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Who is our enemy?
aqrinc:
--- Quote from: Arion on February 06, 2010, 11:42:16 AM ---Mat 10:36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
Boy, isn't that true? It's not so much my physical family as it is the so-called family of faith of Christendom out there. I get more far more resistance to the message of universal reconcilliation from the Christians than I ever do from the people of the world.
--- End quote ---
Arion, Ninny,
Comes with the territory, when you attack a strong mans house, you may get beaten up. (Synagogue of Satan).
Mat 12:29 (MKJV)
Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, unless first he binds the strong one, and then he will plunder his house.
2Th 2:8(MKJV)
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming,
2Th 2:9 whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved.
Rev 2:9 I know your works and tribulation and poverty (but you are rich), and I know the blasphemy of those saying themselves to be Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Rev 3:9 Behold, I give out of those of the synagogue of Satan, those saying themselves to be Jews and are not, but lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
george :).
Deborah-Leigh:
It is tempting to look outside ourselves to identify our enemies when in fact we are our own worst enemy :)
The number of the wild beast is not the number of "a" man, but rather the number of "man" or "mankind." LOF13
JUST WHAT IS CARNALITY
What then is it to be carnal or carnally minded? It’s not good, I can tell you that. It’s a monster—IT’S A BEAST:
"for to be carnally minded is DEATH…"
And just why is that?
"Because the carnal mind is enmity [DEEP-SEATED HATRED] against God: for it is NOT SUBJECT to the [spiritual] law of God, neither indeed CAN BE [Gk: ‘is ABLE’]. So then they that are in the flesh [carnal-minded] CANNOT please God" (Rom. 8:6-8).
• Have YOU ever seen yourself as the man of sin?
• Do you believe that YOU were once the son of perdition?
• Have YOU ever been carnally-minded in your walk with God?
• Have YOU ever left your first love?
• Have YOU ever put your hand to the plough and looked back?
• Has the spiritual house YOU built upon the sand fallen yet?
• Have you fallen from grace since first believing?
No? You say, "NO—NEVER"! Then the chances are great that "ye are YET carnal."
THE MAN OF SIN IDENTIFIED
Paul gives us three revealing factors concerning the man of sin (II Thes. 2:4):
1. "Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped;
2. so that he as God sits in the temple of God
3. showing himself that he is God"
These three traits of the man of sin are not reserved for some one superhuman that comes on the scene at the end of the age. Every man in every generation since John and Paul first penned their prophecies, have manifested these three traits of "the man of sin." Well why then haven’t more people seen this man of sin through the ages and reported on him? For one thing, only those who leave their first love, who are called and chosen, and have had their house build upon the sand come crashing down, are able to see the man of sin—the BEAST within. And the other reason is that the man of sin and beast within are invisible LOF14
Silvia Martin:
Hi Arc,
I agree, we ( the beast within) are our worst enemy. I also think I'm disappointed in myself more than in other people. I let myself down more...my expectations in myself are being raised constantly while I expect less and less from other people. I am humbled every day by the things I want to do and be and can't.
Silvia
Roy Martin:
Well I know I can't love the enemy. I would be lying to say I do, or can choose to love them.
As far as I can tell, my enemy is the ones that want to kill me, and us with their words. They say they love us, yet call us a cult and condemn us to eternal torment.To love them and expose them at the same time is impossible for me to do.God will bring me into that in His time frame.
Roy
mharrell08:
--- Quote from: Roy Martin on February 07, 2010, 09:46:09 AM ---Well I know I can't love the enemy. I would be lying to say I do, or can choose to love them.
As far as I can tell, my enemy is the ones that want to kill me, and us with their words. They say they love us, yet call us a cult and condemn us to eternal torment.To love them and expose them at the same time is impossible for me to do.God will bring me into that in His time frame.
Roy
--- End quote ---
Excerpt from Bible Study '07 - Love (http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3719.msg27959.html#msg27959):
But Christ said, but I say unto you, love your enemies - agapao your enemies. Can you love your enemies and hate them at the same time? Well, you say no you can’t, that’s a contradiction. Well, let’s think about that for a second. Could God hate Esau and love him a the same time? Not only could He, the Bible tells us that, and it shows that He did. He shows more favor to Jacob then He did for Esau, and yet you can find some pretty strong promises and blessings (even though He said I hate Esau), you can find blessings on Esau in the Bible I can show you them, ok.
God said, I hate liars and people that cause discord and everything, yet I gave My own Son for the world. Why?, because I agapao them.
God thinks beyond their couple of three score and ten years of hate and criminality. I look beyond that, and I see their future - agapao. Maybe we need to learn to do that too. If we’re going to be like God, right.
Can you look beyond what they are doing, and at how filthy, corrupt and evil they are, and see a time when that evil can be burnt out of them. And they can be brothers in the kingdom of God. Can you do that through the spirit of God? I can, that’s agape love.
When I see them, putting a young girl, who has her whole life ahead of her, and she knows week after week, they are going to cut her head off, with a rusty butcher knife. Just living in stark terror, and you say, I have such a warm feeling in my heart for those terrorists. I don’t think so. And further more, God never tells us we have to phileo love them as a brother.
As someone you would want to hug, go out to lunch with, or do favors for, or kiss them on the cheek.
By the way, this was a revelation to me. Do you know several places in the New Testament, where it says kiss, it means kiss (a smacking sound, of a kiss). Well guess what that word is? It’s the same word phileo.
Phileo not only means affectionate love and adoration, and fondness for fellow brothers or sisters, it means kiss, ok. Because you kiss someone you’re fond of, that’s how close they are connected.
So God does not tell us, we have to phileo our enemies or that we have to phileo our next door neighbor.
Agapao is a more formal, it’s not a give and take, two-way street. It’s a one-way street, forgiving humanity for the evil that they have.
So we need to have this agape love for our neighbors. Maybe we don’t like them, maybe they’re not even good people, for our enemies, surely aren’t good people, or there would not be a reason for them to be your enemy.
For the whole world, we have to have this agapao love. But no where does God say we have to phileo them, or love them with affection, like a brotherly love, where we would hug them or give them a kiss.
Hello Roy,
It's not about loving how they are now, but love for their eternal well-being in the next age. Like you said, God will be the One to bring you to that point.
Hope this helps,
Marques
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