A few months ago I decided to stop writing posts on this site because only a few people seemed to be concerned about the truth. Maybe things have changed, but I would be surprised if they have. I don’t say this out of a mean spirit, rather based upon the way things in the world have been “progressing” lately. Anyway, I just wanted to make one final post and hope it will be accepted out of the Spirit of Love.

Something that I and many other Christians have noticed recently is that G-D has been lifting His children up and calling them to repentance. Meanwhile, the unsaved world is becoming more depraved and hard-hearted. If you are not a Christian and are reading this, I am not judging you, but am telling you that I do not see any good outside of Christianity these days, except for the spectacular movement of Messianic Judaism in Israel. The fact that Jesus, or Yeshua as He is known by my Jewish brothers and sisters, is once again calling the natural descendants of Israel to Salvation is absolutely awesome. Tragically, and I wish there was a word to express how truly tragic this is, as G-D turns His attention away from the Gentiles and back to the Jews, the window of opportunity for Gentiles to be Saved is being closed.

There is no doubt in my mind that Christ will be returning very, very soon. The fact that Jews are being Saved is an unmistakably clear sign of this. For anyone who wants proof that Jesus will be returning at all, let alone soon, I truly fear for you, because your heart may already be too hardened. For anyone who even has a tiny bit of understanding of how screwed up the world is and wishes it weren’t, I believe G-D may be giving you a last chance at Salvation.

Although I have never had a vision before, something happened to me a few weeks ago that was not a dream. I was sound asleep when a loud bang awoke me around 2:00 in the morning. I looked out of my bedroom window and the night sky became bright white for about a second and then it was as if I was looking inside my body and I saw what looked like a thick bolt of lightening. I tried to jump up, but was being held down by what seemed to be a hand and I couldn't move. Afterwards, I cried, because it was as if I had been in the presence of G-D and I realized how pure He is and how much He truly loves me. What does it mean? I think I was seeing the Rapture and that if that "hand" had not been holding me down, my spirit would have leapt from my body. The experience didn’t feel like a dream, it didn’t look like a dream and it has left me in a literal daze ever since it happened.

My life as a follower of Christ has not been easy, but it has always been full of hope and G-D has always been faithful. That is to say, G-D has always shown Himself to me during hard times to let me know beyond doubt that His hand is in control. I had a lot of sin in my life too, from pride to homosexuality to drugs to greed. Even so, G-D stuck with me and one by one He lifted these sins from me.

A lot of Christians give the impression that once they got Saved they no longer sinned. While it is true in G-D’s eyes, that once you are Saved you are Righteous (i.e., without sin), our bodies will not be completely free from sin until we are in Heaven. So if you are struggling with many sins and think there is no hope, or think that you are just too messed up, I promise that you’re not. I think one of the most awesome testimonies about the goodness of G-D is that He would take someone like me, work on me for 25 years, not give up and still love me on top of everything. I truly cannot express how much I love G-D for this.

It saddens me when I see people who are not Saved, because they are blind to the truth. Once you are Saved, you gain an understanding that you didn’t have before, the most important understanding is that there is an Almighty G-D whose Son is Jesus of Nazareth. I promise you will never doubt this after you get Saved. You also discover how powerful the Word of G-D is, which is the Bible. While this can never be explained to someone who doesn’t believe, after you believe you will understand.

Something wonderful is about to happen. I don't know when, because no one knows when, but I do feel a sense of urgency. If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, please do so now. What this means is that you are willing to accept the fact that you are a sinner, that you repent of your sins and that Jesus died for your sins. Sometimes people get hung up on the repentance part, but G-D never asks you to give anything up without helping you in a loving way. All you need to do is keep turning to G-D and after a while you will begin to understand that apart from G-D you are not only nothing, you are worse than nothing. In Him you are everything and hope abounds.

Below is a simple prayer that will be your first act of faith. It’s not the prayer that Saves you, it is Jesus who Saves you and praying from your heart is how you accept the wonderful gift He longs to give freely. If you have any hesitation, take a moment and ask yourself, “Can I say for certainty that when I die, I will not be held accountable for my actions before a perfect G-D?” If you answer “No” to that question and are willing to accept the spectacular sacrifice that He made on your behalf, then pray the prayer below and you will be Saved, forever.






"Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."






If you prayed that prayer for the first time, tell someone. If you want, you can just call a prayer ministry like CBN (800-759-0700) and say, “I just accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.” Don’t be embarrassed, because I promise the person on the other end will be ecstatic. The important thing is that you tell someone, anyone, because we need to confess that Jesus is our Lord and Savior with our mouths. You have nothing to fear from now on, just keep searching for God and He will make Himself known to you the more you seek.

I won’t be checking any responses to this post, but if anyone wants to send me a personal email, I would be happy to offer encouragement. My email is ty@fmw411.com and my name is Lance (Tyler) Barker.




...That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that G-D raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. ... (Romans 10:9-10).

Very powerful speech.

But if I may inquire, is it not true that Judaic followers believe Jesus was naught but a mere prophet?

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-JL

It's been said for centuries.
I do not see a clear religious line between good and depravity. But there is a certain polarization. It is hard for non-Christians to join with Christians since they are equally hostile to good people of other faiths as to the most depraved. That and most of us do not believe in creating laws to enforce "God's will" on matters that are not our concern.
I'm just sick of all this talk of waiting for God to come back and solve all of our problems and this notion that good is connected to what name you give your god. I'm also sick of the depravity and recklessness and lack of empathy going on in this world. And I'm sick of the polariaztion that makes real solutions impossible.
Quite frankly, I want to know what this depravity is you speak of. Is it that people have different sexual preferences or that they put these ahead of responsible behavior? Frankly I find gay people to be okay. It's the irresponsible promiscuity that leads to illegitimate birth, disease, abortion, and lost hope for generations that bugs me. And the fact that we choose not to help or redeem those who have made these mistakes. I could go on forever about real depravity, that which kills and creates sorrow and prevents the development of individuals and societies.
But it's so much easier and more tempting to blame it on the devil and see a supernatural force as the cure. So we wait.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

What this is, is laughable. Me, I quit posting here because the rightwingnut moderators here kept meddling with my postings inserting accusations of things I never committed.

The one thing scurrelous people like that can't do is change what's in The Bible, tho what The Bible actually says depends on the version quoted.

As to the End Days and the Second Coming, here's all about it straight from The Bible:

Quoth John The Baptist in Matthew 3:7-12--
In his instructions to his apostles when he first sent them out, Jesus is on record as saying:
Matthew 10:23 Further confirming thus:
Matthew 16:28 A little more cryptically, in his O Jerusalem rant, Jesus says:
Matthew 23:39
And Luke was convinced when he wrote Acts, quoting "Peter":
Acts 3:24
In Romans 13:8-42 Paul gives instructions to not leave any debt outstanding because The Return is imminent; and clinches his instructions thus:
Now, don't anybody hand me any relativism saying that of course the end days are nearer after ya believe than when you first believed. Paul's words smack you down thus:
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Opening paragraph of Revelation.
1 John 2:18
1 Peter 4:7
1 Peter 1:20
2 Thessalonians 2:3
1 Thessalonians 4:19
Luke 23:28-29
Acts 2:11-17
1 John 2:18
1 John 4:3

The Good Lord is over 2000 years late bringing them thar porkchops.

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I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
HuffPo's Off The Bus campaign coverage project....Off The Bus Blog

3First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

And here we see it illustrated more. Skeptics against religion take the bait of using Scripture to argue against the faithful. The faithful can always win out because the book is full of disclaimers like that one. But I don't agree with the point of the skeptic using the scriptures in the first place:
1) Why does the skeptic care if others continue to have their faith? That isn't the issue. It's whether they can live at peace with the rest of us and help us solve the problems that we all face.
2) Why make the common ground for debate the scripture which one believes and one does not? The common ground should be our shared reality and our shared conscience.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

Which is why I ask you, Clara, why do you need these answers? Why do you pursue these topics? Why do you care? I really do want to know.

__________________
-JL

Already answered that question and I'm not inclined to repeat myself. If you're not able to handle English well, pls advise me as to which other language you understand better so that I may be able to provide an appropriate translation of what I already said.

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I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
HuffPo's Off The Bus campaign coverage project....Off The Bus Blog

I do nothing that I don't do willingly. You insinuate that somehow I got snookered when I did not. Back off.
That one's not a disclaimer; that one's a cop-out. The disclaimer is the line where a thousand years is but a second to God (something like that). THAT, sir, is the disclaimer. You seem to be insinuating, also, that I haven't read the book myself. You stand corrected.
Deal with it, then.
Why a skeptic cares is a non sequitur to any/all questions asked about The Bible. It is not a factor in anything that should be of concern to you--not to mention just flat-out none o yer beezwax.
Why a skeptic cares definitely is NOT the issue.
Wrong. The issue is whether or not religionists can live in peace with the rest of us and they already have a long, bloody track record to the contrary that carries on up until today, and even as we speak.
Because there is no single source authoritative version of any of it. Every given Standardized Version is from many disparate and conflicting sources forced into compatability and forced into the mold of the King James Authorized, which is missing many books compared to Orthodox and Catholic and others. You have nothing to base such common ground on because no common ground exists.
When you refer to your religionist selves as "the rest of us" to which others must be bent to comply, I can tell you that you've already lost THAT round before you even start.

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I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
HuffPo's Off The Bus campaign coverage project....Off The Bus Blog

Java, I didn't know you were a "religionist".

For future reference, Locke, Java is one of the forum members who is capable of having a rational, respectful discussion of the Bible and religion.

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.