Have You Read Your Bible Today?

OT Tuesday: Golddigger or Lady of Faith?

The time of Judges was a tumultuous time in the nation of Israel, people were doing pretty much what ever they want, there was no centralized government and the law of the land (the Mosaic Law) was being obeyed only by the most devout. When things got real bad God would appoint a Judge to straighten things out, but the peace and order that the Judges actions brought rarely lasted. During this period a very bad famine spread across Judea. The famine was so bad that an Israelite family;  Elimelech his wife Naomi, and sons Mahlon and Chilion, move to Moab to escape starving.

While there in Moab Elimelch died and Naomi was left with her two sons who supported her. Eventually Mahlon and Chilion took wives as it was not forbidden for Jewish men to marry Moabite women. Mahlon married Ruth and Chilion married Orpah and they lived in Moab for 10 years. Then tragedy struck: both of Naiomi's sons Mahlon and Chilion  died. In these ancient days this is a tragedy of the worst kind. Very similar to custom in today's middle east, women didn't work outside of the house. Husbands provided for their wives, and sons provided for their widowed mothers. Now these three women were without any form of support. in Ruth 1:8-13 Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem and told her daughters-in-law to return to their families, which Orpah did, but in a display of love and devotion Ruth pledged herself to Naomi and to God. 

¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. ¹⁷ Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” (Ruth 1:16-17)

Emergent Monday: Pastor Oprah, Superstar

During her appearance on her April 23 2012 LifeClass Tour Oprah Winfrey professed twice to be a Christian during her introduction, which the media decided was proof enough that she was indeed a Christian. "My favorite Bible verse – because I am Christian – is Acts... something..." The Black Christian News Network suggested that Miss Winfrey was a "secret follower" of Jesus Christ and that those that doubt their word are modern day Pharisees. 

Allow me to school the Black Christian News Network for a moment. Attention BCNN: This isn't North Korea. Here in America where the only people being persecuted for freedom of speech is conservatives being persecuted by liberals for not aping their twisted versions of the truth by being called racists regardless of the content of the discussion. (Note to readers: If someone calls you a racist, you just won the argument) Allow me to remind you of what the Old Testament says about "secret followers" of Jesus: Psalm 34:2, and what the New Testament says about "secret followers" of Jesus: 1 Corinthians 1:31. If the Black Christian News Network actually took a look at Oprah they'd find that she's a "secret follower" of someone else.

Signs of the End Times

This article came from www.bibleprobe.com and is based on Ray Comfort's book "Nostradamus: Attack on America", I've taken a couple of liberties with the text, adding a few pertinent additions here and there, but the message is the same. And the message is as terrifying as it is inspiring. (And if you don't understand why I call it inspiring, drop me a line)

1. False Bible teachers would be money hungry. They would be smooth talkers, have many followers, and slur the Christian faith (2 Peter 2:1-3) You can see a quick rundown of some examples at my post here, and some extreme examples at: Fakemessiah.com (If these charlatans would have read James 3:1 they'd be pumping gas at the local Kum 'n Go and be praying nonstop for forgiveness)

2. Immortality would be increasingly evident at the end of the age (2 Timothy 3:3) Anyone with access to news knows that immorality is running rampant throughout our society, quite often with the blessing of our government. I've heard it said that the punishment on our society for encouraging abortion and gay marriage is abortion and gay marriage.

3. Earthquakes would be in diverse places (Matthew 24:7) Currently the number of earthquakes of a magnitude of 7.0 and above is constant, but the number of earthquakes below 7.0 is increasing, as is our ability to detect and locate them in places far from centers of civilization.

Schooling the (Self) Righteous

Pharisee: פְּרוּשִׁים - A member of an ancient Jewish sect that emphasized strict interpretation and observance of the Mosaic law in both its oral and written form. The word pharisee comes from the Hebrew parush which means "Set apart". The Pharisees were one of three major religious societies in Judaism during New Testament times. The other two were the Sadducees  and the Essenes. 

The Sadducees were responsible for the Temple maintenance in fact they used their  their high social status to usurp the priestly responsibilities as mandated by the Torah to the Levites. Saducees do not believe in resurrection, nor do they believe in angels, which is why they're sad, you see? They believe in a literal interpretation of the Torah. The Essenes were the smallest sect by far, they lived in communes and dedicated themselves to voluntary poverty, daily immersion, and abstinence from worldly pleasures, including (for some groups) celibacy. Think: Jewish monks.