Charity

The "seventy weeks" have been used to try and calculate either the time of the rapture or Jesus' return to earth depending on one's belief. Have your studies of the seventy weeks given you an idea of how soon the above will take place?

Hi Revvel, you've met the sarcastic part of me already. I'll be serious now. What was I spared from and why was I spared?

I googled the St Andrews Community Church in UK and went with this website ST. ANDREWS COMMUNITY CHURCH. Thank you for correcting me and I apologize for misrepresenting you. I should have asked you directly after your previous post whether you believed in the rapture doctrine or not. I assumed you did not.

Trumpeter's post about vpw was so over the top that I really expected there to be a "gotcha" at the end. He only had 9 posts on GSC though. Trumpeter Rascal did try to reason with him though on page 5 of this thread.

In reference to my post above, William Brooks (aka OldSkool) has recently downloaded a new prophecy called A Segue for The Faithful in Christ, Then Sudden Destruction on Earth.. IOW, it's again about the rapture and the following tribulation that will soon happen. This time though, the article is to give comfort to those who are having doubts such as these two quotes show: "Why are you downcast, my loves? Why does your enthusiasm wane?" "Why is my bride long of face in sadness and disappointment, as if they have been jilted by an unfaithful bridegroom?" It also seems to be for those who are struggling with sin and therefore, I assume, are afraid of not being faithful enough to be included in the rapture. For anyone interested, I will share more later in the thread Spirit of Prophesy by William Brooks a.k.a. OldSkool.

After spending time in OldSkool's book of prophecies which repeatedly spoke of the benefit of a rapture (for the faithful) happening right before the tribulation begins, I'd mostly forgotten how scripture has been interpreted to teach such very different views concerning the key belief of the return of Christ. Your post, therefore, came as a bit of an eye-opener again for me. I'd heard that the rapture doctrine was accepted elsewhere in the world at first but then became less popular. I checked your church's website and the last belief listed is "The personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven on earth." No mention of the rapture, tribulation or the millennium. Then I did a couple more searches and saw that Wikipedia says: The Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Reformed denominations have no tradition of a preliminary return of Christ. A pretribulational rapture view is most commonly found among American Fundamentalist Baptists, Bible churches, Brethren churches, certain Methodist denominations, Pentecostals, non-denominational evangelicals, and various other evangelical groups. I recognize the value of your last sentence as well as the secular enjoyments you list under your name.

There haven't been many points of view made on the specific topic itself considering the sub-forum it's on. If anyone who views this thread (195 so far) would like to discuss if there will be a rapture or not, please do. What I've seen asked on podcasts I've watched are these 3 questions. What do you believe? Why do you believe it? Do you care if it's true or not?

"a running joke" is pretty much name calling as well.

I agree.

If a political forum was to start on GSC, I would suggest the focus be on policies and not on politicians.

Both cool and groovy - that would be like you and Helen enjoying your right to freedom of speech. Not cool and groovy - an international news organization being penalized for calling it the Gulf of Mexico since that's how it's known everywhere else in the world.

God must have been very p$ssed with someone or something to have killed so many that time. Then there will be the 7 plagues in Revelation to look forward to - thank goodness though for the gathering together which will save Christians from this specific wrath of God - oh wait - there will be no rapture.

I appreciate how he shows the destructiveness of the false rapture doctrine. What is bothersome to me, though, is how he condemns the unjust killings from 2 wars (one that is currently ongoing and a nuclear one happening quite possibly in the future) yet he has no problem with the 70 000 Israelites he mentions who were killed by God with a plague nor with the last war he says is certain to happen. As he puts it, “God’s fiery judgment at the end of time – it is a heavenly fire, not an earthly one. At that day, the last day, the end of time, there will be no survivors (which he states 4 times).” Although he uses the bible to preach that there be peace, not war, in the world today, he is very political against Zionism.

Home The Way International About The Way Ask the Greasespot Cafe WHAT IS THIS PLACE? I find it very difficult to know that this thread even exists for someone new to GSC. I've been here for a while now and never even paid attention to the "Ask the Greasepot Cafe" link that shows under "About the Way." I went straight to "About the Way" from day one. I didn't know about until penworks' post of today. Is it not possible to have a sub forum called "Ask About the Way" with a description similar to "If you have a question about The Way International, past present or future, this is the place to ask?"

I really appreciate your post penworks, especially your last paragraph. It would be nice if it could remain available to see and read instead of it being replaced by the next thread that is created on this forum.

I'm not sure who "their" is referring to above but what I was referring to was a new additional forum that would reach out to new twi's followers who are having doubts about twi's present-day doctrines/dogmas and practices. As well as being able to search through the hundreds of threads in "About the Way" for topics of interest, a new and fresh forum would be another option for them to come and discuss specific matters. An inviting description of the forum would explain this. What do you think?

From Canada: The above map was not a google map. The following is (love the brackets!) https://www.google.com/search?q=google+maps+gulf+of+mexico&client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=a38431949a6ac76a&sxsrf=AHTn8zqRmiJhYlCGrPV_nNpJCJ3Am5j8lw%3A1739308929712&ei=gb-rZ6aDK86F0PEP_qWE0AM&ved=0ahUKEwjmx6PXxryLAxXOAjQIHf4SAToQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=google+maps+gulf+of+mexico&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGmdvb2dsZSBtYXBzIGd1bGYgb2YgbWV4aWNvMgQQABgDMgQQABgDMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgsQABiABBiGAxiKBTILEAAYgAQYhgMYigUyCxAAGIAEGIYDGIoFMgUQABjvBTIIEAAYgAQYogRIjyBQ4AdYiR5wAXgBkAEAmAGuAaAB4guqAQM1Ljm4AQPIAQD4AQGYAg-gAvoNwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR8ICDRAAGLADGNYEGEcYyQPCAg4QABiABBiwAxiSAxiKBcICCxAAGIAEGJECGIoFwgIFEAAYgATCAggQABiiBBiJBZgDAIgGAZAGCpIHBDIuMTOgB7JV&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

I looked at 5 and they all had Gulf of Mexico https://www.mapsofworld.com/north-america/

Hi Rocky, I would never want anything purged from GSC so I need help understanding what you mean. Thanks!

I agree. It was after studying tithing in the bible for myself and knowing vpw's "Christians Should be Prosperous" book wasn't accurate, as well as being reproved by my country coordinator for thinking I knew more than vpw when I went to talk to him about it, that I left twi for good after 11 years. It was both the tithing doctrine itself and the cc's arrogant and belittling attitude towards me that showed it was loyalty to wierwille that really mattered. I think it's the cognitive dissonance that results from believing a doctrine and seeing the opposite behavior of the one teaching it that can lead someone to question the teacher and their words. That's what led to the deconstruction of my belief in the bible.

Excellent posts although they seem to be about twi from the past. What do we know about twi in the present - what is taught in their classes now, how are their programs being run today? IOW, are they still following many of the old twi's footsteps? (When I looked on The Way International Bookstore, they still sell books about vpw which paint him in a "good light" such as Born Again to Serve, Faithful Bridge Builders Of The Way and Life Lines.) But for the most part, it's hard to know what twi is really like unless GSC becomes more inviting to their current members. Maybe creating a new forum aimed at The Way International Today might attract new members. It would not have the same purpose as the current About the Way forum which has mainly focused on the problems of the past. The threads instead could be about asking questions and inviting discussions about topics of interest on twi's website today (e.g., Way magazine articles, ROA 2025, books, etc). To avoid a repeat of the incessant arguing that went on in the past with posters like Mike, it would be more aimed at helping current members work through their beliefs and concerns using critical thinking. Such a forum may never take off, but it might be worth a try. Yes/no?

Here's an explanation from "Got Questions" that I have not heard before - What is the unpardonable sin / unforgivable sin? "The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, specific as it was to the Pharisees’ situation, cannot be duplicated today. Jesus Christ is not on earth, and no one can personally see Jesus perform a miracle and then attribute that power to Satan instead of the Spirit. The only unpardonable sin today is that of continued unbelief. There is no pardon for a person who dies in his rejection of Christ." If one accepts this answer, it puts an end to all the guessing and doctrinal teachings which are out there. OTOH, promoting that there's an actual possibility of committing an ill-defined unforgivable sin (perhaps even unknowingly) is definitely an effective fear tactic imo.