A PUFF OF SMOKE by LOREN SEIBOLD-- SIGNS of the TIMES- 6/'16.

My many thanks to both within the title John B.

According to Loren Seibold, even seemingly mundane behaviors, [(jb) can we say habits? YES!] have huge spiritual consequences.

Note: (JB)  It seems it's fashionable, these days, to call any habit, a disease, that can be treated by men and money, right? Well dear reader, can YOU tell me of anyone that voluntarily exposed themselves in order to catch a transmitted disease? However do humans willingly drink an alcoholic beverage, or take that first use of tobacco, or that first hit of illicit drugs or as they call it today "MEDICINE" grass-weed, joint?

Note: Please let's be honest here OK? Most, but not all , who use weed, just want to get high, to use it as a mind-altering drug! The most common excuse? Well everyone uses it, even Md's and lawyers! OK, so If man y people run of a pier in shark infested waters, would that be a reason to join the crowd?  Please let's not all be as--- "Chicken Little" alright!

 We have no choice in our receiving a disease, unlike ALL our habits!  Now to the story!

    NOT FAR---

    From the North Dakota farm where I grew up was a barely-there town: a couple of grain elevators, a Post Office, a bar, and a general store. The store was a brick box, containing creaky floors, old and poorly stocked shelves, a few spotty fruits and vegetables, and a single dairy case. Nonetheless, I liked it, because it had a long counter of candy in front of the cash register, and Mother would let me pick out one dusty item to eat on the way home.  Like many old stores of that era, the storekeeper's office consisted of a balcony along the back of the store, from which he could look down over his or her domain.

    The storekeeper was Earl Smith, a grumpy old cadaver of a man, tall and gaunt, his face a semitransparent membrane of wrinkled parchment over his skull. He never stopped smoking. A camel hung from his lips as he cut your bread or meat, and he made the change and packaged your grocery bags, puffs of smoke would  expel into your face.

   My family strictly apposed smoking, not just because it was not healthy, nor hygienic, but it was interpreted what I heard my parents say, it was "a sin."

   I was but four years old when I decided to reach out to Mr. Smith about his vice. As my Mother shopped, I mounted the steps up to the balcony where he was sitting at his desk going through receipts, a glowing but hanging as ever from the corner of his mouth, I helpfully, but pointedly, informed him that if smoked cigarettes he was going to get sick and die. And when he did , I was quit sure he wouldn't get into heaven, because I happened to know that Jesus hates cigarettes.

   Mr. Smith shouted down to my mother, "Hey, come and get your brat." As my Mom collected me he growled at her that what he smoked was none of any one's business but his, and she should shut her child up.

   My Mother, embarrassed, but when she told my father about it later, it sounded as though she was a little proud too.

THE EVOLUTION OF AN ADDICTION.

  Tobacco is mostly an American story. Columbus's crew saw Native Americans inhaling smoke created by the burning of a large-leafed plant, which seemed to leave them in a state of relaxation, Tobacco-- NICOTIANA TABACUM-- was only used ritually by most Native Americans, for religious or treaty ceremonies and, occasionally, as an ingredient in herbal medicines. It remained for the European importers (Sir Walter Raleigh is generally given credit for popularizing it in Europe) to turn tobacco into a recreational drug. The southeastern part of North America  {note species have been developed to grow as far north in Pontipool,Ontario Canada JB) was ideal for its cultivation, and tobacco soon became a major American export, which required slaves to work the plantations!

NOTE: (JB)  Tobacco's addiction helped provide the need for slave labor, thus the slave trade, then cotton increased this horrific treatment of human beings!  But today we have "SLAVES"--- to addictions of many intoxicating plants and chemical both legal and illicit types of drugs!

   Not everyone welcomed tobacco, King James I of England ( Yes, the sponsor of the King James Bible) wrote a treatise opposing it, calling it a "Custome loathsome to the eye, hateful to the Nose, harmfull to the braine, dangerous to the lings, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless."   Still, it was defended by the physicians of the day who declared it health-improving. Health was an argument used well into the 20th century, when popular magazine advertisements featured cigarette recommendations by celebrity doctors.

     Tobacco turned out to be a difficult foe to oppose. It provided jobs and brought prosperity to the American south. In the mid-nineteenth century, one-third of American Federal taxes came from tobacco, and other governments , around the world taxed it similarly. It was still believed to he healthful by some, and innocuous by most. Cigarettes protruded from the lips of beautiful and handsome celebrities in magazines, movies, and television programs, and became to be regarded as a mark of sophistication! [(JB) only Satan could have pulled that one of on the people!]

     Most important---though this was denied by the tobacco marketers--- nicotine, the active alkaloid in tobacco is highly addictive.--------

NOTE: Nicotine, just enough to fit on the head of a straight pin, used by dressmakers, is more than enough to kill an animal the size of a rabbit or same sized dog! I WAS a smoker for 40+ years, a pack a day habit, until I read---

     1 Corinthians 6:19  "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"

----- on my knees I went, after I got rid of all the cigarette paraphernalia, and threw it all way, I then asked God's help in removing this habit from within me. It was three weeks later when I walked in a parking lot, and smelled others smell as i used to, STINK! Thank God, for removing this silly and now very expensive habit. When I began at 15 it cost 25 cents in a machine and now its near $6.00 a pack? Almost all is taxes!

-------   Nicotine, the active alkaloid in tobacco, is highly addictive. Smokers found it difficult to stop smoking, even when they wanted to.  [ JB, I had no problem quitting when I was a smoker, I could quit even several times each day!]

    Tobacco's early opposition came from Christians, church leaders argued that such an addictive habit was incompatible with a life dedicated to God. Seventh-day Adventists author Ellen White condemned it as early as 1848, and by 1861 her colleague J.N. Loughborough would write, "We do not take [into our church] any who uses tobacco... To take in those who are holding on to their sins and wrongs would be to encourage the things we are seeking to remedy."

Note: if we call our church a hospital for the Spiritually sick, how can we deny anyone's entry? Is it not the Job of the Holy Spirit to convict them to better habits? Who are we to Judge, and is that not Christ's job?

 Many religious leaders took up the crusade. The Evangelist Billy Sunday became particularly vociferous opponent of smoking.

    Although doctors in many part of the world saw an increase of disease in smokers, political pressure blocked serious research. {(JB) it's old case of follow the money, Honey!  It talks, everything else, walks! ] A report by the U.S . Surgeon General in 1964 tentatively (and against very strong opposition by the tobacco industry) for the suggested link between smoking and disease, but this theory wasn't allowed to be confirmed for another 20 years. "BIG TOBACCO" as its opponents called it, was ruthless in its promotion, even advertising to children using cartoon characters. The watershed moment for many consumers came in 1994 when, before a congressional subcommittee in the House of representatives, seven tobacco industry executives perjured themselves under oath, stating unequivocally what every tobacco user {should... JB) have known to be a lie: that tobacco was not addictive!

NOTE: If you reject or have not ever know God, YOUR CREATOR, then following the rules of A.A.A. will be of help, but as noted God can remove any and all addiction, if you but ask in faith knowing that He'll honor your request! WHY? He loved YOU so--much--that He willingly died for YOUR SINS, so YOU won't; have to die WITH your sins! He even removed my unconscious,  reaching into my shirt pocket for an other "fix"! ONLY GOD CAN DO SO!

FAITH AND TOBACCO.

     DESPITE DECADES OF DENIAL, THERE IS NOW NO DOUBT THAT TOBACCO DESTROYS HEALTH not only of the users, but those within the proximity of the smoke, those ones we love, family members, and including our pets! All are open to cancer's attacks!

   Genesis 1:27  "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

     1 Corinthians 6:19-20  "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

NOTE:  What Price you might have asked?  Well surely most know all the trails that Jesus suffered, the whipe, with 9 strands, each with steel blades and sharped pieces of bone, that ripped flesh from bone, on His back and belly! Then for good measure was nailed to an X style cross, where it took six hours to die! Now IF THIS WAS YOUR CHILD, and you can see this in real time, I ask YOU what's the PRICE?

    Inasmuch as each person's "SELF," is housed in a biological Brain, that's dependent upon a healthy biological body, there seems to be no justification, to do anything that would make either brain or body less serviceable to God, or even to self!-----agree?

    

   Ecclesiastes 7:17  "Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? "

     1 Corinthians 10:31 " Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

   These passages then clearly show, that this topic goes far beyond the mere good health, to become a total Spiritual Issue! Can a Christian whose life is dedicated to God, be enslaved to a conscience altering drug? Though tobacco was not known to the Bible writers, they quite familiar with another drug: alcohol. The Bible unequivocally condemns drunkenness....

     :
     Proverbs 20:1  "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise."

   Look where Paul places drunks----

    1 Corinthians 6:9-10   "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."

   No, nicotine is not as fast acting, as alcohol, but we have been given a comparison in---

     

    Ephesians 5:18  "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;"

    The implication here is simple, we can't serve two masters, but the ONE to who we obey, we serve! No matter the what, or the whom, IF our life contradicts God's ways for us, we serve another god, "Bacus?'

    Matthew 6:24  "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

     Galatians 5:22-25 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

   Fortunately, a addiction can be overcome, with God. He will not tempt you.....

     1 Corinthians 10:13  "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

     WHY, let a selfish habit destroy, family, friends, jobs, in addition to having IT.... stand between YOU and the full EXPERIENCE of knowing  God's love?

Thanking YOU for your time. Questions?  Comments?  John at servant@frontier.com

Want?need More? Visit your Seventh-day Adventist Church any Saturday/Sabbath at 9-10 AM. Learn just much God loves you!

Other sites: aftv.org; blbn.org; amazingdiscoveries.org;  servantsite@wordpress.com

THE ULTIMATE IDENTITY THEFT. E. DICKERSON- Times of the signs 6/2016.

   My humble thanks to both the author and this magazine. John B

    THE PHONE RANG,

   As I was pulling out of my daughter's driveway in Iowa. "Did you use your debit card at the Food Lion store in Asheville, North Carolina, earlier this afternoon?"

    I informed the voice on the other end of the line that I've never been to Asheville, North Carolina. She replied that my debit card was being suspended, that these purchases would not a charge to my account, and that a new debit card would be issues soon. That wasn't the first time I'd received such a call, and it may not be the last!

    Perhaps you've has the same experience---someone gaining possession of your credit or debit card information and attempting to use it. It's called "Identity Theft",. You'd think that, in this digital age, with all the hi-tech gizmo's and methods we have to verifying identity, it would be very difficult--even impossible -- for someone to steal your identity. I mean, look at the sophisticated ways we have of determining identity.

We've been using fingerprinting data for about 150 years. DNA is commonly used to identify people these days and now machines can do palm prints, even eye retinal scans.
     It seems like identity theft would have been easier in the past when there was no photo IDs, telephones, or even a telegraph. Back then people might have traveled with a letter of credit, or even of an introduction. Still considering travel modes, it did not take a great journey for anyone, to be in a area within which not person would have known him.Plus one that has been gone a long time, returning may find that few even recognize him!
    Story tellers aft use mistaken or actual identity theft, as Shakespeare oft used in his stage plays, as well as Alexander Dumas' "The Man in the Iron Mask," about a French King's twin, and Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper" and the lesser known "Puddin' Head Wilson" all used I.D theft.
   Ironically, it's greatly due to our DIGITAL AGE  that makes identity theft so much easier. Many of us do our banking, and purchasing and even paying our bill over the Internet!.This is where all our information regarding our total identity is transformed into nothing more than a set of Ones ans Zeros, either inside telephone, Fiber-optic or the ether, via transmitted signals.
   Then these Ones and Zeros are verified not by any human, but simply via a series of computer algorithms.If, then the wrong people get a hold of my digital information, and uses it, the algorithms at the other end have no way of knowing that this new information coming in is NOT from me!

WHERE DOES, OR CAN, ALL THIS BRING US?

   This leads to a whole range of opportunities for the thieves, who are unscrupulous, at best. 

NOTE: (JB) Ive had my hard drive encrypted, and for a price they give me the code to unscramble all my information, of 100's of Bible lesson.  I just just hit delete! Not going to reward crime, with payment! Besides do so once, they';; just come back again and again!

     Sadly it is NOT just IDs they steal, but Rod Douglas, a ID theft and scam expert, says, they can take such things as "cell and land line services, cable and satellite TV services, Power , Gas and electrical services, Internet payments intercepted, for health Insurance, car insurance and the like, not to mention home and all mortgage payments rental housing, all payments we make for all our purchases! They can even use your ID to gain employment, and even to deceive the police when {they're} arrested, and set free!

   In point of fact, money maybe the least of our worries, of those victimized by ID theft. Christine DiGangi, an editor for Credit.com, said, "While most theft victims don't personally lose money, thieves can leave a trail of poor financial behavior under a victim's name, translating into negative accounts on credit reports and lower credit scores. Victims whose personal information was misused are more likely to experience negative accounts on credit reports because of ID theft than those whose existing account information is stolen." 

    Identity Thieves, don't just want your money, they want to be YOU! To exercise power over you, and all that you own! Yet, when we stop to think about it, the ULTIMATE IDENTITY THEFT would be to steal the identity of God!

STEALING GOD'S IDENTITY.

     The Holy Bible speaks to just that type of crime----

     Isaiah 14:12-15  "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."

NOTE:(JB) many a person, believes that Satan the devil, is not real but a myth to scare people into churches! Yet they ignore the pure evil men do because of him, plus he has powers far beyond ours, yet any and all so-called 'Natural Disasters" are God's will many say, but it's all belongs to Satan, who God uses to wake us all up from our stupors! 

    Revelation 12:7-9  "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

NOTE: I use this passage whenever I teach about the fall of man, when sin entered into this world! At that time I firmly believe that The Father/God/Creator, put this world in quarantine, to prevent the spread of sin to other worlds of His creation, and have them turn out as earth did! Read Matthew 24, Mark 13, and, Luke 21, and look at all the natural upheavals coming to us at unprecedented rates, and THINK!

   Having lost in Heaven and all the other worlds he won over Adam and Eve, who rebelled against God wish, sinned and thus lost their immorality..[ "Thou shalt surely die..." Genesis 2:17]

  It was at that point Lucifer, now known as SATAN [Hebrew for opposes] began to reap what he coveted, worship: in the guise of false gods. When the times drew near for Jesus to come to earth, Lucifer/Satan inspired numerous aspiring people to falsely claim that were the Messiah. It was his purpose to steal the Identity of God's Son and thereby continue to sow confusion and discredit Him, even to this very day!

     Matthew 4:1-9  "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."

NOTE: Other than the full GODHEAD, all others, are CREATED BEINGS, by the will of the Father, so just how big an ego does Satan have?  Big enough, to draw many to his side as we can see------

    Revelation 13:2-3  "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast."

NOTE: A study of Daniel up to chapter 7 will show:  A. a beast power, is a earthly kingdom that puts church and state as one! B. The dragon is primarily Satan, but is also the Bible's name for Pagan Rome, as that great and terrible beast, the two only powers not named by Daniel. Those who know history will know that the Popes of Romes do and have sat, on the thrones of the Caesars! This also God caused to be written---"...and the dragon [Satan] gave him his power, and his seat.. and great authority"   

    If you deny this, ask self why, 96% of all Christians obey Rome's call for Sun-Day worships, in place of the Bible's Sabbaths?

       Mark 2:27 " And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath:"

NOTE: To all who hold that the Seventh day Sabbath was ONLY for the Jews, do YOU see the word JEW in read above?

   Exodus 20:8-11  "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."

QUESTION: "How did mankind arrive at a seven (7) day week, why not 10, and have a 3 week month system? [They tried, in both Russia and France}

     Genesis 2:1-3  "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."

This is earth's "Birth Certificate"! Plus a God-given weekly memorial to His Creative actions, because He knew that the silly notions of Evolution would soon come from Satan's mind into the minds of many! The time frames of our day, months and year are all set by the rotations of earth, moon around the sun, so the week came from???? GOD!

   Satan failed of course, in both Heaven and in his attempt to temp Jesus, as well as to kill Him by ordering his army to kill all males under two in Bethlehem and area around it!

     Jeremiah 31:15  "Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not."

      Matthew 2:16-17  "Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,"

Note: Can YOU now see the why the God's Word is tomorrow's  news today? Rehel is Rachael.

   But Satan did not stop there, as you read and learned in Revelation 13:2, he's not above changing the hearts of people as he has done in----

     2 Thessalonians 2:1-5  "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?"

CATHOLIC NATIONAL, JULY 1895:  "THE POPE IS NOT ONLY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF JESUS CHRIST, BUT HE IS JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, HIDDEN UNDER VEIL OF FLESH." 

Who was this Pope this monthly new letter was speaking about? Pope Leo XIII who said this in his ENCYCLICAL LETTER of June 20, 1984---- "WE HOLD UPON THIS EARTH THE PLACE OF GOD ALMIGHTY."

NOTE: Rome has many, Jesus loving people, who shall enter into the kingdom, God's eternal Kingdom. but their leadership members?????? That's for God to decide! Remember ONLY GOD can forgive our sins, no priest is able, beyond sins by others to his own person!

   So, how would one go about trying to steal the identity of Jesus Christ?--- always go to the Word of God...

    

     Matthew 24:23-28  "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 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. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 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. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together."

    Revelation 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."

Note: HIS REWARD shall be with Him, thus all HIS OWN shall be resurrected and changed into immortals, and all who reject Him shall perish! Hence the eagles who will feast upon their flesh

   Now claiming to be Jesus is easy, as He's been pictured in so many differing ways, BUT what if this imitation also preforms miracles of healing the sick?......

    Revelation 13:13-14  "And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live."

Note: Calling down fire from above, would that not grab attention? Plus if they were kind, soft spoken and walk upon the after how many would think this is the true and real Jesus?  Only those who know not the Holy Bible!-----

    2 Thessalonians 2:8-9  "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,"

Note: Satan, is the first supernatural being we shall see in his body, taking on the appearance of Christ, and claiming to be Him! BUT he is the "INSTEAD OF CHRIST" THE ANTICHRIST. 

    2 Corinthians 11:14  "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."

NOTE: It is Satan that produces all those Mary sightings, as well as the wounds of the people, imitating Jesus' wounds, plus all those bleeding carvings, issuing either blood or olive oil!   Yes he can fool even----

Matthew 24:23-27  "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 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. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 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: How can men read into that passage anything remotely the  meaning of a "Secret Rapture?" Many a man has made a fortune writing about this stuff! BUT-----

   Matthew 16:26  "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

QUESTION: "What do anti-counterfeiters study, the real of the fake bills? They study the real ONES! Just as we must study the real Jesus so we can recognize the the counterfeit one portrayed by Satan!  And we have but one book to study Him from the Holy Bible! So get to know Him personally via the word and prayers and you'll not be fooled by an imitation!

Prayer is talking to and with a FRIEND!

Thank YOU for your time. Questions?  Comments? John at servant@frontier.com

Need MORE? Visit your Seventh day Adventist church, any Saturday/Sabbath at 9-10 AM. Please know God loves you much more than you can know!

Other sites: aftv.org   blbn.org.  amazingdiscoveries.org

jb.

   

WM. MILLER"S, " RULES OF BIBLE INTERPRETATION"

My many thanks to "Lest We Forget" a Adventist historical newsletter PO.Box 383 Loma Linda, CA 92354 and  the Heartland Institute.  JB

   The mid-1800's was a time of great religious awakening in the United States. During this period, three vital truths were discovered anew, resulting in a mighty spiritual revival. These truths dealt with the following subjects:
1. Bible Study. The Bible can be read and understood by ordinary people.
2. Prophetic Interpretation Bible prophecies can be understood using the day-for-a-year principle.
3. Second Advent Message, Jesus will return to redeem His faithful followers.

WITH THESE THREE GUIDELINES IN FOCUS COMES HIS 12 POINTS TO FOLLOW:

NOTE: Please know that I have used ONLY the KJV Bible as all , but a few others, suffer from the Traditions of men! They have greatly removed Christ's role, and have changed meanings beyond recognition

EXAMPLE: Ephesians 5:1, 1 Thessalonians 2:14, Hebrews 6:12 the word, " FOLLOWER".HAS BEEN CHANGED, IN THE new KING JAMES AS IT IS IN THE N. I. V. { not inspired version) "IMITATOR"!  Now many may say minor detail,  but if one is a follower of Jesus Christ, then why be an imitator of Him, in place of a follower?  The "NEW K. James, in Hebrews 9:12 "The holy place, is changed to "The Most Holy Place, an impossible translation error, from the Greek "TA HAGIA" is the Tabernacle's FIRST apartment, where the Priest interned into daily, but the SECOND, the MOST HOLY is  "HAGIA HAGION" and this was entered ONLY once a year on the Day of Atonement! Jesus entered that Section only in 1848" {Study Daniel 7 +.)The Popes think they are God, on earth, that's imitations!  We are to follow Him not be His leaders. (JB).

1.      2 Timothy 3:15-17  "And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

All scripture is necessary, and may be understood by diligent application and study. Please note (jb) there's a huge difference between reading and studying! Unless, of course God has blessed you with perfect memory recall!

2.    Nothing revealed in the Scripture will be hid from those who ask in faith, not wavering.
     Deuteronomy 29:29  "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law."    Matthew 21:22; James 1:5-6.

3. To understand Scripture, bring all the Scriptures together on the subject you wish to know. Precept upon precept.
    Isaiah 28:9-10  "Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:" Isaiah 28: 7-29; Luke 24:27,44-45; 2 Peter 1:19-20.
Note: LINE, came from the Hebrew word for cord, thin rope to tie all together in one understanding.

4. Scripture MUST be its own EXPOSITOR ( to prove itself, within itself)  since it is a RULE unto itself.
       1 Corinthians 2:12-16  "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.":

5. God, reveals things to come, by visions, in figures, parables.
     Psalms 78:2  "I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:" Hebrews 9:9-24; Genesis 41:1-32.

6. Figures (numbers) always have figurative meaning, and are used in prophecy to represent future things, times and events.
        Daniel 2:35  "Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth."   [(JB) Nebuchadnezzar's dream The Metal Man.]  Daniel 2:44; 7:8,17. Revelation 17:1,15.

7. Parables are used as comparison to illustrate subjects, and must be explained in the same way as figures, by the subject and Bible.
      Mark 4:13-14  "And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables? The sower soweth the word."  Matthew 13:25-40 [Note tares, is a false wheat, of no use as food for man nor beast.]

8. Figures sometimes have two or more significant applications: as day is used in a figurative sense to represent three different periods of time: 1: indefinite. 2. Definite, a day for a year. 3. Day for a thousand years. Ecclesiastes 7:14; Ezekiel 4:6; 2 Peter 3:8

9. How to know when a word is used figuratively: "If it makes good sense as it stands and does not violate the simple laws of nature, then it must be understood literally; if not, figuratively. Revelation 12:1-2; 17:3-7.

10. To learn the true meaning of figures, trace your figurative word through the Bible {here's a good use of large book IE. Strong's Concordance} and where you do find it explained, put it on your figure, and if it makes good sense you need look no further; if not continue and look again!   WHY?
    Matthew 21:44  "And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder"
NOTE: This stone?  Christ is our Rock., upon which His church is built!  Rev. 12:17 (note the conditions that must exist, how many churches qualify? Very few! Find them by their following the Bible 100%!

11. If every word of prophecy is literally fulfilled, then your history is the true event. But if one word lacks fulfillment, then you must look for another event, or wait its future development. 1 Peter 2:6; Revelation 17:17.

12. The most important rule is that you MUST have faith. We must believe that God will never forfeit His word

I pray some will find this a help, in their journey through His Word  John 1:1-3, 14.

Thank Y O U for your time, Questions?  Comments?  John at servant@frontier.com

Want more? Visit your seventh-day Adventist church any Saturday/Sabbath at 9-10 AM, find out just how Jesus loves you.

Other sites: aftv.org; blbn.org amazingdiscoveries.org ; itiswritten.com
jb


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