IAUA End Time Ministry
Preparing for the End of Time
The Lord is Coming! Are you ready?
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IAUA End Time Ministry |
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Preparing for the End of Time | |
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in
IAUA
(ee-ah-oo-ah) our Father,
Greetings on this day of preparation for the weekly sabbath. I hope this newsletter finds you in good health and happy in the service of the Lord. A reader responds: I tried to make every excuse I could think of for not fasting on DOA. But on the day both my husband and I abstained from food and water on DOA. I have health issues, my stomach is one of them. I asked if it were pleasing to Him that He cause me to be able to make it through. Not only did I make it through the DOA with no problems at all, but the next day when I did eat it caused me much pain. I can't speak for everyone but this gave me affirmation of His desire for us to abstain completely. I actually felt better that day than I have in a long time. I don't know if it is true but I have been told that before the 144,000 are sealed they will have gone through a forty day fast, just as Messiah did, and Moses before Him. For us it may be impossible but with our Great Healer anything is possible but we must have faith. ----- I responded Do you really think that fasting includes abstinence from water? My understanding of fasting is that it is an act of discipline for the pleasures of the flesh. Water is not a pleasure it is a vital daily health requirement. Food is often overeaten but not water. Going without food is cleansing to the body. Water is cleansing to the body. Going without water is a dangerous punishment of the body. ----- Not really, Frank, just for one 24 hour period. If one is fully supplied with their water requirements just prior to and immediately following the Day of Atonement the body is not harmed. Besides, Moses went FORTY DAYS without water and it didn't hurt him...why? Because he was one with his personal Savior. On the Day of Atonement we should above all days be one with Him if we are truly His. Also He Himself went forty days without water. All things are possible Frank if we trust in Him completely. The time of trouble will be like nothing this world has ever seen. While He promises that our food and water are sure, He doesn't specify the quantity. We may be forced to eat stale bread with wild roots and drink rain gutter water strained through a piece of cloth or maybe dew off of leaves...only He knows what is ahead. But one thing is for sure...Ellen White wrote that we had better prepare ourselves now for hardship and doing without or when the Time of Trouble comes we will not be prepared and be not able to endure. Going without water for one 24 hour period once a year will not harm us at the time of year that it is. If it were during the heat of summer then I would agree with you. In any event, like everything else, Satan has a counterfeit health message. He would delight to see everyone go to extremes, measuring each drop of water, consuming great time and effort in counting what we eat and when so that it takes away from the main thing. Our bodies are marvelously made and will tell us what is needed. Most of us, in the States, are well over what is required, not under. If we take the health message serious and follow the prescribed requirements as a regular routine we won't have to worry so much. Besides when we worry we dishonor Him. Making too much of our own health is one of the ruts the enemy has dug for us. I am losing two dear friends to cancer that followed every detail of the health message except the most important one...TRUST IN HIM. They were doing all the right things but in their own strength. And when the going got too hard for them they gave up the health message and turned to man. There are thousands of His people all over the world Frank, many have no clean water and don't know how long it has been since they ate. Yet He loves them and sees to it that the essentials that they need to survive are there. In this country most of us have TOO MUCH of everything and think we could not survive on less. We are in Laodicea where there is want of nothing and this will destroy many of us because we let our minds be consumed with (while good in the right proportion) extreme concepts and this taking our concentration off of the REAL THING, Yahushua the Anointed, our awesome Redeemer. May He always keep us on the straight and narrow way as our eyes continue to look up. ----- I had never heard of a fast that included abstaining from water. A little research on the internet did reveal that Jewish tradition includes abstaining from water during a fast. Prayer, Bible study, and meditation revealed these thoughts. It is interesting that Esther thought it necessary to specify no drinking during a crisis fast. Esther 4:16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. It is also interesting that after fasting for forty days the temptation of the devil was to make stones to bread when thirst would have been much more severe than hunger. Matthew 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Going without food for forty days is medically possible and safe under most circumstances. Going without water for over three days is life threatening. It is true that God can sustain but isn't it wrong to tempt God? Matthew 4:7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. For these reasons and more I do not believe a fast is intended to include abstinence from water. I respect the beliefs of those who think otherwise but I must disagree. May we strive for peace and unity in truth preparing for the soon coming of IAUShUO (Ee-uh-oo-shoo-oh) Messiah, the Son of God. Shabbat Shalom,
Frank T. Clark
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Revised 2006-11-03 |