Perry, amen about always believing the Holy Spirit over me, but the Holy Spirit will not contradict himself or his Word. Therefore, if contradictions exist, then you have not heard from the Holy Spirit, agreed?
Let's look at the passage again. Mark 16:14-20 (14) Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. (15) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (17) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; (18) They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (19) So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. (20) And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. Jesus is speaking to the eleven. We agree on this. Verses 16-18 use pronouns such as he, they, and them. All of these pronouns in these verses refer to the creatures to whom they preach. We know this because the context of his message to the eleven is preaching the gospel to every creature. He is giving them the reason why they should be preaching, because of those to whom they preach, some will believe and be baptized and thereby be saved, while others would not believe and would be damned. Jesus then goes on to teach that sings would follow them that believe. Who are "them that believe"? Those who believe the gospel being preached by the eleven. How can you view this any other way? What motivates you to interpret the passage another way? Think about that. What if the passage had said, "these signs shall follow them that believe: they shall receive joy." Would you be trying to argue that the joy of salvation applied exclusively to the eleven if that were the case? Verse 19 leaves the parenthetical paragraph of verses 17-18, and so the pronouns them and they in verses 19 & 20 refer back to the eleven. So I agree with you that the pronouns they and them in verse 20 refers to the eleven, but this does not mean that the same pronouns in verses 17-18 also refer to the eleven. You must consider the text itself and the context. Verse 15 says, "preach the gospel to every creature." Next verse says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Who is the "he that believeth"? Those to whom they preached, which is "EVERY CREATURE." One more comment: the book of Acts tells me that the mention of signs following in verse 20 was not limited only to the eleven. The signs accompanied all those who believed, the eleven, plus others who believed their preaching. The book of Acts is filled with examples of such. The eleven were not the exclusive ones who experienced these signs. This is a matter of Biblical fact, and any revelation you have to the contrary is false because it would contradict the Biblical record. Peace be with you. David Miller. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Perry Locke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 10:01 AM Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] Who decides Well, David, in the short of it, if I have to beleive the Holy Spirit, or you, I choose the Holy Spirit. This whole address is to the eleven...the signs are to the eleven, not every creature. This is confirmed in v20: "And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." "They" here also refers to the eleven, the same "they" who went forth. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
