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[Surgeon83]

With the recent earthquake in the Indian Ocean and the tsunami killing thousands I think we need to realize that the end times aren't too far off. There are wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in diverse places, the Gospel is being preached around the world, and (in case no one noticed) it's open season on Christians in the public forum. Jesus is now truly becoming a rock of offense. When would you ever think that in America its become p.c. not to reference or mention Christmas during Christmas. This past Christmas (2004) I was shocked while shopping; at many of the registers the customers would say “Merry Christmas” to the clerk while leaving. I watched as one woman caught herself saying it only to have this frightened look on her face afterwards as if she had said someting truly offensive. She excalimed “Oh I'm sorry I think I'm not supposed to say that”. Also Look at the many other prophecies both in the old and new testaments; they are being fulfilled.
Watch out for Syria; in Bible prophesy Damascus will one day be utterly destroyed. This one I believe has never happened. I have heard talk on radio and television programs of interests in invading Syria since alot of the terrorist cells and training camps are based there; not to mention the proposal that much of Saddam's weaponry and the infamous WMD's may be found there in caves. Just keep a watch out for it in the news.

[Surgeon83]

Just a quick thought (haven't been here for quite a while), it is so disgusting to see that almost all of the television programs about Jesus this past Christmas (2004) included sections dedicated to the da vinci code. This whole thing is disgusting. I am led to the Book of Revelation concerning the Harlot and the golden cup. It has been known now for some time that one of the central themes of dan brown's book is that mary magdalene was the referenced Holy Grail of Christ. In Rev. chapter 17 John speaks of the “Great Harlot”, dressed in scarlet and purple holding a golden cup full of her fornication and abomination. Could this allude to the Mary Magdalene- Holy Grail connection that the new world system will try to implement? It is interesting to see that many people are buying into this blasphemous system; how much more after the film comes out? This is exactly how Satan works his dillusions. He will take a grain of truth or half-truth and wrap it up in lies. In this situation the very life of Christ is being perverted and blasphemed at the expense of many people's slavation. We need to keep careful watch over this situation and lead others in the right direction.

[Surgeon83]

The subject of the Holy Spirit can often get quite touchy amongst people. I tend to believe that there is a trinity and that the Holy Spirit and Jesus are different persons. Jesus explained it many times by referring to the Holy Spirit as “he” and the “comforter” designating a separateness. Also, Jesus says that sins against the Father and of the Son will be forgiven, but total blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven; further defining a belief, amongst countless other scriptures, in a triune God, but always one God.
As far as experiencing the presence and anointing of the Holy Spirit I had often been lacking in such an anointing; perhaps due to doubt or disbelief in the tongues and the like. After experiencing it for myself I have since changed my mind and have come to a new realization of the wonderful working power of God's Spirit. Many may not believe in the anointing of the Holy Spirit; my only reply now is that they are missing out on something indescribable. After reading Acts and pretty much the whole Bible looking for accounts of the Holy Spirit I have found no evidence where his Spirit has stopped working. I see no reason to believe that what happened to the 120 in the upper room should have no bearing or reality in our modern church.
Perhaps a problem with many churches today is that they have become dry and dead. People have made it into a social club where lapel pins and insignias have replaced the blood and Gospel of Jesus. I think what today's modern church needs is a good dose of the Holy Spirit to quicken sinners to repentance and bring doubters and unbelievers to the realization as I had that God is real and his presence and Spirit are alive today as it was with the prophets.
I believe the next great revival will be done through the young people. It says in Joel that in the last days the Lord will pour out his Spirit upon all flesh. I know now that in the early days of this past century men and women would have to pray and diligently seek God for years before being filled with the Spirit. While experiencing it for myself I noticed in the church service that many kids in gangs and many with obvious problems were also weeping uncontrolably on their knees in the utterance of the Holy Spirit. God is literally pouring out his Spirit as never before.
I think that the main problem many atheists and the like had with the Passion wasn't necessarily Mel Gibson or antisemitism; it was the quickening power of the Holy Spirit. That's why many people have been saved through the film; why alot of people have made right the wrongs in their lives. Ultimately it is up to us to recieve his presence and anointing of the Spirit. That's why some churches are on fire for God and yet others are cold and lifeless. By rejecting doctrinally the working power of the Holy Spirit they have prevented him from becoming apart of the worship.
I just pray that those who still disbelieve the existence of God or the spirit world could experience a touch of the Holy Spirit; I am quite sure that they would quickly come to the realization of the truth.

[Surgeon83]

I think Ringo 111's testimony and so many others' makes it clear that there indeed is a God and a spirit world. It often makes me think of the movie the Matrix; a world or “realm” existing and coinciding with our own only most people go about their lives unaware of it. I say most because these accounts as posted here make some major exceptions. I read an account once of a minister who went through pretty much the same attacks as Ringo.
 Evil spirits would show up in his bedroom at night and constantly torture him. This all happened when the man was ~ 17-18 yrs old and currently beggining a ministry. After pleading the name of Jesus they left but many other attacks (depression, etc. followed). I don't know why some people endure such frontline attacks. What I do know is that most people who do recieve such attacks are indeed on the frontlines  of spiritual battle. Many prominent ministers and evangelists go through amazing accounts which would make lord of the rings seem more credible, but amazingly, they are indeed true.
  I have thankfully never experienced such spiritual attacks as that but I have had mental wars.I had been berated for some time in my mind to curse God and Jesus; It got really bad. I went to a campmeeting in Tampa and went to the front to recieve a laying on of hands by an evangelist. I fell under the power of the Holy spirit and started to speak in tongues. I have never believed in tongues since most people I have been around are Babtist.
  I didn't know what I was saying or how I was saying it; all I knew was that it wasn't me cognatively speaking words that I knew. Instantly afterwards thoughts began to plague me more seriously than before. “It's fake, it's not real ; God's fake Just say it!!!” I would hear it often. I still haven't fully gotten rid of it but every time it starts to hinder me in prayers, etc. I plead the name of Jesus and it ceases.
  So finally in response to the post; God is more real than anything in this world. You can try to explain his existence through mathematics, quantum mechanics and the like, but until you can pour your heart out to him and hearnestly seek him you will only be left with arguments to people who won't believe God exists no matter how much scientific or logistical evidence you put forth.

[Surgeon83]

” For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect”. Mat. 24:24.

I have often wondered what events could possibly arise that would ever lead to such deceit as that of which Jesus spoke here concerning the last days. I have heard countless interpretations and theories abounding about such likelihoods as to the identity of the antichrist (not to say that mine is correct either, only an hypothesis as well). Now I cannot say that this thought of mine is the Gospel truth either only an idea.  With the recent release of The Da vinci code by author Dan Brown, the world has been thrown into a very dangerous situation. The book as a whole essentially says that Jesus and Mary Magdalene not only had sexual relations,but birthed a bloodline of individuals leading through the Merovingian dynasty of French kings and even to the present. What is included in this blasphemous book is the notion of a “secret society” dubbed the Priori of Sion whose founding in 1099 was established in order to protect the secret down the generations to this day. I can say that the book is interesting, but so are occultic and gnostic books. While the idea sounds exciting, secret conspiracies, historical scandals, and earth-shattering love affairs, it sets up dangerous grounds for the end-times.

The main problem I have with the book isn’t its obvious blasphemous contents, but the portrayal of such material as FACT. I have been meeting lots of people (Christians included) who have fallen under the spell of this book. I have talked with them and they discuss this book like they’ve just uncovered a new Gospel or a secret section of the Bible. It has been noted in Matthew and Revelation that the elect will be deceived and seduced by another doctrine concerning Jesus; both his identity and divinity. The Da Vinci code has sold ,I believe, somewhere close to 6 million copies and continues to do so. I think that this book could set the stage for the antichrist.

How I believe this is very simple. In the Da Vinci code it is stated that this so-called Priori of Sion exists to this day and is awaiting the ideal moment to declare this secret of Jesus to the world. What COULD happen, I believe, is for either this sect (which does exist, founded in 1956 not 1099), or others claiming identity to such a group, to openly declare to the world not only this secret of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but also that his descendents exist today. All that needs to happen is for them to declare a direct descendant of Jesus whose kingly identity has the power to perform miracles of great power. The Bible says that the antichrist will have the ability to perform signs and wonders.

A person possesed with the power of satan could easily fit this description and capture the admiration of the entire globe. Muslims could welcome such a notion for it strips Jesus’ divinity but not his identity as a great prophet of power. In fact, the Muslims are also awaiting a final prophet, the Ma’hadi. Many Muslims are often found praying to Mary the mother of Jesus when apparitions appear (such as Egypt and many other locations). If a religion could tie in an Apostate form of Christianity and Islam then who could stop it? Now as for a “way out there” theory this is certainly one of them. An even crazier idea is that the next pope will be involved in this deceit as well. Not just by his certification of the divine identity of the so-called descendant of Jesus, but also through the “Secret of Fatima”. It has been said that the last secret of Fatima (Also the name of Mohammad’s daughter, hint-hint)  was the knowledge of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul 2, but much is left to speculation because it has never been openly revealed. Now, what if this secret coincided with that of the da vinci code’s? A frightening porposal indeed.

Now I say this only as a suggestion because the only one who knows the actual timing and order of events is God. What I can say is that even though these proposals seem far-fetched, many people pick up Dan Brown’s book and believe every word of it. In fact, I highly doubt that anyone who devours this book and thoroughly enjoys it will have any trouble believing someone who attempts to bring the fantasy world of that novel and the real events of the end times together. And with signs and wonders as proof I can only imagine if such a scenario could arise.

[Surgeon83]

I think God desires companionship more than anything else. Worship, I believe, is our way of establishing a connection to him. He desires us so much and cares for us that he sent his son who willingly died so that we could draw closer to him and be comforted by it. Many of my comments on other posts have been about the mind of God, but what God truly wants is for us to desire his heart. It is true that we get wrapped up in our daily lives. We become consumed with money, work, sex, etc. These things fade away so quickly. I remember a high school teacher who summed it up nicely, “we are not human beings yearning to be spiritual, but spiritual beings trying to be human”. And that is quite ture. We are constantly at war with the flesh and it must be crucified daily. We must come back to our father, our home. Look at all he has given us, and all he desires is for us to love him in return.

[Surgeon83]

I do realize that There hasn't been any observation (to my knowledge) that has found a mutation to prompt the arrival of a new species. The mutation explanation was the one given to me by my biology professors who,by the way, find it quite difficult to explain the details as to how this has seemed to occur quite frequently in the cambrian period ,but has inevitably died out. I do find it interesting to go from a biochem and cell bio lecture and then meet some of these same professors who say this has all happened due to a chance combination of chemicals. As to saucy's comments I do think (as do most people I assume) that God is the final layer of existence beyond both our own universe and heaven itself.
I think of God as being the final layer to all of the universes and realms beyond our own. It is interesting to note that although much has been made about the birth of string theory and branes of neighboring universes colliding to initiate a “big bang” in our own, scientists (atheistic of course) keep attempting to dig deeper into our history only to find themselves at a loss for words as to how or why it all came about. It has become our own tower of babel if you will. Inevitably, most scientists searching the cosmos for our purpose must come to grips with an ever facing, simple answer to all their journeys, God.
God always was and will forever be the alpha and omega to all our questions of origin. Jesus neatly summed up all our questions with two words.

[Surgeon83]

First let me say that anyone who claims to be an atheist and then mocks a Christian for believing in God for illogical reasons is a hypocrite. They claim that they “know” or strongly believe there is no God based on the same line of reasoning that others DO believe there is a God. Essentially it comes down to a belief. I wrote a post in response to evolution so I won't go into why it's flawed here. I would like to start off by saying that I believe the big bang theory to be true. That is to say: “God spoke and BANG, it happened” as the bumper stickers say. This sounds laughable, but in reality it is quite plausible. Let's take God out of the equation and start the assumptions rolling. We must first assume that the known universer was always here. When I say universe I mean space itself; take out all of the stars, planets, and galaxies and there you go, a black canvas, the universe. Secondly we must assume that it is infinite in size and breadth. To assume otherwise would mean that beyond ours is another universe, so the same line of reasoning would apply to that one as well. Thridly we must….ASSUME that all of the energy of the universe was again…ALWAYS here and dormant for what would seem an eternity which doesn't make since because we must first assume the universe was always here, here's the explanation: If the big bang was to happen by itslef there must have been something or someone (hint-hint) to prompt its progression from a static universe to a dynamic one. So if the universe was in a static state for an infinite amount of time how long did it wait until it blew itself up? Some may say that time didn't exist yet. Let's not get philosophical, remember we're supposed to be examining the birth of the universe from a purely scientific standpoint. Even if there is some esoteric explanation as to how the moment before the big bang can have no beginning and yet lead to a point of difference we are stuck with the following situation: The universe had no beginning, the energy had no beginning, the universe decided to change that state ( a violation of the second law of thermodynamics) and blow itself up into ordered pieces for no apparent reason whatsoever. Now with that said I must put forth other evidence for the existence of God besides logical arguments. There was a book written recently called “How the universe got its spots”. In it a young scientist puts forth evidence that the universe is not infinite but actually finite (although unimaginably huge). Secondly there is evidence coming from quantum theory that explains the necessity of a first observer before the universe's creation.Hmm I wonder who that could have been. Go to the library and dive into books on mathematics,biochemistry and physics. If you can read all of that and still have the nerve to say there is no God then you have more faith than most Christians.

[Surgeon83]

First of all there are many aspects of Darwin's theory that are obviously true; the first being the evolution of populations due to natural selection. The key to this mechanism of evolution is simple; Let's say there are 2 groups of ants, a red and black colony. Let's also say that there is an anteater which can notice red ants more so than the black ones. Over time the relative proportion or ratio of red to black ants will be quite small. This isn't profound, it's obvious. The problem occurrs when we start speaking of the evolution of individual species. This hasn't ever been recorded, anywhere. Remember, the mechanism by which evolution supposedly opporates is natural selection. However, this only acts in the here-and-now. In other words, a species cannot decide to evolve certain traits because it has a hinch that an ice age is approaching, this never happens, so the evolution of species is restricted to the present state.
Furthermore, we must also remember that members of different species cannot interbreed. In order for one species to change into another there must be a genetic mutation occuring somewhere in the DNA of the individual. Mutations occurr approx. 1/10,000 births; those aren't very good odds first of all. Secondly the mutation must occurr at a gene-expressing section of DNA. Remember, eukaryotic DNA, or animal DNA to be general, is mostly none-expressing. This means that most of the nucleotide base sequences don't code for any protein at all. So now what we have is a mutation which is a rare event occuring along a specific gene-expressing section of DNA (out of billions of DNA bases) and not only causing a genetic mutation that will cause the species to express different proteins (e.g.feathers on reptiles), but this mutation must be beneficial which further decreases the odds of this occurring. In my college bio textbooks there are horrible explanations for the evolution of species. One of which includes the evolution of birds from dinosaurs. It says that certain dinosaurs wanted to catch prey better, so they evolved feathers to increase surface area and started hopping around. Hop-hop-hop and eventually they're tweeting around in cages.lol. Essentially the theory of evolution is flawed. It is flawed in terms of statistics, molecular genetics, and biochemistry the likes of which would call for several volumes of pages like this one. Darwin at heart was a humanist although he put on the religious facade in order to be recieved by the community. He was also a staunch communist. I don't doubt that mutations could give rise to a new species, but we must remember, the unlikely mutation described above has to be done in the exact same manner at the exact same time in the same species of the opposite sex so that this “new” species can reproduce and propagate. So If you think that the mutation of such a manner is hard to believe, imagine having to do it twice in such a time period that reproduction is possible. Then we must consider this happening, not as a rare event, but a continuous process throughout all of the animal world; quite laughable if you ask me.

[Surgeon83]

I wonder whether or not God chooses not to know what our final destination (heaven,####) will be. If he is God, then he knows all things; past,present, and future, but if he knows what we’ll do tomorrow, then he must also know whether or not we’ll sin and whether or not we will die in sin. I suppose you can’t surprise God in such a way the he would say "wow, I didn’t think so-and-so would sin today", but I suppose it would be horrible to allow the creation of a person all the while knowing that that being will be forever tortured. Wouldn’t it be better to have never lived than to live forever apart from God? I would love to hear any more thoughts.

[Surgeon83]

Is our understanding of the universe sound? Saying that the universe came from the big bang is like saying John F. Kennedy’s assassination came from a loud pop. I do think there is something behind both bullets. Quantum theory is telling us some strange things, but the most exciting is the notion that our existence is a result or at least a possibility because of an outside observer. Many know the shrodinger’s cat hypothetical experiment by which the cat exists in two realms; that of the living and the dead. It is only when an observer opens the box that either alternative is chosen. The details can be found through any search engine. Essentially what the theory tells us is that if the universe was in a total static state, nothing could change that from being dynamic or static unless an observer was present. First of all the 2nd law of thermodynamics states that the entropy(disorder) of the universe is increasing. This is a slap in the face to a spontaneous explosion creating ordered galaxies and stars. I think that as our understanding of science increases so does our notions of God. It is when we become arrogant in our understanding that our true ignorace is shown. I hope others have some more viewpoints as well.

[Surgeon83]

It is interesting to note that there are many who ascribe to the belief that there is a difference between heaven and paradise. I personally believe there is. I believe the Bible mentions something about Abraham’s bosom. I believe that when we die (when saved of course) we will go to paradise. When the rapture takes place those on earth will rise directly to heaven and those in paradise shall rise to heaven also. That’s why the bible says the dead in Christ shall rise first.

[Surgeon83]

I find it intriguing to investigate all the possible havenly creations of God. There are the cherubim which guard the very glory of God and must use their wings to shield their faces from the shear awesomeness of his presence. Look at the displays of the ark of the covenant; two cherubim in the middle of which God’s presence resided. I think that any other books which attempt to describe these beings are worth looking into. Kabbalistic texts, the sefir Yetzirah, etc.

[Surgeon83]

The Bible does say that sorcery, divination, and casting spells are detestable to God. What is interesting is the Kabbalah. This sort of esoteric practice may have started out holy (used only by the priests to commune in the presence of God), but has denegrated to a state where it is now chic to practice it. You find much of it assoctiated with tarot cards and the like which can often set it off as evil. I guess it’s up to the practicioner to decide what is or isn’t evil; although I would rather be safe than sorry

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