Thank you Daryl. My remarks were about the Most Holy Place topic. Mike may have been in a hurry and didn't look back to see. A mistake anyone could make using an unfamiliar computer.

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Even so come, Lord Jesus
Linda

We often use things after the fashion we perceive as their intended use or how we decide to use them according to our wishes and opinions .

Inspired writings however pose a different situation. In Deuteronomy 29:29 God tells His intent for inspiring the person who wrote in the first place.

God's written intents for our use of inspired material are a screen of loyalty to Him. Using His inspired materials in manners that are in opposition to to His expressed wishes - are one form of our disloyalty to God. On the flip side, our use of inspired materials according to their written intents - are one form of our loyalty to God.

What about the integrity of inspiration's content & writing by the person inspired by God ? It seems that when a future seeing God is in the habit of inspiring people and those people live in set generations according to their human life spans. Yet the Holy Spirit inspires them and despite their life span in a set generation, inspires them regarding the past, present, and future even though the past and future may be beyond their life span. Yet it is not beyond the lifespan of the Holy Spirit.

The prophet who gets inspired, are they writing just for their time & culture, or beyond it. well a good place to start might be the Bible. What does this following text & concept suggest ?

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

How is God still testifying of Abel's gifts today ? How is Able being the first dead person on Earth still speaking after thousands of years when we know the Bible says the dead know not anything ?

The answer is that the record of Abel is still testifying & speaking.

In like manner when a prophet writes something to be used as inspired material and that material is preserved in a form retrievable later. As long as that material applies use it according as it gives directions and states it's intents, whether it is written in the language of the past or a prophecy yet future.

Too often we say so & so wrote for their day, or times have changed. The Inspiring Author the Holy Spirit is still very much present & in authority. What He inspired & caused to be recorded still speaks and if it applies to something today, has just as much authority as the day it was originally written. Inspired materials are a supernaturally given set of documents by an Author Who was and is always there.

We confuse Inspired materials timeless nature with our own culturally dated human experiences, which we ought remember it's unique nature and not do. The Bible & SOP are like the Sabbath - supernaturally given & supernatural testaments that cause us to be tested & timeless in nature, we ought remember that more carefully as we work with them on their terms .

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Edward F Sutton

[This message has been edited by Edward F Sutton (edited January 29, 2001).]

Edward,

I love the way your mind and heart works, and the tactful way you share your thoughts. I believe your experience testifies to the time you spend with Jesus. Amen!

I true believe God works through the Holy Spirit to inspire the prophets to share eternal truths. Jonah is a prime example, isn't he? His prophecy was not fulfilled in the time he predicted, but it was fulfilled 200 years later when God ordained. Was Jonah a false prophet? Of course not. But why was he wrong regarding the time? He wasn't wrong. At the point of regional repentance God amended the prophecy. Since God is God He can do that without violating the truth.

Ezekiel is another good example of God amending prophecy. The battle of Gog and Magog will never be fulfilled exactly as originally recorded. Why? Israel failed to meet the conditions. But that doesn't mean God scraps the prophecy, but rather He amends it. The amendment is recorded in Rev 20. The basic storyline is the same, but some of the details have been modified to fit the new situation.

From these simple examples I understand that the prophecies of God are inherently fluid and flexible and able to accommodate any generation regardless of whether or not they fail to meet the conditions of fulfillment. However, due to the nature of time and space, I also realize that time dated prophecies cannot accommodate just any generation, but rather are locked in time unless specifically amended by God.

My point in light of this discussion is that unfulfilled prophecies are also subject to amendment by God. It is clear that the second advent of Jesus could have happened any generation after 1844. What should have been could have been is true. The fault does not lie at God's feet, but rather ours.

Take for example the mark of the beast. We cannot know just how exactly government will legislate and enforce the counterfeit sabbath. Why? Because it hasn't happened yet, therefore we cannot acurately predict what technology and methodology will be employed. But it is certain that the way government would have done it 100 years ago is not how they will do it 100 years from now. And yet the same prophecy is flexible and accommodating enough to be fulfilled in any generation notwithstanding the multitude of variables from one generation to the next. That's part of the genius of God and His prophecies.

Ellen White attempted in her time to apply the unfulfilled prophecies according to time and circumstances then present. But she shouldn't be held to those insights now that several new generaations have come and gone. For example, she was an advocate of Smith's book on Dan & Rev, and yet we now know his predictions regarding Turkey and the king of the north are no longer plausible. Yes, it should have played out that way, but the church was unready and the time and circumstances have moved on. Now things will turn out differently, but if time should pass us by again then things will turn differently then than they would if it all came to a head now.

Do you see my point?

Mike