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v. 10-11 Furnace of Affliction


Isaiah 48:10-11 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory to another.

Many are called, but few are chosen.  Look at the place where the chosen are chosen: the furnace of affliction.  God does this for His own sake.  No one can be allowed into Heaven who is not perfect just as the father is perfect.  Otherwise, it would pollute God's Name.  God would have to burn them up in His holy presence.  God has a good plan to make us holy.


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Topic: Persecution and Trials


The kids were encouraged to make the posters expressing their thanks during the Thanksgiving season. But this one child\'s poster was removed because the child wanted to thank Jesus. The 3rd Circuit Court upheld the school\'s actions. But Judge Alito \"stood on the wall\" in opposition and filed a blistering dissent that stated, \"Public school students have the right to express religious views in class discussion or in assigned work.\"...


Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Education has become one of the most anti-Christ elements of society. Why would Christians stand in the counsel of the ungodly? Why would Christians cause their children to stand in this counsel. There are wonderful alternatives to the secular and public...


            \"This is what the LORD Almighty says: \'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.  Haggai 2:6      Most of the world\'s charities helping in the effort are Christian and American.  Indonesia is the world\'s largest Muslim nation, yet Muslim nations, including the fabulously wealthy Saudi regime, have given chump change compared to those countries...


1 Peter 4:12-13 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you:But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ\'s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed [Apokalupsis: removal of a covering or veil], ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. Suffering is one of many forms of temptation.  When we suffer, we are also drawn...


Dear Brothers and Sisters, The trials of the saints have been many, but the victory is assured. Here is a "Word of Wisdom" gleaned from the writings of a forerunner of this present Move of the Spirit, offered as a word of encouragement to all who are going through "something": "When trials come our first inclination is to ask what we have done to deserve this, or why does God allow...


When you endure trials and suffering such as stress, betrayal, tragedy, disappointment, criticism, contempt, malice, rebukes, disrespect, disobedience, dismissal, tantrums, mind games, and such, and you respond correctly, you will be sanctified. This is what is meant by God\'s illustration of the refiner\'s fire (Zechariah 13:9, Haggai 2:7-9, Malachi 3:1-3, faith Is Much More Precious Than Of Gold\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://seekfind.net/1_Peter_17_The_Trial_Of_Your_Faith_Is_Much_More_Precious_Than_Of_Gold_.html\">1 Peter 1:6-7, Isaiah 48:10-11). Many of the most evil seeds...


Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God....


Haggai 2:7-9 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.  The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.  The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith...


1 Peter 1:6 & 7  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found to praise and honour and glory at the appearing [Apokalupsis: removal of a covering or veil] of Jesus Christ FREE on-line BOOK (a...


  If you have not read Stories Versus Truth, you may want to read that before reading this.     You may hear a question like this: \"God knew everything before he created it, so why did God make people who he knew in advance would turn on him and go to hell?  I guess the same can be said for why did God make angels he knew would turn on him too?\" In these...


While there is a lot we cannot know about God, there is a lot that we can know.  We can know what God reveals about Himself.  Consider the following points. God does not have any joy in seeing any person suffer. God is absolutely just, and there will be no suffering in vain.     Every person will see, in the end, that everything is fair, just, and right. ...


Our walk is one of overcoming the lies that we have been told. We need to see reality as it really is. If we could see reality regarding suffering, then we would always be thankful. It is the lies that are in our hearts that make us unthankful and unable to reap the benefits of suffering. Some of these lies were in our hearts from the day we were born....


This page is provided to answer a specific question, but don\'t get tied up in detail and forget where you are going. You get past the questions/attacks so you can proclaim the Gospel. It is the proclamation of the Gospel, not argumentation, that transforms minds. See Give Them the Gospel. If you have not read Stories Versus Truth, you may want to read that before reading this. Evolution is NOT Science Many...


If you have not read Stories Versus Truth, you may want to read that before reading this.   Fun Stuff With Evolution Let\'s have fun with some of the obvious and strange facts surrounding the theories that say that things can create themselves. These are the theories that are generally called by the name Evolution. What is the molecules-to-man evolution conjecture / fabrication (sometimes erroneously called the Theory of Evolution)? It\'s simply this:...


Expect Persecution. Accept it as a gift from God. Blessed is everyone who is persecuted. Everyone who is righteous is persecuted. Woe to those who are not persecuted for their righteousness. Never be persecuted because you are doing wrong or because you are being a jerk. You probably know a Christian who is obnoxious. There is no goodness in suffering for doing wrong. But the ungodly will try to control you,...


Topic: Holiness, Sanctification, and Stability


\"It is because of him [the Father] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.\"   1 Corinthians 1:30 NIV   Holiness is progressive.  It is a change in what we are. It is a basic change in our very nature. You were designed for righteousness, holiness, and total redemption.  There is an upward spiral of righteousness, holiness, and redemption...


1 Peter 1:6 & 7  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found to praise and honour and glory at the appearing [Apokalupsis: removal of a covering or veil] of Jesus Christ FREE on-line BOOK (a...


 \"But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind have taken us away.\"  Isaiah 64:6 \"For God hath not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness\" (I Thessalonians 4:7).  Some theologians assume that Scriptures that seem so completely opposed as these two are an indication that one of the Scriptures must be...


The Way Is Very Narrow And The Gate Is Very Strait  Key Scripture:   whatever is not of supernatural belief and trust is sin. Romans 14:23b   Whoever does miss the mark (sin) also does lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. * 1 John 3:4   Owe no one anything, but to love one another: for whoever loves another has fulfilled the law.  For this: You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal,...


If God requires total holiness, how can a Christian live total holiness? Is it even possible? Yes, It is possible to live in total holiness, but watch out for this. Do not modify holiness to be something that you can do. Do not think that holiness is something that you can do. Holiness is something that God causes you to become. You just receive it or reject it. There is a...


The Scripture Testifies to Holiness as the Heritage of the Church 1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now...


Ephesians 4:24-30 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him...


Ephesians 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ; Ephesians 4:21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: Ephesians 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation (conversation refers to the whole manner of life) the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your...


Question: I\'m 28 years old and I\'m from the United Kingdom. I said the sinners\' prayer in 2005 with some other Christians and I\'ve been going to church ever since. I got baptized in 2006. I was drinking very excessively before I started coming to church and I continued to live in this sin of drunkenness even when I was hearing the gospel at church and after I got baptized. When...


Many years ago while preaching about the harlot who washed the feet of Jesus, the late evangelist JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE (1847-1907) of Zion City, Illinois, related the following: "This poor woman, a harlot, who came in from the streets is called 'Hamartolos'; in the original word, that is to say, a prostitute, a poor, wretched, outcast woman, a harlot. Oh, is there any being upon earth so much to be pitied,...


1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit to unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: You see that they have purified their souls (soul, mind, heart, life are all the same Greek word.)  This purification is holiness.  There is a measure of holiness in those who follow Jesus.  It is accomplished by obeying...


Topic: Completeness or Perfection


The Bible speaks about a horrible and shocking thing. What is so horrible? The false prophets say that there is completeness when there is none. While God is urging us to press into the Kingdom, how many false teachers are saying that there is nothing to press into. They say that you just have to learn their denominational doctrine and some speculative end-times theories. If we do not press toward...


1 Peter 1:6 & 7  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found to praise and honour and glory at the appearing [Apokalupsis: removal of a covering or veil] of Jesus Christ FREE on-line BOOK (a...


Topic: God\'s Judgment


Romans 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation [Apokalupsis: removal of a covering or veil] of the righteous judgment of God; Apocalypse (two Greek words, apokalupsis, and apokalupto meaning approximately the same thing) Literally, it means the removal of a covering or a veil. God often provides the interpretation of Scripture within Scripture. There is one Scripture that...


Malachi 3:1-3 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. (2) But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner\'s...


Isaiah 11:3-4 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his...


He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18   This is straight-forward.  God has been very clear, so there is no excuse. Those who reject Jesus are rejecting God and rejecting God's only way of salvation. The Bible is clear that those who reject God do so because they...


Yes. Despite the speculative rationalizations of the Secular Humanist religion, heaven and hell are both realities. Even though Secular Humanism and other denominations of the New Age religion have spent a fortune on trying to make everyone believe that there is no real heaven and there is no real hell, that does not change reality. Bot heaven and hell are real. Romans 6:23 2 Peter 3:9 empirical evidence Revelation 21:4...


Topic: The Sinful Flesh


We may wonder why, if we have been crucified with Christ, the flesh has any influence on us at all. It seems that crucifixion is a slow death. As soon as you are born again (by believing and trusting in Jesus) you ARE a new creature. However, you still HAVE a fleshly nature. Your REAL self is the Christ nature, that ministry that you have BECOME. This ministry, Christ in you,...


2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; Many have tried by carnal means.  They have...


Only the Holy Spirit can take out the stony places. With an emotional or intellectual response, there is no hope of discerning the Body of Christ. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit. There is no hope for the natural man to see the Kingdom of the Heavens, the Kingdom of God. The emotional and intellectual response cannot deal with the stony places--these fail to successfully deal...


1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Ezekiel 39:7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not [let them] pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I [am] the LORD, the Holy...



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