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hi to all,
https://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/daily-devotional
HAS GOD PREDESTINED CERTAIN PEOPLE TO BE SAVED AND OTHERS TO BE LOST?
Bible Study / Daily DevotionalSome people interpret Matthew 22:14, which says that “many are called, but few are chosen,” to mean that God has chosen some individuals to be saved and some not to be saved. They assert that since Romans 9:13 says that God loved Jacob and hated Esau, it means He didn’t want Esau to be saved. Therefore, Esau was “predestined” to be lost.
I respectfully disagree. When the Lord says, “Many are called, but few are chosen,” that could be translated as “but few respond.” The apostle John defines how many people God wants to save: “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16, my emphasis). He further states that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” We all have been given the freedom to believe and choose whether or not to be saved. God does not force us.
Try to picture a traffic helicopter hovering over a section of a mountain highway in which there are two lanes going opposite directions through a tunnel. The person in the helicopter is looking down and sees that a little red Volkswagen is getting ready to pass an 18-wheeler inside the tunnel. But coming up the other side of the mountain is another 18-wheeler in the oncoming lane. It hasn’t happened yet, but that pilot can safely report that there’s going to be an accident in the tunnel. The helicopter pilot is not making it happen, but he sees that it’s going to happen. To say that the pilot predestined the crash is absurd, of course.
God knows all things. He does not want there to be a crash in the tunnel, but He sees it coming. A person needs to understand that the Lord longs for everyone to be saved and wants all people to come to repentance. God is love and doesn’t want any person to perish.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: 2 Peter 2:9It was not working on the page chosen for, so I am asking this here
blessings
Hi To all,
DID JESUS USE HIS DIVINE POWER TO ONLY DO GOOD THINGS FOR OTHERS?
Absolutly. When you carefully study all of the stories about Jesus written in the Gospels, His life was one of continuous service to others. Everything Christ did was to glorify God and help others. You see this in His teaching and acts of healing.
However, it is important to keep the following in mind: The power that Christ used in His work is also available to us—His people. Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12). Just as Christ raised the dead, so also His apostles raised the dead. Jesus taught and healed. The book of Acts records that His disciples did the same. And so may we.
Christ never used His supernatural power for any selfish reasons. He could have used His power to save Himself. He could have refreshed Himself from sleepiness while in the boat, but He chose to remain tired. He could have used His power while He was thirsting on the cross, but He had a greater mission than Himself.
Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness to use His divine power to satisfy His agonizing hunger. The devil knew that Jesus had the power to work that miracle. He tried to provoke Christ to draw on His divinity for relief. Why would that have been such a triumph for Satan? He could have used that to sustain his charges that God required an obedience that no human could produce. If Jesus had failed to overcome the tempter with the same nature we have, and by the same means available to us, the devil would have proven that obedience is an impossible requirement. Satan understood that Jesus could not use His divine power to save Himself and to save man at the same time. This is what made the test such a severe and agonizing experience for Christ.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; Mark 16:17Gene
My LAST post IS not mine… but from
Amazing facts
https://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/daily-devotional
Daily Devotions
AN AMAZING FACT: When people think of the London Bridge, they generally think of fog and cold, not cactus and sand! But today, the 140-year-old London Bridge resides in the middle of Lake Havasu City, Arizona. In 1963, chainsaw mogul and entrepreneur Robert McCulloch purchased 8.5 square miles of property in western Arizona and promised to develop it into Lake Havasu City. But McCulloch had a dilemma—how would he interest home buyers in relocating to a small town in the remote Arizona desert?
At the same time, the London Bridge was sinking into the clay of the Thames River. The famous bridge, built in 1831, was the victim of its own immense weight. London officials decided they’d have to replace the old bridge. Instead of simply tearing it down, they decided to sell it! In 1968, McCulloch purchased the bridge for $2.46 million—the highest price ever paid for an antique at that time.
Over the next three years, workers disassembled the five arches of the 1,000-foot-long and 50-foot-wide bridge in London. Each of the granite bricks were numbered to help with reassembly. Then, the granite bricks were shipped to America, where they were hauled to the brand new Lake Havasu City. The pieces were reassembled over land, and then a canal was dug out underneath, turning a peninsula into an island. The reconstruction cost an additional $7 million and the bridge was ready for business in 1971.
The unique purchase paid off for McCulloch. Pretty soon, tourists started showing up and eventually folks who came to see the bridge bought homes and decided to stay. Today, hundreds of thousands of people come every year to see the oddly placed landmark. By 2010 Lake Havasu City had grown to a respectable 52,000 residents.
Usually a bridge is built to cross a water barrier. In this case, a water barrier was dug in the desert to accommodate a multi-million-dollar bridge to nowhere! The Bible tells of a different sort of bridge in the desert. When the Israelites found themselves trapped by the Egyptian army on one side and the sea on the other, God miraculously created a dry-land bridge through the Red Sea. Truly, there is no dilemma too difficult for God!
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. Exodus 14:21
God blessHi Berean and All
HAS GOD PREDESTINED CERTAIN PEOPLE TO BE SAVED AND OTHERS TO BE LOST?
Bible Study / Daily DevotionalGod predestined Lucifer’s fall, by which fall even Adam, Lucifer’s origin fell.
I cannot see how God didn’t also predestine total salvation.
Peace and Love in Jesus Christ
Hi Carmel
Total redemption is in Christ Jesus only (his grace )and by faith.
But I’m not sure I understood That You wrote :I cannot see how God didn’t also predestine total salvation
Hi Berean,
YOU: But I’m not sure I understood That You wrote :
I cannot see how God didn’t also predestine total salvation.
If God who is love predestined Lucifer’s fall by which fall it was established, imperfect creatures, didn’t also He since He is love predestine that all eventually would return back to perfection, in fact even in a higher state than the angels.the fact that Jesus came purposely like all his imperfect brethren, though without sin, and made them all perfect on His resurrection when He gave His dead perfect flesh body to humanity.
eat this is My FLESH which is given to you…..
Simply to present them to His Father. All united one substance in
Jesus Christ
Godman
God of all flesh!
Peace and love in Jesus Christ
Carmel……You have a good point, “if God is not willing that “any” perish,” and “all things are possible with God”. If he can take out of us, our hearts of stone and gives us hearts of flesh (soft hearts) .
Yes you do have a good point Carmel, there is hope for all I believe.peace and love to you and yours………..gene
Berean, Think about this brother, “though thy sins be as Crimson, they shall be as white as snow”
Peace and love to you and yours………gene
Gene
Not all people will ultimately be saved because of continuing unbelief (sin against the Holy Spirit)
WE MUST LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL OF OUR HEART
Jesus answered and said unto her, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (Matthew 22:37)
THE ONE WHO HAS THE LOVE of God poured out in his heart will reflect the purity and love that exists in Jehovah, and that Christ has demonstrated in our world. He who has the love of God poured out in his heart has no enmity against the law of God, but willingly obeys all his commandments. This is true Christianity. He who possesses the supreme love of God will reveal it to his neighbor who belongs to God, both by right of creation and by right of redemption. Love is the fulfillment of the law, and the duty of every child of God is to be obedient to his commandments. […]
The law of God, which is perfect holiness, is the only true standard of character. Love is expressed in obedience, and perfect love casts out all fear. Those who, out of love for God, have his seal on their foreheads work according to him. If all who profess to be Christians knew what it means to love God in a practical way, […] they would have realized his infinite holiness, knowing that he is lifted high and that the train of his glory fills the temple. They would have a powerful influence on the life and character of those around them and would work leavenedly in the midst of the dough of mankind, transforming others through the power of Jesus Christ. In connection with the source of power, they would never lose their vital influence, the effectiveness of which they would never cease to increase (37).
The love of God must be a living principle at the basis of all action, word or thought. If, with the power of Christ, we seek to maintain such a consecration, we will be in daily and continual communion with God. […] The principles of the law of God will dwell in the heart and control actions. It will then be natural for us to seek purity and holiness, to avoid the spirit and example of the world, to work for the good of those around us, just as it is natural for the angels of glory to perform the mission of love that has been assigned to them (38).
(37. The Youth’s Instructor, July 26, 1894.
38. The Review and Herald, October 23, 1888.)Hi, Gene,
YOU:Yes you do have a good point Carmel, there is hope for all I believe.
That’s the only way I can see a
true loving God!
It was His plan that the imperfect would be established, first in Lucifer, spirit, then in Adam living souls. One hope was left
for the kingdom of the Son,
through the corrupted flesh general system.
THE UNFATHOMABLE CHARITY OF GOD IN HIS SON
JESUS!!!
Otherwise, the kingdom is only for the perfect!
On the other hand, God could have done everything perfectly not give room for the imperfect.
Mark2:15And it came to pass, that as he sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat down together with Jesus and his disciples. For they were many, who also followed him. 16And the scribes and the Pharisees, seeing that he ate with publicans and sinners, said to his disiples: Why doth your master eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 17Jesus hearing this, saith to them: They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.
For I came not to call the just, but sinners.
Peace and Love in Jesus Christ
Carmel…..but God being in someone by his Holy Spirit does not make that person a God. For it is written, that God might be “in” all and through “all. , so we still only have “ONE” true GOD, who is Spirit and can indwell “ALL”.
Peace ad love to you and yours……….gene
Daily Devotions
The Lord gave this prophecy to Eve, who is a symbol of the church, saying that “her Seed”—her descendant, Jesus, and His followers—would bruise the head of the serpent, but the serpent would bruise His heel.
The quickest way to kill a serpent is to smash its head. And the word “bruise” there actually means to “smash” the head of the serpent. When a person is bruised on the heel, their progress is merely impeded. The devil has successfully hindered the progress of the Christian church, but it has not been a mortal wound. It has not stopped the church’s motion. I believe God was making a prophecy about a battle that would rage in our world between the serpent (the devil) and the woman (the church) from the day of mankind’s fall in the garden until Jesus returns.
In Revelation 12 you’ll find a dragon (also called a serpent in verse 9) trying to devour a woman’s baby as soon as the child is born (verse 4). This is the same serpent, Satan, who is called “the accuser of our brethren” (v. 10) and who persecutes “the woman who gave birth to the male Child” (v. 13). Although Satan has been allowed to wound the heel of the woman, the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 adds that the woman and her Seed—or offspring, who is Christ—would crush the serpent’s head. At the cross, Jesus crushed the head of the serpent, the devil.
When you kill a snake, it can still thrash around after its head has been crushed. It can even still bite for a time also. The devil was crushed at the cross, but he’s still thrashing around, snapping his jaws, and squirting venom. Not until our Lord returns will the church be fully freed from the torment of this defeated foe.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15Hi To all
THE RHINO’S HORN
Daily DevotionsAN AMAZING FACT: Besides being a very large and strong animal, one of the most notable features about a rhinoceros is its horn (or horns). The name rhinoceros comes from two Greek words—rhino, meaning “nose,” and ceros, meaning “horn.” It is amazing that this mammal, which can weigh up to two tons and grow up to six feet tall, is a vegetarian. There are five different rhinos in the world. Two come from Africa (the black rhino and the white rhino) and three from southern Asia (the Indian rhino, the Sumatran rhino, and the Javan rhino). Rhinoceroses have very thick skin (1/2 inch to 2 inches) with folds that make them look like they have armored plating.
The best friend of a rhinoceros is the tick bird (or oxpecker). It eats ticks off the rhino, but is also a guard, making lots of noise when danger lurks close by. Rhinos are often thought of as ill-tempered, but probably have become more so in areas where they are constantly being disturbed. They do have poor eyesight but excellent hearing. When they attack, rhinos usually lower their heads, growl or grunt, and come charging at up to 30 mph, striking powerful blows with their horns—not somebody you want to get in the way of! Rhinos have only one enemy—humans. Unfortunately they have been hunted to almost near extinction. Even with strong laws, poachers still make a dent in the diminishing population
because of rhinos’ valuable and sought-after horns.Does a rhino have one horn or two? It depends. The Javan and Indian rhinos have only one horn while the white, black, and Sumatran have two. The horn is actually made up of keratin, the same material as our fingernails and hair. Some people believe the horn has medicinal value when ground into powder. Armed park rangers in South Africa try to stop poachers, who can get up to $25,000 for a horn. In 2011, up to 448 rhinos were killed for their horns.
The Bible refers to horns in many different ways. In prophecy, horns stood for kings, kingdoms, or other powers. One such horn will play a role in the time of the end before Christ comes. That horn will be destructive. Daniel writes, “I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words” (Daniel 7:8).
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. Psalms 132:17The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
His will is that all are saved. Now it is up to our will.
Hi To all
ARCHIMEDES DEATH RAY
Daily Devotions
AN AMAZING FACT: Back in 1981, in the blazing desert near Barstow, California, the U.S. Department of Energy finished building what is called a “solar power tower.” It looked something like an ocean lighthouse in the middle of a barren desert surrounded by a flock of mirrors. “Solar One,” as it was called, was a pilot project constructed to generate electricity using the sun’s power. The tower was surrounded by 1,818 dedicated mirrors called heliostats that tracked the sun all day long.
Their purpose was to reflect the sunlight to one common focal point—redirecting the equivalent of 600 suns to a target at the top of the tower. This hot spot became superheated, creating steam from water that turned an electric generator and produced 10 megawatts of power every day. In 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy completed a solar-powered unit in Boulder City, Nevada which can produce 64 megawatts of power each day, or about 134,000,000 kilowatt hours per year.
This reminds me of an amazing event recorded by ancient Greek and Roman historians that has been much disputed by modern scholars. They claim that during the siege of Syracuse in 212 B.C., Archimedes, the famous ancient Greek inventor, constructed a sophisticated weapon. Through carefully arranging a combination of mirrors, he focused the magnified light of the sun to burn up an entire Roman fleet. Whenever an enemy warship came within the range of a bow shot, he directed the intense light at the vessel until it ignited. Because highly flammable pitch was used to seal the boats, they were quickly consumed. This incredible event in history has never been disproved, but many have put it to the test.
Recently, a team from MIT tried to recreate the famous “Archimedes Death Ray.” With a series of mirrors carefully arranged, they were successful at starting a fire on a ship 75 feet away. Perhaps we should give more credit to ancient technology. After all, someone had to be pretty ingenious to build the pyramids.
The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness, and every Christian is to reflect that light in this dark world. The power generated can save souls!
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. Malachi 4:2At least one species of rhino was the unicorn.
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