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.

OT Tuesday: And the Walls Come 'a Tumblin Down

Last week on Old Testament Tuesday we discussed how Joshua had men scout the city of Jericho and with the aid of the harlot Rahab the scouts were able to bring valuable information back to the Israelites. 

Now the Israelite army is lined up at Jericho, a large city surrounded by a double ring of walls, the outer ring was 6 feet wide, the inner ring was 12 feet wide. Jericho was built on the top of a hill so it could only be taken by an army waging an uphill battle, which in the bronze age was tantamount to suicide. To take a city like Jericho the normal method would be to place the city under siege: surround the city with your army and block all traffic in and out, in essence to starve them out. A typical siege could last for months, or even years. However God had the fall of Jericho scheduled to happen in a week. 

After Joshua insured that everyone was circumcised and ready for battle (Joshua 5:2-8) and after Joshua had a little chat with Jesus (Joshua 5:13-15) (and look here if you missed it) God laid out his battle plan:

Emergent Monday: Dealing With The Devil

What would you do if next Sunday your pastor shows up with a publicly avowed satanist and introduces him/her/it as a Christian then allows him/her/it to expound to the congregation from the pulpit on the joys and wonders of satanism?

What would you do if you found out your church was accepting money from a atheist Nazi sympathizer who has publicly stated that he intended to overthrow the constitutional government of the United States?

What would you do if your church decided to invite a person that is still active as an "actor" in pornographic movies to address the church, not to witness how Jesus came into his/her life but to talk about the porn industry and how porn actors are just people like you? 

What would you do if your pastor announced a joint service with a religion that has based their entire theology on killing you for your beliefs? What would you do if your pastor preached in an attempt to convince you that except for that whole murdering thing and blasphemy of God and Jesus thing, this other person's religion is the same as yours?

What would you do Christian?

Who Is God?

Happy Valentines day! As you hold your loved one close today keep in mind that he/she is a gift from God Himself and He's feeling the same joy that you're feeling when you hold your loved one close and bask in his/her nearness.

Why do I say that your mate is a Gift from God? Because it is God's essential nature to love, and being made in His image it is in our nature to love also. God demonstrates this by giving us a partner that we can cherish as he cherishes us, but there's more. God demonstrates His love by lavishing it on undeserving people who are in rebellion against Him. God’s love is not a sappy, sentimental, romantic feeling. Rather, in Greek it is called agape love, which is the love of self-sacrifice.

For Lent I'm Giving Up...

From Ash Wednesday, which is today February 13 2013, to Maundy Thursday which falls on March 28th (and will be a future blog entry) Catholics and Christians celebrate the season of Lent. The 40 days of Lent are to commemorate Jesus' 40 days of temptation in the desert. During this time three traditional practices will be taken up with renewed vigor: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. I find it interesting that these three practices which Catholics and Christians are emphasizing during lent are the three major tenants of the Jewish religion. (Do you think the average catholic realizes that?)

Growing up a catholic in a very catholic area I was taught that the season of Lent was a big deal. Primarily everyone would give up something that you enjoyed; chocolate, ice cream, TV, what ever you enjoyed the most. It's a form of penance. And of course giving up meat on Friday was a big thing about the whole season. I'm not saying that we went vegan, we just gave up meat. Instead of bacon and eggs for breakfast we'd have bagels or cereal. Tuna sandwiches or PB&J were the mainstay for lunch and for dinner: Fish Fry! A traditional Western New York Friday fish fry is a thing of joy and wonder: a beer battered chunk of haddock big enough to cover a steak platter, cole slaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, french fries, a slice of rye bread, and enough tarter sauce to cover that flank of leviathan you're about to delve into. Anything less was completely unacceptable, and anything more was nearly impossible. 

OT Tuesday: Shady Lady of Jericho

(Note: with the heavy events of the past few days weighing on my mind; the pope resigning, the North Koreans detonating a nuclear device they built with technology given them by the Clinton administration, I decided instead of writing about the Psalm 83 war as I had intended, I would write about something a bit lighter. A prostitute.)

It was a tough time for for the Israelites as they stood on the border of their new homeland. There were many obstacles in their way and the first of them was the town of Jericho. Their leader Moses was gone, and he was the only leader the Israelites ever knew. Every single Israelite who had known anything except endless wandering in the wilderness was gone, it was now time to settle down.

As the Israelites camped by the Jordan river at a place called Shittim, their leader, Joshua, decided a little intel was in order so he had two men cross over the Jordan and scout out the land “especially Jericho.” he ordered them. So they went to see a prostitute and hung out at her house. You may think - 'Hey, after wandering the wilderness for forty years a little R&R may be in order' - but you'd be wrong. Joshua was an awesome commander, he didn't send Privates Sad Sack and Snafu into town for some time with the ladies, he sent men who knew what they were doing. 

Emergent Monday: Send In The Clowns

When people are called sheep in the bible, it's not really a compliment. Sheep are pretty clueless creatures, they walk around and eat grass and get dirty and need haircuts, but other than that their only  other redeeming quality is that they are edible, which combined with their dull wits make them the number one ingredient in wolf chow. To get them to go anywhere you need to smack them with a stick, and they tend to follow any large sheep (or goat) that's standing in front of them for no good reason what so ever. Even though it's a pretty good allegory for people and even though sheep aren't much smarter than the grass they're eating, the biblical references to sheep are affectionate references to followers of the Good Shepard, Jesus Christ.

Goats on the other hand, not so much affection there. Goats are the unrepentant sinners, the unbelievers, the spiritually dead. In fact the term goat in the bible is less than insulting, its damning:

³² All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; ³³ and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left...  ⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ (Matthew 25:32-43)

All Religions Reach God? FACT CHECK

I hear it over and over, there are many paths to the same God. Being a saved Christian my response is a hearty "Surely you jest!" but then I realized that the folks uttering this line never actually researched the issue, and if they did, they did it without discernment. Most likely they just aped the line that they heard their new age buddies uttering. 

The concept is simple, if you believe in a higher power you're obviously going to heaven when you die if you follow your religion's tenants. Interesting concept and if you don't look at it more deeply than what's listed in the previous sentence it makes sense. So let's fact check this claim:

Satanism: The only commandment in Satanism is "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" which was penned by the father of modern Satanism, Aleister Crowley. So in Satanism you do what ever you want then you go to hell. That pretty much blows this "all paths lead to God" concept out of the water. But let's press on:

THAT'S MY KING!

A few years ago SM Lockridge gave one of the most moving sermons I've ever heard. It's available here on Youtube, but I love it so much (can't listen without tearing up in joy) that I am posting a transcript:

The Bible says

He’s the King of the Jews
He’s the King of Israel
He’s the King of Righteousness
He’s the King of the Ages
He’s the King of Heaven
He’s the King of Glory
He’s the King of Kings
and He is the Lord of Lords
Now that’s my King!

Time Out

Lately I have been studying and blogging about spiritual warfare, which leads to all kinds of horrors that try the soul. Spiritual warfare is resisting, overcoming and defeating the enemy's lies (in the form of deception, temptations and accusations) that he sends our way. To understand the battle we are facing you have to know the deceptions, temptations, and accusations the infernal enemy is throwing at us. 

Recently I've expanded my study from the attack from within (meaning: the heresies of Emergent Church and other assorted wolves in sheep's clothing) to the attack from without (meaning Hollywood) Thanks to a series of videos and blogs I've studied in the past two days I am now repulsed by the idea of turning on the TV. I'm too horrified to turn on the radio. I don't ever want to listen to the news again. I just want to open my bible and read, read, read, and pray, pray, pray that my Lord takes me home soon. 

OT Tuesday: Nehushtan - Snake on a Stick

Have you ever been on a long trip where things just go from bad to worse? The journey where Moses led God's chosen people to the promised land should have taken just a matter of months, maybe a few years at the outside at a good walking pace, but due to internal bickering and quarreling it dragged on so long that with the exception of Joshua, no one who started the journey was able to end it.

After traveling 'way south through the Sinai peninsula, Moses had led his people back north to Kadesh where they met up with well marked roads which would make the journey easier. They sent out envoys to the nation of Edom and asked permission to pass through Edom on their way to the promised land but Edom denied them passage through their land threatening attack if the Israelites trespassed on their land.

Defeated, the Israelites headed south. Moses was probably in a pretty bad mood to begin with. First, his wife Miriam had died at Kadesh, and if that wasn't enough he was told by God that he would not enter the promised land for having not followed God's instruction at Meribah (Numbers 20:1-13). Now they have to avoid the land of Edom, what more could happen? Well, for one thing, Moses' brother Aaron died. He was buried on Mount Hor and his position of High Priest was transferred to his son  Eleazar. What more could happen?

Snakes, that's what. 

Emergent Monday: Sola Scriptura Fail

Sola Scriptura is Latin and it means "by Scripture Alone", it is the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness. This is not a denial of other authorities governing Christian life, but it demands that those authorities are found directly within the Bible or derived accurately from writings found in the bible. It demands that all other authorities are subordinate to the written word of God.

Sola Scriptura means that no other requirements for salvation are needed than those found in the Bible, which, in case you're playing along at home, is repentance of your sins, and faith in Christ. If a person believes that if he sings Ave Maria 520 times while holding Mother Teresa's rice bowl he will get into heaven, that's a very interesting belief, but it's not scriptural. Can you see this fellow standing before God on judgement day and God says "I only counted 519 iterations of Ave Maria, now let's talk about that weekend in Kansas city with the Elks lodge and the dancing girls from that nightclub..."

This [Bible] is the book untainted by any error; but is pure, unalloyed, perfect truth. Why? Because God wrote it. Ah! charge God with error if ye please; tell him that his book is not what it ought to be.

I have heard men, with prudish and mock-modesty, who would like to alter the Bible; and (I almost blush to say it) I have heard ministers alter God’s Bible, because they were afraid of it. Have you never heard a man say, “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not”– what does the Bible say?– “Shall be damned.” But that does not happen to be polite enough, so they say, “Shall be condemned.”

Gentlemen, pull the velvet out of your mouths; speak God’s word; we want none of your alterations. I have heard men in prayer instead of saying, “Make your calling and election sure,” say “Make your calling and salvation sure.” Pity they were not born when God lived far–far back that they might have taught God how to write.

Oh, impudence beyond all bounds! Oh full-blown self-conceit! To attempt to dictate to the All-wise–to teach the Omniscient and instruct the Eternal. Strange that there should be men so vile as to use the penknife of Jehoiakim to cut passages out of the word, because they are unpalatable. O ye who dislike certain portions of Holy Writ, rest assured that your taste is corrupt, and that God will not stay for you little opinion. Your dislike is the very reason why God wrote it, because you ought not to be suited; you have no right to be pleased.

God wrote what you do not like; he wrote the truth. Oh! let us bend in reverence before it, for God inspired it. It is pure truth. Here from this fountain gushes aqua vitae– the water of life– without a single particle of earth; here from this sun cometh forth rays of radiance, without the mixture of darkness. Blessed Bible! thou art all truth. - Charles Spurgeon March 18th, 1855.

Some Times You Feel Like A Nut

I wish I could listen to Glenn Beck's show, I really do. When he's talking about the rabid fatuousness that is pervading the current political climate he's dead on. Anyone that can make "Squirrel Worshiping Socialists" like James Cameron suffer stress incontinence just by reading said watermelon's exact quote on the air is all right by me. However when Glenn gets on the subject of the church it starts to get ugly.

Oh, sometimes he gets it right, a couple of years ago  on his TV show he said:

 "I beg you, look for the words social justice or economic justice on your church web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes! If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop and tell them, 'Excuse me are you down with this whole social justice thing?' If it's my church, I'm alerting the church authorities: 'Excuse me, what's this social justice thing?' And if they say, 'yeah, we're all in that social justice thing'--I'm in the wrong place."