Anybody who has ever done any serious Bible study knows that scripture is full of figurative and symbolic language.
I'll be polite and just say, "You don't say?" Of course their is. EVERYTHING is figurative and symbolic, in addition to being literal. Usually the symbolic type and shadow go WITH the actual substance and not INSTEAD OF and something casts the shadow. It's never JUST a shadow. Something produces it (BTW I'm not shouting!) The Spirit must bear witness to it on each end.
Don't be so quick to dismiss something just because it sounds wrong to you. Maybe you just don't understand.
Preceptually speaking that is correct. However, the Holy Spirit didn't check out when I read the post and He is NOT witnessing to the truth of what was said.
Furthermore, not submitting to teachers in the Body of Christ is profoundly out of order and it is in this environment that deception flourishes.
What do you suppose was the reason for turning aside from endless geneologies in the NT? Science has NOTHING to do with the edification in the church. They minister mysteries and questions. It places the emphasis on symbols and not reality. The symbols often take the place of reality and become something else.
Originally Posted by
Alive_Again
I suppose with enough division, multiplication, and addition you can make it say whatever you want.
I'd like to see you try. The thing about mathematics is that it's perfect. Some numbers just fit together and some just don't. You can not make it say "whatever you want".
Their was all kinds of stuff "prophesied" about what would happen in the 80s based on math and Israels existence in '48, or the millenium being the end of the 6th day, etc. Then you have Jehovah's Witnesses do the same thing and how the Lord was to return (several of times now). God doesn't want someone to "symbolize" the Word and make it say something more than what it says. While their are many mysteries in the Word, and in the stars, and in the body, etc. Precept is upon precept and without the foundational ones, people just swallow anything. The Lord has revealed more mysteries in the last few years than every before with great revelation about Heaven, the dinosaurs, Lucifer's kingdom, the workings of the enemy, yet every one of them MUST be witnessed to by the Holy Spirit to be received. Even then, it is not to symbolize the Word, but to show how true and literal it really is (as it is given).
Mathematics are a precise "science". The thing is, in the accounting world, their is "creative mathematics". It's when you attribute the value of something to something you cannot substantiate. That's creative accounting. It's when you apply something in the wrong category to come up with something else.
Originally Posted by
Alive_Again
Don't be too certain because the church has a long way to go before the tribulation. There's a great revival coming in the church and in the world.
Perhaps it is you who should not be so certain. The end is definitely near. Obviously nearer than you think.
I used to think that way too but the Holy Spirit has emphasized that many things need to take place before the end, or the rapture as some would refer to it, then the end.
The charismatic church works some of the works of the Father, but not typically the greater works. Individual miracles take place and the gifts operate on some level, but most of the church in its entirety is far from a mature expression of the Head which is the Lord. Surely you must agree. The Evangelical church at large is "kept" but apart from some soul winning, performs very little of the works of the Spirit. The gifts are almost nonexistent, and in many cases, they are explained away entirely.
Generally speaking, btw, the Lord confirms the Word with signs following. Many churches get people born again preaching the gospel (that is wonderful), but not filled with the Spirit, healed, or delivered. It is the churches with little or NO manifestation that say that these things passed away. If there is no manifestation, then He does NOT agree with what is being preached (In other words, He's not doing the preaching through them at any level). He needs something to agree with to manifest. His Word WILL be performed by His Spirit.
The vision of the end time church will be church performing the GREATER works. There are many powerful manifestations of the Spirit to come that the world, even the media will focus and magnify. Many denominational signs will come down and a great move IN UNITY will take place. There will also be a great persecution in the church and people will have to choose between relationship and religion.
The "religion" group (in Jesus' name) will point to the Word about lying signs and wonders (They will be blind leaders leading the blind.). All the while, sinners are getting saved and manifestations are happening (even through children). The Lord's glory will be seen and though time is short, their is still a ways to go.
It IS time to prepare by having the church edify one another and remain untainted from the world. Their will be many "tangents" that people will preach to draw away sheep to themselves. We MUST be careful not to go after anything that the Spirit does not bear witness to.
Originally Posted by
Alive_Again
You're making yourself out to be a false prophet with these predictions. You've only given yourself 2 years and some months for that to be evident.
If you understood what the mark of the beast was perhaps you would not be so quick to dismiss his "prediction".
There will be a literal mark and this should prove quite convincing for many. The disadvantage is that the church is not preaching the same thing and so many will not take this seriously, or apply it another way (than is given).
Clearly you are underestimating the importance of mathematics in God's plan. I highly recommend that you get yourself a copy of David Flynn's book "Temple at the center of Time". He makes it quite clear that God does use numbers as signs and numbers are related to time.
There is more order in the the Word of God than we can possibly know. Numbers are significant, but what you do with them can turn aside and preach another message. Numbers like 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 40, 144 1 and 11 are very prophetic. Every single Mosaic Law has a type and a shadow in the Spirit and we have only scratched the surface of mysteries. The mysteries or shadows point to the substance. They are not meant for creative addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
10 means "completion". That's why tempting God ten times completed the temptation cycle. That's why the ten days of tribulation represents the completion of tribulation. And that's why "millennium" represents the completion of the gospel message and the time to choose your mark.
It is time to choose the Lord, but the Lord forgives 70x7 (in a day) and He will take the repentant all the way to the end (assuming you don't take the literal mark. If you're "marked" with the mark of the devil by being of his system (as you might think), you can repent. If you live that long, and see the actual "mark" you'll be able to remember to turn aside from reading things into the Word and stay filled and edified (like the Word says) and turn aside from so called science.
