Question-Comment:

IN GOD WE TRUST!!!

You may have noticed that I put "IN GOD WE TRUST" at the beginning of
each e-mail I send. The reason I do that is because the enemies of
America are determined to remove all mention of God or Jesus from our
society. They don't care that filthy language is used on Television, in
the movies and on the radio, but they are quick to define it as free
speech while censoring any mention of God or Jesus
because it might offend someone not believing in Jesus.

I have a rubber stamp that I use on my snail mail. I hope you will join
me and let's start an epidemic.

Jesus loves you and so do I,

Marvin Lacy

Let's make this ONE NATION UNDER GOD!!!

DON WROTE:

Sounds like a good idea. Not only will everyone you E-mail see it, but more importantly, God will as well. If the idea takes hold, it will be interesting to see how the opposition will attack this freedom.

MARVIN WROTE AGAIN:

Marvin received a forwarding E-mail that he sent on to me--sort of fits right in so we're adding it to his WRAP.

THOUGHTS OF FINDING A PENNY

You always hear the usual stories of pennies on the sidewalk being good luck, gifts from angels, etc. This is the first time I've ever heard this twist on the story. Gives you something to think about.

Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the husband's employer's home. My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house.

The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. The husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.

As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant that evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband. He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.

Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts. Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.

He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure. How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny?

Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?

Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She causally mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.

A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before!

What was the point of this?

"Look at it." He said. "Read what it says." She read the words "United States of America."

"No, not that; read further."

"One cent?" "No, keep reading."

"In God we Trust?" "Yes!" "And?"

"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him? Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!

When I was out shopping today, I found a penny on the sidewalk. I stopped and picked it up, and realized that I had been worrying and fretting in my mind about things I cannot change. I read the words, "In God We Trust," and had to laugh. Yes, God, I get the message.

It seems that I have been finding an inordinate number of pennies in the last few months, but then, pennies are plentiful!

And, God is patient...

Have a blessed day!!

B'ANN WROTE:

A wise man would stop and think about the current situations in the United States. If something was not producing positive results in a factory or business; then, there would be an immediate meeting called, strong measures would be taken to bring forward positive results, and leaderships would be changed if necessary to bring about productivity. We need to look at our United States progression since the 1960s. Are we better off socially?? Are we more productive in the market place??? Are we stronger morally??? Is our national health improving??? Is our debt ratio climbing??? Are our teenagers emotionally sound??? I could go on and on, but it seems at about the time that some decided to "remove God" (as if they were actually able) from our nation, we have seen great turmoil in parenting, marriages, teenagers, national leaders, church leaders. I could go on and on. One could most surely use the slang term of "we're slowly going to hell in a basket". What amazes me is that we continue to plunge recklessly onward with lifestyles and policies that are absolutely faulty even to the eyes of someone that has never even claimed the name of Christ. So, maybe we need to go back to some basic principles that made our nation great and see if some of our dignity as a nation can be restored. Yes, people need to be free!!! But they need to be free "to reach their greatest potential as a human being"--not free to fight for the moral, physical, emotional, and national decay of the nation in which we ALL have to live and raise our children, etc.

There is a "forwarding E-mail" making the circles with an attached video that attempts to illustrate the Lord's return to Rapture His Church. From a technical point of view, the video is impressive. However, because this video is grossly in error Scripturally, we feel we need to address its problems. In the video, there is a great lightning bolt and then the Lord appears in the sky as a man-like figure of light. Slowly, bodies are seen rising up out of the ground and going into the body of light, followed by the floating up of the bodies of the Saints living at the time.

This video demonstrates how that many teachers in the Church today have the same problem with their prophetic vision as did the Jews in the Lord's day. Those of His day--whose hearts were so "far from God" that they crucified their own Messiah--were mingling the Lord's Visitation to the earth (when He died on the cross and was later resurrected from the grave) with His return to the earth to set up the Kingdom Age wherein He will rule the inhabitants of the earth for a thousand years from the throne of David. Because they would not receive their Messiah, the Jews of Jesus' day were trying to make the two events both happen during their day, not being able to perceive that the two events would be separated by the Grace Age in which we live. Similarly, many of today's "prophets" have problems with our Lord's "return" to the earth--not perceiving that He will be returning to the earth three different times before time for our planet runs its course. We discuss the three times in some detail in our on-line book THE CLOCK OF THE AGES. In brief, the three times will be:

1. His return to take the Saints up to be with Himself at the end of our age,
2. His return from heaven with His glorified saints to set up His Kingdom at the end of three and one-half years of Great Tribulation which immediately follows the Rapture of the Church, and
3. His return to the earth after the "little season" at the end of the Kingdom Age just before the final Great White Throne Judgment of those of all ages who lived and died without faith in God and His Christ. Note the following Scripture.

   Revelation 20
   ¹And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
   ²And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
   ³And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Whoever put together the video obviously has not "rightly divided" the Word of Truth; for they begin their presentation with a partial quote from Revelations 1:7--"and every eye shall see him." The full verse reads:

^{Rev. 1:7}
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

When viewed in its context, Revelation 1:7 is a part of the introduction to the greatest prophetic book in the Bible—a book that deals with all three of the Lord's returns to His planet, especially with the second and third returns. Consequently, this verse helps to set the stage for the remainder of the book of Revelation; and as such it such be read prophetically to say: Behold, he cometh with clouds [i.e., His first return when when Jesus comes as a thief in the night and takes His Church away]; and every eye shall see him [i.e., His second return when Jesus comes back with His glorified saints after 3 1/2 years of Great Tribulation to establish His Kingdom on the earth], and they also which pierced him [emphasizing that the seed of Abraham through Isaac has a special place throughout prophecy]: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him [i.e., His third return at the end of the Kingdom Age when He shall make war with Lucifer and all the earth's inhabitants who rejected His sacrificial death on the cross; and then He shall judge them along with the lost of all the ages at the Great White Throne Judgment before they are thrown into the Lake of Fire for eternity]. Even so, Amen.

Now, let's consider some Scriptures that will not support the notion set forth by the video.

I Th. 5:2
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

Does a thief stand in view of the whole world as a figure of light?

Mt. 24:27
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Note that Matthew writes "as" lightning comes out of the east and shines towards the west, in a similar fashion shall be our Lord's return. The word "as" does not mean that there will be a giant bolt of lightning; but that something "like" a flash of lightning will take place. The word "as" is used as a simile to paint an image of something--probably because we have no frame of reference for anything like what will take place at the time. If this is the case, then we might expect a flash of light to fill the sky and we might expect it to precede a storm of some kind. Also, natural lightning does not have a pattern of going from the east to the west. This, too, is symbolic--indicating that Israel (which is located in the east) will be at the heart of the events associated with the Rapture of the Church.

I Cor 15:
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.

According to Paul, the whole Rapture event--i.e., the sound of the trump, the flash of light, the taking up and glorification of the bodies of the saints in the grave, the reuniting of the spirits of these saints with their newly glorified bodies, and the transformation of the saints alive at the time will all take place in the "twinkling of an eye." That's not even as long as it takes to blink the eye. Consequently, we are not given to expect anything at all like what is represented in the video. In fact, any flash of light associated with the Rapture will happen so fast that those left below will probably say something like: "Did I just see something?" In deed, after all of this happens, all of those left behind who want nothing to do with God, will be given up to delusions that they might believe a lie. (See II Thes. chapter 2.)

Let me sum up by saying concerning the Rapture, it will matter little what the born-again believer believes; for when the Lord returns, all who have the Spirit of Christ will go up with the body of Christ, regardless. However, for those left behind who will have procrastinated in accepting Christ as Lord and Savior, or for the many who just weren't quite sure what to believe; it may be dreadfully important that they hear the truth. I say this because if they are looking for some sort of awesome fire works to be associated with the Rapture, when nothing of the kind takes place, they may be caught up in whatever lies the devil spews out about the disappearance of the believers. [If you have read our on-line book THE CLOCK OF THE AGES, you are aware that there will be many that make it through the horrific 3 1/2 years of Great Tribulation that will follow the Rapture of the Church and that many of these will die resisting the "beast" (Satan's puppet ruler).] Heaven forbid that any should fall into the devil's snares simply because the church disseminated false information about our Lord's return for His Bride, the Church!

Hey Marc:

You are not alone in your "wish." One of the end-time signs will be the Church l o n g i n g for its Savior's return. I know that is my heart, and I'm satisfied that most born-again believers do concur. In the meantime, remember His command: "Occupy till I come" Luke 19:13.

So, how do we occupy?

Well, "more of the same" obviously does not qualify as "occupying." If it did, then the world would not be in the shape that it is in today; for the Lord Jesus would have been able to make his presence known and our societies would have reflected that influence. What do we mean by "more of the same"? More of same simply means more of the same ol' same ol': i.e., more dutiful church attendance, more church socials, more man-made programs, more support for mega-media ministries, etc. In other words, for the Church to "occupy," there can be no more "business as usual." If we truly want to "occupy" for our Lord, as individuals, we first need to scrutinize the church we have been attending and ask ourselves if it has truly made a difference for our Lord in its community and in the world. If you do make such a scrutiny and it becomes obvious that the business of your church during the past several decades has not been the business of God, but of man; then you will have found your church to be in the majority. However, if upon reflection, you can say that God has put His stamp of approval on your Church, then praise the Lord and "keep on keeping on." But if you must truthfully admit that your church has not shown the approval of God on its activities--and yours, then what can you do as one of its members to get it on track and to begin doing the will of Christ Jesus? For the answer, let's go to II Chronicles 7:14.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Granted, this is an Old Testament Scripture, and it was directed to the nation of Israel, a unique nation in that God called it to be a theocracy (a nation governed by God). Although the Israelites rejected God's personal rule, God did not trash the nation, but tried to rule it via prophets and kings, whenever He found one that would let Him. I say all this for a frame of reference; because the United States also has been a unique nation in that its founders revered God and formed our nation as "...one nation, under God...." For the most part, up to the 1950's, our nation remained "...one nation, under God..." for the Church did have a godly influence and most of its leaders reflected that influence. However, in the 1950s our colleges and universities became the seat of various "intellectuals" who felt that because a belief in God was intangible and could not be proven or disproved by scientific methods, that God should have no place in education. So, while the churches were singing "What a friend we have in Jesus," the leaders of higher education of the day were waging a PR campaign, flooding the radios of the day with the slogan "Colleges are America's best friend, support the college of your choice. " In retrospect, we can see that the "intellectuals" wielded more influence on the students of the 50's than did the church. The trend has continued until today so that educators now stand in jeopardy of losing their jobs if they even dare to mention the name of God or Christ Jesus in their class rooms. This in spite of the fact that they can teach just about whatever they want about any other religion and no one seems to care. However, God has never lost one iota of His power, so the devil was only able to make such inroads because the churches were not moving in His will or His power.

Just to understand the cause of a problem is not the cure. But because of our unique birth as a nation, if we will obey the Lord's commands in II Chronicles 7:14, we can bring the power of the Risen Savior to bear on our problems. CHRIST is the answer for the problems of America; and He always has been, for you see, it is Jesus who has been America's Best Friend, not some "intellectuals" who are foolish enough to say in their heart that there is no God. However, a cure to a problem is only a cure when it is applied to that problem. And only the Church of the Lord Jesus has the authority to bring the power of Christ to bear on the problems of our land; and for it to exercise that authority, it must apply II Chronicles 7:14. We should also note that although this is the answer for the powerless Church, the answer can only be applied on an individual basis.

If my people, which are called by my name [The praise or the blame for the state of America belongs to the born-again believers in the Church, and not to the government or unbelievers.], shall humble themselves [That is, they must face up to the fact that given the choice of walking in the Spirit and bringing forth life and fruit eternal, or walking in the flesh and bringing forth death--they have walked after their flesh.], and pray [The prayer mentioned here is not the futile mental exercise of one going through the motions, but the earnest, effectual prayer of a righteous person who is being led by the Holy Spirit as he or she prays.], and seek my face [This is where faith enters in. After all that we have done contrary to His will, we can only approach God when we believe Him to be our loving and forgiving Father.], and turn from their wicked ways [In the Spirit-led prayer, the Lord will show each of us our particular shortcomings and errors and He will also empower us to turn from them.]; then will I hear from heaven [Our omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent God is to be revered; and His very name to be hallowed.], and will forgive their sin [Yet, it is our Lord's nature to forgive the repentant sinner for He remembers full well that the flesh is weak.], and will heal their land [It is generally taught that healing of the sick body is the children's bread if they have the faith and the boldness to appropriate it. But rarely does the Church hear that God wants to heal the land in which His children live so that they might dwell safely and peacefully with their family and loved ones and serve Him without fear.].

So, to answer our original question: "How do we occupy?" It is as simple as going into our prayer closets and entering into the Spirit-led prayer and to put feet to those prayers as we are led by the Spirit of Christ. For sure, more church programs designed by man are NOT the answer!

Matthew 6:6
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Romans 8:26
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Ephesians 6:18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

^{Revelations 22:
20}He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly . Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
²¹The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Let me footnote Don's thoughts. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is supposed to be a lively, dynamic force upon earth. Never in our writings would we tell people to "forsake the assembling of yourselves together." We are merely asking "DoWeKnow" what Christian assemble is all about? In whose name do we assemble as Christ's followers? And for what purpose do we assemble? The only reason we are to have a church on earth is to do the Great Commission. How effective we are as a local Body of Christ can be easily measured by our "soul winning" outreach. If a congregation is truly "soul winning" then Christ teaches that signs and wonders will follow that group. (Now, by signs and wonders, we mean actual happenings that occur such as a healing which can be verified and that remains.) But there is no Scripture teaching that people will be saved by signs and wonders!!! It is the Love of God Who is willing to forgive sin and wash the vilest sinner clean in the blood of His Only Begotten Son that wins a heart and saves a soul. (Churches that are built upon supposed signs and wonders are in great error just as are those churches that want nothing to take place in their church that they can't control.)

Here is where we get off onto tangents within the church. We are not to use the "occurrence" of signs and wonders among the believers/unbelievers as fund raisers. Such occurrences that are genuine are Gifts of the Spirit. If they are Gifts of the Spirit, then, they are not our gifts. How can we dare to buy and sell something that belongs to another. DoWeKnow that they are gifts and cannot be bought or sold? If so, then don't we know that they are to be given away as gifts! There are those who say that they give to a particular ministry because it was in their services that the miracle occurred. If it indeed occurred, then it was a Gift from Jesus. What should happen in this instance is that the recipients should spill out into the streets, as did those from the Upper Room, and share these wonders/Gifts with a sick and dying world. Instead, people gather things up into one pot/offering and say to the sick, maimed, halt, blind, imprisoned..."you must come to our place/our church to receive your blessing". In effect, they have placed the Church world back under the law when the people had to come to the "Pool of Bethesda" to receive any blessings.

What happened to the Great Commission that said, "Go ye into all the World"? What about the "highways and the hedges"? Do we consider those without as not worthy to receive? People in "turned-in churches" become like sheep milling around in one great big building and before they know it, they start bumping, kicking and shoving because the pen is too crowded. The most common way to solve this seems to be a church fight and members leaving in a spirit of strife to start another church. But when this happens, it creates a disgusting stink in the nostrils of God and a stumbling block to the neighborhood that observed the fight. How much better it would be if people would voluntarily "spill out" and "overflow" to a world that has desperate needs. Needs that are on a scale as never before in history. May we stop deluding ourselves about our church going habits and actually "walk the walk" that Christ has given each of us. It will not be contained within four walls. It cannot be done by a hired preacher. It cannot be done by sending money to an evangelist/media minister to do the work for us. It must be done by each person, individually, who in turn will be individually judged by God. Individually! We come together collectively, not as a fund raising group, but to strengthen one another for our individual walk. The New Testament Church knew this principal. We were never taught to build "bigger and better barns." May we get out into the fields for they are truly "white unto harvest." May I further add that "going into the fields" does not have the connotation of "dressing up in our Sunday best clothes" and sitting on a pew for a few hours. It sounds like there might be some sweat; some soiled, dusty clothing; some straining of muscles; physical effort; miles to go; people to visit; and tears...involved in true service.

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