Neil wrote:
Between fox and wolf, I'd say. They're dangerous mainly to small domestic animals. We get a fair number of wild critters in our suburban neighborhood, including even wildcats. Birds also are prominent; once, a hawk (also common) killed a dove in our back porch. Who needs nature documentaries?
Best way to treat wild animals is with hostility; sentimentalists who feed them are foolish, for they lose their fear of man that way.

Dr. Tim wrote:
Yes, John, there are many, many verses not only in the New Testament, but in the Old as well, dealing with salvation. Rather than being many different “doors,” they are really different porches that all lead to the one true Door, the Lord Jesus Christ. I think this shows the marvelous graciousness of our Heavenly Father. In case we read or hear one passage of scripture and don’t “get it,” He makes sure there are other passages that we do get.

Can you imagine any Bible college training men up in evangelism telling them to look at someone in particular in the congregation and saying, "Young man, you look very sad!"

Dr. Tim wrote:
True, John. I’m afraid we have turned soul winning into little more than salesmanship. Let there be no conviction, no repentance, no seeing oneself as a wretched, undone sinner on whom the wrath of God abides. If we can just get them to say the “sinner’s prayer,” we have “won” them and can add their tick to our tally. Pfui. I’d rather see one man bawling his eyes out under genuine Holy Ghost conviction than to see a hundred mindlessly mouthing a 1-2-3, repeat-after-me “sinner’s prayer.”

Whatever HE does is okay with me.

If we were to take all the NT commands concerning salvation, and list them all out, one after another, we would wonder what the gospel was all about. Indeed, some of these things have begun cults, demanding, for example, baptism in water for the remission of sins.

Dr. Tim wrote:
John UK wrote, “No Prayer=No Salvation.” I think I would examine that a little more closely, John, as there are many scriptures that promise salvation without any mention of prayer and many biblical examples of people getting saved without praying. Faith is what connects us to the Savior; the praying is merely an expression of the faith that already exists in the heart, as the next verse of Romans 10 makes clear when it asks, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?”

But I am not into formulas for salvation anyway. It is God who saves, and we merely observe the effects of grace in someone's life.

Basically what I'm saying is that when a person is genuinely converted, these three things will always be there: repentance, faith, and prayer.

Nick wrote:
Yes John. A coyote is a sort of wild dog looking something like a wolf, only much smaller, only about 45pounds in weight, and the markings are a bit different.

I think that just about sums it up. But let none ever forget that it is a work of God in the hearts of men, not something that they can conjure up themselves. Does a man believe that Jesus is the Christ? "Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven".

The words of Jesus still hold true, "Repent ye and believe the gospel". Mark 1:15

Dr. Tim wrote:
Salvation doesn’t come from believing facts with the head, John. It comes from believing truth with the heart. Those who don’t see the difference probably haven’t done the latter.

At present in the UK, confirmed cases double every two to three days, and I believe that the social isolation instructions will be of great benefit in helping the nation get back to normal, and save many lives.

This week I had occasion to check on a man who turned out to be a co-founder of a new group of churches which call themselves "New IFB". I listened to a message of his on YouTube, and was rather shocked to hear him say that salvation is simply by believing, never by praying.

So the end result of that is that sinners are told certain facts (uncertain which ones) and then asked if they believe those facts or not. If the answer is yes, they are pronounced saved and can now enjoy their Christian life.

There is something wrong here, and it may be why there is so little repentance in the world today.

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13

This crying out to God is far removed from matter-of-fact believing of certain doctrines. You can believe something with no humility, no desire to change your lifestyle, no remorse, no shame, no feeling of guilt, no overwhelming need of forgiveness from Almighty God.

NeedHim wrote:
O’ How Beautiful the feet of those who bring the word to the lost are. May the Lord do the same for our own lost loved ones & others too amen!

Spurgeon; Unless the Holy Ghost blesses the Word, we who preach the gospel are of all men most miserable, for we have attempted a task that is impossible. We have entered on a sphere where nothing but the supernatural will ever avail. If the Holy Spirit doesn’t renew the hearts of our hearers, we can’t do it. If the Holy Ghost doesn’t regenerate them, we can’t. If He doesn’t send the truth home into their souls, we might as well speak into the ear of a corpse.

Mike wrote:
"Nor ever shall be" applied to 70AD
would have to mean what the world has experienced since has never been as bad as what happened in 70 AD, and it will never again be that bad. Does not history and prophecy say otherwise?

Matthew 24:34 KJV
(34)  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

One problem is that you will have to say that Jesus here is referring not to "this generation", but to a time at least 2,000 years into the future. But the text says that "this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled". AD70 and the sacking of Jerusalem fits within the timescale of "this generation".

If your first principle of interpreting the Bible is to take the text at face value, take the plain meaning of the text, rather than spiritualising it, then you are going to have to take it into account when interpreting the other verse.

Dr. Tim wrote:
One time He was surprised that someone had so much faith (Matthew 8:5-10), and the other time He was surprised that some people had so little faith (Mark 6:1-6). I wonder if we ever surprise Him and, if so, is it by our faith or by our lack of it?

Unprofitable Servant wrote:
Matthew 24:21 For then shall be — great tribulation, —such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Matthew 24:34 KJV
(34)  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Also Matthew 16:28.

Unprofitable Servant wrote:
Thank you John. It takes away having to defend against a position that is not held. As stated before not joining in discussion on the timing of what is described in I Thessalonians 4
God bless

I'm just thinking out loud, when I say that folks who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, must have in mind a somewhat different and possibly excessive tribulation from that which is normally experienced as part of the Christian pilgrimage, as it says in scripture...

Acts 14:22 KJV
(22)  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

It is astonishing.

The guv asked nicely at first, now they are enforcing it because they were ignored by many.

PRAISE THE LORD!