Shawn St. Clair

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Shad Sluiter

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Elaine Nordman

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John Dennison

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Peter Orasuk - "Does life have any real meaning or purpose? Why are we here? In my search for the answer to these questions, I turned to drugs...

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What is a Daniel fast?

The Daniel Fast is a diet based on the story from the book of Daniel in the Old Testament.  Daniel and his three friends decided to fast in the sense that they refused to eat the meat provided to them by the King of Babylon.  Daniel was not fasting in refraining from all food.  Neither was Daniel trying to improve his health by losing weight or by avoiding unhealthy fats.  Daniel was interested in obeying the law of Moses.

Daniel 1:8-14" TARGET="_blank">Daniel 1:8-14  But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.  (9)  And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs,  (10)  and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, "I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king."  (11)  Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,  (12)  "Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.  (13)  Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see."  (14)  So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days.

Daniel decided to fast, not for health reasons, but for spiritual laws in the Bible.  Nebuchadnezzar had conquered the nation of Israel and was training a group of captured Jews to become officers in his government.  Part of the social adaptation to their new kingdom and culture was to eat the King’s meat.  It is likely that the meat itself was healthy, but involved in idol worship.
 
The concept of applying the Daniel fast to dieting is when a person decides to refrain from eating meat for a period of time.  The Bible does not command or recommend a person follow Daniel’s fasting method for health reasons. We are at liberty to follow a vegetarian diet or a diet that contains meat.  Other scriptures that deal with the matter of eating meat are found in Romans 14" TARGET="_blank">Romans 14 and 1 Timothy 4" TARGET="_blank">1 Timothy 4 and 1 Corinthians 8" TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 8…

Romans 14:1-4" TARGET="_blank">Romans 14:1-4  As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.  (2)  One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.  (3)  Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.  (4)  Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

1 Timothy 4:1-5" TARGET="_blank">1 Timothy 4:1-5  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,  (2)  through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,  (3)  who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.  (4)  For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,  (5)  for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

1 Corinthians 8:4-13" TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 8:4-13  Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "an idol has no real existence," and that "there is no God but one."  (5)  For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth--as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"--  (6)  yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.  (7)  However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.  (8)  Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.  (9)  But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.  (10)  For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?  (11)  And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.  (12)  Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.  (13)  Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Shad Sluiter

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SeedSowers Videos are memory books from the Mexican short missions trips by the Seed Sowers Organization. 

There are two locations to find these videos online:

• Yahoo videos for SeedSowers 2009 Veracruz  and 2010 Obregón

• YouTube videos for SeedSowers 2004 Chihuahua, 2005 Hermosillo, 2006 Hermosillo, 2007 Guadalajara . 

You can see the detials about upcoming trips at www.seedsowersonline.com

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Is it right to teach that the Lord will not hold man responsible for sins of ignorance?

The answer depends on the cause of the ignorance. Leviticus 4:28" TARGET="_blank">Leviticus 4:28 is taken up with sins of ignorance and the sacrifices to be offered in order to obtain forgiveness. Such are specified as “sins of ignorance”— “against any of the commandments of the Lord,” which every Israelite was responsible to know. See V. 17 of chap. 5 “If a soul sin and commit any of these things, which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord, though he wist it not, yet is he guilty and shall bear his iniquity.” Ignorance in such cases does not spell innocence. See chap. 4. 28 (R.V.): “If his sin. . . be made known to him.” His attention would be called to the commandment he had broken, but he does not then become guilty, but responsible to bring a sin-offering. Ignorance of the law of the land is no excuse for disobedience. The first question then is how far is a man responsible for being ignorant? Evidently an Amalekite or Moabite would not be responsible for offending against the ceremonial law of Israel. They might eat pork, for instance, without defilement. They would not be responsible to keep the Sabbath; but in matters of moral right and wrong, “The Gentiles which have not the law . . . are a law unto themselves, which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness.” (Romans 2: 14, 15)." TARGET="_blank">Romans 2: 14, 15). Mr. F. Arnot once said that he found a good way-of showing an African that a certain course was wrong, say stealing his neighbour’s goods, was to ask him whether it would be right for his neighbour to treat him so? It will be a sorry excuse for those who live in a land where the New Testament can be had for a penny, to allege that they did not know what God’s will was for them, when it is all contained in the Book. Ignorance, if not voluntary, may lessen responsibility, but not annihilate it, if it could by any means have been avoided; so “he that knew not his Lord’s will, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.”

William Hoste

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Are we to believe that God the Father has angels (Revelation 3:5)," TARGET="_blank">Revelation 3:5), Christ some (2 Thessalonians 1:7)," TARGET="_blank">2 Thessalonians 1:7), and Michael some (Revekation 12:7)?

Or are they all the same?

Though we recognise in the Scriptures that the Divine Persons are co-equal, co-eternal, and co-substantial, that is that each possesses the whole Divine essence in the Unity of the Godhead, we equally see distinctions between the Persons, and differences of relation and function; also conditions of subordination between them for mutual purposes, and this not only since the Incarnation, but eternally and necessarily so by the Divine law of their Being. Thus the Father is revealed as Source—the Fountain of all things. He originates, He purposes, He is the Creator of all things. He is the Father of Spirits, and therefore of the angels, who belong to the spiritual creation, so that they may with the utmost propriety be termed “The Father’s angels.” Then on the other hand, the Son was the Agent in Creation—”All things were made by Him,” including “all things that are in heaven,’ and in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him” (John 1: 3;" TARGET="_blank">John 1: 3; Colossians 1" TARGET="_blank">Colossians 1:i6). He, too, is said to be “Head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:10)." TARGET="_blank">Colossians 2:10). In such phrases are inclusively described “the innumerable company of angels—the general assembly” (Hebrews 12: 22, 23)." TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 12: 22, 23). These may then be equally called Christ’s angels. To say that they are the Father’s and not the Son’s, or the Son’s not the Father’s, is to ignore our Lord’s words, “All that the Father hath are Mine” (John 16: 15)," TARGET="_blank">John 16: 15), or “All Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine” (John  17:io). That is, even when the Father is said to give anything to the Son, it does not cease to be the Father’s. In the cases cited above— Revelation 3" TARGET="_blank">Revelation 3: , the Lord is speaking of His Father and naturally He speaks of the angels in relation to Him (His angels), but in 2 Thessalonians 1: 7," TARGET="_blank">2 Thessalonians 1: 7, the Spirit is describing the return in glory of the Son, and here the angels are spoken of, as we should expect, as His angels, because related to Him. But we do not for that conceive of the angels as divided into two companies, the Father’s and Christ’s. The case of Michael’s angels is very simple and quite distinct. They are not his in the same sense as above, but they are the angels put under his command for a certain purpose. Michael is five times mentioned in the Bible—thrice in Daniel 10:13" TARGET="_blank">Daniel 10:13 “One of the chief (“the first” of marg.) princes”; v. 21, “your prince”; and Daniel 12:1" TARGET="_blank">Daniel 12:1 , “the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people.” Then in Jude 1:9" TARGET="_blank">Jude 1:9 as “the archangel”; and lastly, in Revelation 12" TARGET="_blank">Revelation 12: 7 as the leader in the war in heaven, when Satan and his angels (those who followed him in his fatal choice), will be cast down. Satan is always the bitter enemy of Israel, God’s earthly people, and Michael, the archangel (he is the only one so named) is specially seen as opposing him, and is, as leader of the angelic hosts, called to fight against him. In this sense they are Michael’s angels, that is, under his leadership. W.H.

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Matthew 24:5-8" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 24:5-8 many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray.  (6)  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  (7)  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  (8)  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.  

Matthew 24:21-22" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 24:21-22  For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.  (22)  And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

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