SueB - Thank you for posting the verses on my other post "Please help me cope with this". I really enjoy reading these and studying them. So many times, I feel like they're divinely put before my eyes to speak to my heart. <P>One verse I don't understand though - "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." I am perplexed on this one. Any insights for me? <P>Thanks so much you all. I praise God for this Bible Study, you are each so special to me. <BR>

"The god of this age" (notice the small letter g) "has blinded the minds of unbelievers," ...<BR>Satan has been given rule in this world, he roams the earth like a lion stalking prey..he is not OF the world,<P>"so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."<P>Jesus said in John 9:5-"While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." In John 15:19- "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world." <P>In a prayer to the Fsther, Jesus said,"JN 17:6 "I have revealed you* to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. [7] Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. [8] For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. [9] I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. [10] All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. [11] I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. [12] While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.<P> JN 17:13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. [14] I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. [15] My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. [16] They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. [17] Sanctify* them by the truth; your word is truth. [18] As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. [19] For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."<P>It makes for confusing reading sometimes, but I gather that, by our acceptance into the family of God by faith and confession that Jesus is Lord, we are set apart, such that the challenge Paul discusses in 2 Cor.4 verses above and further addresses in @ Cor 10:3-5:<BR>For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. [4] The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. [5] We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. [6] And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.<P>1JN 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. <P>Does that help any?

Yes, Thank you it helped me to understand. Thanks again. God Bless you all.

Thank you SueB. I understand it much better now. It didn't register with me that the "god" with a lowercase G wasn't our God. Guess that's why I was confused on that one. Thanks again, and have a good evening. <BR>AW