Encounters and Calling

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John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
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That's not what Peter said, and certainly not what he implied. Try again.
16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
 

Gideon300

Well-known member
Mar 18, 2021
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Frankston, Victoria
christianlife.au
Jesus is the complete revelation of God. There is not enough paper or printers to declare everything that God has to say.

A few years ago, I had a question. I asked God several times why He did not kill Adam and Eve and start again with another couple. One evening, God replied to my question. He said the He did kill Adam and Eve and start again. The cross terminates the race of Adam. The cross is like Noah's flood that physically killed all except Noah and his family. Lord Jesus is the Last Adam. He is the Last Adam because He fulfilled God's will perfectly.

If we will accept Christ, we will be included in His death and also His resurrection. Lord Jesus is like the ark (as in the days of Noah.........) If we hide ourselves in Him, we will be saved from the coming judgement.

What the Lord shows us by revelation will not contradict His word. But often it will give us understanding and insight that just reading the verses does not do.
I was just thinking about Adam and Eve too this week.The fall had to have been predestined otherwise how can a seed fall to the ground and die before it bares much fruit?.Man was told to be fruitful and multiply on the 6th day,the same day he was created.
6 falls short of 7.The number 7 means a lot of things like completeness, fullness,and rest.
The tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life represent God's covenants.When scripture says Jesus was hung on a tree it's a reference to the tree of life.The life is in the blood.Jesus was 'hung' on the tree of life.
And it all makes sense because he reconcile all things unto himself through the blood of his cross.Even the sword which guards the way to the tree of life represents the Word of God.
One other thing about the garden is that it is liken to the temple court.That's something to think about in itself.
Saying that the fall was predestined means to claim that God is evil. Knowing something will happen does not mean that you make it happen. I bought a bike for my young son. He was racing downhill. I told him to slow down or he would fall off. He ignored me and sure enough, he fell off. I did not buy the bike to hurt him and I did not make him crash. But I could see it coming. God warned Adam and Eve. God is not responsible for the sin of man.

Seeds do not die in order to bear fruit. I know, I've killed enough seeds to know the difference. Jesus is the "Seed" of the woman that God warned Satan about. Jesus is that "seed" that fell into the ground and died.

You are also wrong about the cross being the tree of life. Deuteronomy 21:23 says that anyone hanged on a tree is cursed. The Tree of Life was blessed. Your analogy works better with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
 

Dino246

Senior Member
Jun 30, 2015
26,200
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16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Here is your earlier post:

"Peter stated that he saw and he heard and yet, scripture is more sure". Nowhere in the Scripture above does it say, "and yet, scripture is more sure". You have invented a sense that is not in the text at all, and thereby engaged in eisegesis.

I know you refuse to read anything but the KJV, but for everyone else: modern translations are a lot clearer in verse 19.
 
Feb 21, 2016
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Saying that the fall was predestined means to claim that God is evil. Knowing something will happen does not mean that you make it happen. I bought a bike for my young son. He was racing downhill. I told him to slow down or he would fall off. He ignored me and sure enough, he fell off. I did not buy the bike to hurt him and I did not make him crash. But I could see it coming. God warned Adam and Eve. God is not responsible for the sin of man.

Seeds do not die in order to bear fruit. I know, I've killed enough seeds to know the difference. Jesus is the "Seed" of the woman that God warned Satan about. Jesus is that "seed" that fell into the ground and died.

You are also wrong about the cross being the tree of life. Deuteronomy 21:23 says that anyone hanged on a tree is cursed. The Tree of Life was blessed. Your analogy works better with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
That doesn't mean that I'm claiming God is evil because I say that the fall of man was predestined, and which Ephesians 1:3-7 testifies to.God shed blood for Adam,and Eve and covered them in skins not for a random reason.

God himself says these things:

Isaiah 45:7
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Ephesians 1:3-7
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

Galatians 3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.

Hebrews 9:15-17
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.



John 12:24-26
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.


These are some good scriptures that testify to these things.Think about the moment a child has understanding of what's right, and wrong, and that child chooses wrong.
That's the fall,that's death.That's a seed falling unto the ground and dying.
 

Gideon300

Well-known member
Mar 18, 2021
5,982
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Frankston, Victoria
christianlife.au
That doesn't mean that I'm claiming God is evil because I say that the fall of man was predestined, and which Ephesians 1:3-7 testifies to.God shed blood for Adam,and Eve and covered them in skins not for a random reason.

God himself says these things:

Isaiah 45:7
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Ephesians 1:3-7
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

Galatians 3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.

Hebrews 9:15-17
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.



John 12:24-26
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.


These are some good scriptures that testify to these things.Think about the moment a child has understanding of what's right, and wrong, and that child chooses wrong.
That's the fall,that's death.That's a seed falling unto the ground and dying.
Do you know what predestined means?
 

Gideon300

Well-known member
Mar 18, 2021
5,982
3,667
113
Frankston, Victoria
christianlife.au
That doesn't mean that I'm claiming God is evil because I say that the fall of man was predestined, and which Ephesians 1:3-7 testifies to.God shed blood for Adam,and Eve and covered them in skins not for a random reason.

God himself says these things:

Isaiah 45:7
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Ephesians 1:3-7
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

Galatians 3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.

Hebrews 9:15-17
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.



John 12:24-26
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.


These are some good scriptures that testify to these things.Think about the moment a child has understanding of what's right, and wrong, and that child chooses wrong.
That's the fall,that's death.That's a seed falling unto the ground and dying.
The KJV translation of Isaiah 45:7 is wrong. God does not create evil. He only creates good. Men might not agree that God's judgement is good, but they should think of that before rebelling. A better translation of "evil" is calamity or disaster. God sent the worldwide flood to destroy mankind, apart from Noah. That was a good thing as it saved the human race.
 
May 29, 2013
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Here is a great topic to discuss. As a Bible believer and Charismatic, one of the distinguishing things I have noticed in Scripture is men who were used by God had encounters with God.

This is a two fold discussion: If you have had an encounter with God, please share it and describe what it means?
If you are against encounters and believe that we should not rely on them based on our calling, then give a scriptural argument.

I think this will be a fun conversation! Do encounters still exist today? Does God still speak to individuals beyond just the written word (remember, they had the torah before Jesus)?
I believe people can have encounters with God. And some people may since the Lord's speaking a specific scripture to them for their life or get a prophetic word, the prophetic word making firm something out of speaking to them... sometimes.

Having been raised in a coastal I remember hearing a sermon when I was young about being called and Paul falling down.... was probably a horse added to the story that isn't in the text... and I would hear about preachers being called.

So it seemed like the underlying doctrine that showed up in comments and sermons if it wasn't explicitly taught was that pastors and preachers in general had authority to do their ministry because they had a call and the call might be tied to some specific experience.

But as I grew in the faith and studied more scripture and I believe the Lord opened up some scripture Tim he had been praying about to try to understand such things, I began to see that for the local church pasture old type ministry I can't find any references to some kind of call experience or a 'call narrative' as some people describe the literature about the prophets as it relates to elders. Now the one exception might be the 70 elders in the book of numbers that have the S/spirit that was on Moses put upon them in prophesied.

Overseers in the local church have certain character and lifestyle qualities that they have to live up to. I would say if someone claims to be called to a local church overseership roll and they don't demonstrate these qualities that they should wait and growing the grace of God until they do demonstrate these qualities in their life and their family before they should be considered for that role.

I think there is an error of emphasis in the criteria for pastors. Or more specifically church overseers and that some traditions require that they meet some extra biblical education requirements and may or may not require them to live up to the biblical qualifications. Other traditions emphasize their being called having good speaking abilities and demonstrating certain spiritual gifts and things along those lines but may or may not insist that they live up to the biblical qualifications.

Part of the problem is that the name of the ministry has basically been renamed his pastor so when people see the word elders in scripture they don't often associate it with this same role of local church overseership. And an additional role of elder that is non pastoral was created by the Reformed movement which has created quite a bit of confusion. Since a lot of English speaking evangelicals have borrowed they are ecclesiatical terminology from the Presbyterians we've inherited some of this confusion.

And now if someone is qualified to serve in a church overseer ship role and they had some supernatural experience with God preparing them for the role or leading them in that direction that's fine with me. But if someone claims to have a great experience with God and they don't meet up to the biblical qualifications of the role and do not think that they should be put in that role. First they should demonstrate the characteristics in keeping with the call they claim before they should be appointed/ ordained to that ministry role. And if someone claims to be a pastor he should pastor well in his own household before being an overseership roll in the household of faith

I also think the one man pastor a tradition or the senior pastor tradition and the tradition of having professional hired pastors hinders churches from having some of the qualified men fulfill the fullness of their qualitification in the local church.

Scripture teaches that every man has received the gift and should minister two one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. It makes sense then that leaders in the church would hold believers accountable and encourage them and create opportunities to minister with their gifts not block them or prevent them or shut down opportunities because they aren't hired staff.

I see a lot of churches going with a hired staff model even hiring the musicians who previously would have been volunteer. And some churches that used to have Sunday school and provide a lot of opportunities for those who wanted to teach or exhort have shut those down and only allow paid staff in ministries where they could teach or exhort. And of course churches vary a great deal in the extent to which they allow believers to minister and their gifts and encourage them to do so.
 
Feb 21, 2016
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Saying that the fall was predestined means to claim that God is evil. Knowing something will happen does not mean that you make it happen. I bought a bike for my young son. He was racing downhill. I told him to slow down or he would fall off. He ignored me and sure enough, he fell off. I did not buy the bike to hurt him and I did not make him crash. But I could see it coming. God warned Adam and Eve. God is not responsible for the sin of man.

Seeds do not die in order to bear fruit. I know, I've killed enough seeds to know the difference. Jesus is the "Seed" of the woman that God warned Satan about. Jesus is that "seed" that fell into the ground and died.

You are also wrong about the cross being the tree of life. Deuteronomy 21:23 says that anyone hanged on a tree is cursed. The Tree of Life was blessed. Your analogy works better with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
That doesn't mean that I'm claiming God is evil because I say that the fall of man was predestined, and which Ephesians 1:3-7 testifies to.God shed blood for Adam,and Eve and covered them in skins not for a random reason.

God himself says these things:

Isaiah 45:7
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Ephesians 1:3-7
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

Galatians 3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.

Hebrews 9:15-17
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.



John 12:24-26
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.


These are some good scriptures that testify to these things.Think about the moment a child has understanding of what's right, and wrong, and that child chooses wrong.
That's the fall,that's death.That's a seed falling unto the ground and dying.
Do you know what predestined means?
Yeah,I do.That's why I posted Ephesians 1:3-7, and mentioned the fall of Adam and Eve,since the shedding of blood and the skins as a covering is a foreshadowing of Jesus and the things to come.The scripture says that he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the word that we should be holy and without blame.
All true believers are without blame cause we were forgiven since Jesus has made a way for us on the cross.it was predestined before the foundation of the world.
How can you be without blame, or be blameless,if there was no accusation or accuser?.
When the skins were placed on Adam and Eve it was as a covering.Jesus is our covering.
The armor of God is a covering.A shield is a covering.

Psalm 5:12
For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

Proverbs 10:12

Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

1 John 4:8
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Ok,look at people who are born again.They dont automatically bare plenty of fruit.It's just like the real world.There's times and seasons,and with that comes rains,winds,fires,and destruction of all softs.From all that destruction life springs out.If a fire burns over the lands and destroys everything in it's path the soil benefits from it and so does everything else that are in harmony with it.
We're no different.We go through trials and tribulations.And like the ground we are made of,a garden grows.

There's nothing new under the sun.What once was will be again.When we were born again it was like we were children learning how to live.Adam and Eve had it the same way when they were 'born.'
You can't have one without the other.That's why the tree of knowledge of good and evil isn't called the tree of knowledge of good and calamity or disaster,which God had created.So the kjv version isn't wrong.God is a tester of gold and silver.
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
17,574
3,784
113
Here is your earlier post:

"Peter stated that he saw and he heard and yet, scripture is more sure". Nowhere in the Scripture above does it say, "and yet, scripture is more sure". You have invented a sense that is not in the text at all, and thereby engaged in eisegesis.

I know you refuse to read anything but the KJV, but for everyone else: modern translations are a lot clearer in verse 19.
“Yet” meaning, we have also a more sure word of prophecy…

I thought that was given.