Posted by Your Enemy, et al on 1/8/2002, 9:57 am

Posted by Your Enemy on 12/19/2001, 2:12 pm Matt 25:31-44 31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' NIV Why did they not recognize him? He came to both, and neither recognized him. Why? Because He came not as a brother, or so they thought, but as an enemy. Matt 5:38-48 38 "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' 39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. NIV ---------- Missing the point Posted by Phil on 12/20/2001, 11:28 am , in reply to "Behold, I come as thief in the night." While how we respond to our enemies certainly reflects our spiritual paternity, I don’t buy the correlation you’re making here. Where does it say that we should entreat those who seek our harm in the same way we would treat our brethren and/or those in need? Yahshua didn’t! He proactively ministered to those who believed He was the Son of God and Messiah, not to those who sought his demise. He continually rebuked and avoided His enemies until He ultimately passively submitted to them as a matter of submitting to His Father’s greater will. When the lawyer asked Yahshua who his neighbor was in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Yahshua illustrated how to BE a neighbor rather than how to KNOW one. The point is that by BEING a neighbor to those in need, Yahshua knows and counts US as His brother, sister, mother, etc. The wheat and tares are indistinguishable until they come to maturity by design, so the only thing to do is tend the entire field. Yahshua comes as “the least of these” and “a thief in the night” to take account of how we are doing with His goods. His faithful are diligently doing as He commanded, even when they don’t know they’re being tested. If Yahshua were recognized at each encounter, the test would be invalidated; even the publicans and sinners love their own. The reason neither group recognized Yahshua is because that is essential to the point that we not know when and how we’ll be tested. It is not necessarily that they appeared to be enemies, though that is certainly possible. (As an exception, not the rule, however.) The point is that we should be concerned with being a neighbor to all first, not that we should identify who is and is not worthy. This is true even if the proposed means of identifying our brethren is convoluted. Most of those who appear to be our enemies are just that, and Yahshua is not an enemy to His own sheep. We may test the spirits by showing them the love of God, but if they are unresponsive to that, we can and normally should shake the dust from our feet and move on without fear of rejecting or being rejected by Yahshua. Link: Simple Truth Ministries http://www.planetkc.com/stm --------- Look at Mr. Enemy's e-mail Posted by Will Stone on 12/21/2001, 11:42 pm , in reply to "Behold, I come as thief in the night." Jesus@followme.net. Apparantly, he believes he's Jesus. In the Bible, that would have been blasphemy, a stoning offense. Kind of reminds me of one of my early jobs, when I worked at telemarketing. One day the lady who worked in the cubicle beside me called a number and they answered, "Church of the Living Christ." When she said the spiel, they said, "He isn't here right now. You'll have to call back at five." "And who should I ask for?" she said. "The Living Christ," they replied. "He isn't here right now." ---------- The trials of Job Posted by Eric on 12/22/2001, 9:00 pm , in reply to "Behold, I come as thief in the night." While I agree evil is used to try us, to test us, I do not see the Lord coming as the Evil One to do the testing.....directly. Satan went before God and asked for the right to "test" Job, which was granted by the Father. In your reasoning, as I see it, the Father is working through the agent of Satan to directly test the servant, rather than Satan having a will of his own to carry out the atrocities he wished upon Job. As a Father does, so does the Son. And, as brothers, we do as our elder brother does as well, or should. All responsibility of our maturation has been delegated to him, so we ought follow His leading. Now, the Father cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man with evil. So for the Son to us to tempt us with evil is not possible. He will not do anything but that which is a direct reflection of His Father and God. To ALLOW us to go through the fire, to allow us to have the wood, hay, and stubble purged...sure. And if even through the evil works of Satan and his emisaries. Yahshua was no different. He was made perfect through His sufferings. His Father and God allowed what happened, but didn't perpetrate it. To be tried, and come forth as gold. Yahshua became the Head of an entire body that will ultimately endure the trials. Job was hit from every angle, tempted on every side. His "brothers" came to console, but in the end failed, for they too blamed this as a direct action by the hand of Yahweh, rather than for what it really was. For them, grace wasn't good enough. There HAD to be a reason for Jobs plight, leading to their judgement and condemnation of him. So while I disagree that Yahshua himself comes to tempt us, I do believe our circumstances of life can be directed in such a way that we may be provoked to good works. Who knows? Sometimes that stranger we entertain unawares is there for a reason. And if Satan means it for evil, even this is for the son of Gods good. Just like Job, who Satan desired to sift as wheat (and Peter too), but when he came forth through his maturation, he came forth as gold. And he too is among the great cloud of witnesses who cheer us on to finish the course. Even when the gates of hell rise up to say otherwise. Our enemies aren't called enemies for nothing! Link: http://www.planetkc.com/stm