If you add all those numbers together and divde by three and then multiply by six, it will spell out the name of the name anti-Christ.
Yeah, I heard about it on the Prophecy News Hour...
Let me get you straight. Are you claiming that you don't sin?
I agree with John's interpretation.
Perhaps you should take a look at the mote in your own eye first.
If my memory serves me well ( often it does NOT) it was the "name-it-claim-it bunch who "popularized" this passage.
But even if they did not, what do ya'll say we look at it in context?
2Ch 7:12
¶ And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.
2Ch 7:13
If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
2Ch 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2Ch 7:15
Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
2Ch 7:16
For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.
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Why of course!!! I can see now! It does apply to America!
I appreciate your efforts here, I really do, but I think you are spiritualizing the text. I don't think we can apply "land" to our "domain." Also, where is it promised in the NT that if we obey God we will be "healed?" In fact, we are told to prepare to suffer for the Kingdom.
Here's the danger to what you say: What about faithful believers who live for Christ and have something horrible happen? If we believe that we are going to be blessed and healed if we obey God and humble ourselves before Him, then we would have to say Christians who get sick, lose jobs, have deaths in the close family, etc. have done something wrong. There are many faithful Christians who are persecuted and killed in other countries. So how does the 1 Chron. passage apply to them? I don't think it does.
I don't think God tells believers that we will be healed while in this lifetime.
LE, I hope you've realized I am not talking about ditching the OT. I believe in the OT - you should see the battle I'm having over that in the Baptist Theology forum on the Inerrant thread.
I am talking about that one particular passage and how it's often applied to the U.S., though it was said to Israel. I was wondering what people on the BB thought about this.
The promise is definitely to Israel. But since the Bible is a living Book, I believe that we are to look for Biblical principles. It was Dr. Cedarholm that I always used to hear:
"The Bible has one interpretation, but many applications."
That is true here, as long as it does not contradict Scripture elsewhere. America is blessed today (in contrast to other nations) because it based its foundation on Christian principles. There is more freedoms in America than in any other nation on the face of the world. Freedom of religion is one of the most precious freedoms that we have. Those are the type of things that we need to pray for.
There are many verses that support this concept in another way. Paul says that we should pray for the leaders of our land.
1 Timothy 2:1-4
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
If we expect to live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty, we must pray for our political leaders. By God's grace they alone can heal our land. For the king's heart is in the Lord's hand.
On the other hand I do not believe the Bible teaches any such thing as a great revival before Christ comes (i.e., the rapture). I believe that there will be a a great falling away. We can see the beginnings of that in our day and age. A great apostacy. Jesus himself said, that when he comes, "Would he find faith on the earth?" This was a rhetorical question indicating no. Men would be turning from the faith going into apostacy, making true believers wonder if they were ever saved in the first place. Can any one explain what the former apologist Pinnock believes now, as compared to what he formerly believed, for example?
DHK
Pinnock apparently was a sound believer and taught or still teaches at McMaster Divinity College. Then he changed his belief from hell to annihilationism. Then he became an Open Theist (wrote a few books on it). In fact, he is one of the outspoken Christians on Open Theism. More recently, he started saying that Christians should give a
2nd look at the Mormon concept of God having a body.
Pinnock's downward curve began with questioning the accuracy of the Bible:
Here's Geisler's written statement as to why he resigned from the ETS -- it was partly because they retained Pinnock and would not denounce open theism. (This happened in Nov, 2003). Geisler had been a past pres of ETS and a member for 44 yrs. http://www.ses.edu/NormGeisler/pinnock.htm
Today, the doctrine of justification is widely ignored, rarely central, and not infrequently denied outright by Protestant and, tragically, Evangelical theologians and pastors…. One of my old professors, Dr. Clark Pinnock, is so uncomfortable with an objective justification that he favors the "possibility of a doctrine of purgatory." http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/apologetics/AP0200W4.htm
Pinnock is above all insistent that the NT witness to the centrality and exclusive finality of Christ is non-negotiable for Christians: ‘Jesus Christ is Lord of all!’ (Acts 10:36).
He contrasts the evangelical adherence to the doctrinal normativity of the Bible to the approach of non-evangelical thinkers such as John Hick for whom the authority of Scripture has been abandoned.
Because the Bible no longer plays an authoritative role in Hick’s theologizing, his own effort to demythologize the person of Christ has resulted in an abdication of (among other things) the historic Christian belief in the incarnation.
For all biblically devoted Christians, ‘Jesus was and is the unique vehicle and means of God’s saving love in the world, and its definitive Savior.’ www.bethel.edu/~ayong/PINNOCK.DOC -
--the latter quote is what he formerly believed;
the former quote is what he now believes.
DHK
??
Clearly, you're either reading something into my posts which isn't there, or you have a preconcieved agenda about anything I post.
Likely both.
Excellent point.
Regardless of whether the "heal our land" verse was in reference to Israel, it's still pertinent to each believer individually, as is Ps23.
My point exactly.
Careful, Daniel David will likely accuse you of posting nonsense as well.