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21.8. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
The Lord thus describes this event: "Do not marvel at this: for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice [of the Son of God] and come forth; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:29).
When the Sadducees expressed doubt as to the possibility of physical resurrection, the Lord reproached them, saying: "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God" (Mt. 22:29).
The Apostle Paul expressed the importance of faith in the resurrection in these words: "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty … For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:13-22).
The Resurrection of the Dead will be general and simultaneous for both the righteous and sinners: "And shall come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:29; Acts. 24:15).
But the appearance of the resurrected righteous will differ substantially from that of the resurrected sinners: "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father" (Mt. 13:43), said the Lord of the saved. Commenting on these words of the Savior, St. Ephraim the Syrian says that "the ones will resemble light, while the others will resemble darkness."
Originally posted by helen670
Explanation of Revelation is as it was in the early church.....many fathers have interpreted Revelation and all came to the same conclusion.......
to try and and use our own logic is not right because we cannot put ourselves in the position of the early church fathers who were humble... prayed,fasted and followed in the footsteps of Christ......
No--He said that all was required was faith--and the prayer and fasting is not on the part of the would-be exorcist, but on the one possessed by devils. IOW--He was speaking of repentence--through prayer and the fasting before the day of Atonement.
as Jesus Christ said......Fasting and prayer is needed to cast out demons,there is no OTHER WAY....you cannot seperate the two and pretend to understand Jesus Christand the scriptures........
Any person who tries to understand the scriptures according to their own thinking is certainly going to stumble! But it has absolutely nothing to do with things we can do ourselves--God makes these things known at His determination--the same this very day as He's always done--by His own preparation and provision of prophets, apostles, and angels. God sends His word--it is not something we can direct ourselves toward.
All the Old prophets FASTED.....and used prayer in their lives everyday,with tears and true repentance......how can WE put ourselves in their position and say we understand the scriptures based on our OWN THINKING!
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Jphn 14:21....
and:
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. John 14:23
n the Old Testament, the holy Prophets of God Moses and Elias both fasted for forty days, thereby becoming worthy to converse with Christ on Mount Tabor (Ex. 34:28; Matth. 17:3).
Prophet Daniel ate no food for 3 weeks (Dan. 10:2-3) and Ezra for 7 days (Ezr. 8:21-23).
King David prayed and fasted and received through the Prophet Nathan forgiveness for his sins from God (2 Sam. 12:16-20).
The pious Judean woman Judith fasted "all the days of her widowhood," except except on sabbath eves and sabbaths, new moon eves and new moons, feastdays and holidays (Judith 8:6). Ninevites prayed and fasted "the greatest of them even to the least of them" and turned away God's wrath for their great sins (Jonah 3:5-10).
The Israelites fasted by God's will during the terrible desolation from the palmerworm and the locust (Joel 1:14, 2:12-15).
In order to please God, the Israelites fasted on the 4th, 5th, 7th and 10th months, as we see from the book of the Prophet Zachariah (Zach. 8:19).
Following the example set by the Savior, the holy apostles and other righteous persons of the New Testaments sanctified fasting through their own lives and teachings.....
......This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." (John 6:52-58)
And Elias the Thesbite, of the inhabitants of Galaad, said to Achab: As the Lord liveth, the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to the words of my mouth. [2] And the word of the Lord came to him, saying: [3] Get thee hence, and go towards the east, and hide thyself by the torrent of Carith, which is over against the Jordan; [4] And there thou shalt drink of the torrent: and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. ... [6] And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the torrent. (3 Kings:17:1-4,6 Douay-Reims)
Moses promised, and would provide "in the evening flesh to eat and in the morning bread to the full" (Exod. 16:8).
The Apostle Paul passionately appeals to the Christians at Corinth, "that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment" (I Cor. 1:10). He insists that all church leaders "hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it" (Titus 1:9). Our Lord’s prayer for unity in John 17 has everything to do with His followers being sanctified "in the truth" (v. 17).
And again, His promise to be present with those who gather in His Name is predicated by His saying, "if two of you agree . . ." (Matt. 18:19).
Then, of course, there is Paul’s unparalleled reference to "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph. 4:5).
From the time of our Lord there began developing a body of truth, a particular interpretation of the divine events; and the Church leaders from the time of the Apostles were given to preserving and building on that sacred "tradition." So the Apostle Paul exclaims, "stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (II Thess. 2:15).
"I commend you," Paul says to the Corinthian believers, "because you . . . maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you" (I Cor. 11:2). [2]
The Scriptural message was given to men not in paper and ink. God’s Word was first placed in men’s souls; His words were engraved and imprinted in spirit and not by letter. Our Lord’s message was first presented orally and only later written down (see Luke 1:1–3).
Early in the Church the Word of God began to develop and take on specific form and expression. A common understanding, a "tradition," if you please, began developing under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles and their converts taught and founded churches all over the Mediterranean world and left them with its oral Tradition (see Acts 2:42; II Thess. 2:15, 3:6, etc.).
Evangelist John says: And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen (Jn. 21:25). Again the same Evangelist declares in one of his epistles: Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full (2 Jn. 1:12).
Just as before the books of the Old Testament were written the people were guided in the knowledge of God and on the path of salvation only by Holy Tradition (Tradition with a living voice, orally),
so too were they precisely before the writing of the books of the New Testament.
The Holy Tradition was the guide by which the first Christians were directed to the path of salvation.
The first to impart the teachings of the New Testament with a living voice to the ears of the people was our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself, who for three and a half years continually taught the people, distributing His Gospel without, however, writing anything.
Inasmuch as He was carrying out obedience to His Father, He didnt send His Apostles to write but to preach the Gospel to the whole world, saying to them: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Mat. 28:19-20)
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 1 Peter 3:21
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Hebrews 10:14-17
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.