The Lost Teaching the Lost to be Lost

⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3 ( NIV )

This verse deals with our King's calling us home and the end of days--and that He does not wish any to be lost. Everyone that can and will be saved MUST be saved. This verse also covers that He is indeed returning, not as fast as we might want, but that is so those people who will make the choice to be saved, and admit that God is God (and Christ is the Son of God and Savior) will be with us.
There is a disturbing trend in the world at the moment, though:
It doesn't matter who or what you believe in, for all people will go to Heaven. Which if it doesn't matter who or what you believe in, why would you need to believe in anything at all? And why would there be the notion of Hell at all?
Secondly, if anyone has spent even five minutes reviewing the various major religions...it is difficult to put them all in the same category. The great variance between them is, if nothing else, confusing. Attempting to straighten out Hinduism is really confusing, based on my attempts at sorting the various gods.

It is indeed true when people who follow that all saved theory that God does not want any to be lost--but there is a HUGE limiting factor, as in the 2 Peter 3.9 passage, but with the following verses as well:

3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2 ( NIV )

²² "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

²⁴ "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5 (NIV )

20The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.

21“But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. 22None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. 23Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? Ezekiel 18 ( NIV )

[Recall this is before Christ appeared, but basically requiring the same thing--that we repent (stop and change) of our evil ways and cover it with sacrifice, whether from animal then or from the permanent sacrifice of Christ now.]

While Jay Mack is speaking about Revelation 2.18-29, Christ's letter to the church at Thyatira, we can take a quick look at the following quote:
"But today, instead of tolerating beliefs or practices with which we strongly disagree, our secular society expects us to agree with everybody’s beliefs, values and lifestyles. Every deviant behavior wants to be affirmed as being “normal.” As a result, the belief in absolute truth becomes weaker and weaker.How can there be absolute truth if everybody’s belief’s are equal? (Mack )

This applies because it shows what happens to churches/people who begin to doubt the Word of God. If you remove the absolute truth that is the Word of God, you are, unfortunately, likely to be fooled into following one lie after another, each bigger and more deadly than the last."As A. A. Hodge wrote, “Whatever God teaches or commands is of sovereign authority. . . . The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the only organs through which, during the present dispensation, God conveys to us a knowledge of his will about what we are to believe concerning himself, and what duties he requires of us” (Outlines of Theology, chapter 5)." (  GotQuestions)

There was a reason Christ said in John 14:
⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.( NIV)
Here stands absolute truth stating the absolute truth that this is the one and only way to salvation. When we ignore passages in the Word--and worse, encourage others to do so--it is deadly dangerous. Really, too, when ignoring the Word, how do you decide what stays and what goes? To ignore the simplest point, though, that one must believe in Christ to truly be saved from a lifetime of sin, is beyond description.

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, Romans 1 (NIV )

²⁸ Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹ they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. ³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. Romans 1

 The church at Thyatira was greeted with the vision of Christ as Judge--the title Son of God used here points to a judge, as well as the use of bronze, as bronze was used in the courtyard of the Tabernacle to point out judgement.  Thyatira, unlike the other churches in other towns written at this time, was not a hotbed of pagan worship, with the Greek god Apollo being the main god worshiped, nor were there very many Jewish followers. Instead, Thyatira poisoned itself quite effectively. The town was a strong commerical link, with each business belonging to its official guild--and these guilds concluded dinners to its patron god/goddess with an orgy. 
Thyatira's church was fascinated with a woman who stated she had new messages from God, and as such, slowly led the people away from God's real teaching. Sound familiar with popular churches and teachers today? "I have a new revelation" is the new byword of today's seminaries. "Let’s hold on to what Yeshua has done, and not tolerate anything or anyone that distorts the Gospel."  ( Mack )

What happens to churches and people who continue in the track to "tolerate" everything that comes their way? We have churches tolerating everything listed in the Word as against God--complete with celebrating these sins. You list 'em, we got 'em, and we're proud of 'em!
Eventually, and there have been churches like this from the very beginning to now, you get dead churches like Laodicea:
Some churches make the Lord cry, others make Him angry, but this lukewarm church made Him sick.... The church at Laodicea boasted that it was healthy and prosperous, saying: I am rich. I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But Jesus contradicted them by saying: You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked (3:17). They were characterized by richness in worldly things, but also self-deception, for they were spiritually poor, blind and naked. Not only did the church boast in their supposed spiritual well-being, they boasted that they had acquired their wealth by their own efforts. Spiritual complacency was accompanied by spiritual pride.124 Their belief in Gnosticism led them to believe that they had a higher level of spiritual knowledge. They looked down on the unsophisticated who were satisfied with the teachings of the Bible and the Person of Messiah. ( Mack)

Read, for consideration, the various letters to the 7 churches, and the level of warnings and commendations and commands given---and how these apply to your life, your church and  what you are following: Are you listening to the Word of Truth spoken from God, or are you leaning on the dangerous "new" revelations given you? Are sins seen as sins, or cause for celebration?
Revelations 2 ( NIV); Revelations 3 ( NIV)

Remember that all Scriptures, true Scriptures from God are truth, not the lost crying to the lost, but the full authority and truth speaking justly^.16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God^[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 
2 Timothy 3 (  NIV).
 
 ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3 ( NIV )

See Amir's latest updates:
June 15, 2019

I Nearly Died

I nearly died over Memorial Weekend. 

I have been in more pain than I have ever been, about my ribs and back. I gave up volunteering because I couldn't stand sitting or standing. I couldn't stand laying down. I couldn't eat because the pain always swooped in worse in the afternoon, and having a stomach that had ANYTHING in it made the pain worse. 

I began going to the ER when the pain was so bad that I was starting to scream, just lay and scream. It felt like I was being torn in two. The ER really can't help you, because there isn't much they can do...but they did sometimes provide some super NSAIDs which at least gave me about 6 hours of less pain. 
I have been to every type of doctor you can imagine. No help. No hope. No future. The answer was always this is who you are now....
I spent months writhing in agony. Pain was 15 out of 10. I was begging God to heal me or take me. I was asking my doctors about hospice, because if nothing else, I was going to starve to death...but I couldn't take the pain. 

I collapsed on Sunday, May 26. If my husband hadn't been up and managed to find me, we really aren't sure what would have happened. 
It turned out that I had had a bleeding ulcer, and a very bad one, which no one was catching onto, least of all me. The symptoms I had are not a usual presentation. The placement of the ulcer, which was in the small intestine, either eats a hole into the abdominal cavity, leading to peritonitis and likely spesis, or it eats the other side, digging into the portal (liver) vessels. 
I had bleed enough and eaten nothing that I had the typical GI upset stomach within a short time, letting the ER doctors know that I had a bleed. Super low blood pressure, and, being an already near impossible stick, they had to use ultrasound machines to get IVs in and start fluids, antibiotics and blood. (Thank you, whoever it was who donated the blood they gave me). 
We expected to be admitted into the same hospital, but the GI dr there felt I was too unstable, and so I was shipped via ambulance north. Once there, I had a stomach scope done to see what needed to be done. 
The ulcer was too bad to do the usual cauterization/freezing process, so I was held for 72 hours, as there is a 20-40% chance of a rebleed in the first 48 hours. I was terrified, since up to waking up to my husband and parents having already called 911, I had no memory of even feeling "funny", apart from a slight dizziness that had passed earlier.
The watch and wait game was hard, especially when my blood counts went down and I had to get more blood products. The nurse gave me sedatives to make the whole thing easier. 
My other option, if the bleeding did not stop was surgery, basically cutting out the ulcer and stitching me back up. I really didn't want that, being someone who avoids surgery unless that is the only option, of course...so the idea of surgery also had me terrified. 
My husband stayed all the nights which was wonderful, and I had other family visiting and calling. 

My blood counts stabilized, and I was sent home on restricted diet, restricted meds (figuring it was from ibuprofen).
Having now been home more than two weeks, I can still barely eat anything, as I can only eat the plainest foods, and I still will get suddenly terrified over being totally alone, as if I hadn't been found in the middle of the night who knows what would have happened. Its not that I am even afraid of dying, just...being alone if I woke up unable to move or call out and facing death alone, I guess. I get afraid if I feel "off" or "poorly" as that is about all I felt before collapsing.

I am very, very weak, and have only now gotten to where I can usually get up the stairs and not have to practically fall into a chair gasping from lack of air. I have never been so weak in my life. 

Apparently, thus far, the back and rib pain that had me in such misery is gone...it must have been a presentation of the ulcer, a referred pain, though all the doctors and nurses I have spoken to since have never heard of such a case. I am still on tenterhooks that it will return, but if it is gone, and that was the problem, then who knows how I might be when I get my strength back. 

Funny, after having something like this...you ask God, what You have me do now? Anything different?

Amir Tsarfadi--Behold Israel

I highly, highly, highly recommend watching the videos of Amir Tsarfadi of Behold Israel. He is an excellent teacher, and works very hard. I especially appreciate his "Latest Updates" on world events. 

https://beholdisrael.org/watch-and-listen/latest-updates/

A Deeper Look at John 6.1-15

1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), ² and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. ⁴ The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
⁷ Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages^[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
⁸ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
¹² When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” ¹³ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
¹⁴ After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. John 6 NIV


The feeding of the 5,000 mimics the feeding of a hundred in 2 Kings:
⁴² A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.
⁴³ “How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked.
But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” ⁴⁴ Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord. 2 Kings 4 (NIV )

 The Sea of Galilee is also known as the Sea of Tiberias because of the city of the tetrarchy which had the same name.  ( Mack )"Known in the Hebrew Bible as Chinnereth, Josephus used the Hellenized form of this name, Gennesar or Gennesaritis..The Sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater lake on earth...the Sea of Galilee is about 1 m (3.3 ft.) higher than it was in the time of Christ. This is apparent from the level of the harbors that have survived from the first century.,, The Jordan River is the main source of water for the lake, supplying about 75 percent of the lake’s annual intake.The Sea of Galilee is known for its violent storms, which can come up suddenly and be life-threatening for any on its waters. These tempests are caused by the situation of the lake in the Jordan Rift with steep hills on all sides...The most violent storms, however, are caused by the fierce winds which blow off the Golan Heights from the east. One such storm in March 1992 sent waves 3 m (10 ft) high crashing into downtown Tiberias and caused significant damage to the city." .(Bible Archaeology ) 



I was thinking about popular people of today, movie stars, political figures, whoever, and how thick crowds of people will be--how overwhelming those crowds can be. Here is a man who is able to actually heal people of illness and demon possession, something incredible now, but incredible then too--especially with limited medical treatments. Imagine a person who could do such now, and the size of the crowds that could be expected! Now, today, when large crowds gather, the famous person is surrounded by security and herded about, kept apart from followers as desired, certainly allowed to eat and rest. 
While He certainly wanted to spend time with these people, that His work might be seen and heard, He also spent a fair amount of time teaching His talmid (students) what His parables meant, etc.         
John points out that it is near Passover, which is a time that Israel had expected the Messiah to appear. (Mack  ) 

It is considered that this event was to be near the town of Bethsaida, as Mack discusses, which is surrounded by hill country (which verse 3 translates into) and grassy slopes.So a pleasant place, but not over filled with vending machines.
Most famous people would probably lose their tempers at this point, with no escape, but thankfully Christ is Christ and instead had compassion on these people. Assuming the crowd had functioned like most star-chasers, they probably took little with them, but hurried to get in front of everyone else, whether wanting healing for themselves, others, or just to see a miracle in person. Those who were more ill and more crippled probably arrived later than the "watchers", since they would need more time to travel or the aid of others to do so. Speaking as one who hurts, is sick, and has been so and likely to remain so...I would do anything to lay before one who could heal me at a word, no matter the cost or effort to get there. I have often wondered if there was any fighting in these crowds, either for a closer placement or to ensure that their ill family member/friend was seen.  The later arrivals probably needed to eat and rest more than anyone there, thinking how I would feel after walking/riding any distance in presumably hot weather, and hear comes sunset.

Christ seeing the later arrivals, asked what they would feed the people---speaking directly to Phillip.
Now I have never paid much attention to what was said to which disciple and why, but apparently one should: "the Master specifically turned His attention to Philip. We know from our first introduction to him.. that he was a student of the TaNaKh and interpreted it literally and believed in the Messiah. So when Christ came to him and said: Follow Me, he embraced Jesus immediately and followed Him without hesitation. That was Philip’s spiritual side. His heart was in the right place. He was a man of faith. But sometimes he was a man of weak faith."

John 1.43-51 covers the calling of Phillip, and how certain he was that he had found the Christ. It also discusses that he was from Bethsaida, meaning he was likely especially aware of what was in and around the area where the 12 now sat.( NIV)

6 "He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do." Ever teaching and forming His talmid, Christ already has a plan, but challenges His followers, specifically Phillip. Phillip seemingly had already been counting heads and estimating the cost to feed them, even if there had been a convenience store to use, and must have been overwhelmed by the size of the crowd. ( Mack)

But the Messiah had said, and so Andrew, who found a boy who had a small amount of food with him,  brought the boy to Christ. ( Mack) The sardines found in the sea of Galilee were a staple of the locals’ diet and these were probably the “two small “fish” which Jesus used to feed the multitude.(Bible Archaeology)

 The disciples distrubuted the bread and fish, which must have been, one, a lot of work what with an estimated 20,000 people with the women and children present, and two, overwhelming to be actually feeding so many people when it started out as such a small, single meal. ( GotQuestions)
The baskets used to gather the remaining food were small baskets that all Jews used to carry a meal and small essential tools, thus avoiding the issue of cleanliness of food. And how many were left? 12, just enough for the disciples. ( Mack)


Since the time was not yet ready for Christ to be made King, nor in the manner and way in which the people wanted, He left the area by Himself before they could force Him to be King. Unusual, really, since so many of us, if offered such a thing would take it, whether we would be a good ruler or not--the pull of fame and fortune being what it is. While Christ could (and will) stop any battle with a word, this fight that the people wanted Him to lead was not the fight that He was to fight. His goal was to win a totally different battle, as found by His death and resurrection.