:prayer-hands: for your wayward daughter and grandkids. Good news is Jesus is still in the miracle working business and He wants families to all be together in heaven! Try not to get discourage ... He hears and answers prayers and works everything out in His perfect timing. :yes: Thanks sincerely for the prayers, Geri. Do you ever hear when people comment, "The Lord's return will be sooner than you think." I always say to myself, "Wanna' bet?? Sure the heck not sooner than I think!" Actually I never hear that statement ... I wish I did ... instead its scoffers saying “Jesus is not coming back anytime soon ...” or “there is no such thing as a rapture because that word isn’t in the Bible” ... they only believe in the 2nd coming”. I wanted to say this late last night but I got tired and had to get up early for my appointment. I personally believe Jesus is coming back VERY soon ... its not just what we see happening in Israel and the G/M forces stationed in Syria at the ready ... but I also base it on the responses I get when I do witness. It used to be fun, exciting and easy for years to share our faith with the unsaved because people wanted to hear Truth. But I saw the tide started to change in 2016 ... I get more negative responses back now vs. positive and it gets discouraging hearing the rejection. Today, while driving, I thought of this song “Work for the night is coming when man’s work is done”. I feel we are just about to that point where the work of the church is almost complete and we hand the baton to the 2 witnesses. So it was a joyful shock to see that old man’s positive response ... I have to be honest and say I wasn’t expecting it ... the Lord showed me there are a few stragglers left to bring in and then ... we are out of here! :yahoo: “there is no such thing as a rapture because that word isn’t in the Bible” Unfortunately for them, it actually IS in the Bible. It's sometimes referred to as "resurrection"! Let alone the principle being methodically laid out. TR Yep! Soon very soon they will know the rapture is very real. When I mentioned to this “Bible” study group (former neighbors) “caught up” means “the rapture“ ... one quickly replied ”I’m really reaching” and insisted there is only 1 resurrection. I’m not surprised by their mixed up teachings ... this is the same group that one lady urged me to attend their weekly Bible study because they are now studying a new book ... and when I asked what book is that? She called it Fel-lay-man. I said whaaat? At the time of this conversation we were in the meat dept of the grocery store so I thought my ears were playing tricks when I was grabbing some beef and then when she repeated it ... I said where is Personally I no longer mention the rapture when witnessing. I feel its more important just to focus on presenting the simple Gospel message and once they accept the free gift ... they are automatically ready for the rapture and will be pleasantly surprised when it happens. :yes: I've heard pastors pronounce Philemon as Fel-lay-man. If our American pronunciation is wrong then I'll just be wrong about it B-) Lol Frankly I am sometimes bothered by many teachers who have undergone self imposed language lessons and adopt newer and more correct pronounciation of names. I know who they are making reference to and so does God! So too those that feel to the need to constantly quote every relevant scripture when making a point. Albeit scriptural principles are well identified and understood especially among bretheren. This seemingly adds an heir of authenticity to whatever teaching is being presented. Let's keep simple points and principles, simple. Sorry, just one of my pet peeves. Many false teachings and teachers seem to garnish themselves with an over abundance of scripture as if by trying to legitimize their teachings. Even babes in Christ can follow any message from God without having to recite the whole of scripture. TR Shall we say plain and simple as the nose on their faces... Jesus said “ having faith as a little child...” God made the Gospel so simple, yet it ...confounds the wise.... Good post, Dan! As a long time watcher for the Lord, I have felt the frustration and expectation many times, too. Dates have come and gone, and the condition of the world has deteriorated horribly. However, we always have the choice of feeling disappointed we are still here or to recognize there is a purpose in our remaining here yet a while longer. That's easily enough to say, and I still find myself frequently asking the Lord if it's going to happen really soon. We can find strange comfort in knowing the worse it gets down here, the closer we are to leaving. I have long since concluded that there's not much we can do to change the world, and God didn't give us the assignment of fixing everything, anyway. He called us to be witnesses of Him that some might believe (which you already know). Sometimes it comes down to the way we decide to look at things: https://www.mondaymorningmemo.com/got-to-be-a-pony-in-here-somewhere/ “The joke concerns twin boys of five or six. Worried that the boys had developed extreme personalities – one was a total pessimist, the other a total optimist – their parents took them to a psychiatrist.”
“this book“ found? She said New Testament ... I finally figured out she meant Philemon! :mdrmdr: I told her no thanks, I will pass.
He is such an amazing God! :prayer-hands:
“First the psychiatrist treated the pessimist. Trying to brighten his outlook, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with brand-new toys. But instead of yelping with delight, the little boy burst into tears. 'What's the matter?' the psychiatrist asked, baffled. 'Don't you want to play with any of the toys?' 'Yes,' the little boy bawled, 'but if I did I'd only break them.'”
“Next the psychiatrist treated the optimist. Trying to dampen his out look, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with horse manure. But instead of wrinkling his nose in disgust, the optimist emitted just the yelp of delight the psychiatrist had been hoping to hear from his brother, the pessimist. Then he clambered to the top of the pile, dropped to his knees, and began gleefully digging out scoop after scoop with his bare hands. 'What do you think you're doing?' the psychiatrist asked, just as baffled by the optimist as he had been by the pessimist. 'With all this manure,' the little boy replied, beaming, 'there must be a pony in here somewhere!'”
