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Originally Posted by Pressing-On
My mindset is that I wouldn't study God's powerful, lovely Word and then veer off to follow Big Foot or Chemtrails around. It just doesn't make sense to me.
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The Holy Scriptures need not to be automatically considered mutually exclusive to the two concerns above. Or any other concern, for that matter.
If Esaias or others are interested them, what's that to you? Also, where did Esaias ever bring up Bigfoot?
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I don't view intense study and awareness of the world around us as being a Prophet or a Prophetess. Those are terms that should never be thrown around lightly. And, apparently, He agrees with your assessment, as he doesn't refute his title you've given him.
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Every Biblical prophet was very studious and aware of, not to mention, quite concerned with, the world around them, Jesus being the chief example.
You said it yourself regarding God speaking about an event or calamity. In Amos God states He doesn't do anything without revealing it to His servants the prophets (3:7). Just prior to that Amos asks rhetorically about the possibility of a trumpet being blown in a city and the people of that city not being afraid, or of a disaster striking a city, and God not being involved.
This passage speaks of world event and calamities that God chooses to make His servants the prophets aware of, for, in verse 8, Amos states "The Lord YH has spoken, who can but prophesy?".
(This is merely one of too many to name examples in the Holy Scriptures.)
So, while it's important to not lightly toss around the term prophet, it seems to be you don't have a fully functional definition of what a Biblical prophet is.
As far as Esaias commenting or not, let's not presume on his motives.
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God is who He was before He was given a NAME when He was manifested in the flesh. I'm not impressed with archaic terms and language, sorry.
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YHVH is the name whereby God revealed Himself to Moses in the Holy Scriptures. It is present in the OT over 6,000 times, albeit obscured in English by the word "LORD" and "GOD" Every Psalm contains this name in Hebrew, and all the great verses of praise and adoration that Christians quote from the Psalms in admiration and love for God's name, from the Psalms and elsewhere, contain written, in Hebrew orthography, YHVH (some write it in English as YHWH, however).
Most importantly, the name of Jesus, as derived down from Latin, from Greek, from Hebrew, contains YHVH embedded into it, being a theophoric name. Therefore, if you aren't impressed with YHVH, it's impossible to be impressed with the name of Jesus.
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It's God's number, of which we have no certainty. His "glorious" church can't be viewed as "DOOMED". Ephesians 5:27 That should always be our focus, the church.
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Of course, the glorious church should be our focus. But consider, after the October Revolution in 1917, the burgeoning Pentecostal Mission Andrew Urshan founded went underground and millions upon untold millions of people died never having had a chance to hear the soul-saving Gospel through the Body of Christ for decades and decades because the church was forced underground and nearly died.
The representation of Christ in the church and the fulfilling of the Great Commission has waxed and waned throughout the centuries geographically because of the course of the world. To not be concerned with and/or how the church in the USA or the West might be censured from fulfilling its duty, or worse, of being driven underground or persecuted to death is to be indifferent to those who have already suffered from the sake of the Gospel.
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I have been fortunate to read a lot of good books with testimonial lives of people who have seen and have experienced, who see and experience the power of God's Spirit working. Looking around, at any time, at a "possible" DOOM seems to defeat the purpose of living a victorious life in Christ.
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You've read some good books. That's not the same as living it. I find it rather callous to feel like God will take care of us, because we're saints, but the rest of His created wonder can suffer whatever potential hell on earth might come to our unsaved family, friends, and neighbors, if or when the bottom falls out.
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I remember when our children asked us why we were not stock piling to get ready for Y2K. We simply responded that God had not instructed us to do so, and that we must be very careful not to get caught up in fear mongering and alarmist theories that will come and go.
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The Y2K scenario was fluff from the beginning to the end. Communist Revolution in the USA is not.
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I remain of that attitude today. God has not spoken to me at any time about DOOM and GLOOM on the horizon. In one of my prayer times last week, the Lord instructed me to pray that a revival would break out in Germany among the Muslim population that would spread to France and Denmark. The prayer has gone out, and I am sure along with others who I will never know prayed with me, and we will see this happen. When? That is God's business, but I certainly will not be wringing my hands waiting for it.
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You should not take for granted that just because you don't believe God has spoken to you about these things, that He hasn't spoken. Or that, worse, He hasn't spoken to anyone else. That's a dangerous path to tread.
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I don't understand a Holy Ghost filled person looking for DOOM and our demise around every corner. Sorry, I just don't get it.
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Haven't read Jeremiah recently?
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At God's direction, I am able to lay hands on a person and they will be healed. At God's direction, I can be used in any and all the gifts of the Spirit. That should be our focus, IMO. At any MOMENT, God can do anything.
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I agree. And at any moment, God can decide to pluck up a nation. Not everyone in Israel or Judah was wicked. They paid the price, too, of the national disobedience.