The End...Week One

The End...study week one!

What a great evening we all experienced! Clearly everyone was engaged in our new small group study "The End".

The evening started with my challenge around the authenticity of the Holy Bible. A key understanding for all of us; is biblical scripture the absolute word of God? A key foundational point that must be without compromise in understanding for us all. Crucial is the elimination of man's opinion all dressed up for the prom as biblical truth. Seeking to answer a biblical question from outside of the biblical text is a common practice these days. Well intended scholars, preachers and rabbis doing so has led to wildly opinionated sermons diverting us all from biblical truth. Once the bible becomes what it says it is....Gods word without error, no longer can $1.50 words, lofty opinions, favorite interpretations or men and their opinions lead you astray. Scripture takes on a higher calling of truth. His truth! Biblical concepts, stories and teaching become life changing....without end!

With this said, I opened study with the concept of the heptadic structure within Holy Scripture. Doing so as a challenge.
My challenge went something like this....
I want to make you aware of empirical proof around original writings of the Holy Scriptures. Harvard PHD Ivan Panin discovered (around the turn of the century; 1890), numerical patterns throughout the Holy Scriptures. As an agnostic, he began his life's work around the gematria science found in ancient Hebrew & Greek languages used to write the Bible. These two languages are unique as their alphabets have numeric and pictograph values assigned to each letter in addition to their sound. His discovery of the numeric value relationships present within the text was days of awe amazing. Many abandon biblical skepticism or worse yet their disbelief  due to oral tradition reasoning once presented this knowledge...

Please let me explain. What if I commissioned a story from you explaining your family genealogy would you do it? If I offered payment of...

$100,000.00!!!

I'm sure you would. But there are conditions my friend. I have standards your story text must strictly adhere to receive payment. Simply put, IF you don't meet all the standards then expect NO PAYMENT!
My standards are as follows:
First, the total number of words you choose within your story must be divisible by seven. Also the total number of letters used must also be divisible by seven. Next the total number of vowels and consonants each must be divisible by seven. The number of words beginning with a vowel, then those words beginning with a consonant, both must be divisible by seven. The number of words that occur more than once, occur in more than one form and then again only in one form, all must be divisible by seven. The number of nouns used must be divisible by seven. The number of names used must be divisible by seven. Only seven words won't be nouns. The number of male names in your family must be divisible by seven. The number of generations of your family must also be divisible by seven. I think by this point you understand....writing your story would be pointless as you will fail to meet my standards set forth.
To be clear, I only provided you 14 mathematical standards within my rules for writing your story. Know there are 34 mathematical standards present with the text used within Matthew 1:1-11 of Holy Scripture. This is the genealogy story of Jesus Christ. Random theory dictates simulating the writing of a story with 34 mathematical standards is one chance in seven to the thirty-fourth power. To further illustrate the point...
If you could use one million supercomputers in the writing your families genealogy story, at a rate of 400 times per second, it would take you 4,300,000 years to accomplish!!! One last point; all the unique words used by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the other New Testament writers adhere to the breadth and width of the mathematical standards I have told you about!
The Bible, as 2 Timothy 3:16 informs, says all scripture is given by the inspiration of God! Inspiration, a translation of theopneustos ("God-breathed") compels us to know Holy Scripture is a product of the breath of God!
Once you agree, once this statement becomes your truth, it requires acknowledgement of the very least Jesus Christ is whom He said He is!
I decided long ago it was worth the effort to understand what God had to say within His word. Well beyond one's skepticism or belief rooted in simple standards of oral tradition storytelling, the Bible layers truth within its pages that are constantly amazing to me.

Final thought, PHD Ivan Panin confessed to be agnostic as a Russian man pursuing mastery of intellectual thought...that is prior to his research. Not long after he started his life's work, he confessed accepting Jesus Christ as his savior. He devote 50 years of his life painstakingly exploring the numerical structure of the biblical scriptures. He generated over 43,000 detailed hand-penned pages! Analysis that is Gods gift through Ivan arresting the doubting Thomas in us all. God's desire is to call everyone...His family.
In his 87th year, October 30, 1942 Ivan passed at the age of 87 years. A job well done for sure!
Sources:
PHD Ivan Panin research:
McCormack, R., "The Heptadic Structure of Scripture," Marshall Brothers Ltd., London, 1923
E.W. Bullinger, Numbers of the Scriptures
F.W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (7 vols.)
Browne, Ordo Saeculoreium, et al.
Ivan Panin (various works), "Bible Numerics," P.O. Box 206, Waubaushene, Ontario, L0K 2C0.
Koinonia House
http://www.khouse.org/articles/1995/102/

The End....Week One Study

The End...What Happens Next?
Many these days are asking Bonnie and I "what in the heck is going on". There question is far from a casual greeting to us. It is always a deeper question. One rooted in wanting to understand faith related to America, the culture, the world crisis and how it all relates to end times biblical understanding. Our first step is to eliminate fear and concern within biblical misunderstanding. We choose to visit Robert Morris and Gateway church for an overview of sorts. With our home group study, the next season of meetings takes a look at Heaven, Hell, the satan & his minions, Eternity, The Second Coming of Christ, The Rapture, The Millennium and how does a believer stand upon scripture with truth around understanding these topics.

A Tough Question is our first week look within The End series. This week we explored three key questions most of us ask related to the conclusion of the Bible:

• How could a loving God send people to hell?
• Hell was created for Satan and his angels Matthew 25:41, but according to Isaiah 5:14, it was enlarged because people inexcusably reject God.
• God is a just God - Romans 1:18-20, Proverbs 8:17, Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 7:7-11,       Acts 17:26-28
• How could anyone reject a loving God?
• The greatest gift God gave you in creation was a free will.  His greatest gift was our Savior Jesus Christ, but the greatest gift in creation was free will. 
• It is so much more meaningful when someone who doesn't have love you, chooses to love you.
• How do you think God feels when people have to pay eternal consequences for rejecting Him
• God is a loving God - 2 Peter 3:9, Isaiah 5:1-4, Matthew 21:33-39

These questions were discussed during this weeks meeting:

1. When did you first hear or learn about hell?  What did you believe about it then?
2. What do you think people are really wrestling with when they ask, "How could a loving God send anyone to hell?"
3. Why did God give us a free will?  What does that say about His character?
4. Why is rejecting God "inexcusable and rebellious?"
5. Read 2 Peter 3:9.  How do you think God feels when people have to pay eternal consequences for rejecting Him?

Scriptures verses within discussion this week:

1. Matthew 1:1-11 (heptadic structure of scripture)
2. 2 Timothy 3:16 (heptadic structure of scripture)
3. Matthew 25:41 (The End....week one)
4. Isaiah 5:14
5. Romans 1:18-20
6. Proverbs 8:17
7. Jeremiah 29:13
8. Matthew 7:7-11
9. Acts 17:26-28
10. 2 Peter 3:9
11. Isaiah 5:1-4
12. Matthew 21:33-39

Additional questions unrelated to this weeks study. Our intent is to gather such questions placing them into discussion after our last week in the series:

• Dana Spencer asked
1. How do you explain the dinosaurs?  
2. Did they exist the same time as Adam?
• Dana Farmer and Michael Allen 
1. Genesis chapter One; Genesis chapter Two.....Gap Theory????