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CJaKfOrEsT
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 The Future History of the Church

Stumbled across this over the past week, and thought I'd share it with you all. Every now and then, I read something that screams "Amen" on the inside of me, and I feel like I would have written it, if only I had the articulation of the author. Hell's Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort, and Spirit of Truth by Art Katz, are two notable examples of this.

Also it touches on a variety of issues that we have dealt with lately. It is pretty long, so I'll post in installments, as the Holy Spirit directs.

Enjoy.

*Edit* I must warn that this may mess with some heads a bit, but please bare with me, this is going somewhere beatuiful.:-)


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Aaron Ireland

 2005/5/3 7:42Profile
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 Re: The Future History of the Church - Part 1

[b]The Future History of the Church[/b]
by James Jacob Prasch

Everyone wants to know the future. For this reason, people will go to fortune-tellers, the occult, and all kinds of other sources to try to discover it. Jesus, however, told us the future.

Before I was a believer, I used to go to a witch who read my tarot cards; she was quite skilled at it, and one day she saw in the cards that I was going to become a follower of Jesus. When she saw it, she began saying "Don't come back and burn me when this happens; it's going to happen, but don't come back and burn me". She was quite accurate. The occult can often be very accurate in its predictions of the future. However, Deuteronomy 18 says that 'quite accurate' is not good enough; a true prophet must be exactly right every time. I see many people today who claim to be prophets and build prophetic ministries around themselves, yet they make outlandish predictions that fail to happen. When this occurs, people defend the false prophet by saying that he is 'usually right'. That may be so, but the witch in New Jersey who used to read my tarot cards was also usually right. Deuteronomy 18 is very clear: if you speak a word in the name of the Lord, it had better happen or you are a false prophet.

This is dangerous; people are better off keeping these 'prophecies' in their mouths rather than speaking them when they're not of God. We should never suppress the Holy Spirit, but if a word is truly from the Holy Spirit it will surely happen.

There was an occasion where I witnessed a true prophet: About 40 people were in a room in Mount Carmel, Israel, with this man who came from the Soviet Union (as it was called then). There were no diplomatic relations or direct air flights between Israel and the Soviet Union in those days; he had to fly via Europe. He flew into Tel Aviv, where someone picked him up at Ben Gurion Airport and brought him up to Galilee. He began speaking in English, making prophesies and predictions. When I heard what he was saying, I decided that either this man was a true prophet or not only was he a false prophet, but he was also out of his mind. This gentleman wrote a book, and in it he told of taking the Lord's Supper in Red Square. He said that the Lord told them to throw the communion cup into the Moscow River, after which they stood in Red Square and predicted that God would do to the Soviet Empire what He did to Egypt, because their government was persecuting the church and refusing to allow Jews to immigrate to Israel; they proclaimed "'Let My people go', and 'Let My Gospel be preached', or God will destroy your empire. We proclaim a curse on your land - God is going to curse your land." Immediately after that, Chernobyl happened, and they had the worst harvest of all the bad harvests they'd had. These Christians also said, "God is going to destroy the Soviet war machine"; right after that, the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan and the Warsaw Pact collapsed. Next these believers turned around to face the Tomb of Lenin, in which Lenin was kept permanently embalmed and on display, and they said "This is the spirit of death; God is going to destroy the spirit of Lenin-worship." There were about eleven factories in the Soviet Union that manufactured nothing but statues and busts of Lenin; every one of them closed, and on the evening news we saw all these busts and statues with their heads cut off. The believers then turned around to the Kremlin and said, "God is going to destroy your empire; the Soviet Union will collapse, and no one will be able to believe how fast God will judge it. 'Let My people go, and let My Gospel be preached'!"

To say these things in 1984 or 1985 would have been unfathomable, totally unthinkable. You would either have to really be hearing from God or crazy. These were outrageous things to say, but they all happened. I have never met that brother since, and I never even read his book, but I know what he said and I saw it happen right in front of me.

After that I came to Britain to go to Bible College, and I saw some people from Kansas City and California, calling themselves the Kansas City Prophets and the Vineyard. They came before tens of thousands of people and predicted a great revival and a great Latter-Day Rain was going to come to the United Kingdom in October of 1990. In the years since the 'great revival', more mosques have been built in England than churches.

Deuteronomy 18 says that a false prophet is a neve sheqer; we don't stone them to death any more, but the sin is no less serious. Jeremiah 5 and 28 make it very clear what false prophets are, and Jesus said they would come during the Last Days. One of the biggest mistakes born-again Christians make is this: when we read the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and Luke 21, where Jesus repeats Himself four times regarding false teachers and false prophets in the Last Days, most of us automatically say, "That's the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Moonies, the Mormons, the Hare Krishnas, Christian Science, etc." While there is no doubt that these people are false prophets and false teachers, and also no doubt that the proliferation of these cults over the past 100 years is in itself a sign of the Last Days and certainly emblematic of the time we live in, if you read the context of Matthew 24, Luke 21, Acts 20, and Matthew 7, those were not the false prophets and false teachers that Jesus and the Apostles were warning about. The ones they warned about are the ones that deceive the elect.

The unsaved are already deceived by the devil; he is out to deceive two kinds of people: the nation of Israel and the Bible-believing church. The nation of Israel is under a spiritual darkness.

We see their signs in many places, including Jerusalem, Stamford Hill in London and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, saying "We want the Mashiach now!" Jesus gave a double prediction in John's Gospel that the Jews would believe another who came in His name, though they did not believe Him. This was fulfilled in the early church's time by Simon bar Kochba, but it is certainly also a symbol of the Antichrist, who will deceive the Jewish people into thinking that he is their Messiah. The Jews are being set up for this.

So we see that the devil has the world deceived and the Jews deceived; who is he out to deceive now? You and me. Read Matthew 7, Acts 20, Matthew 24, and Luke 21. The false teachers and false prophets that we are warned about in these passages are the ones who get into the church to deceive the elect.

I am very concerned about cults such as the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses, because if born-again Christians were as zealous for the truth as the cults are for their lies, a lot more people would be getting saved rather than joining these cults. The fact that they are so zealous for a lie while the Bible-believing church sits around is in character with the church of Laodicea. It shows what has become of the church in the West. Nonetheless, very few Christians get sucked into the Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses. If you see a Christian who does, he is either a brand-new believer whom they sheep-napped, or he is a very weak, awkward believer to begin with. Those are not the false prophets with whom we must be primarily concerned, though we are responsible to warn the unsaved about them. The ones we have to worry about are the ones coming into the church. Spiritual deception increases in the Last Days.

(To be continued...)


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Aaron Ireland

 2005/5/3 7:45Profile
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 Re: The Future History of the Church - Part 2

There is a Biblical principle understood from a Jewish perspective called Qol veh Homer, which in English means 'light to heavy'. It is the first of the Migdoth of Rabbi Hillel, who was Rabbi Gamaliel's grandfather. Rabbi Gamaliel was tutor to the Apostle Paul when Paul became a rabbi. Rabbi Hillel had seven Migdoth, or principles, of interpreting Scripture. The New Testament uses these repeatedly. Ool veh Homer, or light to heavy, is again the first of these. One example of it is in Hebrews 10:25: ". . . not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." Something that is true in a light situation becomes especially true in a heavy situation. In this passage we are dealing specifically with the subject of fellowship: fellowship is always important, but in the Last Days it becomes especially important. If we cannot stand together, we'll never be able to stand-alone when persecution comes. Another example of 'light to heavy' concerning the Last Days is false prophets and teachers. They've always been around - that's the 'light'; but in the Last Days, they multiply - that's the 'heavy'. Things that are always true become especially true in the Last Days, and things that are always dangerous to the church become even more so during the Last Days.

Jewish people in the time of Jesus did not interpret Scripture the way we do. Jesus was a rabbi who taught the same way other rabbis did; He used Midrash. He also used something called the mashla and the nimshal format. The mashal is a description of something from everyday life, from nature, and the nimshal is the spiritual meaning in back of it. The book of Proverbs is called in Hebrew Mishla, the book of mashlas. For example, Proverbs 11:22: "As a ring of gold in a swine's snout," - that is the mashla - " so is a lovely woman who lacks discretion." - that is the nimshla. A parable is simply an elongated mashla.

Our Western concepts of allegory and typology are basically Western repackaging. We need to understand the way Jews thought about the Bible, because in Daniel 12:9 it says this: "Seal these things up until the time of the end." When you see people who write books about Revelation and claim to have it all figured out, be careful. We're told directly in Daniel that these things are sealed. There is no new truth, and no new revelation; however, in the Last Days the Holy Spirit will give understanding to God's people regarding the deeper things of Scripture. We will have no new doctrine, no new truth, and no new revelation, but we will have a deeper and clearer understanding of what is already in Scripture. What liberals do is try to interpret the Bible out of its Sitz im leben, its cultural context. Evangelicals do the same thing, because we use Greek methods of hermeneutics and exegesis to try to understand a Jewish book.
There is a lot more that could be said about this subject, but concerning the Last Days I'll simply give you the most important aspect:

Western Protestant exegesis interprets prophecy in one of four different ways: Preterism, Historicism, Polemicism, or Futurism. Liberals love preterism; they say, "There is no God, and even if there was He wouldn't know the future, and even if He did He certainly wouldn't tell Isaiah." Therefore, in their minds when Isaiah predicts events concerning King Cyrus 200 years before their occurrence, it proves automatically - prima fasci - that Isaiah actually wrote it after the fact, or rather that the book of Isaiah was not written by Isaiah but by someone after the Captivity. Their basis for this is that Isaiah could not possibly have known about King Cyrus 200 years ahead of time. This is an ex-Vaticina interpolation, if you like theological terms. Liberals cannot believe in a supernatural knowledge of the future, so they embrace Preterism.

The second, Historicism, is what Kingdom-Now people prefer. The Reformers were also greatly inclined toward this view. Historicism says, "The eschatological prophecies of the New Testament were completely fulfilled in the early church." The early church identified Rome with Babylon; when Peter closes his first epistle he says, "She who is in Babylon greets you." False religion begins in Babylon with Nimrod, finds its way through Asia Minor (particularly the city of Pergamum), and from there, into Greco-Roman civilization. From there it comes into things such as Roman Catholicism, Freemasonry, etc.; however, the root of it all is in Babylon: the false religious system of the world in confederation with the corrupt political system.

The Babylonians destroyed the first Temple on Tisha ba'v, roughly the 9th of August on the Hebrew calendar. Under what were nearly identical military circumstances, Rome destroyed the second Temple on the same date, Tisha ba'v. Therefore the early Christians began identifying Rome with Babylon; it is the same false religion. The example I generally use to explain this is Scotland Yard. Scotland Yard is the name of an alleyway between two buildings running from Whitehall to Victoria Embankment in London; it was the original headquarters of the metropolitan police. Now, unlike in the days of Sherlock Holmes, the metropolitan police are located a half-mile away on Victoria St. However, their headquarters is still called Scotland Yard, although it is no longer located on that little street off of Whitehall. In other words, the name of the institution has taken the name of its original location. With Babylon it is the same idea. Therefore, in the book of Revelation, when the early church saw the woman on seven hills, representing the Capitolina, since the woman is a city, it would have been Rome to them.

Therefore, when Rome burned under Nero, it fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah that predicted the fall of Babylon. This is the way the early Christians thought. When Mount Vesuvius exploded, volcanic ash accumulated in the ionosphere and the upper stratosphere, thus preventing solar and lunar radiation from giving their light over much of the Roman Empire. This actually does happen; I believe the last time it happened was in Iceland during the 1960's. Next, in roughly 70 AD, the Temple is destroyed and the Romans set up pagan images and worshiped them on the Temple Mount; the Christians of the day believed that was the Abomination of Desolations, ha shikutz ha meshomen. Thus these things have been fulfilled; that view is called Historicism.

The Protestant Reformers loved Historicism, because they said that it was the Roman Empire, Imperial Rome, which stopped the medieval papacy from blossoming. After Constantine moved his capitol to Constantinople and the Visigoths moved in, then Rome blossomed. When Scripture says that 'He who restrains them will be taken out of the way', they interpreted that as Imperial Rome restraining Papal Rome and then being taken out of the way. This is why the Kingdom-Now proponents say that the 'Last Days' only refers to the events leading up to 70 AD, usually denying any future meaning to the book of Revelation and so on.

The third way of interpreting prophecy is Polemicism. Polemicism says: "The book of Revelation is only given to encourage Christians during times of persecution. It reminds them of the glory to come and the judgment of their persecutors, and is thus designed to encourage them. This is a true point: Revelation opens by stating that there is a blessing on anyone who reads it, and apocalyptic literature will certainly always encourage a persecuted church. That is part of its purpose, but not in entirety.

The fourth method of interpreting prophecy is Futurism, which states that these things are going to happen in the Last Days.

To a Western Gentile mind, using Protestant hermeneutics which are Hellenistic in orientation for reasons I cannot go into here, one of these four methods is the true one. The question is concerning which one you support: are you a Preterist, a Historicist, a Polemicist, or a Futurist? A Jew in the first century, however, would have been all four simultaneously, as Jesus was Himself.

In Matthew 24:15-33 Jesus says that when you see the Abomination of Desolations spoken of by the prophet Daniel, then you will know the End is near. The problem is that the Abomination of Desolations spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24 and in Luke 21, the Olivet Discourse had already happened before He mentioned it. Jesus celebrated Hanukah in John 10, the Feast of Dedication. He knew all about Antiochus Epiphanes setting up the image in the Temple, the pigs being slaughtered in the Temple, and the Temple being reconsecrated by the Maccabees. The Abomination of Desolations prophesied by Daniel had already happened during the intertestamental period, but Jesus took that event and prophesied that it would happen again. Jesus used Preterism: He took a past event and spoke about it in the future tense.

Then there is Historicism: Once again, look at the Abomination of Desolations as prophesied by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse. When you read Josephus and discover how the Romans destroyed the Temple and set up pagan ensigns on the Temple Mount and worshiped them, you see that it was an Abomination of Desolations. Then, in the second century, the Emperor Hadrian built a city called the Aerolinas Capitolina, putting a temple of Jupiter on the Temple Mount. Yet another Abomination of Desolations. Julian the Apostate, the nephew of Constantine who tried to re-paganize the Roman Empire, tried to rebuild the Temple, and all these mysterious fires broke out on the Temple Mount; another Abomination of Desolations. Today on the Temple Mount, we have the Mosque of Omar, the Dome of the Rock. On the outside of it, around its periphery, is inscribed a quotation from a surah in the Koran, which is translated: "God has no son". That is still another Abomination of Desolations.

Yet there is still an Abomination of Desolations to come. All of these preceding ones typify the one that is coming. The point is this: Western ideas of prophecy involve prediction and fulfillment. The Hebrew idea of prophecy is a pattern that is recapitulated; multiple fulfillments with one ultimate fulfillment - that is how Jewish prophecy was understood. Each of the multiple fulfillments is a type of and teaches something about the ultimate one.

(to be continued...)


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Aaron Ireland

 2005/5/3 8:23Profile
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 Re: My!

Aaron, good night!

Much to think on here, but goodness, first impressions...

Quote:
Every now and then, I read something that screams "Amen" on the inside of me,


Amen and amen!
Quote:
I see many people today who claim to be prophets and build prophetic ministries around themselves, yet they make outlandish predictions that fail to happen. When this occurs, people defend the false prophet by saying that he is 'usually right'. That may be so, but the witch in New Jersey who used to read my tarot cards was also usually right. Deuteronomy 18 is very clear: if you speak a word in the name of the Lord, it had better happen or you are a false prophet.

This is dangerous; people are better off keeping these 'prophecies' in their mouths rather than speaking them when they're not of God. We should never suppress the Holy Spirit, but if a word is truly from the Holy Spirit it will surely happen.



Bullseye.

Quote:
There is no new truth, and no new revelation; however, in the Last Days the Holy Spirit will give understanding to God's people regarding the deeper things of Scripture. We will have no new doctrine, no new truth, and no new revelation, but we will have a deeper and clearer understanding of what is already in Scripture. What liberals do is try to interpret the Bible out of its Sitz im leben, its cultural context. Evangelicals do the same thing, because we use Greek methods of hermeneutics and exegesis to try to understand a Jewish book. There is a lot more that could be said about this subject, but concerning the Last Days I'll simply give you the most important aspect:

Liberals love preterism; they say, "There is no God, and even if there was He wouldn't know the future, and even if He did He certainly wouldn't tell Isaiah."



Have just written out a whole bit after reading Romans this morning, regarding "What an Honest Atheist Believes", bit unsure what to do with it, the last couple of days being almost a taste of being left alone to wander, not overtly or 'in sin' but recognizing that it is walking in the flesh, detached somewhat..."choose", to trust and wait or to depend on my 'own' worthless resources.
Sorry for the digression here...

Quote:
The point is this: Western ideas of prophecy involve prediction and fulfillment. The Hebrew idea of prophecy is a pattern that is recapitulated; multiple fulfillments with one ultimate fulfillment - that is how Jewish prophecy was understood. Each of the multiple fulfillments is a type of and teaches something about the ultimate one.


Quote:
One of the biggest mistakes born-again Christians make is this: when we read the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and Luke 21, where Jesus repeats Himself four times regarding false teachers and false prophets in the Last Days, most of us automatically say, "That's the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Moonies, the Mormons, the Hare Krishnas, Christian Science, etc." While there is no doubt that these people are false prophets and false teachers, and also no doubt that the proliferation of these cults over the past 100 years is in itself a sign of the Last Days and certainly emblematic of the time we live in, if you read the context of Matthew 24, Luke 21, Acts 20, and Matthew 7, those were not the false prophets and false teachers that Jesus and the Apostles were warning about. The ones they warned about are the ones that deceive the elect.


"within your own ranks" the seeming implication, the former being just to obvious.

Also from 'light to heavy' and especially this:
Quote:
A Jew in the first century, however, would have been all four simultaneously, as Jesus was Himself.


This is likely an expression of what I haven't been able to get my mind wrapped around all the way. This seriously confirms my truest suspicion....just to [i]hear it[/i]...

This is just phenomenal Aaron, easily could have ended up reprinting the whole thing in outtakes. Forgive my interruption, but going back to those same first thought's;
Quote:
Every now and then, I read something that screams "Amen" on the inside of me



wow...


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Mike Balog

 2005/5/3 10:33Profile
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 Re:

James Prasch wrote:

Quote:
Yet there is still an Abomination of Desolations to come. All of these preceding ones typify the one that is coming. The point is this: Western ideas of prophecy involve prediction and fulfillment. The Hebrew idea of prophecy is a pattern that is recapitulated; multiple fulfillments with one ultimate fulfillment - that is how Jewish prophecy was understood. Each of the multiple fulfillments is a type of and teaches something about the ultimate one



"The Hebrew idea of prophecy is a pattern that is recaptiulated; multiple fulfillments with one ultimate fulfillments-that is how Jewish prophecy was understood."

I believe this to be a very accurate statement of the underlying precepts of Scripture. Thankyou Aaron for finding this article. I look forward and backward into reading the entire article as you post it.

In Christ
Jeff


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Jeff Marshalek

 2005/5/3 11:41Profile
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 Re: Why post this?

If anyone is wondering why I am posting this, and why in parts, and what has this got to do this Greg's intentions for this site, I thought I'd answer these questions.

I'm incredibly humbled by people who somehow, intrinsically have a handle of God, that He protects them from deception (I'm married to one:-)), when people like me, need to be constantly vigilant in the pursuit of God, just to keep our heads above water.

I came here around 14 monthes ago, totally dejected, and ready to give up on God. Like many, I downloaded some sermons, and read a few sermons, and then was stung by the urge to comment. I'd been a christian, who was saved right as the "(un)holy laughter" thing was in flight, and swallowed up every deceptive thing that came along, until some glaring fault appeared, which would make me question (like Paul Schell inviting the Serbian Orthodox Bishop to his conference, beacuse his line of apolostolic succession was from St. Thomas, who put his hand into the side of Christ, thereby midwifing the birth of the church).

I put up with Rodney, Kenneth(s), Jesse, Rick, Ruckins, etc, etc, exusing their "minor problems" by explaining them away as being misunderstood, or mispronounced. I'd run to get words from "prophets" (even was a false prophet myself), but was becoming more and more disatisfied with all the unfullfilled "words", the inconsistant lifestyles, and the ignorance of "difficult" passages.

Even my early days here began with my asking "What do you think about (insert dodgy preacher here)?", in order to run to there defence, by saying, "Oh, their not that bad, if you look at it like..." Now 14 months later, I've become the kind of guy who I would have avoided 14 monthes ago.

What does this have to do with the above questions? Well essentially, I came here looking for revival, expecting stuff about prayer, fasting, repentance, and "hell-fire" preaching, but what I got was, church history, grace, and Israel. I came here looking for Ravenhill, Tzoer and Wilkerson, and ended up getting Orr, Katz, and Daniel. Yeah, there was alot of the former stuff as well, but the later stuff led me to a brokeness that made me pray, fast, repent, and preach uncompromisingly. But above all, it led to brokeness.

What I offer you brethren (and sistren:-P) is my journey in one article. This journey is leading to my revival. Granted, I'm only yawning so far, but that is alot better than snoring. Why in parts? Because its [b]LONG[/b]. In my experience, long articles tend to get overlooked for short ones, and even then, only the last couple of posts are read (or am I the only one who does that:oops:). It may take months to get the whole thing up, but I'd rather know that people get at least part of this, because it'll change the way you distinguish all the camps that we've divided ourselves into, and will help us to appreciate the fact that we're in the end times (without categorically defining the meaning of this).

In Finney's day, revival was stopped over the prefered meathod of baptism. Finney's answer to this was to get the Prespytarians and the Baptists together, and give both meathods a fair hearing. I have know idea what he actually preached (there's a challenge for you RobertW;-)), but I personally believe that he emphasised the meaning over the meathod, the being the leaving of the old life behind (but being that he was Prespytarian, I could be wrong).

We've had so much speculation about Roman Catholics, the Antichrist, the Rapture, Prophets and Prophecy lately and everyone has their opinions (myself included). What I offer, is a guy who's giving a map to figuring it all out as it's happening, as opposed to speculating what will happen. Rather that saying, this the right viewpoint, he's saying, "Their all right, but not all the time."

Anyway, just thought I'd put in my 2 cents. Already had criticsm when I sent Part 1 (original comes in 2 parts) to my mailing list, so I know that this needs to be examined, and what better place than here.


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Aaron Ireland

 2005/5/4 12:33Profile
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 Re: The Future History of the Church - Part 3

Let me continue with another example: When Matthew writes his Nativity narrative he says of Jesus, "Out of Egypt I have called My Son," (Matt. 2:15) quoting from Hosea chapter 11:1. The problem with this is that when you read Hosea chapter 11, you find that Hosea was talking about the Exodus, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. Yet Matthew takes this, seemingly out of all context, and applies it to Jesus. However, the problem is not that Matthew took it out of context, but that the Western church has taken a Jewish book and constructed its own rules of context. Matthew thought midrashically; he thought of prophecy as pattern. Let me explain:

It begins with Abraham. God judged Pharaoh, and Abraham came out of Egypt along with his descendants in Genesis; Abraham is the archetype, the father of all who believe. Then, in Exodus, God again judges Pharaoh - the wicked king gets judged - and once again Abraham's descendants come out of Egypt. Thus the pattern begins; what happened to Israel replayed what happened first to Abraham. Just as Abraham received money from Pharaoh, so the Israelites plundered the Egyptians in Exodus. Next, Jesus comes out of Egypt, after once again the wicked king - Herod this time - is judged. Midrashically, Israel alludes to Jesus. When you see things in Scripture such as "Israel My glory, Israel My first-born son", it is a midrashic allusion to the Messiah, as even the rabbis know. Therefore, Jesus, the embodiment of Israel, also comes out of Egypt. Just as the church is the Body of Christ, so is Israel in some sense. Then, in I Corinthians 10, we come out of Egypt ourselves! Egypt is a figure of this world; Pharaoh is a figure of the devil, who is the god of this world. And just as Moses goes onto the mountain and makes a covenant with blood on behalf of the people, so does Jesus. Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, through the water, and into the Promised Land. Jesus leads us out of the world, through baptism, and into Heaven. One is a type of the other; we all have an Exodus experience. But the ultimate meaning is the resurrection and rapture of the church: the same judgments that take place in the book of Exodus are replayed in the book of Revelation. In the same way that Pharaoh's magicians were able to counterfeit the miracles of Moses and Aaron, the Antichrist and his False Prophet will be able to counterfeit the miracles of Jesus and His witnesses. Why is the song of Miriam ('I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously - the horse and the rider are thrown into the sea!") - sung in Revelation? The book of Exodus shows us that the destruction of Pharaoh was a typology of the destruction of the devil. Why did the Israelites bring Joseph's bones with them out of Egypt, at the front of the procession? As the scriptures tell us in I Thessalonians 4:16, 17, "the dead in Christ will rise first", and we will shall come out together.

Once again, the Hebrew idea of prophecy is that of a pattern being recapitulated. It is not a prediction, but a pattern with an ultimate fulfillment. That is the Hebrew concept of eschatological prophecy. In order to really begin to understand what the Bible teaches about the Last Days, we have to stop thinking with a Western, Gentile, Hellenistic mind and begin thinking of the Scriptures in the way the early church did. Remember that in Revelation 2 and 3, the church of Ephesus had a lamp stand that the other churches did not have; 'Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path," Ps. 119:105. The virgins needed oil in their lamps in order to see in the night - we'll come back to that.

In the Last Days, understanding and faithfulness become very important. Remember that the wise virgins of Matthew 25 had the oil in their lamps so that they could see in the night, representing the illumination of the Holy Spirit in our understanding of Scripture. Laodicea needed salve with which to anoint the people's eyes, so that they could see. Understanding of Scripture is going to be very closely associated to faithfulness in the Last Days. It says in Daniel that none of the wicked will understand. Now, it is very easy for God to take somebody who has a pure heart and an empty head, and give that person wisdom. However, it is much more difficult for Him to take somebody with a big head and a big intellect and give him a pure heart. Spirit and Truth; God wants us to have both. Simple people are much more likely to get saved than are sophisticated people; but after they do get saved, those simple people are not supposed to stay that way.

(to be continued...)


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Aaron Ireland

 2005/5/4 12:48Profile
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Melbourne, Australia

 Re: The Future History of the Church - Part 4

Now, with these things in view, let us look at Matthew chapter 10, beginning in verse 1: "And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him." Do you know what 'Judas Iscariot' really means? - Jude the Suburbanite. Continuing in verse 5: "These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: 'Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand'. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food. Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. And when you go into a household, greet it. If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that city!

"'Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.'"

When Jesus sent out the apostles in pairs, were they brought before governors and kings for His name's sake? No. Did the Holy Spirit give them utterance when they were on trial in Matthew 10? No. Did brother deliver up brother and parents deliver up their children? No. Were they hated by all nations for His name's sake when He sent them out in pairs? No. None of it happened. Jesus had been training them, and before that they had been trained by John the Baptist; now He sends them out for their first dry run, saying 'Here is what is going to happen', but none of it did.

What happened is that in verse 16, Jesus totally changed time frames. We have today the Restorationists, who claim they are going to conquer the whole world for Jesus Christ and set up His kingdom before He comes back. They say these prophecies were fulfilled in the early church, that we are going to be the 'church Triumphant', etc. etc.; this is total rubbish. The Kingdom is now, but not yet. There are two terms: One is 'inaugural eschatology' and the other is 'over-realized eschatology'. Inaugural eschatology means that 'the Kingdom has broken in, Satan's powers are being thrown back, he can't possibly win, but the ultimate victory does not come until Christ returns'. Look at Daniel chapter 7:21: "I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom." That replays the story of the Maccabees, so the Restorationists would say that this was fulfilled with the Maccabees or with the early church, but that we are the !!!!!!!!!Kingdom Now. That is over-realized eschatology, and it is totally wrong. There will be a falling-away, there will be a persecution, and there will be an Antichrist. The church will be victorious, but that ultimate victory depends on the Return of Jesus.

The other thing is that Matthew 10 says we will be brought before governors and kings, persecuted for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ, and that a servant is not above his master. I have a friend who was involved in Christian Science for 20 years before he was saved. E. W. Kenyon admitted that Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, influenced him. The whole line of thinking begun by Kenyon - 'My body is lying to me', etc. - was begun by Christian Science, which also does not believe in the medical profession. The things you hear being taught by Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin were all learned from Kenyon, who admittedly got it from Christian Scientist doctrine. Every false cult and every distortion of the Gospel of Christ will deny the Cross of Jesus in some way, without exception. The Jehovah's Witnesses don't even like to call it a 'cross'; they call it a 'torture stick', and they say that salvation is obtained through their organization and each individual's commitment to it. It is the same with Roman Catholicism: Jesus said from the Cross, 'It is finished'. Roman Catholicism, however, says that the Mass is the same sacrifice as Calvary, that it happens over and over and over again. Roman Catholicism is a fundamental denial of the Cross of Jesus; it is a false religion. There may be true believers in it, but if they are true believers they need to come out of it. You cannot believe or participate in those doctrines and be in the will of God. Then you have the teaching of the faith-prosperity preachers that teach Jesus died spiritually. Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, E.W. Kenyon, and all who follow them say that Jesus got the victory not on the Cross-, but by going to hell and becoming a satanic being of one nature with Satan. That is what they teach, and it is a fundamental denial of the Cross. So what happens as a result? "A servant is not above his master." Because the Cross of Jesus is made unimportant to His ministry, living the crucified life becomes unimportant for us also. Instead we are told, "God wants you rich, you'll never get sick, God wants you to have this and that and the other"- etc. The Cross becomes factored out of the equation. Again, every distortion of Christianity in the world will reject the Cross of Jesus in some way. Paul, conversely, says, "I glory in it (the Cross)". Like the old hymn says - "I will cling to the old rugged cross, and one day exchange it for a crown." We get the crown on that day, not this. Kingdom Now denies this and says we get the crown now. The Bible says the Kingdom is now but not yet; the proponents of Kingdom-Now say it is all now.

Nonetheless, let us return to the basic problem: In Matthew 10 Jesus sends the apostles out, warns that these things will happen, but then they do not come to pass. Look at Matthew 24; Jesus begins by talking about the Temple in verses one through four. Jesus speaks about the prophecies of Daniel 9, that the Messiah would have to come and die before the second Temple was destroyed. However, He then speaks of events which happen in the lifetimes of some of the apostles, and the destruction of the Temple. Jesus does here once again what He did in Matthew 10 - He changes the time-frame in the middle of a conversation. Matthew 24 is the same way - He begins talking about 70 AD, but then He changes time-frame and talks about the end of the world.

The same thing happens in Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit is outpoured and Peter explains it. Peter quotes from Joel chapter 2, in Acts 2:15: "'For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.'" Were there any prophecies made on the day of Pentecost? - No. Verse 19: "I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.'" Was there any great sign in heaven or on earth, any blood, fire, or vapor of smoke on the day of Pentecost? - no. Did the sun then turn to darkness or the moon to blood? - no. Remember that the sun is a type of Jesus, who is the Son. As it says in Isaiah, 'Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the risen Lord is brighter than the sun'. All four gospels tell us that the resurrection of Jesus happened at sunrise. The rising of the sun is a metaphor for the rising of the Son. The moon, on the other hand, has no light of its own; it only reflects the light of the sun, just as the church has no light of its own but reflects the light of Jesus. I am not denying that these astral phenomena will happen; I am simply saying that if and when they happen, they will simply be a reflection of something deeper. The light of Jesus will no longer be reflected by the church onto the earth, and the church will have blood on it - will be persecuted. I don't say that the literal astral events will not occur, only that we must understand the meaning of the metaphors. Verse 21: "'And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'" This is called Peter's 'kerygma', and in Greek it literally states 'This is like that'.

So in Matthew 10, Jesus sends the apostles out in pairs, telling them that some things will happen that don't happen to them. In Matthew 24, He tells the church about something that will happen, which does not happen to them fully, but only partially. Then, in Acts 2, Peter describes what is happening, but none of it actually happens.

But let us take another look at Matthew 10: To whom do these things happen? Jesus sends out the apostles in pairs, telling them they will be brought before governors and kings, they will be persecuted, the Holy Spirit will give them utterance, and they will be betrayed by their families, but to persevere to the end and they will be saved. That didn't happen to the apostles in Matthew 10; but to whom did it happen? Every one of those things happened to Jesus. What happened to Him in His last days will happen also to the church in our last days. Betrayed, brought before governors and kings, people selling each other down the river and stabbing one another in the back, but the ones who persevere will be saved; it will happen to us as it happened to Him.

But then there is something else: in the early chapters of Acts, these things do happen to the apostles. For example, let us look at Acts 4:18-23: "So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.' So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them." So we see the apostles brought before governors and kings, scourged in the synagogue, given utterance by the Holy Spirit, which no one can refute. Then they go on to quote Psalm 2, in Acts 4:25,26: "'Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ." The Bible frequently represents the tribulation of the church at the hands of the world in the End times by a raging sea.

Psalm 2 happened to Jesus; the Gentiles took counsel against the Lord and against His anointed; now, in Acts, they begin doing it to the church also. Yet then the pattern increases: let's look at Acts 5:19-25: "But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 'Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.' And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, saying, 'Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing outside before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!' now when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. So one came and told them, saying, 'Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!'" It is fairly obvious what we have here. Let's look at Matthew 27:65: "Pilate said to them, 'You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.' So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard." Down to Matthew 28:11-14, after the resurrection of Jesus: "Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, 'Tell them, "His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept." And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure.'" So we see that just as an angel made the way for Jesus to come out of the tomb, so an angel also led the apostles out of prison. Next, the chief priests feared the people in Acts 5:26, just as it says in Luke 22:22.

Once again, in Matthew 10 we see Jesus sending out the apostles in pairs and telling them what will happen; it doesn't happen to them at that time, but it does happen to Jesus, and then it begins to happen to the apostles and the early church. So we know that what happens to Jesus and what happens to the early church will be replayed again and will happen also to us. How do we know that? - Again, let's look at Matthew 10:17: "'But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name's sake.'" This does not happen in Matthew 10, but let's look at Luke 21:12: "'But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake." - Notice that He says 'before all these things'; the church will be persecuted before the End comes. Continuing in verse 13: "But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls." The time-frame then changes again to 70 AD. What Matthew 10 predicts did not happen then; it did happen to Jesus and to the apostles and to the early church, and it is going to happen again to the church in the Last Days. He uses the same words, and I read it from Luke intentionally, to show that it is not only Matthew's attempt to construct that idea, but the Holy Spirit put the same thing in Luke.

Then, however, it becomes very conspicuous. We must realize that when we read Acts we are not merely reading the history of the first-century church, but also the history of the last-century church.

In John 9:4 & 6, the rabbis make false charges against Jesus to the Roman authorities. In John 19:4-6, however, Pontius Pilate wants no part in judging Jesus. This is the beginning. The ministry of Paul and his last days replayed what happened to Jesus in His last days. False charges were made by the rabbis against Paul to the Roman authorities, but the Roman governor wanted no part of judging Paul either, as we see in Acts 18:12-18. What happened to Jesus also happened to Paul. In Mark 14:12-15, prior to His arrest, Jesus met with His disciples at Passover in an upper room to break bread. In Acts 20:6-8, Paul met with his disciples in an upper room to break bread before he was arrested. In John 10:15 and in Mark 10:32-34, Jesus predicted His death to His followers, accepting it as God's will for His life. In Acts 20:24, 25, we see Paul doing the very same things. In John 18:11, Jesus' disciples attempted to convince Him to avoid this death, not to go to Judea in order to spare His life. In Acts 21:11-13, Paul's disciples also try to persuade him not to go to Jerusalem in order to save his neck. Matthew 7:15, 24:11, Mark 13:6, and Luke 21:8 contain warnings from Jesus about wolves that would come to devour the sheep once He left, and He did this at the end of His three-year relationship with them. Acts 20:29,30 shows Paul at the end of three years warning his disciples about false prophets who would come in among them. Mark 15:12-15, John 19:15, Luke 23:21, and Matt. 27:21-23 record that the multitudes cried out for the death of Jesus, having been incited by the rabbis. In Acts 21:36 and 22:22 we find the multitude demanding Paul's death after having been incited by the rabbis. Matthew 26:59-61 shows the rabbis trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus; He was falsely accused of teaching against the Torah and the Temple. Acts 21:28 records the same thing happening to Paul - the rabbis falsely accused him of teaching against the Torah and the Temple. In Luke 23:8 we see how Jesus aroused curiosity, then intrigue, with the civil Roman government; in Acts 22:30 we find that Paul, too, aroused curiosity and then intrigue with the civil Roman government. We will see this happening in the last days as well: governments will become infatuated with Christians, just as they were in the early church, wondering what makes us different. In John 19 and Matthew 27 the Roman government tried to release Jesus, but then turned the entire affair over to the rabbinic authorities once they were unable to free Him, knowing He was innocent. In Acts 22:30 and 18:15 it happened to Paul. Matthew 27:24 reveals that the Roman authorities were forced to re-intervene in the case of Jesus in order to prevent rioting; Acts 23:10, 21:34-36 records that the Roman government also had to intervene in Paul's case to prevent rioting. The Roman governor in Matthew 26:4 came from Caesarea to Jerusalem to judge Jesus when the rabbis formed their conspiracy to kill Him; the Roman proconsul came from Caesarea to Jerusalem to judge Paul under the same circumstances, in Acts 23:12, 21. Jesus was delivered by His Jewish brothers into the hands of Gentiles and the governor in fulfillment of a specific prophecy, as seen in Luke 23:1, Matthew 27:2, Luke 18:32. In Acts 10:18 Paul underwent the same ordeal, again in fulfillment of a specific prophecy. John 18:22 tells of Jesus being struck for the way He spoke to the high priest; Acts 23:2 tells of Paul also being struck for the same reason. In Matthew 23:27 Jesus called the religious hypocrites 'whitewashed tombs', alluding to the whitewashing of sepulchers for the Pesach. In Acts 23:3 Paul calls the priest a 'whitewashed wall'. Jesus used the Resurrection to counter-manipulate the Pharisees and Sadducees against each other when they had come together against Him, in Luke 20:26-40. In Acts 23:9, Paul uses the same strategy.

(to be continued)


_________________
Aaron Ireland

 2005/5/5 10:18Profile









 Re:

Quote:
The unsaved are already deceived by the devil; he is out to deceive two kinds of people: the nation of Israel and the Bible-believing church. The nation of Israel is under a spiritual darkness.



Two kinds of people? hmmmmmmmm

I like the story that you are presenting with great interest. I just finished part 1, and I am now commenting on that.

Two kinds of people?

This is what dispensationalism does to the Church it breaks us up into groups. The doctrine teaches that the gentiles will rule unto the time of the gentiles be fulfilled. Another teaching within this doctrine is that the church age is chopped up into 7 dispensations, namely the 7 conditions of the church at the beginning of Revelation. The doctrine teaches that we are now living in that time called Laodica.

In 1948-49 the times of the gentiles were fulfilled (so they say) and now Israel is back in thier land, and God is saying to the nations, "let my people go".

Two kinds of people?

So Christ's work is totally vain!

He breaks down the middle wall of partition that was between us and brings together ONE NEW MAN, and yet there are still "two kinds of people".

Is Christ divided? Is Christ ONE MAN? Are we (jew and gentile) not bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh?

Is not a true Jew is that inwardly, and not according to the flesh circumcised?

Does God have respect of persons?

Old things are past away, behold all things are new. And God wants to reestablish a fleshy nation for Himself, a nation who rebelled since their beginning who made a convenant and kept breaking it even though they were told that they would break it? Who went into harlotry, a whoring after strange flesh, dragging the LORD God withersover they went because He is a jealous God?

God stopped speaking to Israel just less then 400 years, between Malchai and John and then 40 years to 70A.D., less then 400 years!! If your wife stopped talking to you for a long period of time, you would think something was wrong.

From scripture this is prophecy fulfilled, look at this. Ezkiel 4

5 "For I have laid upon thee the YEARS of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, 390 days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days: I have appointed thee each day for a year."

Ezekiel was a type and a shadow of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.


"For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us;[b][color=CC0000]and they please not God, and are contrary to all men"[/color][/b]

And it's God's desire to link up with this crowd that "do not please God"?

Nay, God has no intentions of reestablishing that link to divide Christ up into two different peoples. Christ is one body and we are One with Him, their is neither, Jew or Gentile, Male or Female, Bond or Free, we all ONE in Christ Jesus our LORD.

As I was reading about the Russian man giving off these prophecies, I couldn't help but think of the true Israel of God the Church who was under bondage in that country, and saying "let my people go, so they can preach the gospel in this land".

If God wanted all the Jews to return to Israel, then the United States would be emptied of them, because there are more Jews in America than there are in Israel.

I look forward to reading Part 2

Karl

 2005/5/5 11:36
CJaKfOrEsT
Member



Joined: 2004/3/31
Posts: 901
Melbourne, Australia

 Re: Two kinds of people

Karl,

Please, may I suggets that you put aside you preconceived ideas, until finishing the article, and then judge the [b]content[/b] based on you're understanding of scripture. You have presented one idea (remember, I've finished the article;-)), which consists of a "right" and a "wrong", that being "preterist" (although Prasch calls what you adhere to "historicism") and "non-pretist" (which Prasch refers to as "Futurism"). However, Prasch is saying (and I tend to agree) that there is another divide between, what I'll define as "lacking/adding" (these and similar idea's) and "raw" (that's encaptulates the entirity of God's Word).

The two kinds of people that Prasch is refering to, is the "wild" and "cultivated" vines. There is no "Jews" and "christians" polarization, as much as God having seperated a race of people (the Jews), that are His matural vine, into which we Gentiles are grafted into. That's all.

Anyway, enjoy.:-)


_________________
Aaron Ireland

 2005/5/6 4:11Profile





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