Have You Been With Jesus?

A compilation

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“And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”—Acts 4:13

A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have read lives of Christ, beautifully and eloquently written, but the best life of Christ is his living biography, written out in the words and actions of his people. If we were what we profess to be, and what we should be, we should be pictures of Christ; yea, such striking likenesses of him that the world would not have to hold us up and say, “Well, it seems somewhat of a likeness”; but they would, when they once beheld us, exclaim, “He has been with Jesus; he has been taught of him; he is like him ... in his life and everyday actions.”

A Christian should be like Christ in his boldness. Never blush to own your religion; your profession will never disgrace you: take care you never disgrace that. Be like Jesus, very valiant for your God.

Imitate him in your loving spirit; think kindly, speak kindly, and do kindly, that men may say of you, “He has been with Jesus.” Imitate Jesus in his holiness. Was he zealous for his Master? So be you; ever go about doing good. In all ways and by all means, so live that all may say of you, “He has been with Jesus.”—Charles Spurgeon

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I believe that the Christian life is a conversation with God and man. We should live as if the world is listening to what our every action says about the validity of our faith.—Shaun Groves1

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Do the people we encounter every day recognize us quickly as Christians? How many words must we speak before our listeners surmise that we belong to Jesus? What an embarrassment when a friend of several months exclaims in surprise, “I didn’t know you were a Christian!”

We need to learn to speak with a gospel accent. Speaking with a gospel accent means letting our speech be seasoned through and through with the words and attitudes of our Lord. Before we address this issue as it relates to our witness to unbelievers, we must confess that even among believers, even at church, we talk very little of Jesus. I think I first noticed this at seminary. Students who had given their lives to Christian ministry and who were in the process of preparing for their life’s work seldom spoke of the Lord in conversations with one another. Baseball, yes. Stock market, yes. Research papers, yes. Jesus, seldom! During worship, we sang about Him, talked about Him, prayed to Him, and called people to believe in Him. But when the service was over, we tucked Him away behind the scenes.

If we are ashamed to speak to one another about Jesus, then no wonder we do not speak to the lost about Him. Is it any wonder that unbelievers do not know much about the Lord? They simply do not hear anyone talking about Him.

I am not talking about presenting the gospel at this point. I am talking about simply letting Jesus into our conversations. We claim that He is the most important aspect of our lives—the very center of our existence—yet we do not talk about Him. Gandhi, a dedicated Hindu, quoted Jesus more often than we do.

Speaking with a gospel accent involves Christlike attitudes. When we defend some conviction, proclaim some ethical truth, or stand against some injustice, we bring Jesus’ teachings to bear upon the issue at hand.—Woody D. Wilson2

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No work of art is more important than the Christian’s own life, and every Christian is called upon to be an artist in a sense. … In a sense, the Christian life is to be a thing of truth and also a thing of beauty in the midst of a lost and despairing world.—Francis A. Schaeffer

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I think it’s time we stop asking ourselves the question: “Am I a good Christian?” We live in a time when the term “Christian” has been so diluted that millions of immoral but nice people genuinely consider themselves “good Christians.” We have reduced the idea of a good Christian to someone who believes in Jesus, loves his or her family, and attends church regularly. Others will label you a good Christian even though your life has no semblance to the way Christ spent His days on earth. Perhaps we should start asking the question: “Am I a good Christ?” In other words, do I look anything like Jesus? This question never even entered my mind until a friend of mine made a passing comment to me one day.

Dan is a longtime friend of mine. In fact, he’s the pastor who performed my wedding. He was talking to me about a pastor named Von. Von has been working with youth in the San Diego area for decades. Many of his students have gone on to become missionaries and powerful servants of God. Dan described a trip to Tijuana, Mexico, with Pastor Von. (Von has been ministering to the poor in the dumps of Tijuana for years.) Dan didn’t speak of the awful living conditions of those who made their homes amidst the rubbish. What impacted Dan the most was the relationship he saw between Von and the people of this community. He spoke of the compassion, sacrifice, and love that he witnessed in Von’s words and actions as he held these malnourished and unbathed children.

Then he made the statement that sent me reeling: “The day I spent with Von was the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to walking with Jesus.”

Dan explained that the whole experience was so eerie because he kept thinking to himself: “If Jesus were still walking on earth in the flesh, this is what it would feel like to walk alongside of Him!” After that discussion, I kept wondering if anyone had ever said that about me—“The day I spent with Francis was the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to walking with Jesus.” The answer was an obvious “no.” Would any honest person say that about you? What bothered me was not that I hadn’t “arrived,” but that I wasn’t even heading in the right direction. I hadn’t made it my goal to resemble Christ. I wasn’t striving to become the kind of person who could be mistaken for Jesus Christ.

Isn’t it ironic that a man can be known as a successful pastor, speaker, and CHRISTian even if his life doesn’t resemble Christ’s? 1 John 2:6 says, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” When John made that statement, he wasn’t speaking about how to be a church leader or even how to be a “good” Christian. He merely stated that anyone who calls himself Christian must live like Jesus did. So how did Jesus live? You could make a list of character traits to compare yourself to, but it would be far more beneficial to simply read through one of the Gospels. After you get a bird’s-eye view of the life of Christ, do the same with your own. Are you comfortable with the similarities and differences? Biblically, success is when our lives parallel Christ’s. Truth is, there are many good Christs that you’ll never read about in a magazine. They are walking as Jesus walked, but they are too focused and humble to pursue their own recognition.

May we make it our goal to someday have someone say of us: “The day/hour/15 minutes I spent with [insert your name here] was the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to walking with Jesus.”—Francis Chan3

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We know that the Gospel is a message for today’s world, but finding the manner to reach those who have not yet been attracted to the message, or who have been put off by it for one reason or another, is an ever-increasing challenge.

… We are called to bring a message about a man who lived and died and was resurrected 2,000 years ago—with the claim that this is the most important message they will ever encounter. It is therefore vital for the mission-minded Christian to find new and creative ways to express and deliver the timeless message of the love of God in a manner that speaks to the people of today’s world. No doubt Christians of the past have had challenges in their time periods as well, but today’s world is our challenge.

Each person in every country or culture deserves and needs to hear the Gospel. As Christians, we are commissioned to bring it to those in the country, culture, and community in which we live, in a manner that resonates with them.

There are certain practices which should be used by all witnessing Christians, such as being loving, tolerant, patient, and a good listener. These connect with the most vital aspect of delivery—the “you” factor. You are the one delivering the message. You are recommending the message, vouching for it. You are promising it works.

Many people today are wary of the messages they hear, and why wouldn’t they be? Every day on the Internet, on television, in the news, in advertisements, they are bombarded with messages that they need this, that, and the other, that this is the right way to think, the right position to take. To them the message of the Gospel might seem like another advertisement telling them what they need, how to live, what will make them happy. People are often not inclined to trust such messages, because their experience is that many messages contain little or no validity. People are searching for answers, but many are cautious regarding where they place their trust.

That’s why the “you” factor is so vital. You embody the message. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, dwells within you. Who you are, how you live, the love you show, the kindness, the compassion and concern, all reflect God’s Spirit which lives within you. The Holy Spirit gives the call to the individual’s heart, but that call is often heard through your example. They get interested because they see your light and feel your warmth; that brings about the desire to hear what you have to say and the trust needed to accept and believe what you tell them.

One of our challenges as Christians today is to live in a manner that allows the Holy Spirit to so reflect through us that people will be attracted and intrigued by the light that they see in us. Then, in coming closer to the warmth of that light, they will connect with the one who is the light of the world and who will give them the light of life. We reflect that light when we actively love God and genuinely live by the principles given by Jesus in the Gospel.—Peter Amsterdam4

Published on Anchor May 2012. Read by Stephen Larriva.


1 Quoted by Baptist Press.

2 The Shadow of Babel.

3 Catalyst, May 2009.

4 “The You Factor,” DC, Jan. 31, 2012.

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Aprender a conhecer a majestade de Jesus!

Maria Fontaine


Jesus lhe diz: “Descanse em Mim. Deixe o Meu Espírito banhá-lo enquanto as ondas quebram na praia, limpando e renovando, retirando todos os seus problemas. Clame as chaves de descanso e entre no Meu descanso. Ande descalço à beira do mar do Meu Espírito, absorvendo a paz e a tranqüilidade que ele transmite.”


Que visão de se estar só com o Senhor e se concentrar nEle, sem uma programação, apenas pensando nEle, em Sua beleza e grandiosidade.


Este é um outro hino sobre esperar no Senhor, descansar nEle, pensar nEle e aprender a entender o que Ele pensa -- no sossego e tranqüilidade do estado de meditação no qual Ele quer que estejamos quando vamos à Sua presença.

Espera, alma minha, no Senhor.

Ele é tua força e vida:

Levanta teu coração e alça vôo,

Acima do estresse e do conflito;

Pois nessa esfera celestial

Tua força será renovada;

Pelo vale poderás andar

Por fé e sem temer nada.

Espera, alma minha, no Senhor.

E com as asas de fé,

Voa aos picos da verdade,

Onde cada fôlego revigorante

Encherá tua alma com alegres canções.

Nas alturas sagradas,

Renova tuas forças para passar

Pelas terras planas no meio da noite.

Sentes-te muito fraco para trilhar caminhos

Nos quais os dias são escuros e longos?

Então espera nEle, Teu Senhor cheio de graça,

Até a canção da vitória entoar.

Tu também, já a ouviste nas alturas

E a estimas como se tua fosse,

Até chegar aos picos da fé

E ali triunfar.

Espera então no Senhor, sim, espera,

Até esmaecerem os cuidados desta vida;

Sim, voa acima das nuvens cinzas,

E com Ele tem comunhão;

Ali te ensinará a tarefa,

Seja ela qual for,

E revigorado por Ele,

Não desfalecerás nem cairás.1

Lembrem-se que diz “Espera então no Senhor, Até esmaecerem os cuidados desta vida; Sim, voa acima das nuvens cinzas, e com Ele tem comunhão; Ali te treinará para a tarefa”.


Obtemos o treinamento espiritual mais importante nos momentos sossegados de comunhão com o Senhor, quando ficamos quietos, parados, sem pressa, correria ou movimentação, e quando não envolve estresse, tensão ou trabalho duro. Deveríamos nos sentir incentivados por saber que, se apenas esperarmos, abrirmos o coração e mente para Jesus e estivermos receptivos ao que Ele quiser nos dar, quer na Palavra escrita, quer em profecia, quer em momentos de meditação ou quando tivermos comunhão com Ele, Ele pode nos comunicar o treinamento que precisamos para as funções que nos deu.


Muitos poetas e compositores já escreveram sobre esse tema, porque não é algo que o Senhor está ensinando apenas a nós, mas que tem incentivado em todos os Seus filhos no decorrer das eras, ou seja, a terem uma comunicação mais íntima com Ele. Para isso é preciso esperar, sossegar, ficar calmo e dedicar tempo.


Para podermos ficar sossegados e dedicar tempo, tempo para confiar, ir devagar, parar e expressar a Jesus nosso amor por Ele; para aprendermos a agir em sincronia com Ele e a ter paciência, precisamos fazer isso nos momentos a sós com Ele, quando nos afastamos das outras coisas, das distrações, e entramos no “esfera celestial”, como disse o compositor, quando voamos a “alturas sagradas” e apenas meditamos nEle, no Seu poder incrível e na Sua capacidade de fazer tudo o que nós não conseguimos.


Parte do meditar em Jesus envolve louvar. Aprendemos a conhecer a Sua majestade ao louvá-lO, ao louvar o Seu poder, ao nos conectarmos a Ele no espírito. O louvor é um dos elementos que nos eleva à presença de Deus e nos conecta a Ele, colocando-nos sob a Sua proteção e bênção completas, onde podemos sentir o Seu amor e é mais fácil ver as coisas como Ele as vê. Essa é uma lei do plano espiritual.


Algumas dessas coisas nem fazem sentido para nós. Precisamos acreditar porque Jesus diz que é verdade, e ao acreditarmos recebemos o entendimento e a manifestação do mesmo.


O louvor é a voz da fé e afugenta o Inimigo. O louvor eleva o seu espírito, o humilha no espírito porque o lembra que só o Senhor pode resolver os problemas e lhe dar as soluções. É uma das armas do espírito que o Senhor nos deu e sempre derrota o Inimigo e nos aproxima de Jesus. Simplesmente funciona. Por isso é tão importante louvar antes de tomar um tempinho com o Senhor.


Esta é uma outra linda canção de louvor ao nosso Esposo que vou cantar para vocês. Espero que consigam aprendê-la também.

Coroas mil para o Cordeiro em Seu trono, o Salvador.

O hino celeste abafa qualquer outra música com seu esplendor.

Desperta, minh’alma, e canta sobre Ele que morreu por ti,

Saudai-O como teu Rei inigualável por toda a eternidade.

Venham coroar o Senhor do amor, eis Suas mãos e ilharga,

Essas feridas, ainda visíveis no Céu, estão glorificadas.

Nenhum anjo consegue contemplar tamanha beleza,

Mas se prostra diante de tão grandes mistérios.

Venham coroar o Senhor do Céu, cujo Pai conhecemos,

E o espírito abençoado que de Seu trono glorioso recebemos.

Toda glória, meu Redentor! Pois morreste por mim;

Teu louvor e glória por toda a eternidade não terá fim!2

Aleluia! Dá para sentir que o autor conseguiu expressar por palavras um pouco melhor do que a maioria das pessoas a magnificência de Deus. Que O coroemos Rei todos os dias em nosso coração e na nossa vida.


Publicado originalmente em outubro de 2006. Atualizado e republicado em setembro de 2010.




1 Autor desconhecido.


2 “Crown Him with Many Crowns,” palavras de Matthew Bridges, 1852.

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Setting Your Child’s Moral Compass

By Maria Fontaine

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As a parent, you are responsible to set your child’s moral compass. To do that, you have to give thought and consideration to what qualities or values are important to you, and what you want to pass on to your children—for example, the qualities of being like Jesus that are outlined in the Bible and other Christian writings, or qualities that you have seen and admired in others.

It can be easy to take for granted that your children will pick up the right qualities or virtues eventually. Some people might assume that their children will automatically learn all they need to learn simply through their interactions with others, their education, or reading the Bible and other devotional materials appropriate for their age.

It’s true that “it takes a village to raise a child,” as the saying goes. No parents, no matter how loving, diligent, talented, and attentive, are capable of imparting and teachingeverything to their children. Each person who interacts with children, and has the willingness and aptitude to contribute to a child’s upbringing and pass on what he or she can to the child, plays a valuable role in raising them.

However, when the Lord gives you children, He is giving them to you, the parents—to raise, to care for, to love, to nurture, to educate, to shape their character, to prepare them for life. Many other people can help in this monumental task, and some people will play vital, irreplaceable roles—such as dedicated teachers, people your children are close to and look up to, role models, friends, grandparents or grandparent figures, or other relatives.

But as a parent, you are ultimately responsible for your children—for their education, for their training, for their well-being—and that responsibility is lifelong. This is a role that the Lord gave you when He gave you your children. In order to play this role well, you need a vision and a plan of what your priorities are for your children’s care and training and education, in order to see that they are receiving those fundamentals.

What are the things that you feel are most important for them to learn? What are the qualities that you feel are vital for them to develop? Don’t stop at skills or talents or vocations, although you might have some goals for helping them develop their interests along those lines as well. Consider their character development, setting their moral compass, and helping them to develop the fundamental characteristics that are necessary to lead a happy and successful life, regardless of what career path they choose when they grow up.

Once you have a vision for what values you want to impart to your children, it’s helpful to regularly assess whether their needs are being met and whether you are making good progress toward reaching those goals. Are you spending enough quality time with them? Are the other people whom they spend time with contributing to their development? Are they having experiences that will shape their perspectives in a godly way and that help them to understand the lessons they are being taught?

Your children won’t learn the important values in life if they are not taught. They learn by watching, yes. They learn by your example—very much so. But they also need explanation. They need to be taught. They need healthy discussion and conversations that give them a foundation in what is right or wrong, and help them to understand the reasons why. They need clear boundaries that are upheld. They need to be instructed in their work and habits and approach to life. They need to understand that there are consequences when they make the wrong choices.

Parents don’t have to be the primary caregivers for their children in order to be involved and aware. But regardless of how much or how little others are involved in teaching your children, as parents, you are fully responsible for your children and their care and upbringing. You are parents for life. You are responsible to chart a long-term course for raising your children, and you’re responsible to see that they’re getting what they need.

The same is true of devotional material for children and young people, and its role in providing moral and character training for them. The Bible is tremendous, and there are some devotional materials that are wonderful aids in teaching, truly priceless. But no amount of reading can replace the need for you to teach your children those principles, to talk about those principles with them, and then to be examples of applying the principles so that the children see that the values are not just written in books, but that they reflect your personal beliefs and convictions as well.

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Children are not born with knowledge of the virtues. They must learn what they are.¹

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Attaining virtue is like so much else in life: It takes lots of practice. By putting virtues into action over and over again, we help them take root. Eventually they become second nature—they become part of one’s character.²

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Your family is the first and most important school of morality. Home is where your child comes to know right and wrong through the nurturing and protective care of those who love him/her more than anyone else. Teachers should be allies in this endeavor, but they cannot be substitutes. Schools cannot replace parents in the crucial task of molding character in the young.³

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Teach your children to care deeply about the good.⁴

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“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”⁵

Originally published July 2009. Updated and republished November 2011.
Read by Amber Larriva.

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1 William J. Bennett, The Educated Child.

2 William J. Bennett, The Educated Child.

3 William J. Bennett, The Educated Child.

4 William J. Bennett, The Educated Child.

5 Proverbs 22:6.
                                                                copyright@thefamilyinternational

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Treatise on the Love of God by Francis de Sales

Treatise on the Love of God

CHAPTER XIII. (Last Chapter)  http://www.ccel.org/ccel/desales/love.html

That Mount Calvary is the Academy of Love:

And at last, as our conclusion,—the death and passion of Our Lord is the sweetest and most constraining motive that can animate our hearts in this mortal life: and it is the very truth, that mystical bees make their most excellent honey within the wounds of this Lion of the tribe of Judah, slain, rent and torn upon the Mount of Calvary. And the children of the cross glory in their admirable problem, which the world understands not: Out of death, the eater of all, has come forth the meat of our consolation; and out of death, strong above all, has come forth the sweetness of the honey of our love.604 O Jesus, my Saviour, how love-worthy is thy death, since it is the sovereign effect of thy love!

So, in the glory of heaven above, next to the Divine goodness known and considered in itself, Our Saviour's death shall most powerfully ravish the blessed spirits in the loving of God. As a sign whereof, in the Transfiguration, where we have a glimpse of heaven, Moses and Elias talked with Our Saviour of the Excess605which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem. But of what excess, if not of that excess of love by which life was forced from the lover, to be bestowed on the well-beloved? So that in the eternal canticle I imagine to myself that this joyous exclamation will be repeated every moment:

Live, Jesus live, whose death doth prove,

The might supreme of heavenly love.

Theotimus, Mount Calvary is the mount of lovers. All love that takes not its beginning from Our Saviour's Passion is frivolous and dangerous. Unhappy is death without the love of the Saviour, unhappy is love without the death of the Saviour! Love and death are so mingled in the Passion of Our Saviour that we cannot have the one in our heart 555 without the other. Upon Calvary one cannot have life without love, nor love without the death of Our Redeemer. But, except there, all is either eternal death or eternal love: and all Christian wisdom consists in choosing rightly; and to assist you in that, I have made this treatise, my Theotimus.

During this mortal life we must choose eternal love or eternal death, there is no middle choice.

O eternal love, my soul desires and makes choice of thee eternally! Ah! come, Holy Spirit and inflame our hearts with thy love! To love or to die! To die and to love! To die to all other love in order to live to Jesus's love, that we may not die eternally, but that, living in thy eternal love, O Saviour of our souls we may eternally sing: Vive Jésus! I love Jesus. Live Jesus whom I love! I love Jesus, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

May these things, Theotimus, which by the grace and help of charity have been written to your charity, so take root in your heart that this charity may find in you the fruit of good works, not the leaves of praises. Amen. Blessed be God! And thus I close this whole treatise in the words with which S. Augustine ended an admirable sermon on charity, which he made before an illustrious assembly.

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Matthew 24- Post Tribulation Rapture

Articles from D. Berg  - www.deeptruths.com
MATTHEW 24 --Post-Tribulation Rapture!
By D. Brandt Berg

WE'RE CONTINUING NOW THE STUDY OF MATTHEW 24 in which Jesus Himself tells us exactly what's going to happen during this period, this last three-and-a-half years of World history, the last three-and-a-half years of the Antichrist reign, the Great Tribulation. He tells us exactly what is going to be the cue when it begins, and that will tell us exactly when it ends, because it lasts exactly three-and-a-half years. This is said several times in the Bible.

Jesus tells us that the Great Tribulation will begin with the setting up of the abomination of desolation, the Image of the Beast, in the holy place. He speaks of it as the Abomination of Desolation and we find out it's an Image of the Beast in Revelation, 13th Chapter. And Daniel speaks of it as well, and they all speak of it as occurring at the same time, exactly in the middle of the seven-year reign of the Antichrist, at the beginning of the last half, which is three-and-a-half years.

During the Tribulation things will get so bad that many people will think it's time for Jesus to come, especially the Church people who were taught that He was supposed to come before the Tribulation. They're going to wait and expect to see Him come any day!

BUT JESUS WARNS NOT TO EXPECT HIM SOONER THAN HAS BEEN PREDICTED, but that there will be many people who will try to deceive the people, false Christs and false prophets who will try to deceive you into thinking either that they are Christ or that Christ is coming nearby somewhere, He is here or there. And He finally says, "Don't believe any of them, because when I come you'll know it!" The sky will light up like permanent lightning from one end to the other, and there will be such a sign in the Heaven that you couldn't possibly mistake the fact that Jesus is coming!

NOT ONLY THAT, THE GREATEST SIGN THAT JESUS IS COMING and HAS COME IS THAT YOU WILL START FLOATING, YOU WILL START LEVITATING! Suddenly your feet won't be able to touch the ground, you'll start floating upward. And He will gather you together to His Body, and we will meet Him in the air! This is spoken of a number of times in God's Word. It is spoken of in the first chapter of Acts also, and spoken of in 1st Thessalonians 4th chapter.

SO WHEN IS HE GOING TO COME? Scofield and the Brethren and the Cooneyites, I think they were called, and now today most of the Fundamentalist Evangelical Church having followed Scofield's Bible, have been erroneously teaching that Jesus was going to come before the Tribulation and rapture them out of the Earth before all this trouble begins, before the Antichrist appears. But that's not so! By reading this one chapter alone you can see that that is not so.

BECAUSE HE SAYS THAT THE TRIBULATION WILL BEGIN "WHEN YE SHALL SEE THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place." When you see it standing there you'll know the Tribulation has begun. And He doesn't say a word about taking you out of here immediately then at all! All He says is He warns everybody to head for the hills! You'd better run, get to your refuge or hiding place, your survival goods! Get out of the cities and out of the populated areas where there's going to be lots of trouble.

GET OUT WHERE YOU'VE GOT YOUR FOOD HIDDEN and YOUR HIDEAWAY! Stay away from officers of the law of the World kingdom of the Antichrist who are going to try to kill you if you don't worship the Beast and His Image, the Antichrist and his idol. And you won't be able to buy or sell, buy groceries or sell anything to get money to buy them with, so therefore you'd better have'm stashed away someplace where you can find'm and where nobody else can find them!

HE'LL TAKE CARE OF HIS OWN, DON'T WORRY, BUT HE EXPECTS YOU TO DO SOMETHING towards trying to take care of yourself. God doesn't wash your face for you. He doesn't wipe you. He doesn't dress you and undress you. You're not a baby any more. God expects you to do something for yourself. And when He has warned you time and again to be prepared for those days, then it's time you were prepared and you have a hiding place picked out and your survival goods stored there so that you will be able to survive this period as long as possible.

BECAUSE JESUS IS NOT GOING TO SAVE YOU OUT OF IT DURING THAT THREE-and-A-HALF YEARS. He may protect you in it, keep you in it, because He needs a witness, and lots of witnesses there to tell the World what's happening!--Even to tell the Church (Editor's note: "Church here refers to Christians who have been deceived by Scofield's pre-rapture doctrine) what's happening, because even the Church will be mystified, because most of them have gotten into that false doctrine, at least the Protestants, that Jesus is going to come before the Tribulation.

HE'S DEFINITELY GOING TO COME BEFORE THE MILLENNIUM! We are definitely pre-Millennialists! We are not post-Millennialists. We don't believe that the Church Age today is the Millennium! We do not think that this period from Christ's first coming to the next coming is the Millennium. Because if you read the description--as we will later as we study the Millennium--in many other places and particularly Isaiah, you'll certainly see that if this is the Millennium, you and I don't want any of it!

BECAUSE DURING THE MILLENNIUM, JESUS IS GOING TO REIGN and RULE IN PERSON USING US AS HIS INSTRUMENTS! There's going to be Worldwide peace and Worldwide plenty and no more war! So, if this is the Millennium, then the Prophets sure were wrong! Frankly, I believe God's Prophets, and I think their interpreters, some of the more Modernistic Churches, are wrong who have interpreted that because this Church Age came into such power and such rule over governments, they thought they had struck the Millennium for sure! Well, they're finding out now things didn't turn out as well as they expected and the Church people aren't still running the World as they were for awhile. The Devil's people are now running the World!

ONE OF THE DIRTIEST PIECES OF THE DEVIL'S DIRTY PROPAGANDA has been to deceive Christians into thinking that they're going to get rescued by Jesus out of this World before the Tribulation! They're going to be totally unprepared for it and shocked by it and it's going to shake some of their faith! A lot of Christians who are expecting to get raptured by the Lord and His second coming before the Tribulation are going to get the shock of their lives, because He's not going to do it! He Himself said so! He says right here in the 29th verse, as plain as day:

"IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION OF THOSE DAYS shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven: and then shall all of the tribes of the Earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory!" ... "And then He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other."

THAT'S WHEN JESUS IS GOING TO COME: AFTER THE TRIBULATION! It says it as plain as day in that 29th verse. Immediately after the Tribulation of those days. It says after the Tribulation shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven. After the Tribulation, then shall all the tribes of the Earth mourn. After the Tribulation they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory. After the Tribulation He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together His elect. That's when Jesus is going to come back for His elect, to rapture His Saints, to gather them together!

THAT'S WHEN JESUS IS GOING TO COME FOR YOU and FOR ME, AFTER THE TRIBULATION! In fact, at the very end of the Tribulation, thank God! Not before. Not a day before! He's even got the days numbered in the Scriptures several places we've already studied. The exact number of days from the setting up of that idol of the Antichrist in the holy place in Jerusalem it's going to be 1260 days to the day, God's Word says so!

DON'T BLAME IT ON ME! Don't get mad at me because I'm teaching you that Jesus is going to come after the Tribulation and not before the Tribulation. If you want to get mad at somebody, get mad at Jesus! He's the One that said it! Get mad at the Bible! A lot of people do! They don't like it when I preach'm the Bible. A lot of people get mad at me and they can hardly believe that I'm even reading from the Bible when it's right here, plain as day, it says so! After the Tribulation!

WHEN IS JESUS GOING TO COME?--AFTER THE TRIBULATION! When shall His sign appear in Heaven?--After the Tribulation! And when shall all the tribes of the Earth see Him and mourn? You know, they say it's going to be a secret Rapture, nobody's going to see Him except the saved, nobody's going to know He's come. All of a sudden a bunch of us are just going to disappear and they won't even know what's happened to us! That's what these Secret Rapturists teach! That's what these Cooneyites teach--they're a little bit looney if you ask me! Kooky, or Looney, whatever!

THAT'S WHAT THESE SCOFIELDITES TEACH, Moody Bible Institute, Los Angeles Bible Institute, the Brethren Denomination and virtually all the Full-Gospel and Fundamentalist and Evangelical Churches are teaching this Pre-Trib Rapture!--And they got it straight out of Scofield's Bible, a Bible that has led millions of people astray from the Truths of Bible Prophecy! (--The KJV with Scofield's notes and interpretations!)

THE CHURCH NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF SUCH A THING UNTIL ABOUT 200 YEARS AGO WHEN THIS FALSE DOCTRINE FIRST APPEARED IN ENGLAND. Think of that! Back in the late 1700s as I recall. The Church had never thought of such a thing. But all of a sudden it sounded so good, "Oh boy, we won't have to go through the Tribulation after all!" In fact, I think some Pentecostal preacher got some false prophecies and messages in tongues and interpretation that the Church wouldn't have to go through the Tribulation after all! Well, he didn't get that from the Lord and he didn't get it from the Bible, so I don't know where he got it from!

NOW DON'T MISUNDERSTAND ME, I BELIEVE IN THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT, BUT THAT GUY REALLY GOT THROWN A RINGER and THAT WAS A REAL DUD! Because it's not so, it didn't check with the Bible! But he began to cheer up a lot of Christians who were a little bit worried about not being able to make it through the Tribulation. He said, "Don't worry, Jesus is going to come and take you out before the Tribulation." Well, that naturally became a very popular doctrine, just what everybody had been waiting to hear! Just what all the Church had been waiting to hear to be relieved, they thought, of having to be tested and tried and purified and purged and made white during the Tribulation.

THEY'D JUST AS SOON GO TO HEAVEN DIRTY LIKE THEY ARE!--The stinking filthy, dirty, sinning Christians that they are! Disobedient, rebellious, selfish, not sacrificing, not helping missions, much less becoming a missionary, not forsaking all for the Lord to serve Him, not witnessing, not winning souls, not passing out tracts, they don't want to do any of these things. They've been just living selfishly for themselves and their pretty little church and giving their pretty little pennies! My Grandfather used to come home from church when he was a poor preacher and look at the offering and quoted with the Apostle Paul: "Alexander the coppersmith hath done me much harm." (2Ti.4:14.) 'Cause it was mostly pennies!

WELL, IT'S CERTAINLY TRUE, SUCH PEOPLE ARE NOT REALLY READY TO GO and they certainly wouldn't stand up very well in the Tribulation, so they want Jesus to come and rescue them out of it before. So this became a very popular doctrine, the Pre-Trib Rapture, and it just spread like wildfire all across the World and across the ocean, clear into America and all over America, and particularly the Brethren denomination took it up. And when they took over Torrey Bible Institute in Los Angeles and Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, they started teaching it there too.--Scofield was its Pastor!

THEY BEGAN TO INFILTRATE ALL BIBLE INSTITUTES and BIBLE COLLEGES IN THE UNITED STATES, TEACHING THIS SAME DOCTRINE. And then Scofield did his masterful piece of deceit and got out his Scofield Bible, and that really finished it up! It misled nearly every Christian in the United States into thinking Jesus was going to come before the Tribulation and rapture him out of it.

WELL, AS YOU CAN SEE BY WHAT WE'VE READ HERE, JESUS SAID AFTER THE TRIBULATION HE'S GOING TO COME! After the Tribulation you'll see Him in the heavens! After the Tribulation He's going to gather together His elect. After the Tribulation! Not a minute before, not a minute before the end of it. It's going to last three-and-a-half years and you're going to have to go through all of it or die, one or the other! So take your choice.--Or die before it.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Also see: Scofield: 

Scofield: The Man behind the Myth



Generally speaking, dispensationalists tend to cherish his teachings without any concern whatsoever for what kind of man Scofield really was. For some reason, his admirers consider it unethical or possibly even contemptible to expose embarrassing little known secrets about the man. Facts should not be buried because they make people feel uncomfortable. Neither C.I. Scofield nor his work are above reproach and considering the impact he has had on Christendom, his life should be examined. The type of person that he really was will have a major influence on the theology that he taught.

Former Dallas Theological Seminary President and student of Scofield’s theology John F. Walvoord, has written concerning the Scofield Reference Bible:

This edition of the Bible, which has had unprecedented circulation, has popularized premillennial teachings and provided ready helps of interpretation. It has probably done more to extend premillennialism in the last half century than any other volume. This accounts for the many attempts to discredit this work…The reputation of the Scofield Bible is curious because each succeeding writer apparently believes that his predecessors have not succeeded in disposing of this work once and for all. This belief apparently is well-founded, for the Scofield Bible continues to be issued year after year in greater numbers than any of its refuters.[i]

This is the general concensus among dispensationalist leaders that because his work is around in such great quantity it must be correct, so they plug it. These men, however, through their heavy promotion of Scofield’work, are largely responsible for the popularity of it (they exhibit circular reasoning).

When giving the qualifications of a bishop, Paul states in 1 Timothy 3:2,4

2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;

Did Scofield meet the qualifications for a leader in the church? His friends and colleagues have tried to hide the fact that he was married twice, had two daughters with his first wife and was divorced by her due to how he treated her and their daughters. Scofield began courting his future second wife Hettie van Wark before the divorce was finalized and they got married only three months after it was.[ii]Below is a copy of the divorce decree filed by the court in Atchison County Kansas. His divorce was finalized at least four years after he became ‘born again’.



( typewritten copy of Scofield divorce decree )

Journal M, November Term, A.D. 1883 8th day of December 1883

Leontine Scofield Plaintiff

Vs

C. I. Scofield Defendant

Now comes the plaintiff by her attorneys Tomlinson and

Griffin and the defendant enters for appearance and files

answer and makes no further appearance.

And thereupon this cause came on for hearing upon

the pleadings and testimony and was argued by counsel

upon consideration whereof the Court does find that the

defendant has been guilty of wilful abandonment of the

plaintiff for more than one year prior to the commencement

of this action.

It is therefore adjudged and decreed by the Court

here that the marriage relation heretofore existing between

the said parties be and the same is hereby set aside and

wholly annulled and the parties wholly released from the

obligations of the same.

It is further ordered and decreed that the custody

nurture education and care of the said minor children

Abigail Scofield and Helen Scofield be and the same is

hereby given to the said plaintiff and the said defendant

is hereby forever enjoined from interfering with or disturbing

the said plaintiff in the custody care nurture and education

of the said above named children until the further order of this

Court.

Scofield abandoned his wife and children and refused to support them. I Timothy 5:8 says “ But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

When his first wife Leontine originally filed for divorce in July 1881, she listed the following reasons:

“ (he had)…absented himself from his said wife and children, and had not been with them but abandoned them with the intention of not returning to them again…has been guilty of gross neglect of duty and has failed to support this plaintiff or her said children, or to contribute thereto, and has made no provision for them for food, clothing or a home, or in any manner performed his duty in the support of said family although he was able to do so.”[iii]

Below is a photo of the gravestone of Leontine in Mt. Calvery Cemetary in Atchison, Kansas. This is the woman that Scofield pretended never existed (he never referred to her publicly after he became famous).




Cyrus Scofield had several other incidents of a downright dishonest nature after he supposedly became saved. The fact that in 1892 he began calling himself Doctor Scofield without producing any Doctorate degree from any Seminary or University is the least of his devious activities. Even the details he gave in his story of conversion are proven to be fabricated, including the time, place and other particularities, thereby placing doubt on the whole story.[iv]

He was a self-promoter in every sense of the word, even lying about being able to comfort and calm the entire city of Belfast, Ireland with a sermon he delivered there the Sunday after the Titanic sunk.[v] His behind-the-scenes handlers saw to it that his swindles and schemes were swept under the rug and that only a positive image of him was promoted, especially an exaggeration of his Biblical knowledge and wisdom. Men like 33rd degree freemason George Bannerman Dealey owner of the Dallas Morning News and member of Scofield’s church contributed greatly to the cause . But occasionally, newspapers who weren’t loyal to his cause would put out damaging information on him. Here is an excerpt from the Topeka newspaper The Daily Capital dated August 27, 1881:

CYRUS I. SCHOFIELD IN THE ROLE OF A

CONGREGATIONAL MINISTER

“ Cyrus I. Schofield, formerly of Kansas, late lawyer, politician and

shyster generally, has come to the surface again, and promises once more
to gather around himself that halo of notoriety that has made him so prominent in the past. The last personal knowledge that Kansans have had of this peer among scalawags, was when about four years ago, after a series of forgeries and confidence games he left the state and a destitute family and took refuge in Canada. For a time he kept undercover, nothing being heard of him until within the past two years when he turned up in St. Louis, where he had a wealthy widowed sister living who has generally come to the front and squared up Cyrus’ little follies and foibles by paying good round sums of money. Within the past year, however, Cyrus committed a series of St. Louis forgeries that could not be settled so easily, and the erratic young gentleman was compelled to linger in the St. Louis jail for a period of six months.

Among the many malicious acts that characterized his career, was one peculiarly atrocious, that has come under our personal notice. Shortly after he left Kansas, leaving his wife and two children dependent upon the bounty of his wife’s mother, he wrote his wife that he could invest some $1,300 of her mother’s money, all she had, in a manner that would return big interest. After some correspondence he forwarded them a mortgage, signed and executed by one Chas. Best, purporting to convey valuable property in St. Louis. Upon this, the money was sent to him. Afterwards the mortgages were found to be base forgeries, no such person as Charles Best being in existence, and the property conveyed in the mortgage fictitious…”[vi]

Below is a picture of the court house in St. Louis. The center of which contained the jail where Scofield spent six months on a forgery conviction. He had stolen his mother-in-law’s last $1,300 one year after his conversion:



In all honesty, I consider the above information about Cyrus Ingerson Scofield trivial in comparison to the tampering he did with the word of God. The Lord gave more than one warning about doing that:

Deuteronomy 4:2

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Proverbs 30:5-6

Every word of God is pure : he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

Revelation 22:18-19

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add

unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

One of Cyrus’s first suspicious moves involved in producing his Reference Bible was to take an unnecessary trip to the British Isles for research. He immediately sought out the controversial scholars Westcott and Hort in London. These two polecats guided him in how to alter the King James Bible so that it would be compatible with the dispensationalist teachings he was recruited to promote. Scofield preferred the Revised Version of the Bible, which was largely the product of his mentors Westcott and Hort and was based on corrupted manuscripts born in Alexandria, Egypt and espoused by the Vatican. (There is much information available concerning the Occultic beliefs and activities of Westcott and Hort).

However, he knew that if he coupled his notes with the RV they wouldn’t sell very well because the KJV far surpassed the RV in popularity. Even today the KJV greatly outnumbers the Revised Version. So he used the KJV, but in many areas where the two versions differed doctrinally, especially where his doctrine was concerned, he placed a footnote giving a supposedly more correct rendering, which almost always agreed with the RV. The serpent asked “yea hath God said?” in the garden. Scofield took after his father by placing doubt on the word of God and offering a shameful substitution. (Some of these dishonorable changes are documented in my articles Dispensationalist Timeline and Dispensationalism and the King James Bible and more examples can be found at The Not Deceived Network ).

Scofield’s work continues to be praised and utilized today by men with questionable motives. His closely guarded reputation remains intact and this information provided will only be useful to the truth-seekers, which represents a relatively small percentage of Christendom. At least two scriptures are applicable at this point:

For there is no respect of persons with God. -- Romans 2:11

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. -- Matthew 7:20

Endnotes

[i] John F. Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom ( Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959 ) p. 12 -- quoted by Tim LaHaye, Revelation –Illustrated and Made Plain (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973 ) p. 288

[ii] Joseph Canfield, The Incredible Scofield And His Book ( Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1988) p. 100

[iii] Quoted from the papers in case No. 2161, supplied by the Atchison County Court – reproduced by Joseph Canfield, The Incredible Scofield And His Book, p. 89

[iv] Canfield, op. cit., pp. 65-68

[v] Canfield, op. cit., p.239-240

[vi] Canfield, op. cit., pp. 79-80 – as taken from the files of the Kansas State Historical Society

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Daily Might

Praise your way through! That's how you get the victory!

Even the greatest men of God, such as King David, sometimes got discouraged. David was a great psalmist and he usually sang beautiful praises to the Lord. But once before he was king, he was sure that King Saul was going to kill him, and he said, "I shall perish some day by the hand of Saul" (1 Samuel 27:1). Thank God David never wrote a psalm saying that! How could you sing that? Did David ever die at the hand of Saul? No, he never did. So that was just the Devil trying to discourage him.

If you let the Devil get you down and use your mouth to speak doubt and discouragement and lies to others, you are preaching the Devil's own doctrines. Don't do it, or you're just letting the Enemy in. Take a positive stand against the attacks of the Devil. Fight him and fight his doubts. The minute you feel discouraged, start praising the Lord. Go on the attack! As long as you have praise on your lips, you can't complain or speak doubt.

The Devil hates praise. He hates songs that praise the Lord, and he hates God's Word most of all, so keep full of it.

copyright@thefamilyinternational

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Words From Jesus!

The path of true greatness is the path that goes through Me. I cannot make you great until you have come to Me with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, and all of your strength.

These things that you have passed through are not defeats, but they are stepping stones to glory--not the glory of man, but the glory of God, the glory of humility, the glory of utter dependence upon Me, the glory of My Spirit working through the humble heart, the trusting soul, the yielded mind, the loving spirit.

So know and understand that the things that you suffer, the hardships that you are faced with, the burdens that you bear, the testing, the purging, the trying, the heartache and heartbreak, the pressure, the squeezing, the difficulties and sufferings, do not take you away from Me. They are not a sign of My displeasure. They are not meant to show that I am not there. They are the steps that you must go through to come to Me.

But know that I am always there. In the deepest and darkest experiences and in the greatest despair, I am there. Turn and face Me and trust Me, even when all else seems so dark. Trust Me, for I take you through the darkness that I may bring you out into My glorious light--the light of My love, My truth, My strength, and My power.

These texts are taken from the book "From Jesus, With Love" with the kind permission of Aurora Productions.

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