Calvin is so misquoted and misused it seems incredible that so many are willing to accept the LEAST evidence concenig him or who do not goto the SCRIPTURES themselves and with Gods Help see if it be true or not.

Now according to what FAITH      "IS"  as laid out in the scriptures in Hebrews and THAT is what faith IS.
Then it is clear that ALL men HAVE faith wether saved or unsaved and EXCERSISE IT every day of thier lives according to those principles so laid out in scripture.
Now THAT faith is a GIFT from God and all men ina MEASURE profit from it.
Yet men have THIER faith in the WRONG things and though they recive TEMPORY profit they are ROBBED.
It is when men hear the Word of God and UNDERSTAND the message that that faith becomes 'SAVING' faith for now it is directed  and PUT IN GOD.
Now we know itis not just HEARING the Word of God fro the scriptures show that that is not enough.
Butit is when we UDERSTAND what bGod issaying that faith IN God is BORN as it were.

For what IS faith?
But the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for and the EVIDENCE of things unseen."
When I stand at a bus stop inLondon.
LOndon transport'S word and promise is that the No 24 bus will take me fromVictoria in sth central londonto HAMPSTEAD in nrth London.
and IF is stand at the aprop\iate bus stop there I will get the bus.
UNDERDSTANDING the message I do as the 'word' says and ACT in FAITH (onthe Word) BELIEVEING and stand at the bus stop.
By so doing it gives SUBSTANCE to my faith(my action) and is the EVIDENCE of thinsg unseen(THE BUS!) and in due time that which was once INVISIBLE comes into manifesttion.
and my faith is rewarded.
And there are a myriad other examples  based on what faith IS THAT CAN BE USED and confirm it.
When I work.
I do so on the PROMISE that i will get PAID at the end of the week/month.
and so work(the SUBSTANCE) and the EVIDENCE of that which is yet invisible (MY WAGES!_)
Therefore it is clear that you CANNOT be saved unless you BELEIVE!
For if you do NOT believe God how CAN He save you!?
More without FAITH it is IMPOSIBLE to please God"
Therforeif you excersise NOT your faith in God HOW can you please God?
More how can you excersise faith in that which you do not in ANY measure understand?
and how then can you ACT "BELIEVEING"?
fOR IFYOU DO NOTUNDERSTAND you cannot believe and if you do not believe how can you excersise any faith!?
Therefore "in faith believeing" we ACT!
and our FAITH is rewarded. and that which was WROUGHT on calavry as yet unseen becomes as we progresively walk in the light more and morte MANIFEST in our lives and so PROVES notonly theTRUTH of it but we are WITNESSES of the truth and the RESURECTION of the LORD jESUS CHRIST.
For if it were not true not only wouldit not work but we would be presumbing on God beleieving Him for soemthign that He has not promsied or said.

It is STILL God first.
Forif He had NOT of called(SPOKEN) then we would not live.
Nor would we have LIGHT nor would wehave ANY CHOICE other than our own miserable sinfull state.
But when the LIGHT came to those "who sat in darkness"Then those who love the light MORE than the darkness turn to the light.
You see it is not we NATURALY  just LOVE the light though we do may do so who HUNGER FOR IT.BUT DO NOT HAVE OR KNOW IT
Nor does it say we hate darkness..
those who loved the darkness MORE than the light!who are condemned.
But they who RESPOND to the light FORSAKING the darkness which they prior loved.
Find peace with God and the salvation of thier souls.

Therefore it is ALL of God and without His call we would be DEAD even as LAZERUS was.
But to them that have ears to hear let him hear. and those who do then let him repsond.
For we" are DEAD in trespases and in sin" without Christ.
 But now the light has come we have no more excuse.
Nor should we have felowhsip with the dead but walk in then light aS He is in the light and then wehave feloship one with the other and the blood of JESUS CHRIST cleanses usfrom all sin"




 

You will find that those who cry "toleration" the MOST are INTOLERANT of the gospel.
and seek only 'PEACE' while they 'arm'themselves.
and when they feel strong enough they will like caine rise up and slay those they are "in diologue" with.

Every man has the liberty to worship God as he wishes.
But you will find rarely that they will 'tolerate' those who "live Godly in Christ Jesus"

If God had "NO repsect  for Caines offering"
Should we if we say we are Christains 'respect' other religions.
When in truth   when looked at have no GROUNDs as a religion  FOR RESPECT.
Seein that they both deny Christ as to WHO He is and dishonour God.


Therefore we are heading for trouble and the storm clouds are ALREADY gathering.
For when we look at ISREAL who were "for our ensample"
When they forssok God became a PREY for thier enemies and the land was filled with idols and judgment was not long in coming.

Jesus said that in the last days they will sayy lo here is Christ and there is Christ but we are not to go after them.
For Christ means ANOINTED.
and the annointing is on the WORD of God.
and by so chasing after the SIGNS which FOLOW the Word rather than STAND on the Word.
The WORD is LOST for teh signs.
perhaps thats another part of they ahve LEFT thier first love?

The DOVE sent out by Noah never came back because it had found a place of REST.
The Holy Spirit descended as a dove on Christ and their it RESTS forever.

Healing and deliverence (which is "the childrens bread") comes by the  SAME means as SALAVTION does.
the PREACHING of the WORD.
and ones response to it.
health and 'prosperity' comes by a LIFE LIVED FOR CHRIST and the KINGDOM not by a magic wand.
The propserity is as "our SOUL prospers" not regardless of it. and then is it thjat outr flesh may be satisfied and what we WANT?
dID NOT THE CHILDREN OF isreal HAD by Gods hand ALL that they NEEDED?
Yet wanted MORE and MEAT to satisfy thier carnal desires.
Rather than the BREAD OF HEAVEN.
So God gave them what they WANTED but then LOST what they NEEDED.
fOR IN THE SATISFACTION of the FLESH God gave them "LEANNESS in their SOULS"
prosperity then is acording to our NEED not what we WANT. AND "ALL those other things we are in need of ARE added unto us AS AND WHEN we are seekign first the kingdom of God and HIS rightouisness" THEN are they added so thatw e might be ENABLED to FULFILL not OUR will BUT Gods! and th kingdom.
is it not written of some that "they make MERCHANDISE of Gods people"?

Truly the POWER of God is the cross.
But rather than be crucyfied WITH Christ the propensity is to live for time.
It is as we are CONFORMED UNTO HIS DEATH do we know the the POWER of His resurection.

The right understanding of the past is the key to understanding the present.
 a right understanding the present is the key to understand that which is to come.


A prudent man seeing the evil to come hideth himself.

Truth can only be discerned through paradox. That's why Jesus spoke in parables. Any statement that one makes outright can be distorted or misunderstood. But as soon as one is open to the truth, it lies before his very eyes.

Not sure this is correct.
For a thing is only distorted and misunderstood when there is a LACK of comminication between the two parties.
But if BOTH parties wishes and seeks to UNDERSTANDa the other it can be done.

There is another way perhaps.
and that is by EXPERIENCE.

a professor sitting on a beach who has all the knowledge of the sea perhaps has in NEVER HAVING gone into the water 'knows' less than a young child.
Or having seen pictures and read all the reports and experinces of eating  an orange yet having never done so 'knows'  less than one who has.

No man who has "come to a knowledge of the truth" can be disuaded of it.
He can perhaps be UNFAITHFULL to that which he knows to be the truth.
But he can never be told or persuaded of to the contrary.

pilate did not 'recognise' the truth because it was only by what rome dictated was the truth.
and his eye was not single.
But had one on pleasing the crowd and the other on rome.

I once had two salt pots. and kept them in the same cupboard always.
One day on was broken and thrown away.
Some time later I went to get some salt and kjnowing that the salt was in THAT cupboard opened it in full expectation of seeing it.
But did not and no matter how much I looked could not see it though I knew it was there.
Then I suddenly realised that in my imagination and mind I had in veiw and thinking the one that wa sbroken.
ON that realisation I 'rembered' the other one and replaced it in my imagination and thinking.
As soon as I had done that "imediately" I saw the salt pot.
it was not 2inches in front of me and right in front of all the other things.
I was  BLINDED by the false thing I had in my imagination and thinking.
So it is with the truth.
There are "strongholds' of the devil in the imaginations and thoughts.
which BLIND us to the truth.
and so we need to be "renewed in the SPIRIT of our minds"
and lay hold of God for others in paryers and interc ession so that we may pull them down. and that the Word of God may take thier place.and give light.
Paul was praying to CHRISTIANS also when he said "that the eyes of the understanding may beopned that we may comprehened with all the saints..........."
So even thjought we may be BORNagain we need our understanding as to the POWER that ios towards us who beleieve and is made avalable to us.

That SPIRIT of TRUTH that "witenesed with our spirits thatw er are the children of God"
Will also0 witness to the TRUTH or laCK when we hear it.
That is what is meant we have no need of any to teach us.
That is RIGHT FROM WRONG.
TRUTH FROM ERROR.
But let su not forget thst Hr has given us TEACHERS to the church which among others is that it might be PERFECTED.

SO we are not to BLINDLY flolow AS THOSE WHO FOLOW THE blind.
BUT even as God has given to the church those ministers so written who are LED so to MINISTER.
THEN WE WHO hear LISTEN with the UNDERSTANDING and are LED;are by theSAME SPIRIT into the TRUTH that they expound on.
and all ;if led are built up in the most holy faith.

it seems to me that the main stumbling block to any right understanding of the rapture is a WRONG understanding of the BRIDE of CHRIST.

Because it is TAKEN FOR GRANTED that ALL who are HIS will be in the BRIDE then it is ASSUMED that the what is called the pre trib-rapture is WRONG.
For if you hold to the first then the SECOND .....CANNOT be true!
For the scriptures say so(and they do!)-(it seems).

There is a church in the book of revaltion that "in its own eyes has need of NOTHING"
But in Gods is 'WRETCHED POOR AND BLIND"!

Now a SOBER question.
Is or HOW can THAT church be FIT to be PART of the BRIDE!?
If she is BLIND ("no VISION") POOR "IN God"
and WRETCHED.
"MY people perish for they lack VISION(blind) for they have rejeCted KNOWLEDGE"
If you look at the LAST KING of ISREAL he was BLIND.
If you look at the LAST JUDGE of ISREAL he was BLIND as well.
It would apear that the LAST CHURCH will be blind as well!


How can this be?

"as in the days of LOT so shal it be in the LAST days"
LOT was BLIND to the hour in which he lived and "what God was about to do"
Why?
Because he WALKED by SIGHT and not by FAITH.
Whereas ABRAHAM ....WALKED by faith.
At the beginning they were as RICH IN GOD as the other in goods.
and it was because the land could not contain them BOTH that they split.
But at the END  ABRAHAM was as RICH in Goods as He was in the beginning.
But LOT lost ALL save the saving of his own soul.
is it not written of some who are COUNTED RIGHTOUS but who will "suffer loss as through fire"?
Lot was COUNTED rightous for hsi "rightous soul was vexed....."
"As in the days of NOAH so shall it be in the LAST DAYS"
THERE too if we COUNTED his days we would find another 'ENOCH"
Who "WALKED with God and was not" later on in scripture it says he was "TRANSLATED"(RAPTURED in other words)
So we have again TWO men who thoughy BOTH counted rightous yet ONE whos WALK was PERFECT.


The BRIDE of CHRIST will be "a HELP MEET FOR HIM"(PERFECT)

Today we have the idea that to be BORNagain gives us an AUTOMATIC right to be in the BRIDE of Christ.
To be BORNagain makes us QUALIFIED to ENTER THE RACE and to "win the prize"@
The children of ISREAL were SAVED from BONDAGE to Egypt and her pharoah.
They are but types for the WORLD and the DEVIL.
BUT OUR SALVATION consists in MORE thaN BEING 'SAVED'   FROM bondage.
But also to ENTER INTO the promised land.
and to be "more than conquerers"
WHAT is MORE than a CONQUERER?
But he who REMOVES the inhabitants and LAWS of the taken land and sets up OTHER LAWS AND GOVERNERSHIP.
and SEETLLES THERE!
(SEE WILLIAM THE CONQUERER -1066)
That which the devil took by deciet is to be TAKEN in RIGHTOUSNESS.
AND THE GATES of hell shall not prevail against her.

They were "aprehended for" to enter that which was PROMISED.
but they had to @APREHEND IT"@!
Which they FAILED to do because "of unbelief'!
Yet if you study the passage you will finds that it was NOT that they believed NOTHING but that they belived the WRONG MESSAGE!
which was?
You will find that ALL 12 SAW the SAME things.
But THE 10 and the 2 saw it in DIFFERENT LIGHTS!
tHE 10 saw them with the NATURAL man.
and FORGOT the last 40 DAYS.
and saw GIANTS.ONLY
tHE 2 SAW THEM in thje LIGHT\ of what GOD HAD done.
WHO IT WAS WHO WAS WITH THEM and WHAT had been PROMISED for the future.
and so saw them in their TRUE PERSPECTIVE as "GRASSHOPPERS"!
WHICH message are you believeing?

The one that says "we have need of nothing'?

or the one thats ays we NEED ALL that God has PROMISED.

The story of the 5 wise and 5 foollish virgins.
Is NOT  a story for the world but for the CHURCH!

For a CAREFULL study of the story will reveal that in ALL matters SAVE ONE.
THEY were the SAME.
Some JUMP to the conclusion it was they were nto saved.
Not so.
For ALL thier LAMPS were LIT.
 THE ONLY DIFFERENCE  was in thier EXPECTATIONS!
and their LACK of PREPAREDENESS.
tHE FOOLISHNESS was to BELEIEVE that having the LAMPS lit AND FULL OF OIL was ENOUGH and the VESSELS need not be FILLED.
tHE 5 wise NOT ONLY HAD thier LAMPS lit but ALSO had thier VESSELS FILLED AS WELL!
MANY say that being BORNagain is ENOUGH.
That we 'have' the HOLY SPIRIT.
But consider this?
A BABY who is BORN has LIFE ;yes?
But does not ALSO need to BE FILLED and that continually with the BREATH OF LIFE that it may CONTINUALLY LIVE?
fOR if we consider CHRIST "in whom was LIFE" itself.
yet was He not ALSO to be FILLED with the HOLY SPIRIT before He could or did any WORK of God?
Is it not written "as the FATHER SENT ME SO SEND I YOU"?
If then He NEEDED to be FILLED how much the MORE do we.
When we are BORNagain we 'have' the HOLY SPIRIT.
When we are FILLED HE 'has' US!

AND note when they were barred from entering it was to the MARRIAGE and was "I do not know you"
NOT at the JUDGEMENT "I NEVER knew you"

BE YE ALSO READY then for you know not.......... and "be ye FILLED with the HOLY SPIRIT"

The WHOLE edifice of roman doctrin of thier 'authority; 'rests' on this 'rock'

DISREGARDING ALL other scripture they hold to this as being the FOUNDATION of their church.
For without it they have NO authority at all.
Their light is in deed GREAT DARKNESS.

Now I have a         .          mole on my arm and its brown.
But if you was to EXCLUSIVELY look at it without ANY regard to the rest of my body.
You could 'argue' that im a 'black' man or negro or whatever may be described.
Yet while I find no shame to be called such yet I am not.
and when the REST of my body is put in CONTEXT then without a doubt I am white or pink or whatever I may so be described and recognised as.

Now I am no scholar so I cannot argue from what I do not know.
Yet Taking my bible which is in PLAIN ENGLISH I see a man called PETER who romes SAYS is the ROCK on which the church is BUILT on.
Yet I see that the Lord had 12 apostles.
Not ONE.
Two I find in the marvelous wisdom of God a man called PETER who is no ROCK on which an ETERNAL church can be built but a man who in the very next BREATH sought by his ne wfound  revalation to disuade the Lord from Gods chosen path.and was rebuked for his pains.
Who DENIED the LORD 3 TIMES.
Who WRONLY chose another 'APOSTLE ' by the WRONG METHOD(which they wrongly folowing do wrongly still!)
For it is clear it is PAUL who was the substitute.
That in matters of DOCTRIN and FAITH acknowledges PAULs teaching as "hard to understand"
In matters of CONDUCT was rebuked publicly by PAUL  fro his hypocracy with the "curcumcision party"

True He was the FIRST to speak to the JEWS on the day of pentecost.
But then that was ONE of the keys to the kingdom.
True he was the FIRST to speak to the GENTILES but that too was the other key.
But where as PAUL clearly says and was the APOSTLE to the GENTILES so to then was PETER the Apostle to the JEWS.

So as a MAN he was NO rock(IN THIS SENSE)STRONG ENOUGH
ROCK  then to build a church ONfor ETERNITY.

But when we look at " THE CHRIST THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD"
We see a ROCK worthy of the NAME on which to BUILD AN ETERNAL church.

It should also be remebered that the scriptures not only speak of THE church as a BUILDING OR TEMPLE but as a BODY.
and so If PETER was the 'rock' on which it was built then gievn that ALL scripture harmonizes with scripture.
Then He must needs bve somehow a 'rock' for the body.
But what do we see?
That it is CHRIST who is the HEAD of the BODY even as He BROUGHT it with His own blood.
and even as the BLOOD is the LIFE of the natural body so too is the BLOOD the LIFE of the SPIRITUAL.

How then is peter the foundation of life of the BODY!?

Jesus said that "f any man heareth MY WORD and DOETH them I will liken unto him as a WISE man who buildeth his house upon a ROCK....."
tHE LORD THEN conecting the doing oNHis WORD as building on a ROCK.
How then is PETER the rock on which the church is BUILT when it is the DOING OF CHRISTS Word which the church is suposed to be doing?

Now is it not written that "wothout FAITH it is impossible to pelease God"
Yet then is our faith to be in PETER or His successors?
or God?
Now ROME would say it in all but name that it shouild be in THEM!
But "faith (IN GOD)comes by hearing and that UNDERSDTANDING the WORD OF GOD.
Thus making again the WORD the ROCK on which THE foundations of our faith REST.

For our faith is NOT in MEN but in God.
But thier fruit is ALWAYS to draw mens TO HAVE faith in EVERYTHING else BUT GOD.

If we look at john letters we see what OVERCOMETH THE WORLD? EVEN OUR FAITH!
iN WHO?
peter?
NO!
But IN Him Jesus Christ the only begotten son of God who is the ROCK not only of our salvation but of the CHURCH AS WELL.

AND THAT ROCK liveth and abideth forever.

Now if more be needed?


Apsotles are FOUNDATIONS of the church.
But the BUILDING does not REST UPON THEM but are BUILT even as THEY ARE ...... UPON THE ROCK!

The FOUNDATIONS give the SHAPE AND PATTERN of the BUILDING.

bUT HERE TOO THEY show themslevs in error!

For where as PAUL shoed clearly in HEBREWS that the old tabernacle MADE WITH HANDS has passed away even asd the PREISTHOOD has.
For they were @after thew pattern that I will show you@
Meaning the TRUE and PERFECT pattern iS in HEAVEN and NOT made with hands and has NO preisthood of the FLESH.
and that we are made AFTER THE TRUE tabernacle and TRUE APOSTLES  folow after THAT pattern OF HEAVEN not one made with hands!
and so if folowing THEM.
have the HOLY SPIRIT.
IF ROME candles.
If of heaven.
A high preist who LIVETH AND ABIDETH FOREVER "WHO EVER INTERCEEDETH FOR US"
and who are "made preists and kings unto God"
of rome.
men and UNLAWFULL preists.
O(f heaven
The fervant heartfelt prayers of a rightous man and the "groaning which cannot be uttered"
Rome
Incnese and "vain repertitions of the heathen"(godless)
Heaven
rOBES OF RIGHTOUSNESS washed in the blood.
rome
vestments and OUTWARD SHOW and "forms of godliness"
The list is endless.


That which is built on 'PETER'(SO THAT SAY)
is built on SAND.
That which is built on CHRIST
is built on THE ROCK of AGES.

Yes that's right Adam knew full well what would happen so he was not decieved.  Only correction at the moment is Jeus is not the second Adam but the Last Adam.

1) It could be argued that Adams sin was WORSE.
    For Eve was decived.
    Adam just LISTENED TO HIS WIFE!
 2) Jesus is called the SECOND ADAM.
Because there was NOONE like unto the FIRST AFTER him till CHRIST.
He is called the LAST Adam to show that there will not be ANY AFTER Him like unto the first.
Adam because the First Adam was the 'father' of THIS or first generation.
Who have "living souls"
Jesus because He is like unto the first the 'father' of the LAST generarion.
Who have been QUICKNED by His Spirit.

Does a BABY being BORN breathe only ONCE?

Paul speaking of the childfren of ISREAL said that ther were for our ENSAMPLE.
By the time they had rweached the river jordan after 40 DAYS they were ALREADY SAVED.
But were now called to ENTER into the promise.

BEFORE they were in BONDAGE to Egypt and her PHAROAH which are types of the world and the devil.
There were SAVED FROM that bondage not by thier OWN good works(how could they be they were BOUND) but by the POWER of the BLOOD of A lamb.
NOT by the MANIFESTATIONS of MIRACLES but by the BLOOD.
For in ALL those manifestations of Gods power they were NOT freed.
it was not untill the BLOOD had been APLIED were they CAST OUT of EGYPT.

and after the criossing of the RED SEA they were FREE from BONDAGE forever. and could not go back even when they 'wanted' to.
THEN were they in the wilderness for 40 DAYS so giod could PROVE them.
Not so that they could prove to God how faithfull and worthy thye were.
But like silver and gold they were 'proved' inthe fire of afliction.
and had to LEARN that "man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceedeth from the mouth of God"
To LEARN to WALK by FAITH and not by sight"
And to know and understand that God is HOLY and makes a difference beteen that which is clean and that which is UNCLEAN.
They were then; to become "unspotted from the world" and be SANCTAFIED.
and by the time God had "LED/driven" them through the wilderness and to the river jordan they SHOULD HAVE LEARNT by then to eat MEAT and not still desire MILK.
Those who are but BORN and growing need the "sincere milk of the Word"
But by the time they came to jordan they should have been "MEN in thier understanding" AND EATING MEAT.
Now Paul says "ebcause of thier UNBELEIEF they enetered not in"
But loom again at the story?
It was not that they believed NOTHING.
but that they believed the WRONG MESSAGE!
ALL 12 saw the SAME things.
and ALL acknowldged it.
But the 10 saw with the NATURAL man and with MENS REASONING AND SIGHT ALONE.
and so saw ONLY giants.
The 2 who gacve a good report though seeing the same thing sAw them in a DIFFERENT LIGHT.
In the light of that knowledge of WHAT GOD HAD DONE.
WHO IT WAS WHO WAS WITH THEM.
and WHAT WAS PROMISED FOR THE FUTURE.
IN THAT LIGHT and therefore in their TRUE perspective those "giants" were as GRASSHOPPERS"
The MAJORITY believed that which was closest to thier own hearts?
(itching ears?)
AND WERE unwilling TO LISTEN  to the other report with a sober heart and mind.
adn so HAVIGNHAD THIER HEARTS FILLED WITH FEAR AND not faith.
How could they for those who preached the wrong meassage preached thier OWN EXPERIENCE.
OBEYED not God.
AND SO REFUSED TO ENTER.
BY THE TIME THEY HAD COME TO THEIR SENSES it was too late!
(see the 4 foolish virgins)
What had been OPENED UNTO THEM not a short while ago was now closed. and thought they tried to force it open. could not.
So they wandered around the wilderness for 40 YEARS.
Now did God "leave them or forsake them"?
NO.
But gave them miracles every day for 40 YEARSbut they were OUT OF THE WILL of God.
Hence Pauls warning not to be like them.
SAVED but not walking BY FAITH but by sight.
But believe in the PROMISE and ENTER INTO IT.

Just because Luthor was wrong about JAMES does mean you can ASSUME he was wrong concernign "justyfication by faith"
For where as HIS faith was FOUNDED ON THE scriptures.
AND ACKNOWLEDGED NO OTHER AUTHORITY FOR IT.
Then we do not BLINDLY folow him as soem do the pope who does not.
But search the scriptures!
Now was PETER wrong when he said "thou art the Christ the Son of the living God"?
OF COURSE NOT!
Yet by YOUR logic he must have been !
The mistake Peter made was that he thought that the revaltion that he got was the WHOLE.
and when The Lord went to go "a little further" and reveal more it cut across peters thinking and revaltion!
and JUMPING TO THE WRONG CONCLUSION sought to disuade the LORD as to the truth.
Luthor had just come out or was coming out of romes bondage.
and the FOUNDATION of his understanding was faith and no works.
we are saved.

WHICH IS TRUE.

But james was NOT talking about the WORKS of the LAW bu the works PROCEDEING from FAITH.
Paul on the other hand was talking about the WORKS of the LAW.
Just because they are BOTH talking about WORKS does not meen they are both talking about THE SAME THING!

But where as Luthor being an honest man could be corrected as he held the scriptures as the FINAL authority  and tghe FOUNDATION of ALL true faith in God.
But the popes of this world counting THEMSELVES above the LAW and the scriptures and INFALLABLE CANNOT BE.
an they who folow them are as BLIND as they are.
But they who are justyfied by FAITH and it is by GRACE are we saved NOT works lest any man should boast.
have had thier eyes opened.
and have beennseald  with the SPIRIT of truth.
So they do not nor should folow BLINDLY those who preach but with the UNDERSTANDING and LED to WALK in the light EVEN AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT..." and so they who preach and they who hear are UNITED in "THE faith that was once and for all delivered unto the sainst..."
For it is or should be CHRIST who LEADS them both.
Both to preach and to UNDERSTAND the Word of God.

So anyone can be a "disciple", but there were only twelve apostles--those who had firsthand contact with Jesus.

There can be no apostles today?

Thats not what the scriptures say.
Only by wrongly asserting what PETER SAID.

For God gave to the church APOSTLES PROPHETS TEACHERS EVANGELISTS PASTORS for what purpose?
the PERFECTION of the church and the UNITY of the faith and knowing that you cannot have a unity of "THE faith...." without a unity of UNDERSTANDING for faith comes by hearing the Word of God and we know from other scriptures that HEARING alone is not ENOUGH so it is with UNDERSTANDING that faith IN God comes.

Now if in EVERY generation it is considered that we need pastors and evangelists why is it thought we do not need the rest>?
Even as soem say the day of 'pentecost' is past and we "have need of nothing"
But who ever heard of a baby breathing ONCE!?
being BORNagain is like a baby being BORN.
It has LIFE but to LIVE that life it MUST be FILLED with the BREATH OF LIFE and that continually!
it si written "be ye FILLED with the HOLY GHOST" that 'filled' is a present continous verb.

Paul is the PATTERN of a TRUE apostle.
and in the  MEASURE  God has given them will folow it.

Given that there was only 12 in the beginning it is unlikely that there are a MULTITUDE  of them today.

and even as there were FALSE ones then so there will also be today.
So we should test the Spirit and see wether they be of God or no.

The ASSERTION that SAUL was at the river jordan when the lord was baptised is but that and there is NO evidence of scripture for it.
That PETER said what he did is one thing as pertaining to an Apostle.
But then HIS way of CHOOSING a replacement was wrong.
For it is clear that it is PAUL who was the replacement.
and so an APOSTLE is chosen not by LOT  as some even now so claim.
But By God as PAUL so affirmed.
and taught NOT by MAN (theological college?) but by GOD.
as Paul also affirmed.
It COULD be argued that Paul was taught by the Lord all that was nescsersary even of His baptism!
For there is much in that  as well no doubt.
So It can be said Peter was right in all he said.
But a FULLER or more PERFECT picture is obtained by PAUL.

iT IS perhaps worth noting as we are talking about disciples as well.
is that the Lord sent out not ONLY the Apostles but 58/70 disciples as well to go and minister in the SAME Spirit and did all those things which are reported.

FAITH and FEAR cannot be in the same place at the same time.
"For perfect love casteth out all fear" and "faith worketh by love"
The children of ISREAL who were given "for our ensample" when they had travlled with God from Egypt and who had delivered them out of bondage and opresion and had brought them SAFELY up to that point where he had opened the door into the that which He had promised so that they might enter in.
FAILED to do so because of fear.
Paul says it was because of unbeleif.
and so it was.
But look again at waht happened.
They sent 12 spies out and they ALL saw the SAME things.
yet the 10 saw them ONLY by the natural eye and reasoning and had FORGOTTEN all that had gone before.
While the two who gave a good report of what they saw .saw them in the LIGHT of what God HAD done,WHO it was who was WITH them and WHAT He had PROMISED .
and in THAT light saw things in thier PROPER PERSEPCTIVE that in the sight of God they were as "GRASSHOPPERS"
But the others WALKING by sight saw only GIANTS.
and so they gave it as they SAW it and SOWED FEAR and unbelief.
Now it was not that they beieved NOTHING but that they BELIEVED THE WRONG MESSAGE!
and walked by SIGHT and not by FAITH.
FAITH "SEEING that which is invisible..........." ACTS according to the LIGHT of what is seen.

So if we are christians  then we should remeber the MOUNTAIN TOPS we have ALREADY been on. and not be afraid OF THE VALLEYS even if it si the shadow of death.
For what was seen on the moutain top has not changed.
and when we are in doubt we should look BACKWARDS to what GOD .......HAS....done in our lives and for others(and for that matetr in the scriptures) and REMEMBER ......WHO it is who is WITH us. and TAKE HOLD of the PROMISES for the FUTURE and ACT according to what is right.

and when we are on the mountain top we should not only remember thE VALLEYS that will keep us in a humble frame of mind and heart.
But will also not allow us to look down on those who are in the valley but will seek to lift their eyes UP to Him who is faithfull who promised.

and so the WHOLE body groweth each part nourishing the other.



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