Jerry

Physical death is not the same thing as spiritual death. If it was, then you wouldn't even be a sinner because a physically dead person cannot do anything, not even sin. Spiritual death means separation from God - not unresponsiveness or unconsciousness.

Salvation being 100% of God doesn’t negate man’s response - and that’s where they get it wrong. The Holy Spirit enlightens us to the truth; convicts us of our sin, our unrighteousness, and our need for the Saviour, enables us to understand the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done to save us, and shows us that salvation is not something that can be earned through anything we can do. Man responds either positively or negatively to this. If we receive the truth by receiving the Saviour and His free gift of salvation, the Holy Spirit then regenerates and indwells us, we are adopted into the family of God, given an inheritance in Christ and a future home in Heaven. That’s all by His grace - but we need to receive it, and God doesn’t force man to believe or be saved. That is up to us - and yes, He even calls and compels us - but we still need to receive the Gospel to be saved.

Yes, As the passage stated He was 30 when He began His public ministry. By comparing all the feasts in the Gospel of John, most people believe His ministry was about 3 1/2 years long - that makes Him between 33-34 years old when He died (as has been stated by others here too). As far as the exact years Jesus was born and died, they are still 33-34 years apart - regardless of what year some historian or Bible Critic has as the starting date. What is important is what the Bible gives as the chronology of His life. The same difficulty comes about when you try to date the events in the book of Acts - many different writers have differing starting dates (of what year Jesus died) - but there is an internal timeline that you can still come up with that does not depend on these conflicting dates, and which will still give you an accurate timeline of overall events (within a few months to a year). If you make note of how long between each event, etc. you can still know this was 5 years after Pentecost, this was 3 years and six months after that, this was … and so on. (Making general time references as I do not have my Bible in front of me right now.) Now I have my notes… For example, one passage says Paul was at a certain place teaching for three years, another says he was in jail for two years, and so on. Put all the references together and you can make a framework of dates within the book of Acts itself, regardless of the starting date. Paul got saved on the Damascus road two years after Pentecost, then he spent three years training with Jesus in the Arabian Desert… If your starting date was the year 32 (based on Robert Anderson’s conclusions in The Coming Prince), that makes it about 34 AD when Paul got saved in Acts 9, and about the year 37 when he finished his three years of discipleship with Jesus in Acts 9:23. It takes a bit of time, but the rest of Acts can be dated this way - and when you find an author/commentator that has a different starting date, you can just start counting from there - ie. +2 years to Paul’s salvation, +3 years until he cam back from Arabia (see Galatians 1:15-18), +10 more years when Barnabas and Saul/Paul came back from Jerusalem in Acts 12:25, then +3-4 more years till the Jerusalem counsel in Acts 15:1 - see also Galatians 2:1), and so on. Sorry for the long comments, but this is something I have put some effort into and tried to figure out how to have a working framework for studying with.

Has anyone ever read anything definitive on whether the words "up" and "down" in the Bible always refer to elevation when referring to physical places (ie. cities, mountains, areas, etc.)? This is something I have wondered for a while, and started to trace those two words throughout the Bible. Unfortunately, there are a lot of places that are hard to figure out exactly where they are or their elevation - so I have a general impression that my theory is right, but not completely. Nowadays, we use phrases like "I'm going up to the store, or down to the mall" - which are not usually references to whether we are going up hills or down hills, etc. But in the Bible, it seems they always use the words in a certain way when speaking of geography (and it is usually the Lord talking or speaking through someone, so they are not figures of speach). It is always going DOWN to Egypt and coming UP out of Egypt, UP to Jerusalem, DOWN to the nearby cities and the coast. I see many other instances of this in the Bible - and cannot recall a place saying "going UP to ..." then in a parallel passage "going DOWN to ..." to show they are using the terms interchangeably. This may seem like a stupid question - but it is one I have wondered for years, tried to find out, and filed in the back of my mind until I could get a more definitive answer. Any thoughts? Has anyone read a commentary or book where they address this?

If you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation - believing He paid the complete penalty for your sins when He shed His blood and died on the cross for you, and you have received His free gift of salvation by faith alone - then He has promised never to leave you or forsake you. There are MANY passages that state this principle. I am sorry you are struggling, but we are to walk by faith, not by sight or feelings. Get in the Bible, find those promises that fit your life, claim them and cling to them by faith. Don't let feelings dictate to your faith and affect your spiritual walk negatively. That will only get you into trouble. Isaiah 50:10-11 Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow. Trust in the Lord, even in the darkness - see how other Bible writers dealt with struggles like this, especially in the Psalms. Follow the end of their faith, their example. Hebrews 13:5-6 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. The Holy Spirit is for you and is interceding for You: Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. God the Father is for you. He met your greatest need - spiritual life and forgiveness, reconciliation with Him. He will not abandon you now: Romans 8:31-32 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? The Lord Jesus Christ is for you and is interceding for you too: Romans 8:33-34 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Nothing in all this world, in all creation, in all eternity, can separate your from Him or His love: Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Psalm 40:17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

As far as the ratings and content of this movie goes, it seems decent with no objectionable content. If you showed it at a youth event of some kind, make sure it is not the only or major focus. BUT if it is bothering your conscience and you have no peace after prayer about it, do NOT do it. We are to make sure our mind is filled with the Word of God and that effects our concience too - so we should never be doing things that cause us concern and goes against our conscience. The Bible warns about have a seared conscience, a weak one, a good one, a pure conscience, a defiled conscience. Our conscience is part of God's guidance system for our lives and we get in trouble if we disregard its warnings - regardless of what others say. That is basically the idea of Romans 14. If others think something is ok and your conscience troubles you about it, then heed it and don't do it. There are many other activities you can do instead.

If she was teaching a class to other women and/children (or teens), that is okay - but not if she was teaching a class with men in it. This is referring to a political leader specifically, but when women and children lead a country, it is a sign of judgement of God on that nation. Isaiah 3:12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

The Just Jesus And Me Seminary. It’s in Arabia. I think Paul went to that one too.

So God tormented you for 23 years? Why? Because you cannot accept His will in a certain area of your life? He certainly is not cruel or capricious.

God doesn't give us faith - though He does convict us of sin and gives us the ability to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work of redemption. Yes, salvation is wholly of God, but He does not save us without us responding to the Gospel, without us calling upon Him for salvation. Yes, dead in sin does not equate unable to respond at all. If we were so dead we couldn't do anything like a physically dead person cannot do anything, guess what? A physically dead person cannot sin either.

There are many people that have settled doctrine that believe this is what the Bible teaches - and I have already given the passages for my thoughts/beliefs on this (which you have not refuted, you have just accused the person who believes this a newbie, ie. someone who does not know their Bible). P.S. The end result of your salvation is not left up to you. If you truly get devastated by some tragedy in life and wander from God, He will bring you back or eventually bring you home by way of chastisement. He will not let you wander forever from Him nor let you utterly reject Him. He will correct your wayward thinking and behaving or end it by bringing you to glory - and that depends upon Him. He does not abandon His children down here and hope they arrive in one piece. And it is HIS WORD that gives all the warnings about backsliding and apostasy that I have posted here and elsewhere on these boards. You may different with my conclusion (ie. how I have put them together) - but they are still in His Word and it is up to us to believe and heed them (and if you differ, put them all together and show us what they do mean, not mock the person that does believe and apply them). Going to an opposite extreme on any doctrine is not the solution to those who twist or misrepresent Scripture. The Bible teaches BOTH - repentance AND faith is required for salvation, and there are many that profess to be saved that never truly knew the Lord, and in time that will eventually be revealed (whether in this life or in eternity).

There are some people that do say that. It is not the typical denomination in the sense that IFB's do not have a headquarters dictating to them what to believe, what to preach, what to do. Though we are a denomination in the sense that we are Baptists and are likeminded to many other IFB churches (though not 100% - each studies the Bible on their own and is led by their own leadership, so some conclusions and basic understanding of issues/doctrine may differ).

I am an Independent Fundamental Baptist - because I see that in the Scriptures. In light of this, to be any other kind of preacher would be to compromise and water down the truth.

I didn’t clean up my life first, but I repented of my known sin (ie. turned in my heart from sin known to me) and I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour when I got saved - and yes, I did fully accept the fact that He was the Lord when I came to Him. I didn’t add any works to the Gospel, and I’ve been saved for almost 32 years now. Now people who get religious for a bit but who never repent or have their lives change think that believing in repentance and faith as both being necessary for salvation is adding to the Gospel - despite what the old evangelists and preachers of the past said and what the Word of God still says. I’m going to stick with that. Acts 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; Luke 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Most people define it as turning from all sin before salvation. I repented of my known sin when I came to Christ - though the changing of my life was over time (the heart and mind was changed immediately). When I came to Christ, I received Him as my Lord and Saviour. I didn’t just receive Him as Saviour then later accept His Lordship.

Actually God says don’t make any images, pictures, or idols of God at all because we do not know what He looks like. He doesn’t say it’s ok to make images if you don’t worship them - that’s just basically slapping a Jesus sticker on your disobedience and calling it christian. Exodus 20:3-5 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; (The context is no image of God.) Numbers 33:52 Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: (Pictures of false gods or the true God.) Deuteronomy 4:14-19 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. (No images of God - including as a likeness of a man - hm, Jesus… - because we do not know what He looks like. Also, a physical representation of any kind cannot do God justice, who is a spirit.) Acts 17:29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. (There goes your theory - God is not something you can picture with art or can be represented by graven images. Your picture is someone’s artistic representation of Jesus.)

There is also Way of Life Literature: http://wayoflife.org David Cloud’s site has many free books and articles, and even videos and powerpoints on defending the King James Bible.

No one has said or indicated this on these boards - as I stated before, being backslidden (or even struggling at times, etc.) is not the same thing as rejecting the Lord/the truth and becoming apostate. A true believer will NEVER do that - God would stop them from ever getting to that point, even if it means taking them home first. AND someone who utterly rejects the Lord and His salvation, etc. was NEVER saved or a true believer to begin with, despite how they might have appeared for a time.

Jesus keeps His own - it’s not a matter of us enduring to the end (that’s referring to physical deliverance, not spiritual), but of Jesus preserving those He has saved. If we wander, He chastizes us - and the final step of chastizing us is to take us home to be with Him. I don’t believe in Lordship salvation in the sense of us cleaning our lives up before we trust Jesus and are given the indwelling Holy Spirit (we have no power to overcome sin before we are saved) - we don’t MAKE Jesus Lord of our lives - but we do need to believe His is Lord and that He has the right to tell us what to do day by day in our lives - He does that through His Word, which becomes (or should become) our guide when we become God’s children. I do believe that we need to realize He IS Lord to some extent when we come to Him for salvation. He is the Lord God, the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s main name in the Bible is LORD/Lord (Jehovah/Adonai respectively - Kurios in the NT). I did not clean up my life before trusting in the “Lord” Jesus Christ for salvation, but I repented of my sin and turned to the Saviour - I stopped going my own way in life (overall) and chose to go His way, looking to His Word from that time onwards to learn what that way was - and as I walk with Him, we work on my life together, according to His will. See verses below. (For the record, if at any time in my spiritual walk with Jesus/God, I stop going His way or buck and kick, that’s called backsliding - and according to Hebrews 12 and other passages, God won’t let His children go on in disobedience without chastizing and consequences). Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you (that’s working together), and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Song of Songs 2:15 Take us (that’s together with the Lord) the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

Right. I have attended several non-denominational groups as a much younger believer in the early to mid 90’s - ones such as Bible Chapels and Christian Centres when I was living in Kelowna. When I moved to Saskatchewan for a couple of years, I checked out those groups there, and they had the same beliefs, practices, etc. That makes them a denomination, despite what they may claim.

Never said believing was not the essential thing - but disagreed with you creating your own definition of the word “be.” The word has the idea of doing something, being something (the context determineds what someone is to BE) - it does not mean believe in any sense of the word just because both words have the same first letters.

I will clarify, it is hyperdispensationalists doing what you said (not dispensationalists overall). Being a dispensationalist is Biblical - this is an acknowledgement that God had different rules and ways of working in different periods of man's history. That is literally what dispensations are - the word means house laws. In the Garden of Eden (what is often referred to as the age of innocence), the only command they had was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then was what is often referred to as the age of conscience. Later, Noah built and ark and the new inhabitants were under human government now (not directly governed by God), later there was the period of the patriarchs and the promises of God, then the period of the Law, now we are in the church age/grace - one salvation, but different commands on how we are to live, different levels of knowledge, next will be the Day of the Lord (including the tribulation period and the Millennium/the kingdom age), then eternity. Don't worry about the names, they are just for clarification and identification. The takeawy is that there are seven or eight distinct clear ages or period in man's history where God dealt with them differently - all failed or will fail, except eternity, where only true regenerated and immortal (ie. no longer mortal, sinful bodes) believers dwell in the presence of God. Ephesians gets into the dispensations or ages - so it is a Biblical concept. The problem comes when hyperdispensationalist come to divide the history of man in ways the Bible does not (ie. different salvation, this or that part of the Bible ONLY for that time period - not taking into account certain things being types which were later fulfilled or ceremonial things, etc. Also, some may differ on exact time periods or details of some aspect of a dispensation (such as what you mentioned above about the exact start of the church), but that is why we need to rightly divide the Word of God and not throw out or reject Biblical concepts because some have gone overboard on something. Ephesians 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: Dispensation is: "oikonomía, (which is literal laws of the house - nomia laws, oikos house) from G3623; administration (of a household or estate); specially, a (religious) "economy":—dispensation, stewardship. This exact form of the word is used seven times in the NT (1 listed above and 6 below - I don't know if there are more right now as I am just giving a quick reply - but there are other passages and terms used to teach this principle): Luke 16:2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Luke 16:3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. Luke 16:4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 1 Corinthians 9:17 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. Ephesians 3:2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: Colossians 1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; If necessary, we can start a thread to give further info/discussion on this.

For the last few years, the Berean Call has made various ebooks and tracts/pamphlets by Dave Hunt and others at the Berean Call available for free download. I do not endorse everything about Dave Hunt, but he is one of the best out there for exposing doctrinal and practical corruption in modern Christendom. There are two official sites that I am aware of that are offering some of their material for free downloads: Shop | The Berean Call This one you will need to create an account (name, address, does not ask for any payment info because these materials are free) and add the free ebooks you are interested in to your basket (if given the choice, choose pdf as devices and ereaders (and webpages) can handle that, some of the other options like epub are only usable with a specific program, so I don't recommend that, unless you know it is what you need). They will send you a receipt (for $0), then in a separate email the download link (this could come an hour or two later). The Official Store of The Berean Call – TBC Store (davehunt.org) This site does not need a login, and as soon as you checkout, it goes to the page you can download the ebook. I would check both sites, as not all their products overlap. Yesterday, I saw Occult Invasion for free. This is a basically 500 page book that I had read some of a couple of years ago. Glad to see it here now. Of course, download any and all that you are interested in. Some of the other good ones they have available now are: What Love Is This? (book exposing Calvinism), Judgment Day (on Israel and the Middle East), Showtime For the Sheep (the danger of Hollywood depictions of Jesus), Newsletter Reprints (this is every one of their monthly newsletters that are available since the ministry started in 1986, updated every year with the previous year added - contains a TOC and an index of subjects). I think Mind Invaders and Sanctuary of the Chosen are both fiction, exposing the occult, etc. I would suggest at least downloading all the books, if not the tracts or the pamphlets.

Behold is a hyperdispensationalist - probably in the same crowd as Robert Breaker and Gene Kim. They only believe out of the whole Bible that Paul’s letters are applicable to the church - and even if Hebrews was written by Paul, it was written before he got his gospel from God so therefore is not for the church either. So literally they only accept 87 out of the 1189 chapters of the whole Bible! Sad!

Paul was a missionary and a church planter - yet he still was sent out from the Antioch church, like church planters and missionaries today. Not sure why such a “great and wise Bible teacher” as yourself is so blind he cannot see or acknowledge that basic fact. Maybe you are too puffed up by your supposed knowledge. 1 Corinthians 8:1b Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.