A Reasoning Together: A look into the Word of God.

Why Wormwood?

2022-12-29T07:58:00.000-09:00

My friends and I were reading in the book of Amos today and came across the word, ‘wormwood.’ Of course, my mind immediately went to the book of Revelation 8:10-11, where we read:

And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

So, I thought I would explore this a little. God could use anything. Why wormwood?

Wormwood, as used in the book of Revelation, is a plant. I used to have a wormwood plant in my yard. Its proper taxonomic name is Artemisia absinthium. Please forgive me while I nerd out a little bit on that name.

Artemisia is, of course, from the Greek goddess Artemis. She has too many aspects for us to cover here, but there are a couple that are relevant. She was the goddess of the hunt and carried a bow and arrows. Because of her close association with the wilderness and animals, she was seen as ‘Mother Nature.’

She was associated with lakes and springs, as in freshwater, and was called Limnaia, or Lady of the Lake by some. I thought this aspect was particularly interesting considering her namesake star makes one third of fresh water undrinkable in the Revelation 8 passage.

Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo. They were each given the power by Zeus to kill whomever they wished, Artemis women and girls, and Apollo boys and men. For this reason, Artemis was known as the goddess of sudden death.

As for the absinthium part, nothing fancy here. It is just the Latin word for wormwood.

I always assumed that when the star falls and turns the water bitter that it would be named by people like newscasters or government leaders who are influenced by the name John gives it. I never gave a thought to where John may have gotten the name. I mean, why wouldn’t he name it wormwood. After all, wormwood is bitter, and the star makes the water bitter and undrinkable.

I don’t know why I stopped there. I’m the one who is always saying that everything in the Bible has its root in the Torah, or the first five books. For whatever reason I didn't do it before, I did it today and drew an interesting conclusion. So, let’s go.

The first reference we have in the bible is, as you probably guessed, is in the Torah, Deuteronomy specifically. It says in the King James Version:

Lest there should be among you man, or woman or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our god, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood. Deuteronomy 29:18

Let’s look at this verse in a more modern Translation. I like the New Living translation which says:

I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you—no man, woman, clan, or tribe—will turn away from the LORD our God to worship these gods of other nations and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.

The Hebrew word la’ặnâ is translated wormwood seven times in the Old Testament and once as hemlock. As you can see, it always means bitter or poison.

With these verses in Deuteronomy as our foundation and knowing that the prophets are giving expanded commentary on what God said in the Torah, let’s connect some dots.

The first connection is between Proverbs and Revelation. The fifth chapter of Proverbs tells us about an adulterous woman. Here is a portion of that passage:

For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. But in the end, she is as bitter as poison, as dangerous as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. For she cares nothing about the path to life.
Proverbs 5:3-4 (This is the NLT. KJV says “...bitter as wormwood.)

The Lord showed me a while back that this was an insight into the Whore of Babylon found in Revelation chapter 17. She is dangerous and the inhabitants of the earth are made drunk with the wine of her fornication. If you multiply chapter 5 of Proverbs by a factor of ‘global,’ you get the Whore of Babylon and the fools who are in a dalliance with her. Proverbs 5 also links her to wormwood.

Jeremiah uses wormwood four times. Two times in his namesake book; and both times in the same way:

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I will feed them even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. Jeremiah 9:15

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets, “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Jeremiah 23:15

These verses connect backwards and forwards. Look back at the use of the word in Deuteronomy. God declares that one of the curses for turning to the gods would bring forth the bitter fruit of wormwood and gall. Consider that many times in the prophets, Israel’s idolatry is compared to adultery. Marriage is a covenant and God made a comparable covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai. Now remember Proverbs 5.

He then uses wormwood twice in Lamentations:

He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. Lamentations 3:15

Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood, and the gall. Jeremiah 3:19

All these Jeremiah and Lamentation passages make me think of Jesus on the cross. Remember, He became the curse hanging on a tree for us so that we can be redeemed from the curse (Galatians 3:15). Deuteronomy gives us the scripture that Paul refers to in this Galatians passage:

If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree, the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung (the Septuagint and KJV include ‘on a tree’) is cursed in the sight of God… Deuteronomy 21:22-23

What did Deuteronomy tell us would be part of the curse of breaking God’s covenant? Wormwood and gall.

What did the Roman soldiers offer Jesus as He was dying on the Cross? Wine mixed with bitter gall (Matthew 27:24).

Jesus took on the role of covenant breaker in our place, in Adam’s place, in the place of all of mankind. Our part is to believe in what He did.

Now to the scripture that started this whole thing, Amos 5:7:

Ye who turn judgment to wormwood and leave off righteousness in the earth.

This little verse is in the middle of Amos ties everything together for me, and when I say middle, it’s pretty close to dead center.

Amos is written to the Northern Kingdom or Israel. The whole book is a pronouncement of judgment because Israel was worshiping other gods at Bethel. Not only that, they were taking advantage of the weak and abusing the poor, which was also against God’s covenant.

If you read Amos 5:7 carefully, you can see the answer to the question we asked at the beginning. Why wormwood? God said in the beginning that certain actions would bring on the bitterness of wormwood. They were guilty of those actions.

Is it any wonder that a star named wormwood falls to earth and poisons one third of all the fresh water? Remember how Proverbs five was multiplied by a global factor? Well, so is Deuteronomy 29:18. All the curses associated with Israel in the Torah will be multiplied worldwide. Jesus was given bitter water to drink, so will the world in the end.

2022-12-27T13:29:00.001-09:00

The Eight Women Who Literally Saved the Cosmos

I have to admit, the title isn’t entirely mine. I was listening to a teaching by Tim Mackie of ‘The Bible Project’, and he said something like, “Well, there were seven women that saved the cosmos.”

His co-host had to stop him and ask him to explain. Mackie then briefly listed the seven women and their contributions to the very salvation of the universe. He then moved on to the subject matter that he was teaching at the time.

I was stunned. How had I never thought about this at all, much less in this way? I am forever extolling the benefits that God has bestowed on women: first evangelist (woman at the well), first witness of the resurrection (Mary Magdalene), Deborah (judge of Israel), the list goes on.

My friends and I were recently discussing the possibility that the shepherds, the first witnesses of Jesus’ birth, might have been women. After all, Zipporah and her sisters were watering their flocks when they met Moses. Rachel was also a shepherdess. Shepherding was a common task assigned to women.

It is not hard to imagine the task of tending sheep would be given to those considered less important than others, as women most certainly were at the time. Men were necessary for weightier matters, like planning wars and such. Please forgive my snark. On we go.

“What about David?” you may ask. “Isn’t he the most famous shepherd of all?”

Surely, David may be the first shepherd you think of when asked to recall one, but why was he a shepherd at all? Well, on reason is that he was the youngest and therefore less qualified for the running of things than his older brothers.

There is also a possibility (I repeat, possibility) that he may have been Jesse’s illegitimate son. I won’t go into it. I’ve gone into detail about this in other posts, but a simple google search will attest to this. And, if he was a bastard, of course there would be no standing in the family, and he would have been given the most demeaning of tasks, shepherding.

Stop and think about it. Why does the Bible spend so much time on the fact that David was a shepherd at all? Because, the fact that someone as lowly, solitary, and even smelly as a shepherd was raised up by God to be a giant slaying, Philistine conquering king was almost unbelievable by all concerned.

So, no. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the first witnesses to the birth of the King of the Universe, shepherdesses, would have been in the company of all the other firsts God gave women.

It is amazing to me though that right after this conversation, Tim Mackie blew my mind with his little sideline about the seven women, women who saved the cosmos.

The first two women on the list were Shiphrah and Puah. We just don’t get how important it was in those days to include the names of women in anything, much less the story of Moses. Yes, these were the midwives who, at the risk of their lives, refused to kill Hebrew babies when ordered to do so by Pharaoh, a man who considered himself to be a god. They lied to Pharaoh and told him that the Hebrew women were heartier than Egyptian women and their babies were already born by the time they arrived.

I looked up the meanings of their names. Shiphrah means fair or adorned, as in: Job 26:13a which says:

By His Spirit the heavens are made fair.

Puah means 'splendid.' It is from an unused root that means ‘to glitter, brilliance.’ We see the value God placed on these two women, not only by their names, but by the fact that their names are included at all.

The next woman on the list was Jochebed, mother of Moses. She is the subject of another conversation my friends and I had recently. We were reading the ‘Hall of Faith’ in Hebrews where Moses’ parents are given an honored spot. But the Book of Exodus gives us his mother’s name and tells us that it was she who saw something special in Moses. By the way, her name means ‘Jehovah is glory.’

Remember, when Pharaoh failed to stop the multiplication of the Hebrews by the midwives, he just ordered all the baby boys born to be thrown into the Nile. Jochebed saw something special in her baby and hid him from the Egyptians. Of course, Jochebed couldn’t have hidden Moses without the help and consent of her husband, but the Bible makes it clear that it was her bravery that started the process of the salvation of her people from the slavery of Egypt.

The next woman, or at least girl, on the list is Moses’ sister, Miriam. I must say, I have considered the bravery of this young lady on more than one occasion. When Moses was around three months old and could no longer be hidden, Jochebed made a basket, covered it in pitch, and put Moses in the tiny ark. She believed God and sent her baby adrift on the river. The Bible says that Miriam stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

Here is where her bravery comes in. The Nile is known, even to this day, for crocodiles. Consider also that they had been dining on Israelite babies for a while, gruesome I know, but true. I believe those crocks were conditioned and anywhere Miriam stood that was close enough to see that basket, she was in danger of being eaten herself.

Not only that, but when Pharaoh’s daughter drew Moses from the water, she stepped right up like she owned the place and offered to bring the princess a wetnurse from among the Hebrews. That wetnurse would be Moses’ own mother, Jochebed.

Of course, we have to include Pharaoh’s daughter as a hero in our story. She knew her father’s decree. She recognized the baby as a Hebrew, yet she drew him out of the water and raised him as her own son, giving him the finest Egypt had to offer.

The seventh woman is also a part of the Moses story, but I’ll bet you wouldn’t be able to guess her identity maybe even after rereading the passage in Exodus. That would be the maidservant of Pharaoh’s daughter. She had to wade into the crocodile infested reeds to fetch baby Moses. God included her in the story so she is important.

So, that is seven women who, without any foreknowledge of the impact of their actions, saved the cosmos. Without Moses, there would be no Exodus. Without the Exodus, there would be no Sinai. Without Sinai, there would be no Covenant. Without the Sinai Covenant, there would be no Old Testament because all of it proceeds from the first five Covenant books, one of which is Exodus. Without the Sinai Covenant and the Old Testament, we wouldn’t have the promise of a savior and our hope for eternity.

This brings us to woman number eight, Mother Mary. She was a young woman, likely a teenager, when she said, “Yes,” to God. She faced shame and even the death penalty for being pregnant out of wedlock. She would have been seen as an adulteress because she was betrothed to Joseph and betrothal was a binding contract, the same as being married without the consummation. Thank God she said, “Be it done unto me according to thy word.”

One of these days I’m sure I will write about the impact Christianity has had on the freedom of women. I’ll include the brave acts and prophetic utterances of women in the Bible. I’ll even write about women teachers and apostles. But for today, I just want to remember that women weren’t just elevated positionally in the Bible, but the bravery and sacrifice of eight of them literally saved the Cosmos.

A Note Up Front (and don't mind the dates)

2021-12-21T12:09:00.001-09:00

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

I would like to write a quick note as to why I am doing a blog in the first place.  I am a mother of four and a grandmother of seven.  I am blessed to live in the beautiful state of Alaska. The picture above is one I took in my neighborhood.
But, this isn't the reason I'm writing.

I want to come clean up front. I was a super-devoted, Jesus loving, Holy Ghost believing Christian for many years.  I was actively involved in ministry in my church. I played the piano for services. I led the choir. I taught Sunday school.  Then I fell, hard. I blamed the church for years but the truth is, I'm the one who took my eyes off the prize.

Recently, God began dealing with me and I found myself on my face before Him asking for forgiveness.  I said, "How could I have done this knowing what I know!"  All those years I was called to serve God and I threw them away.  I am old now. What can I do?  God brought a scripture to my mind. "I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten," Joel 2:25.

The second chapter of Joel begins with a sounding of the alarm that the Day of the Lord is coming and is nigh at hand.
(Hmm, I believe this applies to me and my time.)

It goes on in the chapter to ask us to return to God with all our hearts, with weeping and fasting, and with mourning. God asks us to rend our hearts and turn to God for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.
(Yep, this is for me.)

It is in this context that God promises to restore the years the locust have eaten.  I am so grateful!  I'm going to believe God's promise.  This little blog is one of the ways I'm believing God to use my life for His purpose.  Father, use the words and ideas you have given me to restore even a little of the time I have wasted.

You may notice something about the dates of the posts. The only way I know to pin a post to the top of the blog, is to put a future year on it. So, you will see a couple of posts like that, posts that I want to make sure are the first thing you see when you visit, like my testimony and The Gospel.

For all who find yourselves here, may God touch your heart and mind in some way and....

The Gospel

2021-12-13T16:03:00.002-09:00

There is a lot of information at our fingertips at all times these days. Some of that information is good and very useful. But some of that information is false and is very harmful, even deadly. How do we know which is which? Is there any way to distinguish the truth from a lie?

We have the Word of God to guide us. The Bible is the standard by which all information can be established as truth or lie. It is not only the guide to truth, it contains the most crucial information you can ever know.

What is that truth?

Jesus.

And what information will we find there?

We will find out why we need Jesus and how to come to know Him.

So, let’s take a moment to study the Gospel of Jesus. Gospel means good news and can be spelled out as,

God’s Only Son Purchased Eternal Life.

I will be quoting a lot of scriptures. All of them are linked to Bible Hub. That way you can study on your own. There are a lot of resources there also, like: different translations, commentaries, concordance, lexicon, to name a few. By the way, I encourage you to study on your own. Don’t take my word for what God has to say and don’t assume that what He has shown me is all there is to see.

Let us start with what the Bible says about our condition. This is the state of all mankind, the whole human race. The Bible says, “There is none righteous, no not one.” (Rom 3:10, quoted from Psalms 14:3) “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

This means that, no matter how ‘good’ you are, no matter what good things you do, you are a sinner and cannot approach God. “Those of the flesh cannot please God,” (Romans 8:8).

Yes, this means you. “There is not a righteous man on earth that continually does good and who never sins,” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). “If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us,” (1 John 1:8).

God is holy and just and sin cannot enter into His presence.

I’m not even going to list verses to support this here. Believe me, there are too many for my purpose here today. But, you know this to be true. The law of God is written on our hearts. (Romans 2:15) You know without being told. God gave everyone a conscience so we all know, within ourselves, that God’s nature requires justice.

What would justice be? The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death,” (Romans 6:23) and Jesus said that workers of iniquity will be cast into the lake of fire, (Matthew 13:42, Matthew 25:41).Now, this doesn’t mean you drop dead when you steal a cookie. This means, because of sin, we all have a death sentence (Psalm 51:5).

So now we have established that sin is more than just something we do; it is what we are. We are all sinners. We have established that we are all on our way to face a just and holy God who has declared that sin carries a death sentence and that the death He refers to is eternal fire. What are we to do?

Thankfully, God provided a way to restore us to fellowship with Him. God showed His love for us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

“For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life,”

(John 3:16).

If you ever went to Sunday school as a child or summer Bible school, you have probably heard or even memorized this verse. It is one of the most important verses in the Bible.

It is such a great truth. God, Creator of the universe, holy, just and eternal, sent His son, Jesus, who willingly came and gave His life to pay the penalty for our sins. Why? Because He loves us and doesn’t want any to perish, (2 Peter 3:8-9).

Don’t wait. Today is the day of salvation, (2 Corinthians 6:2). Don’t wait for a feeling or a season. Salvation is a decision. You decide to believe God’s word is true. That truth is that you are a sinner and the penalty for that sin is death. You must believe that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin and God accepted His sacrifice which is proven by Jesus’ resurrection on the third day.

Once you make the decision to believe, all you have to do is accept God’s free gift of salvation, turn from sin and follow Christ. It’s just that simple. There is nothing you can do to earn it. It is God’s gift to you.

If you have come to believe this truth, you can say a simple prayer. You can use any wording you want but, if you’d like, here is a simple one you can say:

Heavenly Father, I know I am a sinner and I am sorry I have sinned against you. I believe you sent your son, Jesus, to die in my place and pay the penalty for my sins. I believe He rose on the third day. Lord Jesus, come into my heart and live in me. I will trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior, In Jesus’ name, Amen

If you have put your faith in Jesus today, welcome to the family!

Please read my post, "Advise to New Believers." let me know if you have made a decision for Christ so I can pray for you. Or if you have any questions at all, please feel free to email me at areasoningtogether@gmail.com . If I don't know the answer I will do my best to find out for you.

Why We Should Believe the Bible ( Thank you Voddie Baucham!)

2021-12-10T12:40:00.001-09:00

This is a transcript of a sermon by Voddie Baucham.

I was going to write something, but he hits the nail on the head and makes the point so eloquently. If you would rather listen to his sermon, you can find it here.
_________

I came to Christ my freshman year in college. That was actually the first time that I had ever heard the gospel; because my mother who raise me as a single teenage mother in Los Angeles, California, was a practicing Buddhist. And so, Buddhism was the only faith that I knew growing up. It wasn't until I got to college that I was actually introduced to Christianity. Because of that, I have a different perspective than most on the Christian faith.

I want to share with you tonight what it is that brought me to that place where I was able to see, and to hear, and to understand, and place my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. How it is that He opened my eyes and brought me from darkness into his marvelous light.

And, it just happened to be very intellectual. That's the way I'm wired. That's the way I was put together, and I'm grateful that God put a man into my life who, when he started his presentation, (you know, he had one of these presentations that he had been taught, I believe it was EE, Evangelism Explosion back then) he started this presentation and came to realize that he was trying to help me connect the dots as it relates to the gospel, but I didn't really have enough dots for him to help me connect.

So, he backed up from his planned presentation, and he said, "This is the Bible." And, that's where we started.

He came back every day for about three and a half weeks, everyday, answering questions. Questions that I had that he could answer, he would answer on the spot. If he couldn't answer them on the spot, he would go get information and come back later. But, after about the first week, he had taught me how to go and find answers myself to these questions.  Because, Folks, it is not a crime to investigate Christianity. And we've got to stop treating people who want to investigate Christianity like, somehow they are less than.

God never called us to a blind faith. If that was the case, He would not have gone through the trouble of providing, and preserving, and protecting for us, His self-revelation in the Bible.

And so, I just want to answer that question for you. Open your Bibles with me to the book of 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 1. I just want to tell you why I choose to believe the Bible. Certainly not because I was raised that way, and I wasn't . By the way, would you please promise me that if somebody asks you why you choose to believe the Bible you will never, ever in your life, give that as your answer.

"Why do you believe the Bible?"  "Well, that's how I was raised."

Don't do that. Please, please, just please, don't do that. I mean, if you feel like that, just kind of hold it under your breath. Don't announce it to other people, Amen. Can we at least go that far?

Well, there's another one because, we live in this age where experience is king; because we've sort of been kind of inundated with post-modernism. We believe experience is king so, the most powerful thing that we can say to people, about why it is that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and why we believe what the Bible says about Jesus is because, "We've tried it and it works for us." So, with boldness, we stick out our chests. They say, "You tell me about this Jesus, and you get that information from your Bible, but why is it that you believe the Bible? And, we stick our chests out and we say, "Because I tried it and it works for me."

Hold on. Is that your final answer? Because if it is, you've got a small problem. Actually, it's a large problem; because if that's your answer, what you just did is, you just opened a logical hole big enough to drive a Mack truck through. If you choose to believe the Bible because you tried it and it works for you, then what do you say to the individual who went to a 12-step program.

They told him, I believe on his third step, that he had to have a higher power. He Couldn't think of anything so he looks outside his window; there's a squirrel who visits faithfully every day. He decides that the squirrel outside of his window will be his higher power.  He hasn't had a drink in the last five years. He tried it and it worked for him.

Or, how about the Mormon that lives better than most of the members of our churches. (If you can't say, "Amen," you ought to say, "Ouch,"). They tried the Book of Mormon and it worked for them. Is that our answer?

Now, I'm not saying that that's unimportant. It is very important, but the Bible is not true because it works for us. It works for us because it's true.  So, we don't start with our experience here. There is something far beyond that. Experience can lie to you and can deceive you.

And so, I just want to pose another answer to you. It's an answer that I derived from this passage of scripture and, I'll show you how it is that I derived it from this passage of scripture; but, I just want to give it to you first as we get started. Alright?

"Because it's a reliable collection of historical documents, written down by eyewitnesses, during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report to us supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claimed to be divine rather than human in origin."

Let's look at the text, 2 Peter chapter 1, beginning at verse 16:
"For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.  For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

So, we have the prophetic word made more sure. to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.  For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God.
2 Peter 1:16-21

Seems like he's answering a question, doesn't it? Like someone has some kind of objection to what it is they were proclaiming and he is responding as to the nature of the authority of their proclamation; that he is defending the accuracy, the authority, and the historicity of the teaching of the apostles that we know now as The New Testament, which has it'd root and foundation in The Old Testament scriptures. He is defending the belief in the Bible.

So, what's his argument? I'm glad you asked.

First of all, that it's a reliable collection of historical documents. Look at what he says,
"For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." When we told you about Jesus, we did not share with you myths or fairy tales or legends. This was not the Gilgamesh Epic that we were sharing with you. We were sharing factual information with you.

Not only that, it's a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. Look what he says next:
"But we were eyewitnesses of His majesty."
We saw it; we were there!

By the way, turn with me to the right if you will, the book of 1 John. That's close enough. Look what we see in 1 John, those first few verses, I'm not sure, I think there's a point of emphasis here. Maybe you can help me figure it out.

Verse 1:
"What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the Word of Life."

I don't know, maybe he's getting at something, maybe not. Maybe verse 2 will help us:
" And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us."

It's building. Maybe verse three:
"What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also..."
WE WERE EYEWITNESSES!

And, there's something about eyewitness accounts. You know, I brought my son with me and I can remember my son, you know, trying to train my son when he was smaller, and to try to teach him to do what he's told; and also, trying to teach him to tell the truth. Boy, getting little kids to tell the truth...WOOOO! Most people who believe that we're 'basically good'... they don't have kids.

I remember one day with my son. "Son," (I'm trying to teach him not to touch the outlets, you know) "don't touch those things." you tell him no, you spank that little hand, and all that kind of stuff. I said just, "No."

And then, okay, and he gets that. He doesn't like that when you spank his hand. He's sitting over there one day. I've told him, "No." I've spanked his hand. We've gone through this twice now.

Sin rose up in the boy.

He looked at me..looked at the plug..looked at me..looked at the plug......"Son, did you touch that plug?"

"No, Sir."

"Okay, so we're going to try that again, and you got a choice. Daddy can get you for touching the plug, or he can get you for touching the plug and lying about it. But, before you speak, let me inform you. I saw what you did. Son, did you touch the plug?" (true story).

(Son whimpering) "I love you!"

He couldn't lie anymore because there was a witness! It's what Peter says. It's a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses, and, catch it...during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses.

I love 1 Corinthians 15 (vs.3). Paul is making his argument for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After He was resurrected, He appeared to Peter, and then He appeared to the disciples, and then He appeared to 500 brethren at once, and I love this line, "Most of whom remain until now, although some have fallen asleep." That means the majority of the 500 plus eyewitnesses of the resurrection were around when 1 Corinthians was written.

Oh, I know. You've been to school. You've been 'edjumecated'. And, you've heard all the stories:
"Well, actually the Bible has been translated so many times and what they've done during those translations is actually, sort of, ehh...You know they've done a lot of redaction in order to make the things line up. And so, what we have, actually, is not what really happened. But, we have what was written by the later community."

I love that, 'The Later Community', these nameless faceless people.

"There's these overzealous monks that have gone around and they've changed things so they look like they line up. But, it wasn't really written that early. It was written much later."

Really?! They messed around and let me go to school, too. Guess what I know. I know that if some overzealous monks were going to change the Bible, they would have had problems, three problems in particular.

First, they would have had a manuscript problem, because when we just talk about the New Testament, they would have had to locate some 6,000 manuscripts or portions of manuscripts and change all of them the exact same way, not allowed their ink-work to show and then get them back where they stole them from before anybody saw them.

Those 6000 manuscripts, that's no bid deal, right?  How about Julius Ceasar's, 'Gallic Wars'? We've got ten manuscripts. How about Aristotle's, 'Poetics'? We got five. How about Herodotus (the Father of History)? We got less than ten. New Testament? SIX THOUSAND!

Well, how about when they were written, 'cause they say these things were written so late? Well, we've got manuscripts or portions of manuscripts that can take us back as early as AD 120 to 150.

"Oh that's a long time after the originals."

Oh, really?! With Julius Caesar it's about 900 years with, 'Gallic Wars'. Aristotle's, 'Poetics', we got about 1300 or 1400 years. That's the earliest thing we can put our hands on. With Homer (The Illiad)? About 2100 years is the earliest thing we can put our hands on. The New Testament? Within the lifetime of eyewitnesses!

So far, we've just got a good history book. It gets good now. They report to us supernatural events. Look at what he says here. He says:
"For when we received honor and glory from God the Father such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory,
'This is My Beloved Son with Whom I am well-pleased.' And we ourselves, heard this utterance made from Heaven when we were with Him on the Holy Mountain."

Now we got supernatural stuff happening, not superhuman stuff, supernatural. We're not talking about things that, you know, are just out of the ordinary. We're talking about a withered hand growing back. We're talking about a man who was blind, he's got nothing in his head to see with, able to see! We're talking about a paralytic who's never walked in his life being told to raise up and take his cot and walk! We're talking about (one of my favorites), Jesus saying, "Go to the other side of the lake, and I'll meet you." Later on, on the ship, I see something like this:
"Um, Hey, um...did Jesus say how He was coming?"
"No, why?"
"Cuz...cuz...He coming!"

Or my favorite: Friday? dead. Sunday, risen! Not just superhuman, but supernatural events.

So we got a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses, during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report supernatural events. By the way, these events took place in fulfillment of specific prophecy. Now, I know you know this. But, I just want to do it anyway because, I just love to do it. Turn with me in your Bibles to the left to Psalm number 22.

Now, realize if I was asking you to turn to Psalm number 22 and we were living, oh some random time, like the first century AD 30, just to pick something out of the air. Let's say AD 30, and we're around Jerusalem, since we're just being 'random' here. We're around AD 30; we're around Jerusalem and, let's say, we're people who like to talk about the Old Testament in, I don't know. Just pick a language...Aramaic, okay.

If I wanted you to turn to Psalm number 22 and we're living somewhere around AD 30, and we're living in Jerusalem, and we refer to the Old Testament in Aramaic, I can't tell you to open to Psalm number 22, because there were no chapters and verses until a few hundred years ago. I would have to tell you to open to the title of Psalm number 22. So I would have to tell you to open your scroll to, "Eloi, Eloi...Lama Sabachthani", "My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?" That ought to sound familiar. It's precisely what Jesus said when He was being crucified. Why on earth do you make reference to Psalm Number 22 when you're being crucified? I know you know the answer but, bear with me because I like this. "My God, My God, Why have You Forsaken Me?"

Look at verse six:
"I am a worm and not a man. A reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me. They separate the lip. They wag their head saying, 'Commit yourself to the Lord. Let Him deliver him. Let Him rescue him, because he delights in Him.'"
Sound familiar? That's what's being said while Jesus is being crucified.

Look at verse 12:
"Many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me as a ravening and roaring Lion. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of Joint."
Why? Because you're being crucified.

"My heart is like wax. It is melted within me."
Interesting. Pierce Him in the side, thrusting upwardly with a spear, blood and water rush out as you pierce the pericardium.
"My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
(I thirst)
and you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me;
(Huh, Gentiles, could those be Roman soldiers?)
a band of evildoers has encompassed me
(one on the right and one on the left)
they pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones.
(Why? Because your legs didn't have to be broken to hasten your death.)
They look, they stare at me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing, they cast lots."  Psalm 22:15-17

That was written 1000 years before Jesus even was born, by a man who never once saw a crucifixion in his life because crucifixion had not yet been invented.

And now, the juicy part, they claim their writings are divine rather than human in origin. Look at what he says:
"But know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of ones own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." 2 Peter 1:20-21  That's where people have problems.

"Men wrote the Bible!" I love that.
"You say that's the word of God, but men wrote the Bible..."
but, the men who wrote it claimed that they were writing the Word of God.

"Yeah, but it was written by man. You can't rely on things that were written by man."
Here's what I want you to do thin if you believe that. You know a college student who's studying mathematics. They've been taught the Pythagorean Theorem and they got it wrong in the test. I want you to tell them to look at their professor and say: "You can't mark me off on that. Because, that information came out of a book that was written by men."

As a matter of fact, if that's your problem with the Bible, I want you to get rid of every book that you have, because every one you have was penned by men. If your argument is that information is inherently unreliable because men take pen to paper, you can never trust anything else that you ever read in life. You got to do better than that.

Well, then they try to do better than that; and they say, "Well okay, But, I'll believe that stuff if you can prove to me scientifically."
At this point, I need to confess something to you. There's a man who lives inside of me, his name is bad Voddie. I try to only let him out at night, late, once a week, when nobody's around. But sometimes he escapes. And one of the times he tries to escape is when people say this about the Bible, "I'll believe that if you can prove it scientifically." When that happens, I clench my fists and try to grab real tight before Bad Voddie just goes off and does his thing. However, usually I fail.
I have to confess that. Please pray for me.
Because he doesn't do things the way that I would like to do things. 'Cause he hears that and just goes off.

He says, "Wait a minute. Did you just say to me that you'll believe the Bible if I can prove it to you scientifically?" We have serious problems here. The first problem is, you stating that indicates to me, that you don't even deserve to be in this conversation. However, I'm going to allow you to stay in this conversation, because I'm going to enjoy this.

Because, you saying that indicates two things to me, number one, you have no clue about the authority of historicity of the Bible; and number two, you don't even know anything about the scientific method. If you did, you'd realize that in order to perform the scientific method, something has to be observable, measurable and repeatable.

Newsflash! Historical events are not observable, measurable, and repeatable. You can't use the scientific method to prove that George Washington was our first president.  So, if you actually have a problem with the Bible because you can't apply the scientific method, you've got a problem with history itself.

Now that we've settled the fact that you don't deserve to be in this conversation, let's go back to the real issue at hand, which is this; if something is written, the only way you can question it is if you don't have corroboration or, if there's internal inconsistency.

We can't find any internal inconsistency and we've got multiple corroboration. We've got three languages: Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. We've got three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. We have over 40 authors, most of whom never met one another because, they wrote over a period of some 1600 years. Look in your dictionary. That would be the very definition of corroboration.

So, unless you have anything that would negate what we find in the Bible, you have to accept the fact, based on the evidenciary method, not the scientific method, that...
The Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents, written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report to us supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that the writings are divine rather than human in origin.

I know that I missed verse 19 (Psalm 22) 'cause that's where the gravy comes from. Because the gravy is...
'Oh by the way, I tried it and it works for me!

_________________

Well, that was my favorite presentation of the credibility of the Bible. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have questions, you can email me at areasoningtogether@gmail.com. There is also a video on You Tube called, "What Must I do to be Saved." It is a good place to start if you would like to come to Christ.

Undeniable Proof the Bible is Real: Predictive Prophecy

2021-12-09T22:30:00.004-09:00

I'm sorry; it has taken me a couple of days to fulfill my promise to write a post on prophecy, but I wasn't sure where to start. So, I think I'll start with the fact that the Jews took great care when transcribing their sacred text. For a while, the earliest manuscript we could get our hands on was the standardized version from the sixth century AD. This standardization was done by the Masoretic Jews, and it appears that all the texts that varied from the Masoretic were destroyed.

"Aha!" you say. "The Tanakh (Old Testament to the Jews) claims to be thousands of years older than that. There must be many discrepancies." The Septuagint along with the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls proved that assumption wrong.  I won't spend a lot of time here, especially since Vodie Baucham covered the it so well. Suffice it to say, The Old Testament holds up to scrutiny just as well as the New.

What I would like to do now though, is cover some predictive prophecies that have come true to the letter. I'm not going to cover Messianic prophecies, either (though Jesus fulfilled over 300 of them) because I covered some of them in my post, "Who is Jesus?"

The book of Deuteronomy gives us the test of a prophet. It says in 18:22,

"If the prophet speaks in the Lord's name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared."

Bear in mind that, just before this in verse 20, God told them that there was a death penalty for presuming to speak for God and leading the people astray. The office of prophet wasn't to be taken lightly.

The prophecy of the destruction of Tyre stands out to me because of the unusual details that were given in the prophecy and because it is a very easy prophecy to date. This gives it credence.

Ezekiel tells us that his visions and prophecies began in the fifth year of Johoiachin's captivity. This is almost unanimously accepted as 597 BC. This is the second deportation of the Jews and is documented in 2 Kings 24:10-20.

I know you're thinking, "Of course the Bible will validate itself. You're going to have to do better than that." Indeed I will. This event is also recorded in ancient Chaldean records (Free and Vos, 1992, p. 194). Since Ezekiel's visions began five years after this deportation, all we have to do is a little math to see that this is 592 B.C. Ezekiel was very good at dating his prophecies, so based on dates given throughout his book, we can determine that the prophecy of the destruction of Tyre given in chapter 26, was given in 586 B.C.

First, a little about the city. Tyre was a Phoenician city located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean north of Israel. It was one of the most prosperous and established cities in the world at the time of Ezekiel's prophecy. As a matter of fact, King Hiram of Tyre helped out with materials and ships with the building of Solomon's Temple.

Everything I'm about to tell you (not just about Tyre, but all of it) is historical and can be Googled so I'm going to cut out a lot of details for the sake of brevity. The thing about Tyre, aside from the fact that it was considered impregnable, is it had a unique advantage. Tyre had an offshore island to which, in the unlikely case that the city on the mainland was about to be breached, they could flee.

Ezekiel spoke of the city's specific riches then predicted (linked above):
1. Many nations would come against it
2. The inhabitants of the villages and fields of Tyre would be slain
3. Nebuchadnezzar would build a siege mound against it.
4. The city would be broken down and the stones, timber and even the soil would be thrown into the sea.
5. It would be made a bare rock
6. The city would become a place where fishermen spread their nets
7. The city would never be rebuilt.

Shortly after this prophecy, Nebuchadnezzar did lay siege against the city; a siege that, according to Josephus, lasted for 13 years. The unprecedented length of the siege was due to the island fortress which was easily defended against conventional tactics. But, what Nebuchadnezzar did do was raze the mainland, fulfilling part of the prophecy. But don't forget that 'many nations' caveat. According to history, Tyre went through many years of war with many nations leading to Egypt taking Tyre 'by assault' after another siege. But, that didn't end the city. It took Alexander the Great to do that.

Alexander the Great wanted to make a sacrifice at the temple of Herecles but the Tyrians refused. Again, they considered the island impregnable. They underestimated Alexander who demolished was was left of Old Tyre and set tens of thousands of men to work. He used the 'stones, timber and soil for this undertaking, scraped the land down to bare rock, and threw it all into the sea to build a causeway. Old Tyre on the mainland and the island fortress were utterly destroyed. And, while there is a city today called Tyre, the ancient location of the city lies beneath the Mediterranean sea, just as Ezekiel predicted. And just for added effect, here's a photo.

I'm going to try to do one of my famous 'running lists' here:

1. Babylon will rule Judah for 70 years, Jeremiah 25:11-12.
2. Judah would be delivered by a king named Cyrus, Isaiah 45:1.
(This was prophesied around 700 B.C. and fulfilled in 539 B.C.)
3. Babylon would be permanently overthrown, Isaiah 13:19.
4 Babylon, the jewel of the world would become swampland,
Isaiah 14:23. (Excavations in the 1800 could not be completed
due to the fact that part of the city was under water.)
5. The Jews will survive Babylonian captivity and return to their land,
Jeremiah 32:36-37.
6. The Ninevites would be drunk when overthrown, Nahum 1:10
(According to Diodorus Siculus, an ancient historian, "The Assyrian king gave much wine to his soldiers. Deserters told this to the enemy who attacked that night.")
7. Nineveh would be destroyed by fire, Nahum 3:15. (Archaeologists confirmed a layer of ash covering the ruins, see: Encyclopaedia Britannica)
8. Edom would be destoyed, Jeremiah 49:16. (Edom no longer exists and it's capital is now part of Jordan.

There are literally hundreds of fulfilled predictive prophecies in the Old Testament. These are just a few of the ones that can be dated and are historically verified but we can't do a post on predictive prophecy without including Daniel and Ezekiel's 'Valley of Dry Bones'.

The book of Daniel is so prophetically accurate that people say it must have been written after the fact. But, Daniel is probably the most verified book in the old testament. It is said that when Cyrus overthrew Babylon, Daniel showed him Isaiah's prophecy containing his name and that is what prompted Cyrus to show favor to Judah, and allow them to return home. He even gave money for the rebuilding of the temple.

Daniel 8:20-21 predicted that the Persians would overthrow Babylon and that the Greeks would overthrow the Persians. Both of these predictions were by name. He also predicted, to the day, the abomination of desolation by Antiochus Epiphanes and the arrival of Jesus on the scene (see Chuck Missler's study of Daniel Introduction for charts, graphs and calculations). Josephus wrote that the High Priest Jaddua showed Alexander the Great that Daniel had written about him. This caused Alexander to spare Jerusalem.

And the hum-dinger of all prophecies, (drum-roll please) the restoration of Israel! I can show you how The Messiah was predicted (really, I can) but if that would do it, the Jews would all be Christians. So, I'll stick to the one prophecy that cannot be denied and is unprecedented in all of world history.

In 70 A.D., Titus of Rome sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, just as Jesus prophesied. You can actually see carvings of the temple treasures, like the Menorah, being carried off on the Arch of Titus in Rome. The Jews were dispersed to the four corners of the world. Almost 2000 years later, beyond all reckoning, Israel was restored as a nation and the Jews were gathered from the four winds.

Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of mankind but it didn't surprise the Jews, nor did it surprise the Christians. This had been prophesied thousands of years before by the prophet, Ezekiel in his famous vision, 'The Valley of Dry Bones', Ezekiel 37.

I'm confident that Biblical prophecy is real. That being said, the unfulfilled prophecies are the ones that should worry you if you aren't a Christian. The prophecies of Daniel and Jesus are very much in play right now. Daniel is only 12 chapters long and is an easy read. His prophetic visions don't even start until chapter 7, although the book starts out with Nebuchadnezzar's dream of human history. Jesus prophesied the signs of the end and said that the generation in which we live would not pass away before He returns, Matthew 24.

I urge you to repent and be saved today. If you have questions, email me at areasoningtogether@gmail.com. There is a simple video on You Tube, "What Must I do to be Saved?", that you can watch, also. Here are some relevant posts and articles:
The Gospel
Advise to New Believers
They Would Have a Bramble as King (Antichrist)

I'm praying to see you there!

Advise to New Believers

2021-12-08T17:31:00.003-09:00

While we can’t do anything to earn our salvation, there are a few things we can do as a new believer that will help us grow and figure out God’s plan for our lives; and be it humble or be it grand, He does have a plan.

The 1st thing is to read the word of God every day.

If you don’t have a Bible, a local church will help you out. Also, there are literally hundreds of Bible apps for your phone or tablet. There are also Bible websites, like Bible Hub and Blue Letter Bible online.
Most versions of the Bible are fine. I would stay away from any that are unique to a certain denomination. If only one denomination uses it and says theirs is the only translation, it is probably a false word.

Remember, this is different than saying something like, "We believe only the King James Version is of God." The King James Bible is used by hundreds of different denominations. I'm talking about a unique translation used only by that denomination. The Jehovah's Witnesses use such a bible.

The King James Version is my favorite because I love the sound of it. Others have a hard time with its language and prefer something like the English Standard Version. I trust God to preserve His word so I have owned many translations for study purposes. The most important thing is to read it.

The 2nd thing is to make time to pray every day.

Don’t worry
about knowing how. Your heavenly Father is anxious to hear from you and wants you to be comfortable in Him. Just speak with Him. It will be fine.

The 3rd thing is to tell someone. Call your mother, your friend,

someone, anyone, and I don’t mean just telling some stranger online. It is important to tell someone. This makes us accountable and a witness right off the bat. These things are asked of us in the word of God. (Mark16:15, 1 Peter 3:15)

The 4th thing is to find fellowship. Finding a church is your best

option but if you can’t attend church for some reason, it is still important for you to try to find other believers,

“…not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some but exhorting one another: and so much the more as you see the day approaching,”(Hebrews 10:25)

“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,", Matthew 18:20).

The 5th thing is to be baptized. And yes, this is one of those places

where a church does come in handy. Baptism does not save you. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ saves you.

“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved,” (Romans 10:9).

So, baptism may not save you, but it is a commandment from Jesus. He himself was baptized, (Matthew 3:13-18, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22), and tells us to go into all nations teaching them and baptizing them in the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost.

Please let me know if you have made a decision for Christ so I can pray for you areasoningtogether@gmail.com. If you have any questions at all, just ask. I will do my best to answer and if I don't know, I will do my best to find out for you.

Baby Steps: Step 1, What is the Church?

2021-12-07T21:53:00.001-09:00

It has been brought to my attention that there are a lot of things I take for granted. I assume, and I don't mean to, that people have some foundation in Christian theology. I don't know, I guess I don't think globally enough sometimes to have a blog on the 'World Wide Web'. Please accept my sincere apology and allow me to try to remedy this.

So, let's start with the Church. We'll start here because I have covered the fall of man (pt 1, pt 2, pt 3) and the Gospel before, so what's next? Well, let's answer this question. What is the Church?

First let me tell you what it is not. The Church is not a building. It is a body of believers. Peter says we (Christians) are living stones being built into a spiritual house, I Peter 2:5.

The second question to consider is why does the Church even exist? Aren't the Jews God's chosen people? If you remember, I have said several times that God will re-write your map if you mess up ("Does God Really Have a Specific Plan for Your Life? and "Insight from 1 Samuel"). Well, the Jews as a nation, messed up and rejected their Messiah. So, God rewrote their map.

From the very beginning, God revealed, little by little, His redemptive plan. In Genesis 3:15, God said to the serpent,

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed and He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.

This is the first prophesy of a redeemer. Man had fallen, God had a plan to pick him up and reveals that here.

All through the Old Testament we have prophecies of the Messiah of Israel. The problem is, sometimes these prophecies revealed the 'Suffering Servant" (as in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53); but, most of the prophecies of the Messiah are for a delivering, restoring and conquering king (Psalm 72:11, Amos 9:11-15, Isaiah 11, 59:20-21, 61:1-6, 63:1-6, Jeremiah 23:5-6, Hosea 3:4-5, et.al.). The Jews expected a political figure, a king. Jesus is that King; it is just that He had to take care of the sin problem, also known as the death problem, first.

This is how history could have gone. The Jews could have seen that Jesus was:
1. Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)..........................................Check
2. Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)......................................Check
3. Born of the House of David (Jeremiah 23:5)..................Check
4. Born of the Family of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1)........................Check
5. The blind see and the deaf hear (Isaiah 29:18)................Check
6. The Good News is preached to the poor (Isaiah 29:19)...Check
(Jesus fulfilled over 300 Old Testament Prophesies)

They could have said, "Hey, Look! Prophecy is unfolding before our eyes! Looks like our Messiah has arrived. Let's see what He has to say."

To which Jesus would have said something like, "Okay, Guys. I have to take care of this sin problem and put the redemptive plan for your souls in place. You know, the plan that almost everything in the scriptures alludes to, like Passover! That means, I'm going to fulfill the Suffering Servant prophecies first, by dying. But, when The Father raises me from the dead, we are going defeat the devil, I'll set up My Kingdom, and then bring the Gentiles in like I promised Abraham way back in the beginning. Death, Burial, Resurrection, Armageddon....Boom! The King is crowned and the Millennial Reign begins right then and there.

Jesus came to His own, the Jews, "but His own received Him not", John 1:11-13. There is a story, not a parable, but an account in the Bible I think many people forget about. It involves a Canaanite woman who was following Jesus and His group around. She was constantly crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is miserably possessed by a demon." It was so bad that the disciples asked Jesus to send her away.

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The woman came and knelt before Him, "Lord help me!" she said.
But Jesus replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it the the dogs."
"Yes, Lord," she said, "even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."
"O woman," Jesus answered, "your faith is great! Let it be done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Matthew 15:21-28 (Berean Study Bible, words of Jesus in red)

Here we have the very words of Jesus telling us that He was sent to the Jews. I mean, He had mercy several times on non-Jews, but the fact remains, His greater mission was the "lost sheep of Israel".

Yes, the Gentiles would have still been saved. The Bible is full of prophecies of salvation for non-Jews. Hosea 2:23 is just one example. As a matter of fact, Gentiles were saved all along. It's just that in the Old Testament, they were saved by the sign of circumcision and keeping all of the Law. They were called proselytes.

When the Jews rejected Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus, they they rejected the next aspect in God's plan. The Gentiles (non-Jews) believed. God set the Jews aside for a season (Not Forever!) 'til the fullness of the Gentiles has come. I encourage you to read Romans chapters 9 through 11. There is so much in there, but in Romans 10:19-20, we find a couple of quotes Paul uses from the Old Testament that are relevant and speak to our point:

"I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation without understanding." Deuteronomy 32:21

"I was found by those who did not seek Me; I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me," Isaiah 28:16.

That's us, Hallelujah!

Jesus came for a bride. He paid the bride-price by dying on the cross. He sealed the marriage contract and proved Himself by rising from the dead. He has gone to His Father, as was the custom, to prepare a place for His bride and He will return with a shout and the sound of a trumpet (1 Thessalonians 4:16), again as was the custom.

So, the simple definition of 'The Church', is- a body of believers who believed in the next aspect of God's plan for mankind. Jesus didn't just die for the Church. He died for the world. The Church is made up of people from every corner of the world, every color, every background, and every heritage (including many Jews) who believe it.

Baby Step 3: Judgment and Hell

2021-12-05T15:03:00.001-09:00

Let's start this off with a scripture,

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

This means our idea of right and wrong is off, way off. God is God and He made the rules. Whether or not we like them won't change a thing.

"Will not the judge of all the earth do what's right?" Genesis 18:25.

I recently had a conversation with a loved one in which I said, "If Charles Manson repents and accepts Jesus before he dies, God will let him into heaven."

She proceeded to say, "I just don't like that."

She didn't much like it either when I presented the flip side of that statement which is, "Unfortunately, if you don't repent and accept Jesus, you will go to Hell." Her sense of justice flared at the fact that a mass murderer has the potential to go to Heaven when she, seeing herself as righteous, might miss it. Such is the wonder of the Gospel. Whether or not we like it, truth is truth.

"Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord comprehend fully." Proverbs 28:5

It is important that we don't try to mold God into our own image. It is this is the kind of thinking that leads to the dangerous belief, "All roads lead to God." They do not! We tend to form a god in our head that makes us feel good about ourselves and allows us to embrace our sin. It just gives us comfort in a lie. What our feel-good tendencies do not do, is change the fact that judgement is coming and the standard by which we will be judged is the Word of God.

Most people don't think they are evil, but what does the Bible say about all this?

"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

"The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9

Folks, I implore you, do NOT base your eternity on your heart or feelings.

Here are some verses about the coming judgment:

"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Matthew 12:36 (words of Jesus in red here and hereafter)

"He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained." Acts 17:31

"And as it is appointed for men once to die, but after this the judgment." Hebrews 9:27

"For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight; if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly; and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment." 2 Peter 2:4-9

The Old Testament also hints at the resurrection and judgment in some places see: (Psalm 98, and Isaiah 25:8) and declares it in Daniel 12:2,

"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

So, judgment is coming. All of us will stand before God. The only difference will be between those who will stand with Jesus as their advocate, and those who will plead their own case. That is what the judgment is all about. God is fair. You will have an opportunity to plead your case before Him; but know this, you have broken God's law and if you reject the only one who can pay the penalty for you, well, you will pay it yourself. Unfortunately, the choice is an eternal one.

How can we be sure that there is a Hell? How can we be sure there is punishment? Are we sure it is eternal? Let's clarify terms first. What most Christians refer to today as Hell, the place of eternal punishment, is actually the Lake of Fire. Though the word Hell is used in the Bible, it is not Hebrew, Aramaic or even Greek. It is a word with Germanic roots that means underworld. But translaters applied a word their readers understood to the word in the original text.

There are actually several words appearing in the original biblical text to which Hell is applied. They are: Sheol, Gehenna, Tartarus, The Lake of Fire, and yes, even Hades. We'll do a brief overview of each before we get to the doctrine of Hell.

Sheol is a Hebrew word used in the Old Testament and is translated as 'the grave', 'the pit', and the like, many times. The thing is, consciousness is implied for the souls there; for instance:

"If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there" Psalm 139:8
.
"Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you—" Isaiah 14:9

There are many occurrences of the word Sheol in the Old Testament, far too many to list.

Gehenna is derived from 'The Valley of Hinnom'. This is a valley outside of Jerusalem that was first known for the child sacrifices that occurred there, but later became Jerusalem's garbage dump. Not only was garbage dumped there, but the bodies of dead animals and criminals were, too. It was 'accursed' ground and fire burned and smoldered there all the time. It is almost always rendered, as Hell. See, Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6

Tartarus is mentioned in it's verb form, 'to be thrown into Tartarus', in 2 Peter 2:4 and is also translated (for the most part) as Hell. In Greek mythology, it is the place of the wicked dead and also the prison pit of the Titans. In the Bible, some of the fallen angels are reserved in chains there.

"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."

Hades is used a lot. It is often translated as Hell, but some versions and in some places it is just transliterated, meaning it appears as Hades in the original as well as the translation. It is also a Greek word that usually means underworld. See: Matthew 11:23, 16:18; Luke 10:15, 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; Revelation 1:18, 6:8, 20:13, 14

The Lake if Fire is talked about in the book of Revelation:

   "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that            wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that    had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his    image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." Revelation 19:20

   "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and    brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be    tormented day and night for ever and ever." Revelation 20:10

   "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell    delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged        every man according to their works.  And death and hell were cast    into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  And whosoever was    not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:13-15

   "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God,    and he shall be my son.  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the    abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers,        and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."                Revelation 21:7-8

Folks, that is a pretty inclusive list. You may not be a murderer, but notice that ALL liars have their part in the lake of fire. I think it is fair to say that ALL of us have lied at one time or another. This is why we need Jesus. He stands between us and God as the sinless sacrifice. He is what God the Father sees, not our sin. Back to our study.

There are a couple of honorable mentions of Hell that we haven't covered yet. Here they are:

"I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame." Daniel 7:11

"And a third angel followed them, calling out in a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives its mark on his forehead or on his hand, he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever. Day and night there will be no rest for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.'" Revelation 14:9-11

And the one that Jesus quotes, Isaiah 66:24,

"As they go forth, they will see the corpses of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never be quenched, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”

Let's take a look at how Jesus uses this verse in Mark 9:43-48:

"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched."

Jesus is clearly linking the verse in Isaiah with the concept of an eternal, burning place of punishment. Tie this in with the verses from Revelation where it says that people guilty of sin will be cast into the Lake of Fire and, well, you have the Christian teaching of Hell or 'The Second Death'.

God did not create Hell for people. Hell was created for the devil and his angels, Matthew 25:41. People go to hell by choice. It has been said that even Heaven would be Hell to those who choose not to be there. The very fact that we have free will insures the fact that there is a Hell, or justice for sin.

God is long-suffering and not willing that any should perish, 2 Peter 3:9. If you find yourself in Hell, it will be by your own choice. If you don't believe God doesn't want you in Hell, just remember, John 3:16 which says,

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Jesus died to keep you from Hell. He wants a relationship. Please read my post on, "The Gospel", or email me at areasoningtogether@gmail.com if you have any questions. Don't let another day pass where you are unsure of your eternity.

Let's end with the words of an old Carmen song:

"Black is black and white is white,
Hell is hot and sin ain't right,
God is holy and Christ is coming,
And RIGHGEOUSNESS WILL PREVAIL!

" Hallelujah!

Baby Steps 4: Heaven, The New Jerusalem and Eternity

2021-12-04T00:27:00.003-09:00

Just as we started the lesson on Hell with a Bible verse, I think we should do the same in this one. It is a verse I've used before but one that should be forefront in our minds especially during times of trials. It is,

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9

Isn't this great news? It is impossible to comprehend the wonder that God has in store for us. If we think about our lives here on Earth, and those things that give us much pleasure, we need to remember that...

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning." James 1:17

Everything that gives us joy here in this world is just a foreshadow of what God has in store for us.

There is a difference in the Bible between Heaven and The New Jerusalem and we are going to look at that difference and also try to get a small handle on the concept of eternity. You will often hear Christians say that we go to Heaven when we die and that is true. The mistake in this idea is that Heaven is where we are going to spend eternity. It is not. Let's see what the Bible says.

We know that God, by His Spirit, lives within every believer, but his home is currently Heaven.

   "Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy    dwelling place, and maintain their cause," 1 Kings 8:49

   "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in            heaven, Hallowed be thy name." Matthew 6:9

The Bible also says, "
   "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." 2            Corinthians 5:8

So, it is true that we go to Heaven when we die but we are missing the big picture if we stop there.

I'm not going to go into great detail here on the New Jerusalem because I already did in our study, "A Tale of Two Cities". You can read all about the streets of gold, the pearly gates and the crystal sea. That's right, all that imagery we all hear all the time is from New Jerusalem not Heaven.

The whole purpose of human history is for God to carry out His plan for a family who chooses Him. He is going to restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden where He used to come down and visit Adam in the cool of the evening (Genesis 3:8). Remember, free will always carries the potential for rebellion and Adam did just that. For more information on that you can look at the post, "Why?".

So we are not going to spend eternity in some distant unknown place. God, who made this earth to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18), is going to cleanse it with fire and then come and dwell with us right here, forever, in the beautiful New Jerusalem.

   "I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of    heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.    And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: 'Behold, the            dwelling place of God is with man, and He will live with them.        They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as        their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and            there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the    former things have passed away." Revelation 21:2-4

What a wonderful promise! Time starts with God on Earth in fellowship with man and ends the same way.

Now, let's talk a little about eternity. I have heard it said that we will get bored after a while. After all, eternity is a long time. Well, you see, that's the thing. It really isn't. I believe time as we know it, will cease to exist.

Most people believe that God is outside of time and I agree, for the most part. I think that is why prophecy is so precise. This whole time thing is complex enough to require its own post and maybe I will go there at some point; but, for now, let's just touch on this little part. Eternity will not be boring.

We will no longer experience linear time, I think. I'll tell you why I think this. We measure time by the sun and the moon. God made them for this purpose, Genesis 1:14. The Bible says that we will have no need of them in our eternity. If God made them to mark times and seasons and we won't need them anymore, the logical conclusion is that time is a thing of the past, pun intended.

"And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp. By its light the nations will walk, and into it the kings of the earth will bring their glory. Its gates will never be shut at the end of the day, because there will be no night there." Revelation 21:23-25

Here is the best part. God wants you there. How do we know? Because

"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotton Son that whosoever would believe on Him would not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Think of all the joy you have experienced in this life. Even if you have had a horrible life, you know what joy feels like. Do you remember how we opened this post? All good and perfect gifts are from God, and eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of man what God has prepared for them that love Him. We cant even imagine how wonderful it's going to be.

I encourage you to avoid the alternative. Please give your life to Jesus today. You can read my post on, "The Gospel" or there is also a video on You Tube called, "What Must I do to be Saved?", that is short but informative. You can always email me at areasoningtogether@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you and, Hope to see you there!

Baby Steps 5: Tithes and Offerings

2021-12-03T13:45:00.002-09:00

Tithes and offerings is the place where a lot of people want to throw out Christianity all together. They feel like the Church is only in it for the money. Let's start out this study with a statement that you should keep in mind throughout, God doesn't need your money, or mine, or anyone else's. Giving is a matter of obedience and is a reflection of where your heart is.

People mistakenly think the Bible says, "Money is the root of all evil." What the Bible actually says is,

"The love of money is the root of all evil," 1 Timothy 6:10.

Where is your heart? Do you have a heart that would see the establishment of God's kingdom? Do you want to see the hungry fed and the naked clothed, the work of God continued? Do you have a heart for abused children?

Let's bring it local. Do you go to church? Side note, if you don't go to church and are able to, you should. But, that's a study we will save for another day. Back to our point. If you go to church and enjoy the service, have friends there, are being fed the word, then you should be contributing to that.

Does the Bible support that? It absolutely does. Let's take a look at some of what the Bible says about giving.

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, "It is more blessed to give that to receive." Acts 20:35

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. Luke 6:38

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
2 Corinthians 9:6

These are just a few of the verses in the Bible on giving.

Is it a sin to be rich? No it isn't. But, if you are rich, the Bible gives instructions:

As for the rich in the present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future,so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
1 Timothy 6:17-19

Now, let's get specific. What is the tithe and is giving it a commandment? Tithe literally means 'tenth', and yes it is commanded directly and by example. Let's look at the commandments first:

"Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me. But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. And thereby put Me to the test," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need."
Malachi 3:8-10

Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord.
Leviticus 27:30

You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. Deuteronomy 14:22

Then to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make His name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord. Deuteronomy 12:11

Some of you Bible scholars out there may be thinking, "All those scriptures are from the Old Testament and are under the Law. Jesus fulfilled the Law so we don't have to tithe anymore; and, that would be fine and well if Abraham hadn't tithed well before the Law was established (Genesis 14:20). Jacob tithed, too, for that matter (Genesis 28:22). Tithing was a way to show appreciation, respect and love for God long before Moses got the Law on Mount Sinai.

You may also be thinking, "What if the church steals my money? People can't be trusted!" Let me say to you, God will hold you accountable for not giving, as well as for what the person or ministry to which you give does with the money. God honors your heart. If you give to a ministry, with a cheerful heart, for the love of God, and that ministry mishandles your money, God will deal with them. Your offering actually makes them more accountable to God.

I'm not telling you to be mindless. You have every right to know where your money is going. Don't throw your money away. But, giving to a good, sound church or ministry isn't throwing your money away, it is laying up treasure in Heaven, Matthew 6:20.

Pastors, preachers, evangelists, teachers, etc., deserve to be paid for their service to the Kingdom.

"For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain," and "The laborer deserves his wages,"
1 Timothy 5:18.

That is how God set it up. If you look at the verse above from Malachi, God actually tells us to challenge Him. Here is my paraphrase of that verse. "Test Me. Bring your tithes and offerings to the storehouse, (church) and see if I don't pour out a blessing upon you that you can't contain."

Remember, "God loves a cheerful giver." I am a tither, and I try not to go to the house of God without an offering above and beyond the tithe, even if it's only a dollar. God has been so good to me, how could I not? He has met every need. I want for nothing. You may think it's funny that I say that when I don't even have a car, but it's true. I have food, shelter, a loving family, a great church, I could go on. What would it say about my heart if I didn't want to give back to God? I think it would show a lack of appreciation and even unbelief.

If you aren't giving, examine your heart, examine the scriptures, and open your wallet.

A final note; at the time of this writing, I receive no money from this blog. I'm not writing for my benefit, but for yours.

Baby Steps 6: What's Up With All the Denominations?

2021-12-02T14:30:00.003-09:00

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the virgin, Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day He rose again;

He ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

The holy catholic Church,

(this is not the capitalized, Catholic Church, but the church universal)

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

This is the 'Apostles Creed.' I put it here because, while many mainstream Christians have never read or even heard of this creed, it encapsulates the foundations of most Christian denominations.

Almost all of them believe these basic tenets and any variation from this basis would cause Christians to consider your belief system to likely be a cult.

For example, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is Michael the arch angel and Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers. Both of these belief systems deny the divinity of Christ which makes them cults and therefore, it would be difficult for anyone in these systems, who believes their tenets, to be saved. Remember our study of Jesus. You have to know who he is. Believing on a prophet, teacher and good man, won't cut it. You have to believe He is God or the cross loses all its significance.

Now, with that being said, all the other stuff is gravy; meaning it is extra to saving belief. There is a portion of scripture that I would like to bring to your attention. It says,

John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us."

I take this to mean that all Christian denominations that are about the Father's business are OK. All of us are different. Some like liturgy, some don't. Some like hymns, some like more modern songs. The key is, if you haven't found a church, you should look for one that believes what you do, has the same kind of mission you do and preaches the Word of God.

Does this mean that there are no bad churches? Absolutely not. There are indeed bad churches but, for the most part, they aren't bad because of the denomination they are, but the people that are running them.

You have to be careful, though. You must study the word of God because even the best of churches in the best of denominations can err. If you find yourself in a church, let's even say you have been there for a while, but you hear something come across the pulpit that violates the word of God... Run! The more you grow in the Word and in prayer, the safer you will be from deception.

If you are a new Christian, but as you study you find something being taught in your church that doesn't line up with what you know the bible says... Get Out!

Here are a few examples of things that good, saved Christians can agree to disagree on:

The Rapture
The Millennium
Foot washing
End time events
Whether to take communion weekly or as the Spirit leads
Baptism by immersion or by sprinkling, etc.

These doctrines are areas that are not essential for salvation.

Some doctrines that should not be embraced at all by anyone who calls themselves Christian are:

Eventually everyone gets into heaven,
Blatant sin is acceptable in the church (fornication, homosexuality, etc.),
There is no Hell, everyone is basically a good person

These are the doctrines of devils and are very dangerous.

Two others that should be included are the extremes of ultra-legalism and 'greasy grace.' Ultra-legalism is the belief that there are things that you absolutely must do to be saved. We aren't talking about living a life that is pleasing to God, we are talking about, "If a woman cuts her hair or wears pants, she is going to hell." Or, "You must speak in tongues to be saved." Even saying something like, "You must be baptized by submersion to be saved."

If there was anything you could do, or any behavior you could avoid to be saved, Jesus wouldn't have had to die. This doesn't mean we shouldn't abandon sin, we should. Sin is like cancer and left unattended will destroy you and your soul. But, let us not forget that "God looks on the heart."

At the other extreme is the ultra-grace position that says you can do anything you want and the blood of Jesus will cover it. Sorry folks. The Bible says that we, as Christians, are dead to sin. How can we continue in it? The Bible also says that if anyone be in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things pass away and behold, all things become new. One more thing, we are told to show fruit that is in keeping with repentance and that you shall know them by their fruit. If there hasn't been a change in your likes and dislikes, your behavior, etc., I would advise you to check your heart and make sure you are saved at all.

I recently saw a video of a very famous preacher saying that the Hindus in India love God and are very nice people. That remark is heresy. I'm sure the Hindus in India are very nice people (except for the ones setting Christians on fire, of course) but they don't love God. Jesus said in John 8:42,

"If God were your Father, you would love me."

Jesus also says in John 14:6,

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

All people are not good people and I'm not speaking about congeniality here. As a matter of fact, the Bible says,

"There is none righteous. No not one." Romans 3:10

As far as sin in the church, this is one portion of scripture among many:

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are Arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you......I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people~not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality, or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler~ Not even to eat with such one.

This is pretty clear and, as I said, It isn't the only place that puts forth this thought, which is; you can't remove yourself from the sin practiced in the world, but you must not let it take hold in the church. If you are in a church that embraces or doesn't call out sin, Get Out! Right in this passage, Paul reiterates that a little leaven (sin) leavens the whole lump (church).

Now, for my opinion on all this. I'm a fundamentalist. I believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and I take it literally. I don't think as some do, that even though it is Spirit-breathed, it is allegorical. This rules out some denominations right off the bat, like most Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Anglican and Catholic congregations.

I don't believe that baptism by sprinkling or pouring is biblical. I believe in baptism by immersion and it should only be performed on someone old enough to make a decision for Christ. This rules out the Methodists, Lutherans and Catholics for me as well.

I do not believe in eternal security. I believe you can walk out from under the blood of Christ therefore forfeiting your salvation. This rules out most branches of the Baptists like the big one, the Southern Baptists.

I believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This makes me a Pentecostal. But, within the Pentecostals there are many different ideas that lead to different branches like, should women be allowed to preach, what constitutes order in a service and many other things. It should also be noted that most of the extremes I mentioned above, ultra-legalism and greasy-grace are found in the ranks of the Pentecostals, so beware.

I do feel that, in these last days, the chasm between the world and the Church will grow and it will be harder to be a true Christian if you are going to the more worldly denominations like, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic, etc. Again, that's just my opinion but it is an opinion based on scripture.

As these congregations embrace the world more and more, I would say to those in them, heed the word of the Lord in Revelation 18:4,

"Come out of her my people that he be not partners of her sins."

You see, the great falling away spoken of in the Bible is, as it says, a falling away. That means those that once walked in truth are now deceived. We are seeing it everyday. Still, no matter what, we need each other as a body of Christ and are exhorted to attend the assembly of the brethren. Find a good one and stick to it.

Baby Step 7: Baptism

2021-12-01T11:27:00.004-09:00

It occurs to me that I got so caught up in trying to explain elementary concepts of Christianity that I forgot to cover Baptism. I apologize! Baptism is truly important and I don't mean to minimize it by leaving it out of our 'Baby Steps'.

Let's start with, "Where did the idea of baptism come from? Is it some New Testament practice with no roots in the Old Testament?"

No way! If you have read with me for any length of time, you will know that I believe that everything in the New Testament is foreshadowed in the Old.

The baptism of Jesus is recounted in all four gospels: Matthew 3, Mark 3, Luke 3, and John 1 (sort of). Now, consider the Jews. They were very strict in their doctrine. They would have rejected baptism if it was some kind of new fad. On the contrary, they lined up to be baptized. Even the Scribes and Pharisees came to get in on John's new tevilah action.

That's right. Baptism is just another way to look at the tevilah or Jewish ritual bath.

Almost all Jewish communities have at least one mikvah (ritual bath tub for lack of a better term), even these days. Submersion in water is part of the process for anyone who wants to convert to Judaism and always has been.

A mikvah is also used by women after menstruation and before their weddings. Men use it for a number of things. The tevilah, or submersion in a mikvah, is ritual cleansing.

The Book of Leviticus has many instances of a ritual bath. Most of the time, it not only involved washing your body, but washing your clothes as well. Here are some scripture you can read: Leviticus 11:25; 14:8-9,47; 16:26, 28; 17:15; and Numbers 19:10.

The whole 15th chapter of Leviticus prescribes ritual bathing for certain things that would mark you as unclean. The 16th chapter is the priestly ritual bath for service. This chapter prescribes how Aaron was to bathe on the Day of Atonement before entering the Holy Place. Since Jesus was sinless, this was His baptism; ours for the ritually unclean, His for the priestly service. He is our high priest, Hebrews 4:14.

How did we get from tevilah to baptism? Baptismos is the Greek word used in Jewish texts for ritual washing. Remember, the Septuagint is the Old Testament translated to Greek. That goes to Latin, which was the language of the Bible for centuries. When the Bible was translated to English, the translators just kept the word, much like we just kept the Hebrew word 'hallelujah'.

Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist even though John said the he should be baptized by Jesus, Matthew 3:14. Jesus said that He needed to be baptized to, "fulfill all righteousness;" or in my mind, to fulfill all the types and shadows of baptism found in the Old Testament.

Jesus then tells us in Matthew 28:19 that we should go into all the world and make disciples and baptize them. This is why baptism is a sacrament of the Church. Jesus tells us to do it and it is symbolic of the death of the old man and rebirth into newness of life.

"Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4

Paul recognized the foreshadowing of baptism by the Israelites crossing the Red Sea:

"For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea," 1 Corinthians 10:1-2

Think about that picture in Exodus 14. God told Moses to 'turn back' and camp with the sea at their back. They had no where to go when Pharaoh's army pursued but through the water. In other words, they were saved through the water and found salvation on the other side. Pharaoh's army perished in the waters of the sea. What a picture of our salvation and baptism!

Another picture of baptism was Naaman. He had leprosy and went to Elisha, the prophet, for healing. Naaman, the heathen, dipped seven times in the River Jordan and was made clean from leprosy,
2 Kings 5.

I'm of the belief that only those old enough to make a decision should be baptized, though some denominations baptize babies. I think this is what makes 'cultural Christians'. These are people who will tell you they are Christians just because their parent's had them baptized as an infant. They have never made a decision for Christ and therefore really aren't saved at all.

So I repeat here what I said in the post, "Advise to New Believers."
Baptism doesn't save you. Only a decision for Christ saves you. However, we are commanded to be baptized by Jesus himself, both by example and word.

The times are such here in America, that we soon may find ourselves in the situation that in which our brethren around the world find themselves. That situation is that there is no church in which to be baptized. We still should follow our Lord's command and be baptized.

There is a story in the book of Acts where an angel instructs Philip to go south and then to approach an Ethiopian eunuch who is reading from the book of Isaiah. Phillip shares the gospel with him and the eunuch said, "Here is water. What is preventing me from being baptized?"

Many have put baptism in the same category as marriage. They consider it unnecessary. I don't think so. I think that, if at all possible, a Christian should be baptized even if it is in a bathtub or cattle trough. Just as I believe that, even if a church wedding isn't possible, a man and woman should still be married in the eyes of God. It is a commandment, a sacrament, and shouldn't be discounted.

Memory Verses

2021-11-28T12:12:00.001-09:00

I am very grateful that God has given me an opportunity to reach out to the whole world. I have visitors here from, of course, North America, but also, South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and even Africa. I am truly blessed.

I regularly pray for the persecuted Church. I can't imagine what it would be like to wake up every morning and tell your children, "Today might be the day they come for us. Just remember, it will only hurt for a little while and then we will be with Jesus."

What about those in North Korea that have to watch their family members starve to death in 'Re-education Camps' or a family that watched their loved one doused in gasoline and burned alive for his faith. May God help them.

As I was praying and asking God to show me ways I could help. He prompted me to create a post of memory verses. There are places where Bibles are illegal but there is access to the internet. Someone could visit this site casually and have access to key Bible verses.

If you are a Christian, please join me in praying for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. If you can give, please visit the websites of organizations like, Open Doors and Voice of the Martyrs. These websites have other way to help as well.

So let's read the Bible, Yay! I'm going to use the ESV translation. I will link the verses to Bible Hub.com where you can change the verse into any translation you like. They have many study tools there as well. The words of Jesus are in red. I wanted to get this post up so it is incomplete. I will be adding to it regularly.

The Character of God:

Isaiah 40:28, Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

Numbers 23:19, God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Psalm 18:30, This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

Psalm 116:5, Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.

Who is Jesus?

John 1:1-4, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 20:28, Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 14:6, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Verses on Salvation (The Roman Road and others):

Romans 3:10, As it is written: "None is righteous, no not one."

Romans 3:23, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 4:8, Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.

Romans 5:8, But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us

Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:9-10,13,Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

2 Corinthians 6:2, For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Hebrews 7:25, Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Comfort in sorrow:

Matthew 5:4, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Matthew 11:28-30, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Psalm 23, The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still water. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Psalm 46:1, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

John 14:1-4, Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.

Courage in trouble:

Deuteronomy 31:8, It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

Joshua 1:9, Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

John 16:33, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Mark 5:36, But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe."

Isaiah 41:10, Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you,I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Verses of Warning:

Proverbs 6:16-19, There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Isaiah 26:21, For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer cover her slain.

1 Thessalonians 4:6, ...the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

Romans 2:12, For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

Psalm 37:38, But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

Proverbs 11:21, Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

Romans 2:5-6, But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous Judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works.

Matthew 3:10, Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Psalm 7:15-16, He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head and on his own skull his violence descends.

Revelation 20:13, 15, And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them according to what they had done. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:8, But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

The Trinity, The Word, and Theophanies

2021-11-27T14:42:00.003-09:00

This is a big subject. Mightier minds than mine have tackled this for the last two thousand years and still don't have a perfect, clear understanding. However, it is a question that all of us wrestle with, therefore it is a question that needs discussion and some kind of answer. We will be relying heavily on the Word of God to give us some clarity.

The first questions we will try to answer are, "How can God be three people in one? How does the Trinity work and does believing in the Trinity cause you to be an idolater? The Trinity is one of the most difficult concepts in Christianity to understand and, as we mentioned before, it has been pondered for centuries by theologians and great thinkers.

You hear people trying to describe the Trinity as a three leaf clover, three different leaves make up one clover. That explanation is probably good for a child the first time they ask. It is easy to understand and actually a pretty good answer. But most of us aren't children and we are looking for a deeper answer.

You will often hear people say things like, "You are a trinity. You have a body, a soul and a spirit. That makes you a triune being." This, too, is all fine and well except for the fact we can't even get our heads around our spirit. We most often roll up our soul and spirit into our consciousnesses. So, this definition also, leaves us wanting more.

We could say that humanity could work as an explanation. After all, humanity is one. We are all part of humanity, Some things apply to all of humanity while some things apply only to the individual; or a family that has parents and children. It functions as a unit with common goals and values but is still comprised of individuals.

This is the way I like to think of it. I don't claim that it is complete but, I like it. God the Father thinks and speaks, this is the person Jesus, The Word. God the Father and God the Word love each other so powerfully that that love manifests as a being, the person Holy Spirit. One didn't exist before the other. This is just the way God is, eternally. God the Father with His Thoughts and Words that are manifested as an individual, and the complete love of God manifesting as another individual, the Spirit of God.

I know that other religious schools of thought consider the Christian trinity a form of idolatry because Christians worship Jesus and they would be right if Jesus was just a man. But, Jesus isn't just a man. He is the Word of God, THE God, the TRUE God, made flesh. To say it another way, the Word of God took on a body for the sole purpose of dying for our sins.

People lose sight of this. Jesus altered Himself eternally for us. He existed eternally as the Word aspect of God but became a man on purpose and will never be the same for it. That is a powerful thought and it should humble us mightily.

I hope this helps those of you questioning to get your head around the Trinity just a little bit. Now lets look at how we know Jesus is the Word, the carrier of God's thoughts and will to us. The Apostle John made this clear at the very beginning of his gospel,

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." John 1:1-2.

This takes us back to Genesis 1:1, the very first verse in the Bible which says,

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

Then Genesis 1:3 says,

"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light."

We see the word of God is the creative force behind it all. Throughout the whole process of creation (Genesis 1) we read,

"And God said let there be..."

Back in the first chapter of John, verse 3, he goes on to say,
"All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made."

He makes it clear that Jesus, as the Word of God, was the Creator.

It says in I Corinthians 8:6,

"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."

Paul is showing us several things in this passage. One is that other people worship other gods and bow to other lords. We however, do not. We worship the true God and bow to the true Lord, Jesus Christ. But, the nugget hidden in this verse is that we exist for God and through Jesus Christ. Jesus is again shown as the Creator.

Now, on to the theophanies. A theophany is a manifestation or appearance of God to a person.

On the surface, or if you don't really know the Bible very well, you may not have a problem with God appearing to men and women in the Old Testament; but, as you read along, you will undoubtedly come across scriptures like Exodus 33:20 which says,

"But He said, 'You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live."

The context of the story is that Moses asked God if he could see His glory. God told Moses that He would cause all His goodness to pass in front of him. God said He would put Moses in the cleft of a rock and cover his face and would remove His hand so Moses could see His back but His face must not be seen. That sounds pretty solid. No man can see the face of God and live.

However, you come across many places in the Old Testament where people- men and women- claim to have seen God. As a matter of fact, Gideon cried out,

"'...Oh no, Lord GOD! I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face!'
But the Lord said to him, 'Peace be with you. do not be afraid, for you will not die,'" (Judges 6:22-23).

When you see the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, your are seeing a theophany, an appearance of Jesus. Angel just means messenger (carrier of the Word) and while there are heavenly beings that deliver messages from God that cause us to lump all of the messengers together as angels, we know that the Angel of the Lord is God because He receives worship and has the name of God,

"Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him," (Exodus 23:20-21)

In Exodus 3:2-6, the Bible says that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a burning bush. Right after the Bible uses the words 'Angel of the Lord', it says God called to him from the bush.

In Genesis 16:7-13, the Lord's Angel found Hagar and she called Him the God who sees me.

Genesis 18:1-2 says that the Lord appeared to Abraham in the heat of the day with two others and Abraham ran to meet them and bowed low to the ground. Abraham recognized Him as God. God didn't just appear to Abraham, He ate with him and revealed His plans for Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham prayed to Him as God.

There are other instances too, like Jacob (Genesis 32:24-30) and Samson's parents (Judges 13:3-22),

How can this be? Some have called this a contradiction in the Bible, no man can see God but then He appears over and over again. We go right back to the first chapter of the Gospel of John to find our answer. John tells us in 1:18,

"No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."

No one has see the Father, the Son has made him known to us.

I hope this helps. As I said, these are hard things to understand. I encourage you to read the Word of God and ask Him to reveal Himself to you and He will. Jesus said in John 14:23-26,
"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word that you hear is not My own, but it is from the Father who sent Me. All this I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you."

This passage of scripture clearly indicates the three persons of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus isn't giving us His words, He is giving us the words of the Father. Jesus is the Word that comes from the Father. The Holy Spirit (the guiding Love of God) reminds us of the Word of God. The message here is, read the Word and God the Holy Spirit will reveal Himself, God in all His wonder, to you.

This Will Blow Your Mind! (Not a Political Post)

2021-11-26T03:13:00.008-09:00

I am going to blow your minds. Just wait and see.

I am going to present you with two ideas that are absolutely crucial to our modern way of thinking These ideas are taught as fact but have never been proven. Then, I will present you with a fact that has been absolutely proven but you will probably never it see in a textbook. That’s right. You will find these first two ideas in most every textbook on our public schools but neither has been proven.

I know by now you realize that one of these ideas is probably the Theory of Evolution. You are right. I also know that, if you are a secular person, this makes you want to stop reading right now. But I promise, if you stick with me, you will be surprised and amazed at the other two points I will make. I may even tell you something you don't know about evolution, who knows?

Evolution has been argued for over a century now and everyone has chosen their camp on the idea. That’s fine. But what I would like the folks who believe in evolution to know is that their camp is as founded on faith as they believe the creationist's is.

I also want the creationists to know that they don’t have to feel stupid for believing what they believe and they don’t have to accept creation on blind faith. I’m not going to make this a research paper and include all kinds of charts and graphs. A quick internet search will reveal everything I’m about to tell you. And I mean secular sources.

Well, maybe a picture or two wouldn't hurt.

The main thing about evolution I will point out is there are absolutely no transitional fossils. That’s right, none! Now the evolutionists will say there are, but there aren’t. I mean, look closely at the above illustration, zero common ancestors.

The archaeopteryx is the primary example they still point to. Unfortunately for them, even the guy that found the fossil said it is a bird, a perching bird, no matter what they try to make of it. I didn’t use quotation marks but that’s pretty much what he said.

By the way, dinosaurs have been found with birds in their stomachs. Just sayin'. Not only that, crow-like bird fossils have been found that predate archaeopteryx proving that it was not a transitional species.

Mammal bones have been found with dinosaur bones.
Mammal fossils have been found with dinosaurs in their stomach.
Human bones have been found with dinosaur bones.
Human footprints have been found with dinosaur footprints.
Modern human bones have been found completely fossilized with malachite (Look that up. It looks amazing!).
Bells have been found in coal, as have hammers and bowls.
A cowboy’s leg was found fossilized, still in the boot.

Oh heck, why not a few more pictures.

This is the human malachite bone. Most of the skeleton was malachite. It is obviously not millions of years old.

This is a mammal fossil with a dinosaur in it's stomach.

And this is the fossilized cowboy boot with the leg still in in. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

There is actually a waterfall in the UK that will fossilize anything you put in its spray within months, not millions of years. It's called The Petrifying Well of Knaresborough. You can't say all fossils are millions of years old when we can fossilize a teddy bear in months.

Look up charts that show transitional species on the evolutionary tree. They are ALL missing. I am talking about charts you will find in places like the one above from The Chicago Museum of Natural History. The charts are all drawn up in full for 'Life’s Family Tree'. They fill in the areas where they have fossils to support the diagram but, they're still waiting for the rest of the fossils to be found.

The missing link is still a real thing. As a matter of fact, there are missing links for all phyla, ALL! This concerned Darwin who expected transitional fossils to eventually be found. They have not.

I am not trying to convert anyone. I’m just saying, don’t call me stupid when all I’m asking for is proof. Show me the proof.

The geologic time scale has it’s beginnings as far back as Aristotle but was cemented into a scientific study in the 1800’s. Guess how they determined the age of the rock strata... By the fossils therein.

Guess how they determined the age of fossils. Go on, give it a guess. That's right, by the strata of the rocks they were found in.

This is what we call circular reasoning.

I’m not going to get too far into radiometric dating. I will say only that results vary wildly, so that rocks we know from recent volcanoes have been dated at millions of years old.

All I’m trying to say is do the research yourself. Don’t take others' word for it. Read your high schooler’s biology book and then read your elementary school kid’s science book. One will say Australopithecus, or Lucy, is millions of years old where the other will say she is hundreds of thousands of years old. It’s all very much a working theory.

Now on to the cooler stuff.

As you may be able to tell, I’m a super nerd. I love learning and always have. Astronomy has always been one of my favorite subjects. I thought I knew how everything works in our solar system and universe.

Boy, was I wrong! Did you know that it has never been proven that the earth moves in space?

What?!?! you say.

I KNOW! right?

We have been given the Copernican model and told that it was the absolute truth. Not so.

When you think about it, no one can view our solar system from outside. No one can view our universe from any perspective but that of near-Earth. Everything we know is a guess because we can perform no experiments to prove it.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you believe and have been taught that the mathematics prove the Copernican model. That model is that the Sun is the center of our solar system and the earth and all the planets revolve around it.

The mathematics do indeed support this hypothesis. But, what we aren't taught in school is that the mathematics work just as well if the earth is stationary.

This isn’t my opinion. This is a fact.

Let me give you a quote from Einstein,

"I have come to believe that the motion of the Earth cannot be detected by any optical experiment.”

Here are some other quotes and, believe me, there are plenty more where these came from; and as far as I know, all the scientists quoted are secular.

“Briefly, everything occurs as if the Earth were at rest…” –Physicist, Henrick Lorentz

“A great deal of research has been carried out concerning the influence of the Earth’s movement. The results were always negative.” –Physicist, Henri Poincare

“There is no planetary observation by which we on Earth can prove that the Earth is moving in an orbit around the sun.”-Physicist, I. Bernard Cohen

These two ideas, evolution and the heliocentric solar system, are presented to us as absolute, undisputed truth. I for one, would like to have been presented with all theories of the universe and our biology. Are you aware that there are several viable alternatives to the Big Bang? And I don't mean creation either. But, you won’t see Plasma Theory or any other of these ideas in the mainstream media. They go against the established paradigm.

Now, on to number three. This isn’t a theory presented as fact; this is a fact that you don’t hear too much about. Let me give you a little background.

Scientists predicted the presence of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR), the fingerprint of the big bang, in the 1940’s. It was discovered in the 1960’s and of course, scientists were anxious to study it.

The first mission designed to study this CMBR was The COBE mission. The results of the study puzzled scientists and I'll get to why in a moment, but they didn't like the results so they sent up another satellite.

The second mission was called WMAP. It’s results, too, puzzled scientists and they were sure there was a mistake. The data weren't fitting their paradigm.

So, they sent up the state-of-the-art Plank satellite named after the famous physicist (who was a devout Christian by the way). They were certain this one would fetch them the results they wanted, the results that would fit with their model of the universe.

It did not.

For the third time and after millions of dollars had been spent, the results were the same. The earth, or at least our solar system, sits smack-dab in the middle of the universe.

X marks the spot or, you are here!
Known among scientists as, "The Axis of Evil" due to its implications.

“What!?”, you say. "Doesn't this prove we are special?"

That’s right! It does indeed. But, all the atheistic cosmologists and physicists are saying things like,

“…but we don’t want to be special!”. –Cosmologist, Lawrence Krauss

Here’s another quote by Krauss,

“Is this Copernicus coming back to haunt us? That’s crazy. We’re looking out at the whole universe…..That would say we are truly the center of the universe.” The Edge Foundation, 2006

You see Krauss’ face everywhere. He’s the one who said that teaching your children creation was equal to child abuse.

There are so many instances where scientists tell us that since the cause of their findings can't be creation, they had to come up with another theory to fit said findings. Are you skeptical of this claim? Here's a quote from renowned astronomer, Edwin Hubble concerning his discovery of Red-Shift. Bear in mind, this was before it was proven that Earth is the center of the universe:

"Such a condition would imply that we occupy a unique position in the universe, analogous, in a sense, to the ancient conception of a central earth. The hypothesis cannot be disproved but is unwelcome and would be accepted only as a last resort in order to save the phenomenon. Therefore, we disregard the possibility and consider the alternative."

Did you get that? One of the most famous astronomers of the last century said he disregarded the possibility that the earth is the center of the universe, even if his own research suggested it, because it would imply that we are special in the universe. Hmm...Makes one wonder what else they've had to come up with to make the facts fit their paradigm.

Oh wait! Did someone mention Dark Matter?

Don't you just love science?

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

2021-07-15T10:03:00.002-08:00

The Lord showed me the coolest thing this week and I just have to share. Bear with me as I set it up a little.

If you ask 90% of Bible students when the Gentile church began, they would tell you Acts chapter 10. This is the story of Cornelius, a Roman officer, and his family coming to Christ. It involves a whole thing, like while an angel is visiting Cornelius telling him that God has heard his prayers and seen his alms, Peter is having his famous vision of the sheet coming down with unclean food and God saying, "Take and eat...Don't call anything unclean that I have called clean."

So, Peter went with the men that had been sent by Cornelius and shared the Gospel him. The Bible says that the Holy Sprit fell on all who were listening to Peter's message. Like I said, it was a whole thing and takes up the entire chapter in the Bible.

The Holy Spirit falling was the proof that God was accepting the Gentiles (people who aren't Jews). They were all baptized and Peter stayed and taught them for several days. The Jewish believers were amazed and actually gave Peter grief about associating with a Gentile. Peter's story turned the tide and everyone realized that God had indeed opened salvation to everyone. Boom! birth of the Gentile Church.

But I say, Not so fast. Back in Acts chapter 8 we have another story. It's in this story that there is a hidden nugget or two that God opened up to me this week.

Before we get into the story, let's look at a few scriptures that set this up for us"

Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. Romans 16:25

As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News. Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. Ephesians 3:5-9

This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. Colossians 1:26

These verses show us that the Church was hidden in God from the beginning. You will be hard pressed to find prophecy about the church in the Old Testament. We know there are types and shadows, but actual foretelling? It is hard to find. I think there is one exception and it makes me giddy.

So back to Philip and the Eunuch...Philip was preaching in Samaria when an angel told him to go south to the road between Jerusalem and Gaza. Philip did as he was told. When he got there, he saw the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch who was under Candace (or Kandake), queen of Ethiopia. This Eunuch was returning home after having worshipped in Jerusalem.

You should know that there is a long tradition of Judaism in Ethiopia that goes all the way back to the Queen of Sheba. There are many extrabiblical stories that tell that the Queen of Sheba was Ethiopian, that she had a son by Solomon, and raised him as a Jew. I am not saying that is a fact. I'm just illustrating the history of Judaism in Ethiopia.

Some stories hold that this son of Solomon, Menilek, was to be the king of Israel. Some say that he refused to leave Ethiopia, some say that the elders of Israel rejected him; but the Ethiopians believe that Menilek stole to Ark of the Covenant. They also think that Solomon allowed it because Menilek didn't die when he touched the Ark. The Ethiopians believe they posses it to this day.

The reason that this back-story matters is because our Ethiopian Eunuch was returning from worshipping in Jerusalem. What was he doing in Jerusalem? I believe we can be certain that he was a believer in the God of Israel.

When Philip found him, he was reading the Scroll of Isaiah. We also know from the text of Acts that he was reading the passage from Isaiah 53 that shows Jesus as the Suffering Servant.

I'm going to read between the lines here. The eunuch could have been reading and rereading the same passage over and over on the road. But if it was me, I would be reading what Isaiah said about my country, Ethiopia. Just before the Suffering Servant passage, we have Isaiah 43:3-4, which says:

For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.

This would have caused me to question, "What am I doing? Obviously God gave me up for Israel, regardless of what the people of my country say."

Anyway, Philip runs alongside the carriage and asks if he understands what he is reading. The eunuch asks how he could understand without a teacher, and he invites Philip into the carriage with him. Philip explains the Suffering Servant passage to the man and he gets saved and asks to be baptized.

The exciting thing is that just past the suffering servant passage, is another relevant passage that has me hopping. And I ask you, why wouldn't Philip have kept on reading? I'm sure I would have.

Here it is:

“Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD say,

‘The LORD will never let me be part of his people.’

And don’t let the eunuchs say,
‘I’m a dried-up tree with no children and no future.’
For this is what the LORD says:
I will bless those eunuchs
who keep my Sabbath days holy
and who choose to do what pleases me
and commit their lives to me.
I will give them—within the walls of my house—
a memorial and a name
far greater than sons and daughters could give.
For the name I give them is an everlasting one.
It will never disappear!
“I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD,
who serve him and love his name,
who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest,
and who hold fast to my covenant.
I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem
and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer.
I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices,
because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.
For the Sovereign LORD,
who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says:
I will bring others, too,
besides my people Israel.”

Of all the Messianic passages in the Old Testament, Isaiah 53 is the one, that the eunuch was reading. Then, coming in right on the heels of this messianic prophecy is the prophecy of the Church in the Old Testament. God called the eunuch, the Ethiopian Eunuch, around 700 years before we find him on the road in the book of Acts! This is the birth of the Gentile church and while it was hidden, it was there all along.

Remember, eunuchs weren't even allowed into the temple, much less a foreign eunuch. This was God's promise that everyone could be redeemed when He established His New Covenant. Remember also that this passage from Isaiah is the one Jesus quoted when he drove the money changers out of the temple.

Here's another interesting thing. The angel told Philip to go, and go he did. But he had no idea why. The Bible says that when Philip got there, the Holy Spirit directed him to go alongside the eunuch's carriage. Philip had to get to where he had been called before he received clear instructions on what to do. That's just something to think about.

One last thing I noticed about this story, it is a mini-picture of the Church Age. Philip (Christian) is carrying out the Great Commission (Go ye into all the world and preach My Gospel) when he is directed to the eunuch. He preaches the Word, salvation happens, baptism happens, then...the Rapture of Philip. So cool, right?

Acts 10, in my mind, can be considered the Gentile Pentecost. But the birth of the Gentile church started with an Ethiopian eunuch that God had foretold from ages past. It had to be an Ethiopian. It had to be a eunuch, and he had to be reading Isaiah where God promised him a memorial far greater than sons and daughters could give him. It would be everlasting. And just like the woman with the alabaster box, this man's story is included in God's Holy Word and told through the ages, all over the world. God is good!

Pick a Character, Write Yourself in: Part 1

2021-07-05T16:53:00.000-08:00

Folks, this is going to be a long one, Maybe the longest post I have ever written, but I think the message is important. It is also going to be one of several because there are several characters we are going to look at. This Bible story is one that I believe was given as a generic template that we can write ourselves into any character in it because, after the king is identified so we can have perspective, no character is mentioned by name. Even Jeroboam is called, 'the King' after we know where we are in history. The story is found in 1 Kings 13 and I'm going to give a little background and then include the passage.

David was the beloved king of Israel. When He died, his son Solomon ushered in the 'Golden Age' of Israel. The Bible says that gold and silver were as abundant as stone in Jerusalem during Solomon's reign. Solomon's son, Rehoboam, became king after him and it was the abundance of Solomon that caused Rehoboam problems.

The people asked Rehoboam to lighten the burden of taxation his father had placed on them. Rehoboam asked them to return in three days for his decision. He asked the old men that had counseled his father, Solomon, for advise. They told the king that if he would be good to the people and act as a servant to them that they would love him and always be his loyal subjects.

Rehoboam rejected the advise of the old men and sought the council of his buddies, the guys his age that he had grown up with. They told the king that he should tell the people that if they though his father was bad, just wait and see what he would do to them. Of course, this is exactly what Rehoboam did.

It just so happened that, three days later when the people returned for the king's decision, Jeroboam was with them. He had been raised up by Solomon because of his hard work. A prophet had come to Jeroboam during Solomon's reign and told him that God was going to tear the kingdom away from Solomon because he had become an idolater. Even in that, God would leave the Southern Kingdom with the descendants of David. In this prophecy, God promised Jeroboam that, if he followed God and obeyed His decrees and demands, He would make Jeroboam an enduring dynasty as He did David and He would give Israel (the Northern Kingdom) to him.

Jeroboam saw Rehoboam's harshness as the catalyst for rebellion, and it was. Everything went according to plan. God gave the Northern Kingdom to Jeroboam. Unfortunately, this is where Jeroboam veered from God's plan. He figured that if the people in the north still had to go to Jerusalem to worship and for the festivals, they would turn their backs on him and return to Rehoboam. So, he set up golden calves in Dan in the north of his kingdom, and Bethel in the south. This story starts in 1 Kings 11:26 and goes through 1 Kings 12. This brings us to our passage, and I'm going to include the entire 13th chapter of Kings from the New Living Translation:

1At the LORD’s command, a man of God from Judah went to Bethel, arriving there just as Jeroboam was approaching the altar to burn incense. 2Then at the LORD’s command, he shouted, “O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: A child named Josiah will be born into the dynasty of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests from the pagan shrines who come here to burn incense, and human bones will be burned on you.” 3That same day the man of God gave a sign to prove his message. He said, “The LORD has promised to give this sign: This altar will split apart, and its ashes will be poured out on the ground.”

4When King Jeroboam heard the man of God speaking against the altar at Bethel, he pointed at him and shouted, “Seize that man!” But instantly the king’s hand became paralyzed in that position, and he couldn’t pull it back. 5At the same time a wide crack appeared in the altar, and the ashes poured out, just as the man of God had predicted in his message from the LORD.

6The king cried out to the man of God, “Please ask the LORD your God to restore my hand again!” So the man of God prayed to the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored and he could move it again.

7Then the king said to the man of God, “Come to the palace with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift.”

8But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of everything you own, I would not go with you. I would not eat or drink anything in this place. 9For the LORD gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’” 10So he left Bethel and went home another way.

11As it happened, there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons came home and told him what the man of God had done in Bethel that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king. 12The old prophet asked them, “Which way did he go?” So they showed their father which road the man of God had taken. 13“Quick, saddle the donkey,” the old man said. So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it.

14Then he rode after the man of God and found him sitting under a great tree. The old prophet asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“Yes, I am,” he replied.

15Then he said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some food.”

16“No, I cannot,” he replied. “I am not allowed to eat or drink anything here in this place. 17For the LORD gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’”

18But the old prophet answered, “I am a prophet, too, just as you are. And an angel gave me this command from the LORD: ‘Bring him home with you so he can have something to eat and drink.’” But the old man was lying to him. 19So they went back together, and the man of God ate and drank at the prophet’s home.

20Then while they were sitting at the table, a command from the LORD came to the old prophet. 21He cried out to the man of God from Judah, “This is what the LORD says: You have defied the word of the LORD and have disobeyed the command the LORD your God gave you. 22You came back to this place and ate and drank where he told you not to eat or drink. Because of this, your body will not be buried in the grave of your ancestors.”

23After the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet saddled his own donkey for him, 24and the man of God started off again. But as he was traveling along, a lion came out and killed him. His body lay there on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. 25People who passed by saw the body lying in the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported it in Bethel, where the old prophet lived.

26When the prophet heard the report, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the LORD’s command. The LORD has fulfilled his word by causing the lion to attack and kill him.”

27Then the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey, 28and he went out and found the body lying in the road. The donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey. 29So the prophet laid the body of the man of God on the donkey and took it back to the town to mourn over him and bury him. 30He laid the body in his own grave, crying out in grief, “Oh, my brother!”

31Afterward the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. 32For the message the LORD told him to proclaim against the altar in Bethel and against the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”

33But even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways. He continued to choose priests from the common people. He appointed anyone who wanted to become a priest for the pagan shrines. 34This became a great sin and resulted in the utter destruction of Jeroboam’s dynasty from the face of the earth.

Today, we are going to look at the King in this story. He is the only one whose identity we can be assured of, but throughout the story, he is referred to as 'the King'.

He was in the process of establishing a false religion for God's people. Remember, God had promised him a dynasty that would rival the beloved King David, but this king was throwing it all away. He wasn't thinking with eternity in mind.

I believe that the King was trying to institute the worship of Yahweh by setting up the golden calves. Yahweh was known as the 'Bull of Israel' and if you read the story of the story of the Golden Calf in Exodus, you will see what I mean. Even after forging the idol, the people sat down to a feast to honor Yahweh.

The problem, beside the obvious that "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image," God prescribed the proper way to worship Him and it was to be done in Jerusalem in the Temple where He had put His name forever (2 Chronicles 33:7). You cant just come before the Lord any way you want to. As we say today, "Not all roads lead to God." And, not all ways of worship were acceptable, not even close.

Jeroboam really had nothing to lose by letting the people journey to Jerusalem for the feasts. He had been given God's word that He would be King of the 10 tribes, and it had come to pass. All he had to do was trust God's word.

Then, when a man of God travels from Judah to prophesy against what was going on, the king stretched out his had against the man of God and called for his arrest. As we see in the passage, his hand dried up, paralyzed, withered (depending on the translation you use).

The king instantly realized that it was God that had done this because he asked the man of God to pray that his hand would be restored. If he really believed in the golden calf whose altar he was consecrating, why didn't he just pray himself. After all, he was offering the incense, a task reserved for Levitical priests in Jerusalem.

So, who of us can plug ourselves into 'the King' character. I can see several ways he represents us. The first is his failure to believe God. He doesn't just not believe God in the abstract. He had been given a prophecy that he had seen fulfilled and he still didn't believe.

It's worse than that. He doesn't just not believe, he constructs his own belief system to justify himself. This is one of the most common perspectives you encounter if you try to lead a person to the Lord. They will say, "I'm a good person," or "The god of my understanding..." or some other nonsense.

This is what the Bible says (the undisputable Word of God, the Truth, the Sharp Sword).

There is non righteous, not not one (Romans 3:10).
For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not (Ecclesiastes 7:20).
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).

These verses bring us to the whole point. We can't do it our own way. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man can come to the Father but by Him (John 14:6).

We all have been given a promise by God, to be a child of the Kingdom just like the King in our story was promised a kingdom. We all have the opportunity to walk in the fulfillment of that promise because we saw the fulfillment at the cross, just like the King saw himself walk into the promise to be king. But we can't lose sight of the basis of that promise. The basis is the word of God.

What did God say about it? That is the way we should be walking.

OK, I think I'm done with the King in the story. The next character we will look at is the Man of God that went up from Judah. How might his story apply to us?

The Sign of Jonah

2021-06-15T15:27:00.002-08:00

I'm just going to say again how much I love the way that God has layered His word. We are going to look at how an Old Testament story is relayed in the New Testament and see if God hasn't hidden a nugget in there that we may have missed.

Twice in the book of Matthew (Matthew 12:39, 16:4) and once in Luke (Luke 11:29), Jesus refers to the sign of the prophet Jonah. The context in Matthew is that the Pharisees demanded a sign. In Luke it was in a more general context, but Jesus tells them that no sign will be given except that of the prophet Jonah.

It is interesting that Jesus had been doing miracles and healing the sick right up to that time. It's just that the Pharisees were so entrenched in their belief system, they couldn't believe that their Messiah could come in a way they hadn't conceived.

In other words, He had given them sign after sign. The blind were given sight (prophesied in Isaiah 29:18, 35:5, 42:7), the deaf were made to hear (prophesied in Isaiah 29:18, 35:5), the lame leapt like deer and the mute were given speech (prophesied in Isaiah 35:6). He had fed the hungry in the wilderness like Moses. What more could they ask? But ask they did.

What was so different about the Pharisees asking for a sign and say, Gideon asking for signs in Judges chapter 6? Gideon knew he was dealing with God. That was not in question. He was showing self doubt. "God, do you really want me? I mean ME? Really?"

The Pharisees wanted proof. They were quite certain of themselves. The one they doubted was God. That is the difference.

So in Matthew 12:39, we get the verse:

But Jesus replied, "Only and evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the Prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgement day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent."

And now let's look at the actual story of Jonah. He was a prophet that lived sometime before the time of Jeroboam II in the Northern Kingdom, also known as Israel. There is no doubt that he was a real person because, not only does Jesus refer to his story as true, he is mentioned in I Kings 14:25 as a prophet.

His book is only four chapters long and is a good read. In it we find that God called him to go to Nineveh and preach God's judgment. What we need to remember is that Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria and the Assyrians were among the cruelest most oppressive people before or since that time and had already been a problem for Israel.

Because of this, Jonah hated the Assyrians and was not happy when he was called to preach to them even if the message was to be one of judgment. Jonah hopped a ship bound for Tarshish, commonly believed to be modern Spain. That was about as far from where God wanted him to be as possible and remain in the hemisphere.

On the way, a terrible storm rose and terrified the seasoned sailors who began praying to their gods, hoping that one of them would come to their rescue. They threw cargo overboard to lighten the ship, but nothing was helping.

All this time, Jonah was sleeping in the hold of the ship. The captain woke him and asked him how he could be sleeping at a time like this. The captain asked him to call on his god because obviously he was the one god they hadn't tried.

There was a lot going on. The sailors cast lots which showed Jonah as the reason for the storm. They asked what they were supposed to do and Jonah said, "Throw me into the sea and it will become calm."

Here's the kicker. The sailors just rowed harder. It seems that they didn't want to throw someone overboard. But the storm became more violent. They actually prayed to Jonah's god:

"O LORD," they pleaded, "don't make us die for this man's sin. And don't hold us responsible for his death. O LORD, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons." Johah1:14

With that, they picked him up and threw him overboard. At once the sea stopped raging and the sailors had a salvation experience. The Bible says they were awestruck and made sacrifices to the LORD and vowed to serve him.

The Bible says that God had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. So everyone just relax. Maybe it was a sperm whale. Maybe it was a megamouth shark or a giant squid. All sea creatures in Hebrew are called fish. But make no mistake, Jonah was swallowed by some large sea creature that God had prepared for that purpose.

The text also makes it pretty clear that Jonah died. The Bible says he cried out from the land of the dead, from the depths of the ocean, and that he sank down to the heart of the sea. It goes on to say he sank to the roots of the mountains and was imprisoned in the earth. I think the great sea creature swallowed a man that had already drowned. When Jesus said that Jonah was three days and nights in the great fish, the Pharisees knew what He was talking about.

Jonah's story didn't end there. After Jonah prayed from the place of the dead, God ordered the fish to spit him out on the beach. Most people will tell you that Jonah's appearance alone after being in that fish for three days was enough to bring Nineveh to repentance. However, if you look at a map, Nineveh was very far inland. I mean, it was on the bank of the Tigris river, but the Bible doesn't say the fish spat Jonah at Nineveh. God basically told Jonah, now that he had made His point, to get up and go on to Nineveh.

So far we have the obvious reference Jesus made to as the sign of Jonah. It was the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. No one argues with that because Jesus said so right in the text of Matthew. But I think that is only the surface interpretation. I think Jesus would point to the whole book of Jonah as a sign for the Pharisees. You see, whereas Jonah represented the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus on one hand, he also represented the hard hearts of the Pharisees on the other.

When Jonah gave his simple message to Nineveh, "Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed!" the people believed. The Bible said that from the least to the greatest, King to cattle, put on sackcloth and repented before the LORD. This caused God to change His mind and not carry out His judgment.

Jonah got very angry. Check out what he said to God:

Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Jonah 4:2

Jonah was furious that God didn't destroy the Ninevites. It was more than the fact that Jonah hated the Assyrians, God had just made him a false prophet.

This is where we come into the second sign found in the book of Jonah. God asked Jonah,

Is it right that you are angry about this? Jonah 4:4

Jonah went storming off to the east side of the city to see what was going to happen. God arranged for a large plant with broad leaves to grow quickly and work as a shade plant for Jonah. The Bible says that Jonah was grateful for the plant.

Then God arranged for a worm to come the next morning and eat through the stem of the plant, killing it. On top of that, God affected the weather and sent a scorching wind and the sun beat down on Jonah's head.

For the third time, Jonah wished to die. I forgot to mention that. Jonah was always saying, "Just kill me now!" The first time was on the boat, the second time was after he accused God of mercy, and now that his plant was dead.

Let's just see what the Bible says now

Then the LORD said, "You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?"

The second sign of Jonah was the salvation of a people that were not God's people as predicted by Moses in Deuteronomy 32:21

They have roused my jealousy by worshiping things that are not God; they have provoked my anger with their useless idols. Now I will rouse their jealousy through people who are not even a people. I will provoke their anger through the foolish Gentiles.

Jesus came to save the world, something that the Pharisees could not get their heads around, even though the Old Testament prophesied it over and over, and gave us a clear picture of how God felt through Jonah and Nineveh.

Thank God for His mercy for us.

God Rides With the Angel of Death

2021-05-31T15:08:00.008-08:00

I was looking up the verses I needed to do my communion post the other day and was blown away by something I read. I did a little side study that almost found its way into the communion post. But I realized it took away from that point and needed to be visited all on its own.

I was reading about the first Passover in the 12th chapter of Exodus. As God was instructing Moses about how to prepare, He said that He was going to pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and male animal in Egypt.

Before we go on the the Death Angel, lets talk about why God struck down the firstborn of Egypt. This is another one of those passages that cause people call God genocidal or cruel. They tend to forget the nine plagues that came before, each one giving the Egyptians an opportunity to repent and do the will of God.

Not only that, Pharaoh (who was considered and worshipped as a god) had had all the male babies of the Israelites thrown into the Nile when Moses was born. We reap what we sow. But even then, Moses warned Pharaoh what God was going to do. Pharaoh was given a 'heads up' so to speak.

History shows that the people worshipped Pharaoh as a god. If he really had divine powers, he could have stopped the God of Israel from killing the first born. Also, if he knew he was only a man because he wasn't able to stop the other nine plagues, he could have relented or even repented. We all know what happened when Nineveh repented under the preaching of Jonah. The judgment was stayed.

Pharaoh did not relent, but some in Egypt did. The Bible says that when the plague of hail came, some of Pharaoh's officials feared the Lord and brought in their livestock and servants. We also read that a mixed multitude left Egypt with the Israelites when it was all over.

The thing that struck me in reading this story this time is that as God is telling Moses the preparations, He says that He will strike the first born. He said this several times. But later we see that if God sees the blood on the doorframe, He will not allow the death angel/destroyer to enter. As I said, this struck me. A close reading of Exodus 11 and 12 reveal that God rode with the destroyer and it was God that prevented the death of the firstborn of those in the houses marked with blood.

My brain screamed, "There's a verse! Where is that verse?!" I began looking and found what I was looking for. It is Habakkuk 3:4-5, which says:

His coming is as brilliant as the sunrise. Rays of light flash from his hands, where his awesome power is hidden. Pestilence marches before him; plague follows close behind.

As I said before, I did a little word study. The word used for pestilence here is indeed the same word that is used for the plagues of Egypt. The word plague here means: fever, fiery darts. Strong's says

"by analogy lightning; figuratively, an arrow, (as flashing through the air): specifically, fever:"

What I find even more interesting is that the words used here in Habakkuk, Resheph and Deber, are the names of ancient Canaanite deities. Two articles confirming this are here and here.

That just blew my mind. We know that fallen angels and demons are principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12), but did we ever stop to wonder where that idea came from? Here you go. Oh by the way, Deber is the disease mentioned in Psalm 91:3 :

For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.

This passage is reinforcing the fact that God stands between you and literal spiritual enemies.

This also reinforces what we learn in Job. No matter what comes our way, God is in control. He rides with the Death Angel and the Destroyer. He turns them away or allows them in because He alone has the final say.

God is God and there is none other. He is loving and merciful, but He is also just. I pray we all find ourselves on the right side, God's mercy through Jesus, and not on the side of God's justice by our rejection of Him.

Communion

2021-05-29T11:23:00.003-08:00

I want to give a moment to the Lord's Supper or Communion. What is it? Why do we do it? What does it mean? I'm betting there is more to it than you think, even if you grew up in church.

For those who grew up in or are familiar with church, you know what taking communion is. It is partaking of the bread (or wafer) and wine (or juice) to commemorate Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take this and eat it, for this is my body." And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, "Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. Matthew 26:26-28

This 'meal' was the Passover which came to be known as the Seder. For thousands of years, Jews around the world sit down on the first night of the week of Passover to share a meal of lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread. Other elements have been added over the centuries but lamb, bitter herbs and unleavened bread were part of the original meal.

The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for many years. God sent Moses to deliver them. When Moses asked, Pharaoh to let God's people go, Pharaoh said, "No."

God sent a series of plagues on the land of Egypt. At the final one, God told Moses to get ready. This final plague was going to be so bad that not only would Pharaoh let them go, the people of Egypt would throw wealth at them, but it would require preparation.

While the Israelites were likely afflicted by the first three, milder plagues, they were spared from suffering the more serious plagues of four through nine. However, this final plague would have no mercy. If one didn't prepare in the way the Lord instructed, the firstborn of their family and even their animals, would die.

The Israelites were to select a lamb, kill it, paint the doorposts and lintel with blood and then eat the lamb—all of it.

If the lamb was more than a family could eat, they were to invite another family to share. Whatever wasn't eaten was to be burned up before the next morning. This was the first of the seven Israelite festivals that were given by God.

Then we come to the book of Leviticus. The entire book gives the priests instructions on how to serve before the Lord and for the people. They were told how to identify leprosy, how to make sacrifices for particular occasions, how to celebrate the festivals, and how to judge righteously among the people among other things.

Much of Leviticus is dedicated to the types of sacrifices one should give and on what occasion they should be given. People tend to overlook the fact that, aside from what God required to be burned up, the fat around the organs, the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver for instance, the rest of the animal was to be eaten by the priests, with one exception. That exception was the peace offering.

The peace offering was given by someone out of the love of God, closure of a vow, or thanksgiving like for an answered prayer. Peace offerings were to be consumed by God (His part on the altar), the priests (certain parts were for them), and the giver. The person giving the offering ate the rest of the animal and could share it with their family or guests. This offering was also known as, I kid you not, the Communion Offering.

All those passages in the Bible where David or Solomon slaughtered thousands of bulls and other animals as offerings, like when the Tabernacle returned or the Temple was consecrated, were peace offerings. All of Israel feasted and fellowshipped with God at those times. They ate the offerings.

The Peace Offering was given by God as a way for people to have intimacy or communion with Him. It wasn't about sin or ritual. It was just sharing a meal with your God.

In the book of John, chapter 6 and starting in verse 30, we read a passage that can be disturbing. We know that those who heard Jesus speak it thought it was difficult because the Bible says that many of his disciples turned away and deserted Him. It is a long passage so I'm going to summarize it, but it is linked. I encourage you to read it.

This incident occurs right after the feeding of the 5,000. I have a post on that you can read here. Jesus had given bread and fish to all the people that were following him. John tells us that the people were ready to force Jesus to be their king, so He slipped away.

The disciples waited for Jesus, but when He didn't come, they got in the boat and headed across the lake. This is where Jesus walked on the water.

The next day, the people that Jesus had fed began to look for Him. The got in boats and went to the other side and found Him. Jesus told them their hearts, that they were following him for the bread and not because of the miracles. This starts the passage of interest for this study.

After telling the not to be concerned with perishable things like food, He encourages them to seek eternal life given by the Son of Man.

The people ask to be able to perform the miracles that Jesus performs but Jesus tells them that there is only one work that God wants from them. They are to believe on the one He has sent.

Believe this or not, they ask for a miraculous sign. This is where Jesus tells them that He is the bread of life and whoever eats will never be hungry again. Remember, I'm skipping a lot here for the sake of brevity.

The people began to murmur about the things Jesus was saying. Jesus tells them again that He is the bread of life. He said:

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh. John 6:51

The people found this hard to swallow, no pun intended. Jesus continued:

My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. John 6:55-56

As I said before, this caused many of his followers to depart. Jesus asked the twelve of they would leave too. Simon said:

Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. John 6:68

I hope this helps you can see the significance of communion. Jesus is the Passover lamb that must be eaten. But we forget that He is also the peace offering that is eaten to commune with God and others. Jesus is the bread of life.

I like the way the King James Bible puts John 6:55:

For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

It is a hard saying, but who ever said that the truth was easy?

"Ego is a False Prophet"

2021-05-24T13:24:00.005-08:00

I am visiting my kids and sister in Knoxville, Tennessee. It has been a blast. I attended a church while here. It wasn't as big as my church in Wasilla, Alaska, which was fine. But because of its size, I was surprised to find out that the worship leader was Chris Blue, the winner of season 12 of The Voice. Needless to say, the music was beautiful.

The church was in the middle of a series on 'Elijah the Bold.' I don't know if they planned that they would end up at the story of Elijah calling down fire and defeating the prophets of Baal on Pentecost Sunday, but there we were.

As the minister mounted the platform, a phrase came on the screen where the words to the songs and the scriptures being read appear. The phrase was, "Ego is a false prophet." I later found out that this is a quote from some author but that didn't take away from the fact that I was stunned in that moment. I don't remember ever hearing anything so true and well put. It is the original sin.

I want to explore this a little bit even though it is pretty obvious on its face. I don't think that ego is a false prophet, it is THE false prophet. All sin proceeds from the ego. Let me not assume everyone knows what the ego is. Let's explain the term briefly.

The dictionary definition is:

a person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance.

Another definition is:

the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity.

So, just as the phrase, "Ego is a false prophet," is self-explanatory on the surface but can be mined for deeper meanings; the two definitions of ego show what I'm talking about. The first definition shows us that if ego is my sense of self-importance and ego is a false prophet, I likely think too highly of myself. That is the face value of the statement.

The second definition, however, is where the gravy is. It shows us that our perceived reality is a false prophet of ego also. Maybe we see ourselves as victims that leads us into false prophecy. Maybe we see ourselves as underdogs deserving more than our lot and that becomes our false prophecy. Either way, it is all rooted in self.

I am not saying that real injustices don't exist. We have all experienced injustices, some much worse than others. It is how we respond to those injustices that exposes our prophet. Who are we listening to?

The only way to navigate this minefield is the Word of God. The Bible is called a mirror by James. We look into it and see the truth of ourselves. The Bible says that all of us have sinned. We have all like sheep gone astray and there is none righteous. The mirror of the Word tells us that no matter how highly we think or ourselves, we need a savior.

The Bible also shows us how to look at others. We need to look at others the way God does.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

Jesus did that. That is how He sees people.

We are told over and over in the Bible to lay down our lives, crucify our flesh, take up our cross. These verses are our prophets if we allow them to be. These are the words that help keep our egos at bay.

So, the next time you feel violated, and maybe your have been, don't listen the the false prophet of ego. Listen to what God says, things like you are loved and all things work together for good for those that love God.

God, help us to remember your word...

Don't worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong.
For like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither.
Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the LORD and he will give you your heart's desires.
Commit Everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.
He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.
Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.
Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper— it only leads to harm.
For the wicked will disappear. Though you look for them, they will be gone.
The lowly will possess the land and will live in peace and prosperity.
The wicked plot against the godly; they snarl at them in defiance.
But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming... Psalm 37:1-13

Antichrist Isn't What We Think

2021-05-19T16:12:00.007-08:00

I am going to write about something that I think is important, though others may not. It is the error in most people's thinking of the Antichrist.

There are two concepts put forth in the Bible that get confused. I believe it is largely because the folks in my generation continue to read the Bible through their 'Hal Lindsey' spectacles. I mean no disrespect to Hal Lindsey. After all, his book, The Late Great Planet Earth, was instrumental in my coming to Christ. I spent many years studying the Bible through the pre-tribulation mindset that he did such a good job of putting forth.

Somewhere along the line, I started seeing inconsistencies. I couldn't square up the doctrine I held dear, with the Bible that I held dearer. I decided, and it was a gradual process, to start reading the Bible with preconceived doctrine out of my mind.

I should say right here that putting preconceived doctrine out of my mind doesn't mean I discard all doctrine, and I will never abandon the creedal beliefs. I have never read anything in the Bible that would lead me to think that the standard Christian beliefs about God, Jesus, salvation, Heaven, etc. are incorrect. It is just that my views about the end times, and a few other things, were a little off.

I think that the idea of the Antichrist is one of those concepts that help us fall into error concerning last days teachings or eschatology to use the proper term. I am going to attempt to explain what I mean in the following paragraphs.

The word 'antichrist' is only used four times in the Bible. They are as follows:

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 1 John 2:18
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 1 John 2:22
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 1 John 4:3
For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 2 John 1:7

That's it, Folks. These are only four verses that contain the word antichrist in the entire Bible. Notice what these verses do not describe. They do not describe the Beast that rises up out of the sea in Revelation 13. That chapter tells of a savage beast with seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns. Each head had names that blasphemed God.

We have confused antichrist with the Beast system. Notice how the King James Bible doesn't capitalize any of the uses of the word antichrist. Some other translations capitalize the word in the first verse and/or the last verse, but even if the word is supposed to be capitalized, as in, "You have heard that the Antichrist shall come...", based on the other uses wouldn't it be better to conclude that the spirit of the Antichrist is deception?

All uses of this word in 1st and 2nd John are in the context of lying deceivers and false teachers in the Church. It seems to me that if we are going to apply the term 'Antichrist' to anyone, it should be the one we commonly call the False Prophet who deceives the people into worshipping the Beast with signs and lying wonders.

Daniel chapter 7 speaks of four beasts that come up out of the sea, just like the beast in Revelation 13 rises from the sea. Daniel's fourth beast was terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. That beast had horns which represent power. Three of the horns were uprooted by a 'little horn'. The little horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth speaking great things. There, my friends, is your Antichrist figure, the Little Horn. He is part of the 'terrible beast' which is the 'Beast system of the end times world.

Most Evangelicals today believe that the Little Horn, or Antichrist as most know him, will come as a messiah figure to the Jews because they are looking for a false Christ. The Bible tells us that false Christs have been around since John's time. What we should be looking for is a dreadful, terrifying, oppressive figure wielding power and comes representing the Beast System of the world.

The Old Testament refers to the Antichrist figure as the Assyrian over ten times. The Assyrian was not a false messiah, but a tyrannical oppressor. The Assyrians came against Jerusalem under King Hezekiah. He had just seen the Assyrians overthrow the northern kingdom of Israel, so he tried to pay them off. The Bible says that King Hezekiah even stripped the gold off the doors of the Temple to appease King Sennacherib of Assyria. It didn't work.

King Sennacherib sent his representatives to the wall of Jerusalem. They mocked God, told the Jews that they were worshipping God all wrong, and that the God of the Jews had sent them, the Assyrians, to bring judgment.

The representatives of King Hezekiah asked the Assyrians to please speak to them in Aramaic. They understood Aramaic but the others on the wall didn't and they didn't want the others to understand what the Assyrians were saying. This is what the Assyrians answered:

Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine... Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! This is what the King says, "Don't let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my power. Don't let him fool you into trusting in the LORD by saying, 'The LORD will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!'" Don't listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me-open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well. 2 Kings 18:27-31

Let's compare what it says just one book back in 1 Kings 4:25:

And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. 1 Kings 4:25

In the first passage, the Assyrians make all kinds of promises. Remember, Assyria was one of the most brutal regimes to ever exist. They were extreme even by ancient standards of cruelty. Yet, here they are, promising prosperity and safety for the Jews even as they were the invading army at the walls; whereas under King Solomon, peace and prosperity was made apparent by everyone actually having their own vine and fig tree.

The other thing that caught my eye is that the Assyrian king was trying to 'one-up' the God of Judah. He included wells of water in the promise. This made me stop and wonder, why?

The Assyrian was offering salvation. Not just surface salvation, but all-encompassing. It is something on a spiritual level. God promised us living water in passage after passage in the Old Testament. Jesus says that He gives living water in John.

The point of the story is that what we know as the Antichrist is actually the Little Horn on the head of the Beast system. He will likely make promises of salvation, but it will be as he is standing at the gate with his his terrifying army. The promises will sound good and will tickle the ears of the people. Just remember one thing, the enemy king is a liar.

Revelation of God's Goodness

2021-05-08T12:45:00.004-08:00

I have spent my life struggling to believe in the goodness of God. I know Jesus died for me. I know the bible says the He has numbered the hairs of my head and that He is longsuffering. But, likely because of my upbringing, it is easier for me to relate to the God of wrath and judgment.

It has always been easier for me to believe He would say, "You better tow the line, Woman, or prepare for Hell's fire!" than for him to say, "Enter in, thou good and faithful servant."

There has been a journey God has taken me on in the last couple of months. That journey has solidified something in my heart that I'm going to try to share with you today. God is Love.

We learn this in Sunday school. We sing 'Jesus Loves the Little Children,' and 'Jesus Loves Me,' but somehow it just didn't stick with me. I knew it in my head but never quite got it into my heart. It was the fear of God that brought me to the cross.

In fairness, I have been touched and even overcome by God's love at times in my life, but it was something that passed with the end of the prayer, or the church service, or whatever.

I was at a prayer meeting at a friend's house recently. We take turns reading scripture that God has laid on our hearts and praying into those scriptures. I was reading Psalm 103, probably at her request I don't remember for sure. But as I read, I was smitten with the love of God and just began to weep.

I thought that it was just one of those things, profound but passing. It was not. That psalm lingered in my heart and I found myself rereading it time and time again. Here are a few of the verses that slapped me with the love of God:

He does not punish us for all our sins, he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Psalm 103:10-14

I must say that the line, "He remembers we are only dust," is the one that moved me to tears.

Not long after, I was reading Lamentations. I don't even remember why. It may be because a verse came to mind and I went looking for it. Whatever the reason, I know that the Lord led me there because I had forgotten this passage:

The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:19-23

Now, I am not suffering nor am I homeless, but I have been. I remember bitter despair and hopelessness. God is truly faithful and I have made it through because of His goodness. His mercies are truly new every morning. Great is His faithfulness!

Then, there was this song. It has been out for a little while and I'm sure I heard it before, even at church but, it just wrecked me when I heard it recently. It is called "The Goodness of God." Here are a couple of lines:

I love you, Lord. Oh your mercy never fails me.

All my days, I've been held in Your hands.
From the moment that I wake up Until I lay my head,

Oh, I will sing of the Goodness of God.
Cause all my life you have been faithful,

And all my life You have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able,

Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.

Of course, I can't leave out the mentioning the visiting preacher, Ivan Tait. He was preaching on being an overcomer by using the Word of God. How he came to the part where he said, "Your value was established by the price God was willing to pay for you," is beyond me, but he said it, and expounded on it for a minute.

Think about that! God established your value by the price He was willing to pay for you. And what did He pay? He gave His only begotten son, God in the flesh, as a price to redeem you and me. How can we doubt His love? He proved it on the cross.

The cross was not some abstract idea or metaphor. It is a historical event. A man named Jesus of Nazareth was given over to the Romans, was tortured, and killed by the gruesome means of crucifixion. No one, secular or otherwise, disputes that. I have other posts that speak to the fact that He was God in the flesh. That isn't my point today. My point today is the deep, deep love of Jesus.

I'm so thankful that God has given me this revelation of His love. I know now that is it His love that demands justice, and His mercy that requires recompense; but it is always love first.

There are two things we should remember. The first is:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

The second is:

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8

Now, let me rewrite the first verse with the second in mind:

God is patient and kind. God is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. God does not demand His own way. He is not irritable and He keeps no record of being wronged. God does not rejoice about injustice but he rejoices whenever the truth wins out. God never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

That is the true God and the one we should remember in our trials.

An Unexpected Journey Through the Ten Commandments

2021-04-28T16:49:00.001-08:00

I was listening to a teaching on the book of Exodus recently. When we arrived at the Ten Commandments, the teacher camped for a few minutes. He spoke about how we can understand the laws God gave us as wedding vows. He reminded us that these laws aren't just God being a tyrant but that we are all aware that these are for our own good.

As he went through each commandment, the Lord did as he does for us sometimes. He gave me revelation beyond what was being taught. As the teacher spoke of how the first four commandments are toward God and the final commandments are toward others, God showed me the commandments as a journey. I’d like to share that journey with you.

The first commandment is:

You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:3

This is our starting point. This journey cannot begin unless we know God as He really is. He is the Creator God (Genesis 1:1)). He is the God above all other Gods (Psalm 95:3). There is none like Him (Jeremiah 10:6). We cannot navigate through the rest of the commandments until we put God where He belongs in our hearts, and that is first.

When we don’t place God first, it is idolatry. We may not think that this is the case but I assure you it is. God created us to worship. We are always worshiping something and we will always place something first.

Think of it as a ladder or a pyramid, but there is only room at the top for one. We are most prone to place ourselves in that position, but it can be anything: money, work, physical pleasure, food, the list goes on. But when we place God where He belongs, at the top, everything else falls into place.

Commandment number two says:

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. Exodus 20:4

We have established who God is and his place in the universe, now we come to the next stop in our journey. And while we now know where He belongs in our life, we can’t truly conceive Him. He is beyond our reckoning. Remember, everything you can see or touch, everything you have ever heard about or even imagine (because everything you imagine is influenced by what you know) was created by Him. The vastness of space and the beautiful galaxies and nebulae there, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench and all the undiscovered things there, nothing in the created world can compare to Him. We are not to try to fit him in a box by giving Him attributes of the very things He created. That would be absurd, except for one thing. We are created in His image.

People are supposed to be able to see God in us, not some carved idol. We are imagers of the God of the universe. The way God chose to reveal Himself to the entire universe was through us, mankind. The Bible says that angels are eagerly watching these things happen, 1 Peter 1: 12.

Can an animal or some hybrid as portrayed in ancient sculptures manifest God’s plan in the universe? No, mankind, made in the image of God Himself is how God chose to reveal His love, His vast mercy, and even His justice to the entire universe.

The second commandment helps us realize that we, as the imagers of God, are not to look for that His image elsewhere. When we realize who and what we are, we are ready to take the next step in our journey.

The third Commandment says:

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain. Exodus 20: 7

This is probably the least understood of all the commandments. Most people think that saying, “Oh my god!” is breaking this commandment. This is not the case, although using the actual name of God as slang or a curse word, is a different story. It really does make me cringe to hear people use the name of the Lord Jesus when they are cursing. Even worse than that, they tend to divide the Jesus and the Christ with some horrible or mocking expletive. They will indeed be held accountable for this and it certainly violates this commandment. But it doesn't necessarily violate the commandment in the way you think.

There are many verses that give us insight into the importance God places on His name. There are three verses in one chapter of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 20:9,14, 22) where God says He acts for the sake of His name. There is another verse in Ezekiel where God lets the people know that He isn't doing anything for them, but for the sake of His Holy Name (Ezekiel 36:22).

These are only a few. The prophets are full of verses like these and since I think everything after Deuteronomy is just insight and commentary on the Torah, let's go to Leviticus for some foundation on the subject.

Leviticus 18:21 says:

"And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord." KJV

This is what the New International Version says:

"Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord."

We aren't going to go into the atrocity of child sacrifice here, but we are looking at how God views this detestable act. It profanes His name. There is an aspect of the Third Commandment that is tied to our behavior. We shame the name of God when we are ungodly.

According to the Strong's Concordance, the word 'vain' in the Third Commandment means: emptiness, vanity, falsehood, lying, worthlessness of conduct. Wow, most of us never get past that 'empty' definition to the 'action' aspect of the word.

I think that it is interesting that Strong's concordance includes lying and falsehood in the definition. Remember where Jesus said that we aren't supposed to swear by anything, but let our 'yea be yea and our nay be nay?' (Matthew 5:37). It would almost seem that lying or breaking a vow is part of that whole 'vain' thing in the Third Commandment.

The point is, vain doesn't just mean 'without cause' as in don’t say God’s name without cause. It indicates an action. Remember 'worthlessness of conduct' was part of the definition.

Now comes the clincher for me. The Commandment says,

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”

How does Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible define the word 'take' in the above commandment? It means:

" to bear, to lift, to carry, to take (as in take with you)."

That, my Friends, is the heart of the matter. To speak or utter is not included in the definition. Go ahead, search it online. Strong's number is 5375. When the commandment says to take the name, it means to carry.

Now do you see how this is part of our journey? We recognize God as who He is. We realize that we are His image and are not to try to make Him into any other. Then He sends us forth bearing His name. We carry it. His name represents His nature, His authority, and even His reputation. Remember what He said in Leviticus? “Don’t do this detestable thing and profane my name.”

Commandment number 4 is tricky and says:

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. Exodus 20:8-11

I’m not going to argue the merits of Saturday over Sunday worship. I’m not going to tell you that you can pick a day and make it your Sabbath. But I am going to tell you two things about the Sabbath.

First, it is the Lord’s Sabbath and it is one of the Ten Commandments. It is important. Not only that, it predates the Sinai Covenant, it predates the Abrahamic Covenant and goes all the way back to creation.

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished. Genesis 2:1-2

So, what is the significance of this commandment? How is it a part of our journey? It marks us. It sets us apart.

The second thing I want to share about the Sabbath is, whatever day you choose, Jesus is our Sabbath. He said:

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

The Lord of the Sabbath Himself explains that He is the rest for our souls.

The Sabbath is what kept the Jews a distinct people all through their exile. It was how everyone knew that they were different. That means that this commandment ties in with commandment number three. Carry my name with honor and dignity, and be set apart.

Most people will say that commandment number five begins the separation of the commandments that are between us and God and those that are between us and others. It is much more than that. It is the transitory commandment, meaning it is not just toward others. Nor is it just toward God. It is both. This commandment says:

Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12

Our first relationship in this world is with our parents. How we treat them is a reflection of how we treat God, and ultimately others.

Commandment number five is different from all the other commandments. The Apostle Paul tells us that this is the first commandment with a promise (Ephesians 6:1-3). But if you read carefully, it is the only commandment with a promise. It lies in the place where God meets humanity in us. If we can learn to honor our parents, we will have no problem honoring God, and we will have far less problems showing honor to others.

Deuteronomy 32:6 tells us that God is our Father. Of all the many ways the Old Testament reveals God, the Rock, the Mighty one, Lord of Heaven’s Armies to name a few, Jesus shows us that Father is preferred for his children and that is grounded, I think, right here in the 5th commandment. If you come across someone who has no respect for their parents, you don’t have to wonder too much about their relationship with God.

Please know that I am aware of this broken world and that many have suffered at the hands of their parents. I’m not saying that we aren't to acknowledge these sins. I’m saying that when we know who God is, make sure we hold him in the proper place in our hearts, then we can forgive and heal. This in turn shows the world God’s mercy and forgiveness.

So you can see how I came to the conclusion that the Ten Commandments are a journey. We start at God. We embrace His image in us. We take on His name, meaning his reputation. Then we begin to show our respect and honor to God by the way we treat our parents, and this is the beginning of how we show God to the world.

Now comes the big steps outward as God’s representative.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.`` Exodus 20:13-17.

The world is looking on. Let us keep our perspective. Let us love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength; and let us love our neighbors as ourselves, as the images of God we are.