In a list of "9 Things Remarkably Successful People NEVER Do," posted to Inc. Magazine's internet site, No. 1 is, "They never let the past dictate their future."
"We all have limitations, we all have challenges, we all make mistakes," reads the entry. "The key is to not be constrained by those things but to learn from them.
Easier said than done? It all depends on your perspective.
"Take mistakes: When something goes wrong, turn it into an opportunity to learn something you didn't know--especially about yourself. (And when something goes wrong for someone else, turn it into an opportunity to be gracious and forgiving.)
"Where you've been, what you've done--everything in the past is just training. Remarkably successful people believe their past should inform them but should never define them."
"Where you've been, what you've done--everything in the past is just training. Remarkably successful people believe their past should inform them but should never define them."
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Most commentaries on the story of Lot and his wife, who looked back and turned to a pillar of salt, would have us believe God is simply teaching morality/discipline lessons, ignoring the account's tremendous prophecy.
For just one example, “Christian living” author Jen Wilkin, who actually admits in her internet article, “I am Lot’s wife,” writes, “As much as we long to move forward in grace, we find our past still pulls at us."
“But it’s not enough to recognize and regret our sin,” she continues. “To leave it behind, we must learn to hate it. And this is where I begin to think about Lot’s wife.
"You remember her—raised a family in a city known for its sexual depravity, had to be physically dragged out of her hometown to avoid its imminent destruction, checked her rearview mirror, and, presto-change-o, turned into your favorite popcorn flavoring. Pretty high up there on the ‘Weird Stories of the Bible’ list.”
"You remember her—raised a family in a city known for its sexual depravity, had to be physically dragged out of her hometown to avoid its imminent destruction, checked her rearview mirror, and, presto-change-o, turned into your favorite popcorn flavoring. Pretty high up there on the ‘Weird Stories of the Bible’ list.”
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“Lot was the opposite of Daniel," explains my pastor, Richard Jordan. "When the king’s meat was set before Daniel, Daniel reasoned, ‘I think I’ll have what God would have for me and not what the king has.’
"Lot was a guy who had absolutely no interest in doing anything but pleasing himself, and so he leaves town without a testimony, dragging his wife and two girls with him.
"Lot was a guy who had absolutely no interest in doing anything but pleasing himself, and so he leaves town without a testimony, dragging his wife and two girls with him.
“Of course, he lost his wife when she turned around to look back and was turned to a pillar of salt. But even after that, Lot wound up living in a cave with his two daughters, and if you know the sad end of that story in Genesis 19, his daughters got him drunk and committed incest with him in order to have children.
“The two kids born of those girls by their daddy in that incestuous relationship.. . wonder where they learned to live in incest with their daddy? They didn’t learn that sitting at the feet of Abraham. They learned that in Sodom.
“They learned that because of the influence of the compromises of their dad, resulting in a pitiful flop of a life, and those two kids who were born of them--go back and check Genesis 19-- plagued God’s people all through the Old Testament. The works of the flesh always do that.
“Lot was vexed, troubled, haunted by the lifestyle that was in Sodom and Gomorrah, but he was a righteous man and because of that God delivered him and he’s a picture of people.
"God cries out to His people in Revelation 18, he cries to Babylon, ‘Come out of her! Come out!’ and God is doing that with Israel. He’s gathering His ‘believing remnant’ out in the Tribulation even in their failure.
"God cries out to His people in Revelation 18, he cries to Babylon, ‘Come out of her! Come out!’ and God is doing that with Israel. He’s gathering His ‘believing remnant’ out in the Tribulation even in their failure.
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“Luke 17 will show you why Peter would have picked up on Lot. Verses 26-32 report, [26] And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
[27] They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
[28] Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
[29] But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
[30] Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
[31] In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
[32] Remember Lot's wife.
[27] They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
[28] Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
[29] But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
[30] Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
[31] In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
[32] Remember Lot's wife.
“Lot’s wife is an example of somebody who’s going out but does what? Turns back. Do you remember Hebrews 6 and it says, ‘Here you are, you’ve tasted of the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come, and you’ve been enlightened and so forth. It’s impossible to renew someone in that condition again to repentance if they go back.’
“That’s a verse they use to make you think you might lose your salvation. Hebrews 10:26-27 is another one: [26] For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
[27] But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
[27] But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
“These verses in Hebrews match what’s going on in Luke 17. They are ‘Tribulation truth.’ I’m tempted to believe that in the Tribulation period somebody’s going to be going around preaching the eternal security passages in Paul’s epistles--such as Romans 5, 8 and Ephesians 1--making it truth for them. That would be sort of the way things would work, you know.
*****
*****
“Most heresy in the church the Body of Christ today that is Bible heresy, it’s scriptural but not dispensational. Most of it is Tribulation truth. It’s scriptural and will be right and true in the Tribulation, it just isn’t true today. It isn’t what God’s doing today. People who quote these verses take them out of where they fit.
“Well, this passage here is talking about some people who get out and stay out and go, but then there’s some people who turn back and they are those Hebrews 10 talks about. They’re the ones that I John 2 talks about and the ones we’re going to read about later on in II Peter 2.
“These are people who have escaped the corruptions of the world and yet have gone back into it. I John says, [19] They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
“If God’s going to take a literal, physical, visible, earthly nation into a kingdom, He’s not going to take a mixed multitude into that kingdom. And the purpose of the Tribulation period is for the nation Israel—Isaiah 10 says He’s going to take His rod and make them pass under it and it’s only the Believers . . .
“There’s a lot of professers and would-bes that come in, but it’s only the Believer who’s going to get on to the other end, because they that endure to the end shall be saved. The ones who turn back are the ones who don’t ever get the salvation, because you don’t get it until you get into the kingdom. It’s only the ones who are in the kingdom that gain this salvation program, so he says, ‘Don’t be like Lot’s wife.’
*****
“The temptation for these people is going to be to turn back. They’re going to have Judaism restored. They’re going to have the Old Testament sacrificial system, the law and the prophets—they’re going to have it ALL restored for them back in Jerusalem.
“Two hundred and twenty days after the Antichrist signs a covenant with the nation Israel and rescues them from utter destruction, he comes in as their Messiah and their Redeemer.
"Two hundred and twenty days after they make that peace covenant with him--planet wide on CNN and on FOX News--they’re going to inaugurate again the daily sacrifices right there in Jerusalem, in their own temple. The temple will be rebuilt and they’ll be back at it. And then there will be a call that goes out and across the world for the Jews to come back.
"Two hundred and twenty days after they make that peace covenant with him--planet wide on CNN and on FOX News--they’re going to inaugurate again the daily sacrifices right there in Jerusalem, in their own temple. The temple will be rebuilt and they’ll be back at it. And then there will be a call that goes out and across the world for the Jews to come back.
“You see the movie Schindler’s List and it says there were less than 2,000 Jews left in Poland at the end of WWII. That’s sort of weeding them down to pretty near nothing. If there’s only 2,000 animals left of a certain species, you call that an endangered species and you’ve got the whole planet going out and trying to save it.
“Well, all those people are going to go back in droves and be set up back over there, and then there will be some little street preacher who stands out on the corner and says, ‘No, no, no, no, no, this is not the real nation! The real Messiah has already come 2,000 years ago. This one who just delivered you, who’s bringing us economic prosperity and peace and giving us our religion and our identity and our homeland back, he’s a phony!’
“Now, what kind of reception do you think that preacher’s going to get?! These people are going to be tempted, pressed, troubled into turning back and the whole issue in the Hebrews epistle is to motivate them not to turn back.
*****
"The message is, ‘Remember the provision God has made for you in the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ and see the finished work and what God has done so you don’t need Judaism anymore. You don’t need the Mosaic Law; He’s put away the old covenant and given you the new covenant!’
*****
"The message is, ‘Remember the provision God has made for you in the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ and see the finished work and what God has done so you don’t need Judaism anymore. You don’t need the Mosaic Law; He’s put away the old covenant and given you the new covenant!’
“Hebrews never says, ‘Here, look, we’re the members of the Body of Christ.’ It says, ‘Here, Israel, look what God’s done for you in YOUR program through the Cross!’ The Book of James challenges them about the issue of their justification, meaning they needed to go and hold out and do the works that were ‘meet for repentance.’
“I Peter talks to them about that ‘lively hope’ they have. II Peter talks to them about the challenges they’ll have in suffering through these things. I, II and III John talk about the test they’ll use to identify the true believer from the false believer in those days.
“You better not take all those tests for yourself today; they won’t work! That’s why people wind up thinking they can earn their salvation and lose their salvation, or that they’ve got to do something to prove it’s really there’s.
*****
II Peter 2:9 says, [9] The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
“The three illustrations given in the chapter of those God has reserved to judgment are the angels (verse 4), the old world (verse 5) and Sodom & Gomorrah (verse 6). As Peter says in verse 3 about the false prophets and teachers, their damnation is sure and it’s not going to slumber; it’s not going to linger forever and God will pour out His judgment on them.
“II Peter also uses illustrations with Noah and Lot about God delivering the godly from/out of the trouble. It’s interesting that he uses these two men. Noah and Lot are the real ‘latter-day saints,’ not the Mormons. They are illustrations, types and pictures of two classes of people who are going to need to be delivered out of the time of Jacob’s trouble.
“Of course, before God poured judgment out on the world with the Flood, He had Noah, the preacher of righteousness, go and build the Ark. Genesis 7 says Noah and his family were righteous before the Lord and perfect in their generations. That is, they had not had their line contaminated by ‘the sons of god.’ They hadn’t entered into that angelic intermingling, but were people who walked before the Lord by faith in the things of God.
“Now, Lot, on the other hand, was a different kind of a Believer. You notice in II Peter 2:7, it says, [7] And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
“That word ‘just’ there doesn’t mean ONLY Lot; it means ‘justified’ Lot. You know that in verse 8: [8] (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
“Lot chose to live in Sodom. He could have avoided the influence of Sodom, but he pitched his tents toward Sodom. Lot is the picture of a compromiser. Lot is a picture of a man with no separation in his life and testimony.
“When Lot was delivered out of Sodom, he convinced his two unmarried daughters to go with him, but with his other daughters and their husbands, they wouldn’t go. Lot had no testimony of any value to anybody.
“When Lot tried to share God’s Word with them and tell them about the coming judgment, they laughed up their sleeve at him. He had all kind of influence in the social, economic, cultural and political societies of Sodom, but Lot had no spiritual influence because of him being a compromiser."
(new article tomorrow)
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