AboutJohn of AllFaith (Pastor John) Expertise I will be happy to discuss all aspects of Christianity, biblical doctrine, prophecies, etc. The Bible offers a wealth of information to us! So if you are wondering what the Bible has to say about any topic drop me a note.
I have experience with several different denominations. If you wish to know what a specific group teaches be sure and specify that. If you want my personal views specify that as well as my take on some of these things is a bit different. Most questions will be answered from a basic Baptist perspective unless you specify differently.
Also visit a few of my questions and answers at my Questions Answered site
A Statement to Students about Plagiarism any why I answer questions:
Plagiarism is a crime.
Plagiarism can end careers, lead to expulsion from school, the loss of financial aid, and can even result in fines and imprisonment in some cases. Its not worth it!
Despite this a small percentage of those who ask questions at AllExperts, Yahoo Answers etc. copy and paste our answers as their own, often without giving credit. This is plagiarism. Its not worth it!
We all know that one can google a homework question and in many cases find an easy response, but so can your teachers! Many teachers are aware that some students do this and catch their cheating students.
To read more about this go to the following link. Its a conversation between one such teacher from a respectable institution of learning and me: where she writes: ...I have had over 20 students copy your work in the past 3 months...
Understand that if you plagiarize you are cheating your instructors, your answerer, your fellow students, everyone who respects you... and ultimately yourself. Its just not worth it!
Please use our answers to help in your research, not to replace it.
Learn, don't cheat.
Experience I have a lot of ministry experience in this area and would be happy to help people rightly divide the Word of Truth. I am also a good resource on the Bible and Homosexuality: God loves us all!
Education/Credentials Three Christian ordinations (Baptist, Calvary Chapel and from an independent Church I co-founded)
MA Religious Studies
Others
Question I am ill educated of the words of the bible but have always been curious
In the last year I have had the reaccurring dream of a man writing scrolls by candle light and he writes bethany Ana I have had a lot of strange occurrences and would like to know if there's any religious significance in nethany Ana
Answer Hi Ed,
Recurring dreams can have concealed meanings and these meanings are not always evident at first.
Bethany is a city referenced in the New Testament a few times but I don't see a connection to a man writing in a scroll by candle light... BUT its not my dream. Here are three of these references:
Matthew 21:17 He [Y'shua: Jesus] left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there. 21:18 Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry. 21:19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, "Let there be no fruit from you forever!"
Immediately the fig tree withered away.
21:20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree immediately wither away?"
21:21 Y'shua answered them, "Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don't doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it would be done. 21:22 All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
Matthew 26:6 Now when Y'shua [Jesus] was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 26:7 a woman came to him having an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. 26:8 But when his disciples saw this, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste? 26:9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor."
26:10 However, knowing this, Y'shua said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? Because she has done a good work for me. 26:11 For you always have the poor with you; but you don't always have me. 26:12 For in pouring this ointment on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 26:13 Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of as a memorial of her."
Mark 11:1 When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, 11:2 and said to them, "Go your way into the village that is opposite you. Immediately as you enter into it, you will find a young donkey tied, on which no one has sat. Untie him, and bring him. 11:3 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs him;' and immediately he will send him back here."
11:4 They went away, and found a young donkey tied at the door outside in the open street, and they untied him. 11:5 Some of those who stood there asked them, "What are you doing, untying the young donkey?" 11:6 They said to them just as Y'shua had said, and they let them go.
11:7 They brought the young donkey to Y'shua, and threw their garments on it, and Y'shua sat on it. 11:8 Many spread their garments on the way, and others were cutting down branches from the trees, and spreading them on the road. 11:9 Those who went in front, and those who followed, cried out, "Hoshia'na! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!* 11:10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming in the name of the Lord! Hoshia'na in the highest!"
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I've had a very specific recurring dream for many years. I kept a journal for years of that dream and whenever I woke up from it I'd write down what I could remember. Today I have a complete story and have recovered (I believe) about 95% of it (I first had it in 1969 and become convinced it is a past life memory). By keeping a journal you tell your subconscious mind that this dream is important. That makes you more likely to remember it (and your other dreams as well). I now have excellent dream recall. If you are interested, I have posted my dream here: http://allfaith.com/Mystory/dream.html . If you wish to understand your dream a journal may be the way to go.
Also, I am personally convinced that we are living just prior to the beginning to the final seven years of this age. A LOT of people now having meaningful dreams, seeing visions and so on. Of this time prophet Joel wrote:
Joel 2:28 "It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
and your sons and your daughters will prophesy.
Your old men will dream dreams.
Your young men will see visions.
Such things are beginning to occur more and more often.
Don't go overboard with this, maintain balance, but it could be that these dreams are telling you something.
I suggest becoming acquainted with the Bible. Read it, study it. My suggestions for translations are the King James Version (KJV) (if you can handle the old English) or the World English Bible if not. You can find a KJV anywhere. The World English Bible can be read here for free: http://ebible.org/bible/hnv/ They have now published the New Testament and are working on the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament"). I advise beginning with the Four Gospel and when you have a handle on them moving into Paul's Letters. Before reading bow you head and ask God to teach you as you read.
I would NOT read the New International Version (NIV)
The New King James isn't great but it would be OK.
The American Standard Version is also good.
