottom starting" based on Luke 14:8-11 where the man is advised to go to the "lowest room" . This means going all the way back to where you were nothing and had nothing of God. This includes your most closely held or cherished beliefs and doctrines. This is the time when you are allowing God in you to correct or add to whatever you have been to that point. Lots of times I walk away from such a session with nothing new of which I am aware, but other times I have been changed, in some very basic ways [beliefs]. People don't do this much. They take hold of a rigidly established set of beliefs, doctrines, dogmas or whatever you want to call them. They won't let go for anything... not even for God because they have never allowed themselves to trust God that much. They trust their ministers, or friends, or families, or teachers, or their own minds... instead of God.

This can be a lot deeper, but I cannot do it for you. It is, as it must be, between you and God. This is part of, at least in a way, your prayer and study sessions, but it is in addition to it as well.

People have oftentimes decided that there is one set place to be in God in belief, in faith, in doctrine, in knowledge... and some of them will assume or presume that they are already there. How great is our God? In our greatest moment, how great are we? Are we like Him already? How much like Him are we? Yet after asking and then trying to answer those questions honestly we fail to yield ourselves completely to Him so that we can become as He allows it and as we allow it, to become even more like Him.

I hear you Amadeus. Read your post when you first posted it but needed time to digest it all. All good counsel. Will remember what you said and not resist starting over. Every day new. Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Isaiah 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord ; and great shall be the peace of thy children.


No greater peace then: John 14:27-28 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. [28] Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

 

[farouk]

I hear you Amadeus. Read your post when you first posted it but needed time to digest it all. All good counsel. Will remember what you said and not resist starting over. Every day new. Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Isaiah 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord ; and great shall be the peace of thy children.


No greater peace then: John 14:27-28 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. [28] Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

Hi @VictoryinJesus Great words of comfort there from excellent quotes.

How is your family illness situation? I remember you posted something recently about this.

It's a wonderful resource to be able to draw on Scriptures like this, isn't it?

 

[VictoryinJesus]

Hi @VictoryinJesus Great words of comfort there from excellent quotes.

How is your family illness situation? I remember you posted something recently about this.

It's a wonderful resource to be able to draw on Scriptures like this, isn't it?

Both are recovering. Mom still gets out of breath and has to use the oxygen they sent her home with. But every day she is laughing more and like her normal self; going out for a walk to see her flowers bloom. Thank you for asking.

 

[bbyrd009]

Hello, I appreciate you sharing your faith with me and I in no way want to upset anyone’s hope in God..

So everything I am to say please take before God for I too am a seeker after Him...

I have a hard time accepting what you put forth about Revelations being something that is only going to happen on the Day of the Lord for of that is true there will be no time to repent and listen to all the warnings and cautions given to mankind...

I therefore hold true as all of Revelations is describing the revealing of God’s Son to all creation and creatures..
Though most is in a figure describing this or that truth is it all for the purpose of the revealing of Jesus Christ..I hold true that all things in there are for the instructions in righteousness that all of mankind might read and come to the faith..

So all that being said please keep being faithful to your own personal relationship with Him and I will do likewise that out candlesticks won’t go out so we might get a full reward and not a partial one..

A fellow seeker in Him, Not me

fwiw getting rewarded for what you should have been doing anyway might deserve a hearing in there somewhere too

 

[FollowHim]

Hi, if you wouldn’t mind me bringing it forward you have the truth in your own post...Yes it is true that many times brother kills brother, one family member sins against another family member. But that does not mean that the brother did not kill the brother.. They are still the product of the same mother and father regardless of how they treat each other. For the starting of life (birth) can never change. Unless that one would be born again than that too would hold true for the second birth.

Food for thought..

A fellow believer, Not me

My point is even with links within a family, they count for nothing in terms of behaviour and loyalty.
God puts zero store behind links through belonging to a group. Rather it is 100% on doing and attitude.

Imagine an angel in front of God saying, today I do not feel like obeying you, go take a jump.
It does not matter who they were, this is a sentence of rejection and damnation.

Yet it is thought because at some point one joined a group, God will now ignore ones behaviour, include you in the elect and heap praise and reward on you because of this. How can this individual to any degree be relied upon to do what is asked of them. They are just rebellious and resentful, and will fail. Is this the principle of following Gods will on earth as it is in Heaven or is it just rebellion and putting oneself as King?

I do wonder what people think salvation is? A holiday camp for those who did a high 5 to Jesus, or a Kingdom different to the world where love and service rule. If you want to see who gets into heaven it is not sinners or those who support anything evil, or behave in such a way.

I would add if one can find any sinful behaviour that is alright with the Lord, please can you show it to me.
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.

To some the beginning of wisdom is there is nothing they can do to muck up acceptance by Jesus.
Sounds like the spoilt brat approach to life with a parent who is just too rich. And these spoilt brats always come to a sticky end.