Question-Comment:

Glory to God and his dear Son Jesus Christ, the great Revival is coming.

I visited your Website and I wish you the best you can get, the peace of God through Jesus Christ. Welcome to visit my Site.
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/INDEX.HTM

What is a revival? How does a revival rise?
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/PAGE86.HTM

The Body of Christ, the most valuable that exists on the earth
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/PAGE91.HTM

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/PAGE92.HTM

God's Law and God's Gospel
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/PAGE15.HTM


Greeting in the name of Jesus Christ
Allan Svensson, Sweden

DON WROTE:

Hello Allan,

I have enjoyed your Email immensely. As I look on your website, it becomes apparent you have studied the Bible to show yourself approved unto God. In fact, the following verse came to mind as I was reading it.

1 Corinthians 1:10 -
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

(You might be blessed if you would type "one accord" into a good on-line concordance Bible and see what God was able to do with His Church when it was in one accord and speaking the same thing.) I thank the Lord that He has given you eyes to see the splintered, fragmented parts of the Body of Christ. I've often thought how wonderful it would be if the many churches in the world were simply named after their community or the street on which they were built rather than after one of the many divisions of the body of Christ, thereby strengthening those things that divide and continuing to confuse the on looking world.

I did notice that you are expecting a great revival at the end of our age. I can't find any Scriptures to support this although we are told that at the very end of our age, the Church will do something(s) that will cause Israel to want what it will have. (See Matthew 25.) I also noticed that you included a vision of five angels which were sent with judgment on five parts of the earth. I won't comment on this for this is your private gift. However, most believers are blessed with dreams and visions. (See Acts 2:17) For sometime now I've sensed that every continent is just before experiencing some sort apocalyptic problems. One day I made mention to my son, Samuel, that if ever there were ever a time that the world needed the mercy of God, that it was now--to which he replied: "Tribulation will be God's mercy!" He further explained that if God doesn't send tribulation, that those who are entrenched in the things of this world will never consider their mortality and think on the life to come.

Maranatha,

Don

B'ANN WROTE:

The following quote is from Allan Svensson's website:

We must hold us to the doctrine the apostles preached. "Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work." 2 John 9-11.

This brother has published his messages in his website. Once this is done, the church world has the obligation to endorse, reject, or question his writings. His heart certainly seems right toward God in that he sees the vast divisions within the church world and seeks to exhort believers.

As long as we live in our human form, we will stumble and "occasionally" run ahead of God. What we have tried to say in DOWEKNOW is that each of us needs to ask everyday, "Is it I, Lord?" If we let the Holy Spirit examine what we are doing "for Christ"; then, there is a great possibility that the things that we do will be done "in Christ." There is a great difference between doing things "for Christ" and doing things "in Christ"! When we are doing things "for Christ," we will become very bossy, dictatorial and not subject to edification from others. If we are doing a work "in Christ," we will always be willing to discuss "the Hope that is within us." People that refuse to humble themselves before God, will move closer and closer to "megalomania." (This is an infantile mental disorder where a person thinks they are always correct and beyond reproach.) A person that has not studied the Bible for years could possible fall prey to this if they are put into a church position before they are ready. AH! We "kill off" so many people spiritually by making them church workers immediately after their conversion. They are "babes in Christ" until they have time to "feed upon the Milk of the Word."

There are instances in the Bible when radical measures of division were used. Hopefully the division within the churches of today is not/will not be a parallel to any of these. Each of the following examples is a study within itself.

Genesis 11:
¹ And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
² And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
³ And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
⁴ And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
⁵ And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
⁶ And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
⁷ Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
⁸ So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
⁹ Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
^{*Note they said in verse 4, "...let us make us a name..."}

Genesis13:
¹ And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.
² And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
³ And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;
⁴ Unto the place of the altar, which he had make there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.
⁵ And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.
⁶ And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.
⁷ And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.
⁸ And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.
⁹ Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.
¹⁰ And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
¹¹ Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
¹² Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
¹³ But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
¹⁴ And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
¹⁵ For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
¹⁶ And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
¹⁷ Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. ¹⁸ Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

Judges 19:
²²Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.
²³And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. ²⁴Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing.
²⁵But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.
²⁶Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.
²⁷And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold.
²⁸And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place.
²⁹And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.
³⁰And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.

Question-Comment: Could you define for me each of the twelve stones which represents the 12 tribes (sons) of Jacob. their meaning, current names, or a picture of each stone, and if possible a picture of the breast piece whereby they were to be placed in accordance with scripture. Exodus 39;8-21. Also any other information that you may think helpful.

B'ANN WROTE:

Have you tried going on line and typing "stones+ breastplate" into the search engines? This would be a good way for you to get involved in more Bible study.

Hello Pastor,

Thanks for the word of encouragement. (To our cyber-visitors: Brother Gideon is one of the national missionaries on our
MISSION-MISSIONARIES site found on our home page.) We, too, get to pray for you and your ministry and your continent in the Spirit. It is our prayer that every saint that visits our web pages will hold you and your harvest up before the Lord--for truly it is time for an abundant harvest!

Don

Pastor Gideon Wrote Again:

Dear Brother Don,

We send you our love and greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. We began our evening revival meetings yesterday and we
continue requesting for your prayer support. Many people turned up yesterday and more than 50 souls came to the Lord.
Today we are expecting more to give their lives to Jesus Christ. Tomorrow we will be having a youth rally where by we have
invited so many youths to come and attend this meetings. Please Pray that God will send so many young men from all over to
join us and be motivated to doing what the Lord requires of them...

Don Wrote Again:

The Bible does say that there is joy in the presence of the angels when ONE sinner repents...

Luke 15:
³ And he spake this parable unto them, saying,
⁴ What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
⁵ And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
⁶ And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
⁷ I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
⁸ Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
⁹ And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.
¹⁰ Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Sounds like there has been cause for a party in heaven!

Love,

Don

PS
I'm sure that this has been due in part to the prayers of our cyber visitors--keep the good work up!

Blessings,

Burl

Hello Burl,

Thanks for taking time to WRAP with us.

For the life of me, I can't see how you came up with your conclusion. Remember, Lot's wife "looked back" at Sodom in disobedience to a direct order from God. In addition, if you will read on and see how her children behaved after God had them delivered from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, you will see that Lot's wife must not have been much of a mother.

Also, as to the children left in Sodom perishing in the fire, they did not perish for little children are in the grace of God and this act of God was a great act of mercy in that God took the children home to be with Him rather than letting them grow up to become perverts and eventually die to truly perish in the fires of hell. Hope is supposed to be the message of John 3:16. If there is no other hope for the children of today, my prayer for them is that the Lord will do something to help them learn the truth in a world so full of untruth.

Maranatha,

Don

Burl Wrote Again:

Dear Friend:

Thanks for your response to our comments concerning Lot's wife. Regarding your comments relative to our point of reference, we would offer the following..

Scripture records Lot's two virgin daughters yet at home who escaped with Lot and his wife. That their subsequent actions reflected the debauchery of Sodom demonstrates the outcome of Lot's failure in having selfishly chosen the well watered Jordan valley and then moving his family into Sodom where his children obviously adopted the moral values of the culture. In and of itself, there is a considerable lesson here. If failure is to be attributed, Scripture would seem to implicate Lot rather than his wife.

In addition to Lot's unmarried daughters, Gen. 19:14 would seem to indicate married daughters as well. While some would understand the "sons-in-law" to which reference is made as referring to the engagement of Lot's young daughters, other commentators would see the verse in the sense of the KJV: "sons in law, which married his daughters."

In any case, the angels' question of verse 12 implies family members other than Lot, his wife and two daughters at home. One would little imagine their engaging in pointless conversation at such time.

Again, verse 15 implies additional children: "And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, 'Arise, take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed..."

Logic, if nothing else, applies at this point. What kind of mother would not be devastated by knowledge of children perishing in such indescribable cataclysm?

As you indicate, Jesus is here addressing the subject of obedience. In detailing the believer's required response to that which he is detailing, Jesus' words might be paraphrased in this sense: "Do what I am telling you when the time comes. Disobedience, despite pressures of the occasion, can prove devastating. Recall Lot's wife."

Again, thank you.

Yours,

Burl Ratzsch

Don Wrote Again:

Hello Again,

I see where you are coming from, for the wording in Genesis 19, at first glance, may appear to be a little awkward and require a some interpreting. However, the passage in Genesis 19 is a prophetic passage; and as such, it is not awkward, but intentionally preserved the way that it is .

Although the King James Version of the Bible is my Bible of choice, I have other Bibles in my library that I used when a passage requires prayerful consideration. The Amplified Version of the Bible is one such Bible and I will refer you to it because it does a good job with its "amplified" translation of this passage. The following link will take you to the online Amplified Version of the Bible where you can read Genesis 19 for yourself. (You might want to make a bookmark for the site.)

http://www.studybibleforum.com/bibletext.php

For our cyber visitors I will pull out a couple of verses for consideration.

Genesis 19:
⁸ Look now, I have two daughters who are virgins; let me, I beg of you, bring them out to you, and you can do as you please with them. But only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.
^...
12 And the [two] men asked Lot, Have you any others here--sons-in-law or your sons or your daughters? Whomever you have in the city, bring them out of this place,
¹³ For we will spoil and destroy [Sodom]; for the outcry and shriek against its people has grown great before the Lord, and He has sent us to destroy it.
¹⁴ And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, Up, get out of this place, for the Lord will spoil and destroy this city! But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be [only] joking
¹⁵ When morning came, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and two daughters who are here [and be off], lest you [too] be consumed and swept away in the iniquity and punishment of the city.

Also, I've always heard this account taught so that Lot's wife looked back in the heat of the moment as they were fleeing Sodom. However,if there is a chronological order in the way things were recorded, then they hastened to the little city of Zoar (vs. 22); the sun was risen when they entered into the city (vs. 23); THEN God rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom (vss. 24-25); but we're not told that Lot's wife looked back on Sodom and was turned into a pillar of salt until verse 26. Why were things recorded in this order? Perhaps it was because we are to understand that the choice made by Lot's wife was deliberate and that she did so because she did not want to leave the lifestyle of Sodom. (As we read prophetic passages such as this, we would do well to remember that they are prophetic which means that they often serve as types of events and characters for another day. For our understanding of this passage and others like it, read our online book THE CLOCK OF THE AGES.)

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