Are we all aware that we are at war?

[quietthinker]

The question is, how are we to treat those agents of the enemy who are opposing the gospel? Because it is the gospel which is under attack. It is the gospel which saves. It is the gospel we are called to preach and deliver to all the world. What weapons are we to use against those enemies of truth?

I'd say, don't shoot those who shoot you.....that'd be a good starting point!

 

[Brakelite]

I'd say, don't shoot those who shoot you.....that'd be a good starting point!

HERESY!!!! At least by some standards in the church it would be.

 

[Brakelite]

I've come to the point not only do I feel foolish trying to tell God about circumstances, I'm foolish to try to tell God about myself! Yep, I just try to shut up and follow His lead!

Much love!

At times we are even foolish enough to tell God about God.

 

[quietthinker]

HERESY!!!! At least by some standards in the church it would be.

no surprise for this charge on this battleground.

 

[quietthinker]

At times we are even foolish enough to tell God about God.

one of the things Paul lists is the lack of thankfulness (2 Tim 3:2) I think that's a big one.....protection from what we are unaware is going on around us in the world of the unseen.....and taking for granted what we often consider as ordinary when in fact they are present continuous blessings.

 

[Ziggy]

Lota words here Ziggy..... You quoted '2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection,....' What do you think that means?

I wasn't sure so I looked at some other translations:

NLT: They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.

NIV: without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,

ESV: heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

NKJV: unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,

Hugs

 

[quietthinker]

I wasn't sure so I looked at some other translations:

NLT: They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.

NIV: without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,

ESV: heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

NKJV: unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,

Hugs

Do you think it could mean they are emotionally disconnected?....they don't actually know what love means (experientially). The best explanation they can give is one derived from another persons explanation?

 

[Ziggy]

Do you think it could mean they are emotionally disconnected?....they don't actually know what love means (experientially). The best explanation they can give is one derived from another persons explanation?

Sounds like your saying the guff when the guf is empty?

I heard it in a movie called the 7th Sign with Demi Moore, years ago.
I thought it was just a movie phrase until I just looked it up.. weird.

What happens when the guf is empty?
The Guf IS empty, there is no bird song and human beings are born without a soul after the loss of the last innocencent soul (therefore the dead pregnant woman on the ground. ... Every human soul is held to emanate from the Guf. The Talmud teaches that the Messiah will not come until the Guf is emptied of all its souls.

I don't know if it's biblical, the closest I can find id Isaiah 32:

Isa 32:6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

Artificial Intelligence.. No Soul.

That's a really sad thought quietthinker,


Hugs

 

[Brakelite]

Sounds like your saying the guff when the guf is empty?

I heard it in a movie called the 7th Sign with Demi Moore, years ago.
I thought it was just a movie phrase until I just looked it up.. weird.

What happens when the guf is empty?
The Guf IS empty, there is no bird song and human beings are born without a soul after the loss of the last innocencent soul (therefore the dead pregnant woman on the ground. ... Every human soul is held to emanate from the Guf. The Talmud teaches that the Messiah will not come until the Guf is emptied of all its souls.

I don't know if it's biblical, the closest I can find id Isaiah 32:

Isa 32:6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

Artificial Intelligence.. No Soul.

That's a really sad thought quietthinker,


Hugs

The concordance for 3 Timothy 3:3 in explaining the word translated as "without natural affection" goes like this...
‭794 ‭ἄστοργος‭ astorgos ‭as’–tor–gos‭
‭
‭‭from ‭1‭ (as a negative particle) and a presumed derivative of stergo (to cherish affectionately); adj; ‭
‭
‭‭AV–without natural affection 2; 2‭
‭
‭‭1) without natural affection, unsociable (‭#Ro 1:31‭ marg.), inhuman (‭#2Ti 3:3‭ RSV), unloving (‭#2Ti 3:3‭ NKJV)‭

That unsociable part I found interesting. When man was first created God declared it was not good for man to be alone. We were created as social creatures, to enjoy one another's company. But even more to enjoy the presence of God in our lives, to seek after Him, and have fellowship with Him as the apostle John said. At creation it is very interesting to note that God created a certain order. God started with inanimate things, the land and sea, stars, then fish, birds, and on the sixth day the animals and man himself. Everything before man was designed for man. And then God rested, and at the end of that rest (Sabbath) called that 7th day holy and sanctified. Set apart, and again, as Jesus said much later, made for man. So the whole of creation on Earth was made for man, including the Sabbath, and because we were made in that image of God, we were made relational beings, designed for fellowship, so God gave us marriage. All before sin. So that Sabbath enjoyed by Adam and Eve with their Maker, was the beginning of science. Man on that first day of the rest of their lives began to study nature and discovered botany, biology, astronomy, engineering, physics, medicine. It's interesting that at that time and for a long time after, even up to just last century, science for the most part was exemplified as evidence for a Creator.
But today Satan has turned that around and so called scientists are now using science, now falsely so called science, as evidence for evolution. Marriage has been turned upside down. And the Sabbath no longer holds any validity in the Christian world except by a few that the rest of Christendom brand as heretics or cultists. The irony of all ironies is that today, as a scientific cure for climate change, the Catholic Church, which accepts theistic evolution, is promoting Sunday legislation as that cure.

 

[Brakelite]

Is the following a part of preaching/sharing/living the gospel?

Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.


If so, do we have an example in scripture where there is a direct link between exposing darkness or bringing light to darkness, and the gospel?

 

[Prayer Warrior]

Agreed. The fundamental truths of redemption... Salvation by grace through faith... Will never change.

When I came to Christ at age 23 I had never read a Bible, but merely heard scriptures spoken of by priests in the Catholic Church I was raised in, but never knew that the book they were writing was in fact a Bible... And sometimes it wasn't. I came to Jesus in response to one question from a friend... Do you think the life you're living would meet with God's approval?

My son in law did the same when our grandson died at 3 months.

And yet the times we are living in are barely different to the times in which Paul lived in. We are living on the cusp of eternity. This world is rapidly coming to an end, and Christ is coming. The gospel in the time of the Apostles was nuanced by the times and the circumstances... Roman occupation... Caesar worship... Jewish tradition and temple service... The Resurrection... The church a new entity.
Today, the church has been around for 2000 years. During that time there have been dramatic and permanent events that have radically changed the whole vista of Christianity. Today we have the fruits of those events rapidly coming to an climax with the second coming taking God's people home, and the destruction of His enemies. While the gospel basics do not change... It is still salvation by grace through faith... Are there nuances to our message that reflects the current circumstances and the times in which we live? And if so, what are they?

I’m not sure why you’re asking me a question I’ve already answered. It’s simple. Do as the Holy Spirit leads. :)

Do YOU think there are “nuances,” and what do you think they should be? I don’t have time to read this whole thread, so if you’ve answered this question, just point me to your post.

 

[farouk]

I’m not sure why you’re asking me a question I’ve already answered. It’s simple. Do as the Holy Spirit leads. :)

Do YOU think there are “nuances,” and what do you think they should be? I don’t have time to read this whole thread, so if you’ve answered this question, just point me to your post.

@Prayer Warrior So sorry for your family losses, husband and grandson. We do indeed need to keep 'looking unto Jesus' (Hebrews 12.2) and continue prayerfully dependent upon Him.

 

[Prayer Warrior]

@Prayer Warrior So sorry for your family losses, husband and grandson. We do indeed need to keep 'looking unto Jesus' (Hebrews 12.2) and continue prayerfully dependent upon Him.

Thank you. I lost my husband.

 

[Enoch111]

If so, do we have an example in scripture where there is a direct link between exposing darkness or bringing light to darkness, and the gospel?

Absolutely.

ACTS 8: PETER EXPOSES THE WORKS OF DARKNESS
18 And when Simon [THE SORCERER] saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
[Note: Simon the Sorcerer did not repent. Instead he became the leader of a cult. However the end of the matter was this: And they, when they had testified and preached the Word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.]

ACTS 16: PAUL EXPOSES THE WORKS OF DARKNESS
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
[Note: This incident led to the conversion of the Philippian jailer and his household, and no doubt many other conversions]