Have You Ever Wondered about The Five Foolish Virgins?

How many would agree that this interpretation of this parable is correct? I've often wondered.

Published by Jerry Baysinger on 01 Aug 2014 at 11:31 am

THE TEN VIRGINS

The Lord Jesus spoke a parable about the kingdom of heaven and ten virgins. How does this parable relate to this particular time we are in? Let’s read what He said in Matthew 25:1-12:Mat 25:1  Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.Mat 25:2  And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.Mat 25:3  They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:Mat 25:4  But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.Mat 25:5  While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.Mat 25:7  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.Mat 25:8  And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.Mat 25:9  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.Mat 25:10  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.Mat 25:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.Mat 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

First thing we notice is that all ten were virgins; that is pure and undefiled, who were going forth to meet the bridegroom, that is symbolically Christ Jesus.  They took their lights, as the wedding was to take place at night.  It says five were wise and took oil for their lights, and five were foolish and took no extra oil, thinking they would not be waiting long for the bridegroom.  Many in the church think Christ Jesus is coming quickly, even before the tribulation, so they won’t be waiting long, nor having to endure anything.  Those represent the foolish virgins.  Keep in mind, these foolish virgins are pure and undefiled, just like the five wise virgins.  They are all beloved to the bridegroom, else they wouldn’t have been invited to the wedding.

Now, the five wise virgins took extra oil, knowing their wait may be long, and the oil their lamps held might not be enough.  In other words, they planned to wait and endure as long as necessary.  They waited quite a while until they all went to sleep.  But their lamps were still burning.  And at midnight a cry was made that the bridegroom was coming, and to go meet him.  And we see all ten awoke from their sleep and trimmed their lamps and the five foolish virgins realized it was later than they thought and their lamps had gone out.  Why?  They ran out of oil.

Having not prepared for the long wait, the five foolish virgins went to the five wise virgins and asked them to share their oil.  The oil represents the Holy Spirit and the anointing of God.  But don’t you know, if you haven’t prayed, if you haven’t studied, if you haven’t spent quality time with the LORD, and developed your relationship with Christ Jesus RIGHT NOW while you still have time, when He comes, you won’t have time then to “catch up”.  And you’ll be shut out of the Kingdom of God. And that’s exactly what happened to the five foolish virgins.  The wise ones refused to give up any of what they had carefully prepared and told them to go to them that sell and buy for themselves, that meaning, “we can no longer share our provision with you, if you neglected to prepare then, too bad, so sad.  You knew to prepare and didn’t, because you figured you could look to someone else to prepare for you, but it doesn’t work like that.”

You can’t get in the Kingdom of Heaven on someone else’s anointing or their relationship with Christ Jesus. Just because Grandpa or Grandma knew Jesus and loved Him and went to heaven doesn’t mean YOU will. What happened?  The five foolish virgins left to go get oil, or “anointing and the Holy Spirit”.  Well, they got it alright, for they were pure and undefiled, as you remember.  But they acted TOO LATE! They put off seeking God with all their heart for “another time when they had more time”.  You know how it is with everything in our lives that we need to do.  We always need to prioritize our time to make sure we get the necessary things done, right?  Well, the most important thing ANY of us have on our plate is our relationship with God: that is if you’re WISE.  But if not?  Well then God gets shoved down to the bottom of your priority list, and if there’s any time left that you don’t have something more important to do, like watching your favorite TV show, then you’ll spend time with God, maybe. You’re busy, right?

Well, by the time they got back, the five wise virgins had already gone in to the wedding, and the door was SHUT.  Still keeping in mind, all TEN virgins were invited to the wedding.  It was the bridegroom’s perfect will that all TEN be there, and He made provision for all ten to celebrate with Him.  But only FIVE were there at the appointed time of the BRIDEGROOM’S choosing.  The rest were off doing something else, and not where they should have been, when they should have been there. I liken it to being at the airport when your ship comes in.  Sooooo,  they banged on the door to gain entrance.  LORD, LORD, we’re ready now, open the door for us and let us in!  But the bridegroom answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Is that what YOU want to hear?  There’s only one way to avoid that, and that is to seek the LORD NOW with all your heart so you are prepared, no matter how long you have to wait.  If you are wise, you will prepare yourself to endure the tribulation if necessary, and be determined you will be found in Christ Jesus, no matter how severe the world’s circumstances get or how long Jesus delays His coming.  Then, if it turns out He comes sooner and takes us out before the tribulation, fine. It’s better to prepare and not have to use it than to not prepare and do without.   But those who think they may not have to endure and have not spiritually and mentally prepared themselves to endure hardness, will not endure the hard times if Jesus delays His coming, and they will become disappointed and give up, thinking, “Why did God not deliver us from hardship?”, and be left standing outside the Kingdom of Heaven.

Keep in mind, they were all called, but they were not all chosen. God’s salvation is for “whosoever will”, and He made preparation so that ALL can be saved, but not all choose to prepare themselves for His coming.  I can’t prepare for you.  All I can do is WARN you, for that is my job. What you do with that warning is entirely YOUR responsibility.  If I don’t warn you, then if you are shut out of the Kingdom of God, your blood is on my hands and I will have to give account, for God has called me to be a watchman.  But I’m on the job, I’m warning you, so you can’t say, NOBODY TOLD ME TO PREPARE FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST JESUS.

Jesus loves you so very much and He wants you to be there at the wedding feast.  You’re invited.  He will open the door when it’s time.  When is that?  I don’t know, but I’m already at the door waiting.  I’m not taking any chances.  Your job is to be there when He opens that door.  He will only open it once.   I hope to see you there.  Take a lesson from the ten virgins.  Be wise, be prepared. Be one who gets in.

More Patchwork Proverbs to FAITH lift your day

                                

Help Lord. Why is it that my husband and I can irritate each other so at times? I think I need an anointing oil job before I start to screech.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another (Prov. 17:17) and sometimes the sparks just fly.

You said to love one another. What is Love, for goodness sake? 

It is giving. I so loved the world that I gave my only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

I see. I can give without loving, but I cannot love without giving.

Lord, will you show me one thing I can do to bless my husband today?

Okay, leave him alone.

But Lord, You don't understand. Being unequally yoked is no laughing matter, especially when the yoke's on me. Will you please correct my husband when we're each pulling our cart in a different direction.

Let's start by changing you.

Me? What's wrong with me? I know You would be so impressed if You only listened to my prayers of dedication and adoration. . . Oh, I see. I'm not Your advisor. And I don't have to be in control when I know the ONE who is. But please, just remind my husband that it's not really him either, okay Lord?

Father, could You please assign angels with the names Goodness and Mercy to me today? 

First you get Patience and Endurance to perfect your faith. (James 1: 3-4).

(Is that why you instituted marriage?)

I'm so glad I married John! What a journey we have shared. We're actually pulling  together these days.

She Saw The Twin Towers in Smoke Before nine-eleven

 Far from her family and friends in India and alone in the house one night, Divya Gunga Din spoke to no one in particular. She asked the all-important question which had troubled her of late.

Having grown up in eastern India, Divya had been taught in the Hindu culture that there are many gods, and she always acknowledged them. However a whisper deep inside her heart kept prompting her—there is only one true God. She yearned to know which god He might be.

“As a child,” Divya recalls, “I attended a boarding school run by nuns. I adopted their Jesus as one more god among many (Hindus have thousands of deities) and I loved this Jesus also. I used to give all my candy money to Him in the offering plate. The candy man visited our school grounds every day. He always saved a treat for me, regardless of my lack of money to pay,” said Divya. She didn't know then that she was receiving the harvest from her offering to the Lord.

Divya matured into an intelligent and beautiful woman with a desire to help her people, so she studied to become a physician. She met her future husband, Ravi, in Osmania Medical College, a premier college in Hyberdad, India. After Ravi graduated and moved to the United States, he began writing letters to her, asking her to become his wife. Eventually, she agreed.

The couple settled in Rockport, Illinois where Ravi practiced radiology, soon establishing a respected position in the city's hospitals. Divya stayed home to care for their three young daughters. With Ravi earning a good income and life filled with all the comforts of the American culture, Divya should have been happy. However, she found herself in a difficult marriage. Their beautiful home seemed empty of tenderness, love, and at times even simple respect. Driven by anguish, she often took refuge in a lower room, a meditation and prayer closet where she kept statues of Hindu gods and goddesses. There she would pour out her heart, pleading for intervention. Nothing ever changed.

“My plants were my only friends,” she said of those lonely days.

One night, aching with longing for a deeper and more meaningful life, Divya walked through the house and from the anguish of her heart, simply cried aloud, “I want to know the one true god!”

At once, whether audibly or deep inside her spirit, she heard a majestic and awe-inspiring voice sweep through her.

The voice said, “I am the Lord thy God, worship me.”

Startled and somewhat fearful, she went to bed. The next morning, still filled with wonder, Divya ran down the stairs to her meditation room.

What she found there further surprised her. All the idols and statuettes of Hindu gods had fallen to the floor. Only the cross of Christ remained upright. The idols lay face-down on the floor toward the symbol of Jesus' sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Divya had found the answer.

She began to read the Bible, visit church, and attend a women's Bible study in my home where she described the experience. Speaking in a heavy eastern accent, she said she had asked, “Who ees this Lard (Lord)? What ees the meaning of Lard?” after hearing the voice. We knew immediately that she had not imagined it, because she did not even know the word, Lord. However, she quickly accepted Christ as her Lard and Savior.

Divya's description of the statuettes fallen face down before the cross made me think of First Samuel 5:4, where the idol Dagon fell face down before the ark of the covenant. The statue's head and hands had been cut off. By whom? Clearly by an angel. Had the same angel visited Divya's meditation room?

Every week at Bible study, we heard delightful stories of how Jesus answered Divya's prayers for protection, for healing, and for other supervention in her life. She glowed with peace and joy in her new found faith, and our group enjoyed watching her spiritual growth, even while her husband's skepticism continued to grow.

Then one evening, Divya described a disturbing dream, which left her trembling with fear. She told the women in our group, “I saw two tall peelars (pillars) surrounded with clouds of thick black smoke. I knew it meant something very bad, something terrible. I also saw an evil, demonic visage in the smoke.”

Divya was visibly shaken by the dream. The women in our group had no idea how to comfort her. We could not perceive any symbolic meaning in pillars surrounded by black clouds. The closest I could imagine was a scene from a movie about King Kong. Perhaps it was merely a dream and had no significance.

Not a few days later, we watched in horror as the TV images of the two World Trade Towers were surrounded by thick clouds of smoke on September 11, 2001. Two tall peelars. I received a CNN photo at the news office where I worked as a reporter. Plainly visible in the photo are the smoky features of what appears to be a demonic face. I brought the photo to show Divya. “Yes,” she said, her eyes widened, “That ees what I saw.”

I immediately thought of how the Lord promised to pour out His spirit on all flesh, Acts 2:17, and the sons and daughters would prophesy. Also the verse in Jeremiah 33: 3, “. . . I will show you great and mighty things which you do not know.” Divya was a fulfillment of those verses, right before my eyes.

She is also the answer to the question: what about people who grow up in other religions? God is so willing to welcome all who honestly want to know Him, regardless of their race or cultural background. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to every man, according to Titus 2:11. Every man and woman has the opportunity for salvation at some point in life.

Many years have passed since that group of precious women met in my Rockport home. I now live in Missouri, and I seldom hear from Divya. Still I will never forget how the Lord revealed Himself to her seeking heart.

He goes out of His way to seek and find the lost, not willing that any should perish.  

This chapter is an excerpt from my soon-to-be published book of encounters with God contributed by 36 pastors, evangelists, doctors, missionaries, and ordinary people. 

Duck Dynasty controversy pushes the issues

Actor's Comments

Challenge Freedom

Of Speech And FaithStigl

By Harriett Ford

The duck call does more than honk. Duck Dynasty Commander Phil Robertson, 67, is making noise that demands a new definition for the terms “freedom of speech” and “freedom of religion”—a definition free from extremist labels of “intolerance,” “political correctness,” and the right not to be offended.

The hugely popular (and profitable) reality show now has a questionable future because patriarch Robertson dared to quote a passage of scripture from I Cor. 6:9-10, expressing his personal faith in God's word. Because this passage does not condone homosexuality, Robertson is accused of making “vile” comments.

When did Christians lose the constitutional right to freedom of speech and the freedom to give voice to their faith without being labeled intolerant or vile?

“Whether I said it, or someone read it, what's the difference?” Robertson commented during the subsequent media storm. “It's not my word, it's God's,” he might have added.

Pro-gay organization GLAAD describes the quoted passage “vile.” Christians across the nation find this remark deeply offensive. They do not believe they have the right to re-interpret God's word, regardless of Obama's “evolving” opinion and the current push for cultural acceptance of gay marriage. Would the same group describe passages from the Islamic Koran as “vile” and not expect an outcry of offense? Are the adulterers, idolaters, drunkards, swindlers, and male prostitutes (also not condoned in the quoted verse) equally as offended? Is it also a “vile” hate crime to describe these behaviors as sin?

The position of the Christian faith has always been that God loves the sinner and hates the sin. Yet today, it is increasingly unpopular in this culture to label any behavior as sin. Granted there are always extremists who do not act in love toward others. Stupid behavior is what makes us human. However, it is the prayer of sincere believers that God will unite us in love, not in hate. That includes reaching out to the “sinner” to offer the hope of eternal life.

How God Provides What Santa Cannot

How God Provides What Santa Cannot
By Penny R. Koontz as told to Harriett Ford

Little did I know that God would provide in such a startling way that Christmas of 1991, nor could I have dreamed He would change the course of my entire life.

The homeless shelter was in a remote area of Texas, pitch black at night except for the light of a lonesome train passing by. I had just taken over the property, planning to serve God for one year to thank Him that I could walk again after polio's crippling effects.

With 42 youngsters, 30 adults, no money, and few ornaments, our holiday season looked rather bleak.

“Miss Penny, how will Santa find us way out here?” The children asked while decorating the tree.
“Let's sing,” I suggested. A few weak voices began singing a carol. “Come on,” I urged, “Put your heart into it.” They upped the volume, and just as I was getting into the inspirational words of the song, all singing stopped. I turned to see Santa in full costume walking through the door. He whispered to me as he passed by, “Heard you might need a Santa. I'm on my way to a party and thought I'd stop here first.”

Mr. Claus delighted the children, taking them one at a time on his knee and hearing their Christmas wishes. But to my dismay, each child asked for a bike. After he left, the reality of somehow making 42 bikes appear hit me. “Lord, how will I ever get that many bikes when just getting enough food for these people is stretching my faith?”

I certainly knew good Bible verses about how God provides abundantly and exceedingly. But I would never have guessed how specifically God, and not Santa, was about to show up.
Soon articles started appearing in the newspaper. Word spread. People brought warm clothes, toiletries, and other items, and yes, the bikes started arriving to be assembled in our “secret workshop.”

Christmas morning arrived and oh, the bikes…bikes everywhere. Eventually exhausted after all the gift-giving, laughter, ribbons, and tears of joy, I decided to head for my room for a needed rest.

As I headed out on the dirt path, I heard little feet running behind. “Miss Penny, Miss Penny!” Five-year-old Cedric caught up to me, his cheeks streaked with tears. I knelt on the dirt drive to see what troubled him.

“What is it Cedric? Why are you crying, honey?” I asked.

“I didn't git me no bike! I told Santa I wanted a purple two-wheeler, but Santa didn’t git me no bike!”

Dismayed, I groaned inwardly, how could we have been off by one bike!
Looking into those tear-filled eyes, I asked, “Cedric, honey, did you ask Jesus for a bike?”

"No, Miss Penny, I asked Santa.”

“Well, that explains it," I said. “You see, Santa Claus is a story about Christmas. He's a one-day wonder. But Jesus is the true Gift and the gift-giver. He hears you when you pray. What I am telling you are quotes to live by, so let’s talk to Him about this."

Cedric got on his knees beside me and made quite a noisy plea to Jesus ending with a request for a purple two-wheeler.

After the amen, I looked up to see dust from a pickup heading along the drive toward us. It pulled to a stop and a man stepped out.

“Sorry I'm late,” he said, “I meant to come yesterday, but our children made a surprise visit. Can anyone use this?” He lifted a brand new purple two-wheeler from the pickup's bed and placed it right in front of little Cedric.

Woman of 'great faith' that I am, I stood there absolutely speechless and simply watched as God made Himself real to a delighted child. I never got the name of the man.

The joy of that moment is as fresh in my heart today as it was that morning. And because of that joy, I have continued ministering to homeless adults and children at Jacob's House at Thunder Ranch, helping more than 8,000 individuals and hundreds of youngsters find a future with hope.

I am praying for all who read this story that you also get your purple bike, whatever it may be. Healing for your body, peace for your mind, and comfort for your heart . . . that only Jesus can bring.

Harriett Ford
Gold member # 53151
http://www.faithwriters.com/article-det ... ?id=164443

harriettford.blogspot.com,

facebook.com/harriettbarnettford

We need God's Grace because of God's Truth.

Penny Robichaux-Koontz, 4611 State Highway 176 East, Chestnut Ridge, MO 65630 417-231-5241,

A man jumps from a bridge into a freezing torrent, and instead of drowning, he is rescued by a "giant hand."
Jim Stewart of the Ozarks tells his amazing story in a collection of miracle stories now being compiled by reporter/author Harriett Ford of Saddlebrooke, Missouri.
I am currently looking for testimonies from Christian authors. Contact me and let's write to the glory of God.

Ted's Case Stranger Than Fiction

This man is not forgotten.

Most people who read my book based on the 1996 Ted Kuhl murder case think is it actually fiction. Truth must be believable. The incredible lack of evidence--zero forensics, no murder weapon, no reliable witness, and no motive--is unimaginable.
The book is stranger than fiction, because it is all too shockingly true.
It took no evidence to convict Ted but his own foolishness in not asking for an attorney during the interrogation and that of a witness who changed his story 16 times as a matter of court record (more outside of court). Yet in order to overturn this improbable conviction, evidence must be at the "smoking gun" level, according to then-state's attorney Paul Logli.
Someone, somewhere knows about the smoking gun. I have letters from a gang member to indicate this.
Many in Rockford, IL believe that Ted is innocent of the homicide for which he has been imprisoned since the trial. A former Boy Scout who belonged to a troop led by Ted Kuhl  has started a blog spot titled: Ted Kuhl Innocence Project. 
It is our hope that the missing gun is found.