This is a hard saying -

- but I didn't write it.

These thoughts have been forced on me as I've read verses about "those days" and of what Jesus said about all that would happen in those days concerning those in our lives and possessions.
I love a lot of people - not only in my family.

I've felt the LORD tell me some years ago, to also hold 'possessions' very loosely.

I would give my life for my family and others, but not my salvation. This is why I felt the LORD tell me to "gird up my heart". To realize that these people and possessions could cause some to stumble - as He warned about "remembering Lot's wife" and other warnings of that nature.
That it may be possible that family members may
be the cause of the decisions we make should persecution come.

I believe every family should sit together and talk about these things and set in their minds, what they would do if during persecution, they were taken away from each other.

The following was a study I did with what I felt I myself needed to prepare my heart towards.

We may lose everything we have worked for and someone we love may fall away from the Lord in the end.

These verses are not an excuse to not Love as He does - but to love [i]as[/i] He said we should -

___________________________________________________

[b]Mat 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

Luk 14:26 If any come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

1Co 7:29-31 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

Charles Wesley - 1Co 7:29 [/b]- But this I say, brethren - With great confidence. The time of our abode here is short. It plainly follows, that even they who have wives be as serious, zealous, active, dead to the world, as devoted to God, as holy in all manner of conversation, as if they had none - By so easy a transition does the apostle slide from every thing else [u]to the one thing needful; and, forgetting whatever is temporal, is swallowed up in eternity.[/u]
[b]1Co 7:31 - And they that use this world[/b] - Not seeking happiness in it, but in God: using every thing therein only in such a manner and degree as most tends to the knowledge and love of God. For the whole scheme and fashion of this world - [u]This marrying, weeping, rejoicing, (buying) and all the rest, not only will pass, but now passeth away, is this moment flying off like a shadow. [/u]

[b]John Gill - 1Cor 7:29 -[/b] [u]it remaineth that both they that have wives, be as though they had none: and as for the rest, they that were married, his advice to them was, that they should so behave as if they were not married; not that he would have them put away their wives, or fancy with themselves that they had none, or make no use of the marriage bed; but suggests a moderate use of it; he would not have them give up themselves to lasciviousness and carnal lusts and pleasures, even with their own wives, and spend their time altogether in their company and embraces: but since the time of life was short, and that full of troubles, they should spend it in the service and worship of God, private and public, as much as possible; and not in the indulging and satisfying of the flesh.[/u]

[b]Albert Barnes - 1Co 7:29[/b] In one word, they ought to be "just as faithful to God," and "just as pious," in every respect, as if they had no wife and no earthly friend. [u]Such a consecration to God is difficult, but not impossible. Our earthly attachments and cares draw away our affections from God, but they need not do it.[/u] Instead of being the occasion of alienating our affections from God, they should be, and they might be, the means of binding us more firmly and entirely to him and to his cause. But alas, how many professing Christians live for their wives and children only, and not for God in these relations! how many suffer these earthly objects of attachment to alienate their minds from the ways and commandments of God, rather than make them the occasion of uniting them more tenderly to him and his cause!
[b]1Co 7:30 - And they that weep -[/b] They who are afflicted.
[b]As though they wept not [/b] - [u]Restraining and moderating their grief by the hope of the life to come.[/u] "The general idea in all these expressions is, that in whatever situation Christians are, they should be dead to the world, and not improperly affected by passing events." It is impossible for human nature not to feel when persecuted, maligned, slandered, or when near earthly friends are taken away. But religion will calm the troubled spirit; pour oil on the agitated waves; light up a smile in the midst of tears; cause the beams of a calm and lovely morning to rise on the anxious heart; silence the commotions of the agitated soul, and produce joy even in the midst of sorrow.[u] Religion will keep us from immoderate grief, and sustain the soul even when in distress nature forces us to shed the tear of mourning. Christ sweat great drops of blood, and Christians often weep; but the heart may be calm, peaceful, elevated, confident in God in the darkest night and the severest tempest of calamity.[/u]
[b]And they that rejoice -[/b] They that are happy; they that are prospered; that have beloved families around them; that are blessed with success, with honor, with esteem, with health. They that have occasion of rejoicing and gratitude.
[b]As though they rejoiced not -[/b] Not rejoicing with excessive or immoderate joy. Not with riot or unholy mirth. Not satisfied with these things; though they may rejoice in them. [u]Not forgetting that they must soon be left;[/u] but keeping the mind in a calm, serious, settled, thoughtful state, in view of the fact that all these things must soon come to an end. O how would this thought silence the voice of unseemly mirth; How would it produce calmness, serenity, heavenly joy, where is now often unhallowed riot; and true peace, where now there is only forced and boisterous revelry!
[b]As though they possessed not -[/b] [i]It is right to buy and to obtain property. But it should be held with the conviction that it; is by an uncertain tenure, and must soon be left. People may give a deed that shall secure from their fellow man; but no man can give a title that shall not be taken away by death. Our lands and houses, our stocks and bonds and mortgages, our goods and chattels, shall soon pass into other hands. Other people will plow our fields, reap our harvests, work in our shops, stand at our counters, sit down at our firesides, eat on our tables, lie upon our beds. Others will occupy our places in society, have our offices, sit in our seats in the sanctuary. Others will take possession of our gold, and appropriate it to their own use; and we shall have no more interest in it, and no more control over it, than our neighbor has now, and no power to eject the man that has taken possession of our houses and our lands. Secure therefore as our titles are safe as are our investments, yet how soon shall we lose all interest in them by death; and how ought this consideration to induce us to live above the world, and to secure a treasure in that world where no thief approaches, and no moth corrupts.[/i]

[b]Vincent Word Studies - 1Co 7:29[/b] [u]The time is shortened that henceforth Christians may hold earthly ties and possessions but loosely.[/u]

[b]Matthew Henry - 1Cor 7:29[/b] He exhorts all Christians to holy indifference toward the world. As to relations; they must not set their hearts on the comforts of the state. As to afflictions; they must not indulge the sorrow of the world: even in sorrow the heart may be joyful. As to worldly enjoyments; here is not their rest. As to worldly employment; those that prosper in trade, and increase in wealth, should hold their possessions as though they held them not. As to all worldly concerns; they must keep the world out of their hearts, that they may not abuse it when they have it in their hands. All worldly things are show; nothing solid. All will be quickly gone. Wise concern about worldly interests is a duty; but to be full of care, to have anxious and perplexing care, is a sin. By this maxim the apostle solves the case whether it were advisable to marry. That condition of life is best for every man, which is best for his soul, and keeps him most clear of the cares and snares of the world. Let us reflect on the advantages and snares of our own condition in life; that we may improve the one, and escape as far as possible all injury from the other. And whatever cares press upon the mind, let time still be kept for the things of the Lord.
IV. He takes this occasion to give general rules to all Christians to carry themselves with a holy indifferency towards the world, and every thing in it. 1. As to relations: Those that had wives must be as though they had none; that is, they must not set their hearts too much on the comforts of the relation; they must be as though they had none. They know not how soon they shall have none. This advice must be carried into every other relation. Those that have children should be as though they had none. Those that are their comfort now may prove their greatest cross. And soon may the flower of all comforts be cut down. 2. As to afflictions: Those that weep must be as though they wept not; that is, we must not be dejected too much with any of our afflictions, nor indulge ourselves in the sorrow of the world, but keep up a holy joy in God in the midst of all our troubles, so that even in sorrow the heart may be joyful, and the end of our grief may be gladness. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy will come in the morning. If we can but get to heaven at last, all tears shall be wiped from our eyes; and the prospect of it now should make us moderate our sorrows and refrain our tears. 3. As to worldly enjoyments: Those that rejoice should be as though they rejoiced not; that is, they should not take too great a complacency in any of their comforts. They must be moderate in their mirth, and sit loose to the enjoyments they most value. Here is not their rest, nor are these things their portion; and therefore their hearts should not be set on them, nor should they place their solace or satisfaction in them. 4. As to worldly traffic and employment: Those that buy must be as though they possessed not. Those that prosper in trade, increase in wealth, and purchase estates, should hold these possessions as though they held them not. It is but setting their hearts on that which is not (Pro_23:5) to do otherwise. Buying and possessing should not too much engage our minds. They hinder many people altogether from minding the better part. Purchasing land and trying oxen kept the guests invited from the wedding-supper, Luk_14:18, Luk_14:19. And, when they do not altogether hinder men from minding their chief business, they do very much divert them from a close pursuit. Those are most likely to run so as to obtain the prize who ease their minds of all foreign cares and cumbrances. 5. As to all worldly concerns: Those that use this world as not abusing it, 1Co_7:31. The world may be used, but must not be abused. It is abused when it is not used to those purposes for which it is given, to honour God and do good to men - when, instead of being oil to the wheels of our obedience, it is made fuel to lust - when, instead of being a servant, it is made our master, our idol, and has that room in our affections which should be reserved for God. And there is great danger of abusing it in all these respects, if our hearts are too much set upon it. We must keep the world as much as may be out of our hearts, that we may not abuse it when we have it in our hands.
V. He enforces these advices with two reasons: - 1. The time is short, 1Co_7:29. We have but little time to continue in this world; but a short season for possessing and enjoying worldly things; kairos sunestalmenos. It is contracted, reduced to a narrow compass. It will soon be gone. It is just ready to be wrapped up in eternity. Therefore do not set your hearts on worldly enjoyments. Do not be overwhelmed with worldly cares and troubles. Possess what you must shortly leave without suffering yourselves to be possessed by it. Why should your hearts be much set on what you must quickly resign? 2. The fashion of this world passeth away (1Co_7:31), sche¯ma - the habit, figure, appearance, of the world, passeth away. It is daily changing countenance. It is in a continual flux. It is not so much a world as the appearance of one. All is show, nothing solid in it; and it is transient show too, and will quickly be gone. How proper and powerful an argument is this to enforce the former advice! How irrational is it to be affected with the images, the fading and transient images, of a dream! Surely man walketh in a vain show (Psa_39:6), in an image, amidst the faint and vanishing appearances of things. And should he be deeply affected, or grievously afflicted, with such a scene?
VI. He presses his general advice by warning them against the embarrassment of worldly cares: But I would have you without carefulness, 1Co_7:32. Indeed to be careless is a fault; a wise concern about worldly interests is a duty; but to be careful, full of care, to have an anxious and perplexing care about them, is a sin. All that care which disquiets the mind, and distracts it in the worship of God, is evil; for God must be attended upon without distraction, 1Co_7:35. The whole mind should be engaged when God is worshipped. The work ceases while it diverts to any thing else, or is hurried and drawn hither and thither by foreign affairs and concerns. Those who are engaged in divine worship should attend to this very thing, should make it their whole business. But how is this possible when the mind is swallowed up of the cares of this life? Note, It is the wisdom of a Christian so to order his outward affairs, and choose such a condition in life, as to be without distracting cares, that he may attend upon the Lord with a mind at leisure and disengaged. This is the general maxim by which the apostle would have Christians govern themselves. In the application of it Christian prudence must direct. That condition of life is best for every man which is best for his soul, and keeps him most clear of the cares and snares of the world.

[b]People's N.T. - 1Cor 7:29 [/b]As though they had none. Should look on all earthly ties as soon to be broken. All earthly arrangements must be regarded as transitory.
I would have you free from cares. That is, I would have you free from the causes which bring cares.

In His Love.

These things are [b]preparation[/b], part of the "winnowing" we must undergo before the Lord returns, so that we may be "gathered unto Him" in the final harvest, and, before that, be able to stand in the evil day.

For winnowing separates each ripe grain from its husk that clings so close...

Or, to use another figure, even good ground needs to have the stones removed; and even a good road needs to be prepared, straightened, have the rough patches repaved...

Isaiah 40
[color=990000]3 ¶ The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.[/color]

Isaiah 62
[color=990000]10 ¶ Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people[/color]

For our sakes as well as His, we have to be stripped, or at least have our hold loosened, from the things of this life. Otherwise we will never be able to stand.

This must also be part of "denying oneself, taking up the cross and following Jesus" (Matthew 16:24 etc)

in Him

Jeannette

People's N.T. - 1Cor 7:29 As though they had none. Should look on all earthly ties as soon to be broken. All earthly arrangements must be regarded as transitory.
I would have you free from cares. That is, I would have you free from the causes which bring cares.

I have no children or close family, but do have possessions that are precious - especially the computer, and certain books.

Also, there are friends that maybe I lean on a little too much for emotional and spiritual support...

It also includes "spiritual" things such as one's own ministry or "work for the Lord". [**EDIT, added a little here] This is a very subtle danger - to cling to that instead of the Lord.**

Years ago the Lord said to me, [b][i]"You will never be really happy until you have lost all you think you now have"[/i][/b]

He has already moved me from the church denomination where I grew up and from the home where my mother was born, and which was home to members of my family for 100 years (1902-2002).

He has also stripped me of much in the "ministry" sense. It has been confessed elsewhere on this forum how I first joined SI with that motive, of finding a fresh purpose and ministry, after the Lord took the other.

There is much further to go, in terms of possessions and other things, but I'm much happier and more at peace now than at any time in my life.

As Paul said of his own religious credentials, moral standing and Jewish pedigree:

[color=990000]7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 ¶ And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;[/color]

Amen and Amen!

Jeannette

This is a hard saying:

1 Corinthians 15:48As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

49And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

55O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3
1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

[u][b]4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. [/b][/u]

Love in Christ
Katy

This isn't a thread on eschatology.

Around the world and since the beginning of the first Church - these thoughts are going through the minds of believers.

Thinking of places like China, Indonesia, Islamic nations and so forth we know that ~
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 2Ti 3:12

This thread is about Loving Jesus ~ no matter what and above all.

LORD Bless!!!

ginnyrose wrote:

To realize that these people and possessions could cause some to stumble -

Anne, this concept echoes Matthew 10:36: "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." Now this could really hurt when if this were to happen. Who could we trust anyways? The important thing is we need to release people NOW so when and if this were to ever happen we will not be tempted to lose our faith. So we need to be prepared to experience rejection, misunderstandings, betrayals now...no picnic, no celebrations, no music, no feasts to mark these occurrences.

Blessings,

ginnyrose

Thank you ginny for getting the meaning of His Words.

I suppose we've read all these Scriptures before but because of other Scriptures, we've mixed "the balance". I know I have, and it cost me greatly.

Philip mentioned Job. I'm sure Job's wife was O.K. before the stuff hit - but in the midst, she told him to curse God and die.
Unfortunately, I've known husbands that can't stand on their own with GOD without looking to their wives. And wives that put their husbands BEFORE God but don't know it until they can't hear His Voice anymore.

We don't KNOW how people we love will react in an emergency or persecution, when contending for the faith or recanting may be the choice.
We are to love fervently - yet - Christ made it clear that our Love for Him and His Word was to be compared to hate, even with our own children or wife - in comparison to our Love for Him.

Hard saying - but His Words all the way - including the verse you gave.
And when coming those from those in our own fellowships. Nothing hurts more.
A person at work could come against you and your feelings get hurt - but when it's one in your family or more importantly, one who you thought was Christian, as Watchman Nee said, "that's spiritual" and a Totally 'different' type of hurt. You let your spiritual "guard" down with Christians - so the dart goes into your spirit and not just emotions. That type wounding can take one down spiritually for a while, until they have time to cry out to GOD to set back up on their feet.
May come a time that we don't Have that Time, to "get back up on our feet" from the shock of their reactions. So what you've said by saying NOW is the word of words on this topic. It may be a spiritual Life or death decision to understand these verses He's given us.

Blessings back to you & yours. Amen!
And to the others.

This may seem like a strange place to post this by Leonard Ravenhill, but it is for a Brother (for himself) who I/we here respect, who posts here once in a very great while and has his own website. And since "truth in love" is all of our mutual greatest goal.

Truth vs. Love - please consider all written in the posts above. If there is a "versus" there - the Scriptures are plain on it.

We are commanded in the First Commandment to Love Him first - above all. The second commandment is to love others as you love yourself.

Love Him, Who is The Truth (inseperable) more than yourself - so Love Him first and foremost - in context of the preceding posts.
________________________________________________

For our respected Brother in The LORD.

Picture of a Prophet

The prophet in his day is fully accepted of God and totally rejected by men.

Years back, Dr. Gregory Mantle was right when he said, "No man can be fully accepted until he is totally rejected." The prophet of the Lord is aware of both these experiences. They are his "brand name."

The group, challenged by the prophet because they are smug and comfortably insulated from a perishing world in their warm but untested theology, is not likely to vote him "Man of the year" when he refers to them as habituates of the synagogue of Satan!

The prophet comes to set up that which is upset. His work is to call into line those who are out of line! He is unpopular because he opposes the popular in morality and spirituality. In a day of faceless politicians and voiceless preachers, there is not a more urgent national need than that we cry to God for a prophet! The function of the prophet, as Austin-Sparks once said, "has almost always been that of recovery."

The prophet is God's detective seeking for a lost treasure. The degree of his effectiveness is determined by his measure of unpopularity. Compromise is not known to him.
He has no price tags.
He is totally "otherworldly."
He is unquestionably controversial and unpardonably hostile.
He marches to another drummer!
He breathes the rarefied air of inspiration.
He is a "seer" who comes to lead the blind.
He lives in the heights of God and comes into the valley with a "thus saith
the Lord."
He shares some of the foreknowledge of God and so is aware of
impending judgment.
He lives in "splendid isolation."
He is forthright and outright, but he claims no birthright.
His message is "repent, be reconciled to God or else...!"
His prophecies are parried.
His truth brings torment, but his voice is never void.
He is the villain of today and the hero of tomorrow.
He is excommunicated while alive and exalted when dead!
He is dishonored with epithets when breathing and honored with
epitaphs when dead.
He is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but few "make the grade" in his class.
He is friendless while living and famous when dead.
He is against the establishment in ministry; then he is established as a saint
by posterity.
He eats daily the bread of affliction while he ministers, but he feeds the Bread of
Life to those who listen.
He walks before men for days but has walked before God for years.
He is a scourge to the nation before he is scourged by the nation.
He announces, pronounces, and denounces!
He has a heart like a volcano and his words are as fire.
He talks to men about God.
He carries the lamp of truth amongst heretics while he is lampooned by men.
He faces God before he faces men, but he is self-effacing.
He hides with God in the secret place, but he has nothing to hide in
the marketplace.
He is naturally sensitive but supernaturally spiritual.
He has passion, purpose and pugnacity.
He is ordained of God but disdained by men.

Our national need at this hour is not that the dollar recover its strength, or that we save face over the Watergate affair, or that we find the answer to the ecology problem. We need a God-sent prophet!

I am bombarded with talk or letters about the coming shortages in our national life: bread, fuel, energy. I read between the lines from people not practiced in scaring folk. They feel that the "seven years of plenty" are over for us. The "seven years of famine" are ahead. But the greatest famine of all in this nation at this given moment is a FAMINE OF THE HEARING OF THE WORDS OF GOD (Amos 8:11).

Millions have been spent on evangelism in the last twenty-five years. Hundreds of gospel messages streak through the air over the nation every day. Crusades have been held; healing meetings have made a vital contribution. "Come-outers" have "come out" and settled, too, without a nation-shaking revival. Organizers we have. Skilled preachers abound. Multi-million dollar Christian organizations straddle the nation. BUT where, oh where, is the prophet? Where are the incandescent men fresh from the holy place? Where is the Moses to plead in fasting before the holiness of the Lord for our moldy morality, our political perfidy, and sour and sick spirituality?

GOD'S MEN ARE IN HIDING UNTIL THE DAY OF THEIR SHOWING FORTH. They will come. The prophet is violated during his ministry, but he is vindicated by history.

There is a terrible vacuum in evangelical Christianity today. The missing person in our ranks is the prophet. The man with a terrible earnestness. The man totally otherworldly. The man rejected by other men, even other good men, because they consider him too austere, too severely committed, too negative and unsociable.

Let him be as plain as John the Baptist.
Let him for a season be a voice crying in the wilderness of modern theology and
stagnant "churchianity."
Let him be as selfless as Paul the apostle.
Let him, too, say and live, "This ONE thing I do."
Let him reject ecclesiastical favors.
Let him be self-abasing, nonself-seeking, nonself-projecting, nonself- righteous,
nonself-glorying, nonself-promoting.
Let him say nothing that will draw men to himself but only that which will move
men to God.
Let him come daily from the throne room of a holy God, the place where he has
received the order of the day.
Let him, under God, unstop the ears of the millions who are deaf through the
clatter of shekels milked from this hour of material mesmerism.
Let him cry with a voice this century has not heard because he has seen a vision
no man in this century has seen. God send us this Moses to lead us from the
wilderness of crass materialism, where the rattlesnakes of lust bite us and where
enlightened men, totally blind spiritually, lead us to an ever-nearing Armageddon.

God have mercy! Send us PROPHETS!

edit: fix.

Joe 2:28-3` And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

[size=x-small][b][color=CC3333]Joe 3:14-17 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. [/b][/size][/color]
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

{Matt 24:29-30 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.}

[b]One would not need oil lamps filled with a sufficient amount/supply of oil AT His Coming because of 2Th 2:8 " - the brightness of His coming" --- but for the length of the [u]time[/u] of Spiritual Darkness that precedes His Coming.

All of Jeremiah chpt 5 ~ "A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land"[/b]

Mat 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, [i]which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom[/i].

Mat 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

[u]Mat 25:3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took 'no' oil with them:[/u]

Mat 25:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

Mat 25:5 [b][u]While the bridegroom tarried[/u], they all slumbered and slept.

Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. [/b]

Mat 25:7 [u]Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.[/u]

The Time of [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=17892&forum=45]"Something Horrible"[/url] - verses 8 & 9 -

[b]Mat 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

Mat 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so - [u]No; lest there 'be not enough' for us and you[/u]: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.[/b]

Mat 25:10 [u]And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came[/u]; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

Mat 25:11 [u]Afterward[/u] came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

Mat 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Mat 13:27-30 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Rev 2:1-7 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy [u]patience[/u], and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: [u]and hast borne, and hast 'patience', and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.[/u] Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy First [u]Love[/u]. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. {2Peter3}

Amen.

Psa 29:7 The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
Psa 29:8 [b]The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. [/b]
Psa 29:9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
Psa 29:10 The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King forever.
Psa 29:11 The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Cross-references from TSK on Psa 29:8 -

shaketh: Psa_18:7, Psa_46:3; Job_9:6; Isa_13:13; Joe_3:16; Hag_2:6, Hag_2:21; Heb_12:26,27

Kadesh: Num_13:26

Strong's -

H6946
קדשׁ
qâdêsh
kaw-dashe'
The same as H6945; sanctuary; Kadesh, a place in the Desert: - Kadesh.

psalm1 wrote:
4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

The cup of the Lord is bitter/sweet.

The cup of the carnal christian is not fit for man or beast. This cup has a mixture.
It is like taking a nice glass of milk and then pouring in just a little coke,and a little mustard, a little ketchup,orange juice.

A little leven leavens the whole lump.

To submit to God wholeheartedly and not look back will bring the believer into such and adventure the story almost cannot be told.

.......but....the bitter part is so bitter.(is this why David found comfort in God's rod?)

The good news is IT IS WORTH IT AND THEN SOME!!!

David

in Him

Jeannette