tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61976530981454895522024-03-13T04:57:41.651-07:00SaltStanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-65734987807839386442019-11-10T17:09:00.000-08:002019-11-10T17:09:11.220-08:00Should One Trust The New World Translation?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_pZOE6sFaNA/XcizWzZTJDI/AAAAAAAACPI/AyQ91W5NgYIb0KuEj_IpsbHliZzQ-acGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/NWT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="160" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_pZOE6sFaNA/XcizWzZTJDI/AAAAAAAACPI/AyQ91W5NgYIb0KuEj_IpsbHliZzQ-acGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/NWT.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Okay Everbody, I have mentioned that for some time I walked with the Jehovah's Witnesses. However, God called me out of their organization and led me onto another path which has been a great benefit to me and enabled my growth as a Christian in the liberty of Christ. During that time I did believe that their<i> New World Translation</i> was the best and most accurate one on earth, to be trusted implicitly. But a funny thing happened on the way out the door.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">I started learning the Biblical languages to honor a vow I made to myself even before I got involved with the Witnesses as a teenager. At the time I'd found out that the King James Bible had thousands of errors in it, and, no, it wasn't a Witness who pointed that out to me, it was a fellow young Baptist who was a member of a conservative Baptist Church, much as I was at the time. I promised myself that I would learn the Bible Languages so no translator would stand between me and God's word. But my journey would take me first through disbelief, the occult world, and then Jehovah's Witnesses. Believe it or not, I am thankful to God for all those experiences as I believe all had a part towards preparing me for my spot in the Bride of Christ. But I digress.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">So, I exited the Witnesses by fading out. So, now what to do. My self-study of Koine was starting to bear fruit and I was beginning to read the New Testament using the Master Text by Farstad and Hodges. that reading left my understanding of God changed in important ways from what I was taught in the Watchtower. I grasped his love for mankind in general and the Church into which I've been enrolled in Heaven in particular. I've since grown.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Now, we all know the scholarly community condemns the New World Translation heartily and give people plenty of reasons not to trust it, some right, some wrong, such as John 1:1 where the NWT is correct and they are wrong. The NWT uses "torture stake" instead of "cross," It inserts the word "other" in Colossians 1:17 which does not appear in the Greek Text, and inserts God's Holy name, Jehovah, into the New Testament even though it doesn't appear anywhere in the Greek Text and so on and so forth. I could go on and on giving examples the scholars put forward for not trusting the <i>New World Translation</i> (NWT). But why should I ever do that when there is only one reason I need and you as well?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">When the Watchtower put out their CD Rom library I received it as eagerly as every one of my brothers and sisters did. I loaded it up on my computer and started reading the 1950 watchtowers as I know some others did. When I got to September I was in for a major shock! This has been scrubbed from the Watchtower indexes with the first mention of the reasons for a new translation being listed as 32 years later in the 1983 Watchtower. But it can be found right here on their website of JW.org: <a href="https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1950681" target="_blank">https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1950681</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Scroll down to Paragraph 9 in the article:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: WTMannaSans, Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 0.7em; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0.25em 0px 0px; text-size-adjust: none; vertical-align: top;">"9 </span><span style="font-family: WTMannaSans, Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">We acknowledge our debt to all the Bible versions which we have used in attaining to what truth of God’s Word we enjoy today. We do not discourage the use of any of these Bible versions, but shall ourselves go on making suitable use of them. However, during all our years of using these versions down to the latest of them, we have found them defective. In one or another vital respect they are inconsistent or unsatisfactory, infected with religious traditions or worldly philosophy and hence not in harmony with the sacred truths which Jehovah God has restored to his devoted people who call upon his name and seek to serve him with one accord. Especially has this been true in the case of the Christian Greek Scriptures, which throw light and place proper interpretation upon the ancient Hebrew Scriptures.</span><span style="font-family: WTMannaSans, Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><u> More and more the need has been felt for a translation in modern speech, in harmony with revealed truth,</u></span><span style="font-family: WTMannaSans, Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"> and yet furnishing us the basis for gaining further truth by faithfully presenting the sense of the original writings; a translation just as understandable to modern readers as the original writings of Christ’s disciples were understandable to the simple, plain, common, lowly readers of their day. Jesus reminded us that our heavenly Father knows the needs of his children before they ever ask him. How has he made provision for us in this need which we now keenly feel?" (underlining and Font color mine)</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">That is the only time the Watchtower has ever been candid and honest about why they produced <i>The New World Translation</i>, period. That in effect was an admission that they wanted a Bible which conformed to their own doctrine instead of a truly accurate one to inform their doctrine. If their doctrine were correct all they would need was one which was accurate and could be easily defended against all comers. But, instead, they openly admitted to producing one which bowed down to their teaching instead of the other way around, the proper way.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">Any time I see anything which smells of that written to explain why a translation was produced I immediately go on guard against it and I couldn't do any differently with the NWT. I did mention that there is much in it I agree with. I know that Frederic Franz was trained by New York Rabbis in Hebrew and they remained available to him for any question on the Tanakh or their beliefs and practices. I have that from two very different sources. And it is reflected in the quality of his work with the OT. The NWT actually clears up some of the apparent contradictions found in other Bibles. However, that doesn't make it a trustworthy Bible. Even in the Old Testament of that translation, one can find passages which reflect the theology instead of the Hebrew. And that is sad.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">So, the <i>New World Translation of The Holy Scriptures</i> is a Bible that cannot be trusted and should be used with care. And it is condemned <i>out of their own mouth</i>, not ours. that is why I don't trust it and no one else should either. We don't need to go combing through it looking for the bias, they've already done that for us, all we need to do is go right <a href="https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1950681" target="_blank">here</a> on their own website and go to paragraph 9 of the article.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">If you like this please share it on your social websites, blogs, etc. Let's get the word out as far and wide as we can.</span>Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-55111296731675245892019-05-25T12:09:00.000-07:002019-05-25T12:09:23.849-07:00God's Name In Christian Manuscripts.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Only a Jehovah's Witness who is also grounded in Hebrew could come close to imagining my feelings when I received the above image of Rev. 8-9a in my email from a friend of mine who checks around the net for newly published manuscripts online. It is from the Sloanne Collection in the Brittish Library and is Manuscript 237. It is from the 16th century but shows evidence of coming from a much more ancient line as it has Gods name in it, which no Jew would've dared insert had it not already been in the copy they were working from. This image also clarifies the Greek because it makes it clear that in that passage Yehovah is invoking both his name and its meaning, the one who "is, was, and will be, <i>and</i> come, the Almighty." Perhaps somebody can send the link to Dr. Rolf Furuli, who I'm sure will like this post about Christian manuscripts which contain God's name, and have it written out as "Yehovah."</div>
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The manuscript is incomplete, however, what appears to b the rest of it has been located, though, that will have to wait for another time. I don't have the credentials for ready access to many new discoveries and count on being in the good graces of some who do and they make their living as academics who have to publish. So I can't always share unless I am a discoverer myself or share that honor with somebody who will let me, or have permission. Recently, a number of manuscripts in several different styles of Hebrew writing were discovered and except for the one above where I didn't need it I've been given permission to share them with my friends. </div>
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The manuscripts are from a number of collections and I can't identify them all. But they include two of the Gospels, partials from John and Luke and complete copies of Jude and James The partial Gospels are in the Vatican Library and the other two in other collections. All are medieval to the 17th century, but oh what they have for us and what they imply! All but John contain the Divine name. I know there are some will argue against this, but that alone argues for two things, a Hebrew origin for most of the New Testament and that early Christians did use God's name, including when they wrote. So:</div>
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<b>Luke</b></div>
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The above image is the first page of Luke from the Vatican Library. The manuscript only contains the first 35 verses of Luke's Gospel and in a way is one of the most telling. That's because in those 35 verses it uses God's name, written out completely as Yehovah, 13 times. That makes it the one which uses God's name the most freely. This manuscript was found in a bin made up of pages which fell out of their manuscripts while being consulted.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EMq0kiVZSg4/XOmLwGIVFFI/AAAAAAAACDQ/Rs7vCrsYf4Myd0RaR2Cpe0MDrpKYHcQhwCLcBGAs/s1600/james%2B3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EMq0kiVZSg4/XOmLwGIVFFI/AAAAAAAACDQ/Rs7vCrsYf4Myd0RaR2Cpe0MDrpKYHcQhwCLcBGAs/s320/james%2B3.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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And this one is from the book of James in Hebrew in Rashi script making it possibly the oldest manuscript of the lot. God's name, written as Yehovah, is circled in red.</div>
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The questions is, what is Gods name doing there in those manuscripts and how did they get in there? Most scholars would say that the "translators" put them there on theological grounds. But that also leads to the question of how did they now to put the holems there given the trouble Jewish scribes went to hiding them?</div>
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Could it be that the scribes for these manuscripts were copying from much older manuscripts from much older lines of manuscripts? Jewish scribes would not have dared to remove the name from the text as they copied. Even the Shem Tov line of Matthew uses a shortened from of the name, a double yod, for the name in the places it occurred in the early manuscripts of that book.</div>
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We know that Matthew was originally written in Hebrew by the apostle. And we have a line of manuscripts, the Shem Tov, which may descend from the original, though in places that line was "corrected" to conform with the Greek manuscripts. The NT was translated into Aramaic at an early time, so it is likely the same happened to those books of Greek authorship into Hebrew as well since Christians in the Levant did speak Hebrew. These manuscripts, just like the Shem Tov Matthew, may tell us that God's holy name was used by Christians in the early days and was written in the NT by the authors of the NT.<br /><br /></div>
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<br />Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-8855156869379447262017-11-18T06:07:00.000-08:002017-11-18T06:07:03.435-08:00Hello, Again!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YYgahNZskQU/WhA0KOnaSjI/AAAAAAAABeo/okOHYTiR1Ywx_KNOCTi-7nprDCoqgNwrACLcBGAs/s1600/01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="665" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YYgahNZskQU/WhA0KOnaSjI/AAAAAAAABeo/okOHYTiR1Ywx_KNOCTi-7nprDCoqgNwrACLcBGAs/s320/01.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
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So, let's meet up, kind of...</div>
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We've already mentioned a few things about ourselves but we were asked for more. So here we are. We are a Christian of more than forty years of Christian living and study in God's word. In addition to God's wonderful word we are students of both the languages of the Bible and the earliest languages it was translated into such as Gothic and Coptic because those early versions of God's Word can give us insight into how those early Christians understood the Greek and Hebrew in their day. Such insight includes, for example, that John 1:1 was understood as "In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God and the Word was a god." (Both Sahidic and Bohairic Coptic, though, the latest scholars are trying to change that asserting the same "qualitative" argument for the indefinite article taken strait from Greek scholars) </div>
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We are a natural polyglot and speak a number of modern languages as well as the biblical. As such, we came to the conclusion years ago that the best way to understand the Bible is to learn what we can about the culture God picked to produce it, the Hebrew culture, in order to put ourselves into the shoes of those initially targeted by our heavenly father as recipients of his word and the Gospel. That effort has resulted in dividends as far as understanding the Bible.</div>
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For the part which was asked for, our fellowship is with the Bible Student Movement and we have no particular partiality to any one group in the movement. We do, however, fellowship with two of the more conservative classes and have worked to help a number of the more liberal in their international work. The reason we lean to the right is because most of the time we find that the founder of the movement (not to be confused with the Jehovah's Witnesses), Charles Taze Russell, wrote correctly about biblical issues most of time doing the best he could in an era where the understanding of Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic was still pretty much in its infancy with little beyond the Bible itself in the way of texts to help in understanding it available to Western scholars. Now, we have so much more to help us in our quest thanks to God!</div>
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What that means is that we reserve the right to disagree with what Russell wrote where we understand Greek and Hebrew better based on the plethora of material which has come to the fore, or where subsequent events demand an adjustment in our views as biblical prophecy plays out in God's way and not Russell's or ours. Our quest is for truth and insight into the Word of God that we may complete our race successfully and take our place in the Bride of Christ. This blog is a part of our ministry because we suffer from a very rare endocrine disorder which has pretty much isolated me to my house and you can find out more about it <a href="http://originalzebra.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a>. It is not about us, it is about our desire that all will in some way be helped by what time and reflection has helped us to see.</div>
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We are preparing a book based on some of the material we've already posted and are translating another book, the third volume in Bro. Russell's Studies in the Scriptures into Spanish. So our Father above has kept us filled and busy in his service.</div>
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So, there you have it, my readers, friends and Brethren. Up to this point we have let the articles stand on their own. Now you have the face behind the teaching.</div>
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Shalom!</div>
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Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-72693094091867956152017-05-12T13:10:00.000-07:002017-05-12T13:10:01.168-07:00"...In Fellowship With Him We Were Healed!"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>"He was pierced for our defiance; he was crushed for our crookedness; he bore the punishment for our peace; and in fellowship, with him, we were healed."</i> </div>
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Isaiah 53:5</div>
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<b>New Proposed Rendering</b></div>
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A pair of students of the Bible with an understanding of Hebrew were doing a study of the "suffering Messiah" passage in Isaiah (52:12-53:12) and had one of those "aha!" moments when they'd noticed something different about the text in Hebrew when compared with common translations and even a quotation of 53:5. The thing is the Masoretic Text reads as presented above. However, most English translations render the last clause as "and by his stripes, we were healed." Added to that is that the LXX translates it that way and Peter, or whoever later translated it into Greek if Peter originally penned it in Hebrew, used the LXX as their source for the quotation of this verse.</div>
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(Isa 53:5) וְהוּא֙ מְחֹלָ֣ל מִפְּשָׁעֵ֔נוּ מְדֻךָּ֖א מֵעֲוֹנֹתֵ֑ינוּ מוּסַ֤ר שְׁלֹומֵ֙נוּ֙ עָלָ֔יו <span style="color: red;">וּבַחֲבֻרָתֹ֖ו</span> נִרְפָּא־לָֽנוּ׃</div>
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The problem is a classical study in being careful when reading Hebrew to see what is there instead of what one expects to see. That's because the two words with such radically different meanings are so close that in Hebrew with vowel points added the differ by one dot, that is all, just one dot. That dot is called the <i>Dagesh Forte</i> and it tends to have the force of doubling the letter so that, for instance, if placed in a <i class="">chet</i> ( ח ) it will give us two of them ( חח ). It also takes certain consonants with a soft sound and hardens it. This is what we have here. In the verse above the second <i>bet</i> ( ב ) doesn't have the dagesh forte so that the word is <i>Chavurato</i> H2270 which comes from the Hebrew word <i>chavar</i> that according to Holladay's <i>A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic LexiconOf the Old Testament</i> means a "comrade, companion," hence to fellowship with. (pg. 94)</div>
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However, sometime before the birth of our Lord and before the invention of vowel pointing somebody misread it as <i class="">Chaburato</i> H2250, meaning "to bruise, stripe, wound, blow. (BDB as I couldn't find the word in the more up to date lexicon). So it was translated as "wounds" or "stripes" in the LXX and early translations of the Bible in many languages based on the LXX used that so that when folks finally started going to the Hebrew text they never noticed the missing Dagesh and continued reading it as if it had it. The error was further compounded by placing the word <i>Chavurato </i>in Hebrew lexicons as an example of a variance of the word C<i>haburato. </i>How the error crept in is a matter of speculation, however, the most likely scenario is that the Egyptian translator of that portion of the Old Testament didn't have Hebrew as his first language and made an honest mistake. But there is something else, another factor I will get into in a moment.</div>
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When the vowel pointing was invented the scribes preserved the standardized articulation of the words of the Tanakh as they knew it. And other such pointed versions have the same articulation here. So this was how they understood it should read. And why not? Plug that translation of the clause into the passage as a whole and it fits with thoughts such as him "justifying many" (Vs. 11), "see his seed" (vs. 10), and "he will divide the spoil with many" (vs. 12), and others. So this translation of the verse states and essential truth of Christianity, that all have to enter into fellowship with our Lord or know him as their personal savior to have eternal salvation.</div>
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To stress the importance of this is that this is an example of why we need to pay attention to what is in the text instead of reading what we expect to see in it. We have further confirmation of this understanding of the verse in the New Testament since Is. 53:5 was apparently the source for what Paul wrote to the Phillippians:</div>
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"be found in Him; not having my own righteousness of Law, but through the faith of Christ, having the righteousness of God on faith, to know Him and the power of His resurrection, <span style="color: red;"><i>and the fellowship of His sufferings</i></span>, having been conformed to His death, if somehow I may attain to a resurrection out of the dead."</div>
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(Php 3:9-11) </div>
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Lastly, I would like to point out something. Whether by simple mistake or deliberately done (we do know from tradition that some passages were deliberate to confuse gentiles and hide some things by the translators), Providence overruled the matter and turned the alteration into a <i>messianic prophecy</i> which saw fulfillment. So what we see here is a passage and it's variant in another language<i> both</i> having fulfillment,<i> both of them</i>! How amazing is that?</div>
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Until next time!</div>
Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-10809916492399067872017-04-15T10:51:00.000-07:002017-04-15T10:51:44.917-07:00"He is Risen From the Dead!"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What a wonderful announcement to hear from the angels! (Matt. 28:7) Jesus was awakened from the dead, the base meaning of the word εγεις in the Greek. This one thing is what separates Christianity from all other faiths, the fact that Jesus lives. The founders of all other religions but for a few recent cults are all dead and can do nobody any good. This fact is so important that Paul spent the first thirty-four verses of 1Corinthians 15 on this vital difference and why it is so important. So why don't we have a look at this passage of scripture and what Paul had to say when he outlined the Gospel itself, or the essential doctrine of Christianity:</div>
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<i>15:1 But know this yourselves, O Brothers, that the Gospel I declared to you and in which you both received and stand,</i></div>
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<i>15:2 and by which you were saved if you, yourselves, have held on to the word we declared to you, without which you have run in vain.*</i></div>
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Note here that Paul opens up by telling the Christians in Corinth that if they do not have faith in what follows their course is of no use to them, they have run the race in vain to that point. That is how important what he now informs them is.</div>
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<i>15:3 And which I entrusted to you first and which you received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 15:4 was buried, then raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.</i></div>
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This is the first and foremost doctrine of the Christ according to the Apostle, this was the message he took to them and everybody else. That is, that Jesus, the Christ died for our sins as predicted in the Old Testament and was also raised on the third day from among the dead, again, as predicted in the Old Testament. This is the first thing and what makes Christianity so different from all other religions. However, that is not all. There are other religions which claim their founder either did not die or was raised from the dead. So how do we know that Jesus was raised while none of the others were. Well, there is no proof any of the others were raised. Those faiths cannot put forward any witnesses to the events they claim. Can Christians? That is what comes next:</div>
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<i>15:5 And that he was seen by Peter then the twelve. 15:6 Thereafter, he was seen by more than 500 brothers on one occasion, the majority of whom are still among us, though, some have died. 15:7 After that he appeared to James and all of the Apostles. 15:8 Then last of all, he appeared to me as if to one born before his time.</i></div>
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That is quite a list of witnesses there though few of the names have made it down to our time. Note also that Sisters are not mentioned. That is likely because in the Roman world and, sadly, even among the Jews of the time, a woman's words was not considered of enough worth to establish a matter. Add them in and the number of eye witnesses to his having been raised only grows. Many of those, certainly all of the Apostles, except John, died for their insistence that Jesus had risen from the dead.<br />
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So in the First Century, when such a matter could have been easily proven false, the presence of so many eye witnesses was something which couldn't just be written off. So the powers that be chose to persecute and seek to eliminate them instead. What they didn't succeed at was to eliminate the written testimony of some of those who saw him alive after being put to the death by crucifixion. So we have that testimony from people who saw him with there own eyes to this day and those who deny the facts are reduced to brushing it off as the myths written by later men.<br />
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The rest of the passage is devoted to expounding on why Jesus had to be both killed <i>and</i> resurrected, which is a topic best left for another time. Suffice to say, more than enough people saw the resurrected Jesus with their own eyes, in Paul's case possibly several years after the fact, and who left their personal testimony it to our day establishes it as a matter of fact. So we can confidently shout from the rooftops:<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">He Is Risen!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Jesus Christ Lives!</span></div>
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* <i>We first thought to go through the whole passage but at 720 words would've run us afoul of quoting from most modern translations because of copyright laws with their 500 word limits.. So we decided to translate the passage ourselves and realized we would only treat that part of the passage which directly related to the point being made this Easter weekend.</i><div style="text-align: left;">
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Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-85589880743087494752017-03-21T16:38:00.000-07:002018-05-05T16:11:58.056-07:00I am the LORD: that is my name<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>"I am Jehovah; that is My name; and I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to engraved images."</i></div>
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<b>Isaiah 42:8 LITV</b></div>
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Why the difference between the King James Version and the Literal Version by James Green, who, by the way, is a staunch Trinitarian who used the Received Text, the same one behind the Jing James for the New Testament, for his translation? The reason is simple. In this verse, we find a proper name there unique to God himself, which he declared to be his name to time indefinite (Ex. 15). Do Mr. Green chose to translate that name as we have it in English and put it there instead of the substitute we mostly see used by most other translators based on a Jewish myth that God's name is too holy for use and the pronunciation has been lost to mankind because of that.<br />
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Before we go on we might as well remind out traders of a few things. We think by now our readers have caught on that we are not Trinitarians because we do not believe the Bible supports or teaches that doctrine. Instead, we believe that the doctrine misleadingly labeled Arianism after one of its most able defenders who became the center of a controversy in the early 4th century A.D. is what the Bible teaches. We also believe that our God can do pretty much whatever he wants within his self-imposed limits. So that means that he can take a created being and place him on a level just below him and authorize him to:<br />
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Php 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: </div>
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Php 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; </div>
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Php 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. </div>
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This still stays within what God says about there being no other God <i>equal</i> to him (Is 49:9*). Yes, I do believe that declaration by Paul and recognize that God has placed his son, Jesus, as the agent of everyone's salvation. So that name is important to me.</div>
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So why should we concern ourselves with God's name if that of Jesus is the one given to us to bow to and acknowledge? Well, Jesus taught us to pray "Hallowed be thy name." (Matt. 6:9). So, while God gave him such an exalted position and name it was not to the point of totally displacing his own which is in conformity with both Is. 49:9 but 1 Cor. 15:24-27 where it is made clear that Jesus is not on God's level, but subjected to him for all he has so high a level of being and honor himself. To do that as good children in God's household and coheirs with Jesus we have to know the name of our father and God. So where do we get God's name from?</div>
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From the Hebrew text, the Bible was written in. So let's start with the above verse in Isaiah from the Hebrew 42:8:</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Isa 42:8 אני <span style="color: red;">יהוה</span> ה<span style="background-color: #0b5394; color: white;">ו</span><span style="background-color: white;">א</span> שמי וכבודי לאחר לא אתן ותהלתי לפסילים</span></div>
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This is how it appears in any modern Hebrew text written without the vowel points. The word in red is God's name and is spelled yod he vav he, or YHVH when transliterated. Something important to know id that although Spoken Hebrew had vowels, in ancient times written Hebrew did not. As time went by certain consonants were used to indicate certain vowels as in the case of the highlighted vav in the word following God's name. Okay, so how do we know how to pronounce God's name?</div>
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Well, the only reason we are going down a little longer road for this is because of a Hebrew myth that the pronunciation of God's name is lost. That has resulted in a lot of confusion, especially since some efforts were made by Rabbinically dominated Jews to hide the pronunciation and keep it hidden from all but the privileged few students of imminent Jewish sages. To give the Jews their due this was not as selfish as it sounds on the surface. There was a good reason.</div>
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For what follows I need to credit a Jewish scholar named Nehemiah Gordon, though I have verified it through my own sources, such as Chabad.org. Nehemiah tells the story of what happened in his Open House video series on youtube and it's both simple and understandable. Emperor Hadrian had the Jews revolt on him, the famous Bar Kochba revolt and put it down. In the aftermath, he decided to destroy the Jewish faith altogether and forbade both the teaching of the Torah but the public use of God's name as well. At the time it was still the custom of Jews to greet each other as Boaz greeted his workers in the book of Ruth (2:4) and that verse was the reason they did. So Hadrian banned the use of the name. Several Rabbis would be executed cruelly for their defiance by teaching the Law, but Akiva Ben Yoseph, simply called Rabbi Akiva and highly revered by the Jews today because he died for using God's name in public, or "<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.75px;"> </span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.75px;"><span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="9939" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url("/images/1/global/glossary_underline.gif"); background-origin: initial; background-position: center bottom; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer;">Kiddush Hashem</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.75px;"> (the sanctification of </span><span class="glossary_item" glossary_item="19634" style="background-position: center bottom; background-repeat: repeat-x; cursor: pointer; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.75px;">G‑d</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.75px;">’s name)." *</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.75px;">The way Nehemiah explains it, the surviving rabbis made it a rule to not use God's name "until the Messiah comes." Of course, they were expecting the Messiah anytime and had no idea he'd already come in his priestly role and it would be a long time before his return. They teach that the pronunciation was lost, but that isn't true. The Rabbis had some competition in the form of the scribes, or copyists of the Tanak. They were responsible for inventing the ingenious system of vowel points which allowed them to preserve the correct articulation of the Hebrew Old Testament without altering the text they had by inventing and adding new letters as vowels. They came to be called the Masoretes and were likely part of the group today called Karaite Jews who reject Rabbinical laws in favor of the text of the Bible they recognize as sacred.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.75px;">When they invented the vowel pointing system and began using it in their manuscripts the Rabbis forbade the full vowel pointing of God's name to hide it pronunciation. So throughout most of the manuscripts a "clipped" version of the name:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial";">Isa 4</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial";">8:2 אֲנִ֥י <span style="color: red;">יְהוָ֖ה</span> ה֣וּא שְׁמִ֑י וּכְבֹודִי֙ לְאַחֵ֣ר לֹֽא־אֶתֵּ֔ן וּתְהִלָּתִ֖י לַפְּסִילִֽים׃ </span></span></div>
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As we see here the name now has three characters added. Those are the vowel points for "e" and "a" plus a cantellation point. So now it looks like the name is <i>Yehvah</i>. To add further to the confusion the Rabbis added a tradition that the vowel points for Lord, or Adonai, were added to signal the reader to say Adonai its stead when reading the scroll in public. The funny thing is that those aren't the vowel points for Adonai.</div>
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Although we personally figured out for ourself the correct pronunciation of God's name for myself using another pathway, that of seeing how it was used in compound names such as Joshua, Johnathan, Jehonadab and the like, Nehemiah stumbled onto it by another path because it seems the scribes messed up when they copied the text and considering the quality of the Aleppo Text supervised by Ben Asher we have a little trouble buying into them messing up. So they hid the correct articulation of God's name in plain sight by writing it out in some fifty or do places in the Tanak and Nehemiah stumbled onto several of those places on 9/11/2001 while the Towers were falling in New York as he was comparing some texts. Isaiah 42:9 isn't one of those verses so we are going to move on to another verse from our Leningrad Codex text:</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gen 3:14 וַיֹּאמֶר֩ <span style="color: red;">יְהֹוָ֨ה</span> אֱלֹהִ֥ים׀ אֶֽל־הַנָּחָשׁ֮ כִּ֣י עָשִׂ֣יתָ זֹּאת֒ אָר֤וּר אַתָּה֙ מִכָּל־הַבְּהֵמָ֔ה וּמִכֹּ֖ל חַיַּ֣ת הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה עַל־גְּחֹנְךָ֣ תֵלֵ֔ךְ וְעָפָ֥ר תֹּאכַ֖ל כָּל־יְמֵ֥י חַיֶּֽיךָ׃</span></div>
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Now we have it! <span style="color: red; font-size: large; text-align: center;">יְהֹוָ֨ה</span> Look at the dot above the ה, that is the vowel "holem" and the sound is "o" as in the word note. So now we have the name of God written out as YeHoVaH, or Yehovah! You can see it in another ancient manuscript below in the Shema, or "Listen Israel" where it appears three times in the text.</div>
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It is from Deut. 6:4 and look how God's name is spelled there, and on down as well. It is completely written out as Yehovah. The translation of the verse is "Hear o Israel, Yehovah your God is one Yehovah!" The next two lines also spell it out, "And you must love Yehovah, your God, with all of your heart."</div>
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So there we have it. From the Bible itself from the two most ancient Masoretic Texts available since we also quoted from the Leningrad Text, which is also a Rabbinic product instead of Karaite and still kept the complete name of God preserved in a few places as well. We won't get into where the alternative scholars promote of "Yaweh" or "Yaveh" comes from as it is beyond the intended scope of this post.</div>
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In English, the name has been Anglicised as Jehovah with one letter pronounced differently than the Hebrew by an accident of history. In the older English, the letter "J" entered the English language with the consonantal value of the modern "Y," thus replacing the "I" in the older Iehovah. However, over time the pronunciation of the letter "shifted," or changed, to what we now have. We will not presume to instruct others as to whether to use the Hebraic as some insist or the Anglicised version of the name.</div>
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A final word. We did state earlier that God has given his son the name "that is above every other name" so that "all knees will bend and confess" his name, Jesus, to their salvation. I once walked with people who'd forgotten that in their obsession to give honor and glory to God's name and use it perhaps a tad too much to the detriment of our savior. We are commanded to ask for his name to be holy, and that involves using it aright as well as we call on our Father, Jehovah, as well as our savior, Jesus, as God has commanded us to do.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*1 Lit. "there is no God <i>beside</i> me" or "equal to me" thus admitting that there are other Gods, false ones, but there is none equal to or above him. Interestingly, we find only one translation in our e-sword which renders the thought accurately and that is Wycliffe's which ironically was translated from Latin:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Wycliffe) Bithenke ye on the formere world, for Y am God, and no God is ouer me, nether is lijk me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Latin) recordamini prioris saeculi quoniam ego sum Deus et non est ultra Deus nec est similis mei</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*2 See Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai at Chabad.org</span></div>
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Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-5394538040578126702016-07-22T11:29:00.000-07:002016-07-22T11:29:40.528-07:00Cowell's Rule<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Greetings
again, my friends:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Today’s post
was suggested by something which happened to me this past week. Among others I do subscribe to a periodical
letter which goes out by e-mail from a certain scholar who takes a similar view
as mine that we really need to understand the Bible from a Hebraic point of
view instead of a Western/Greek view. He
has written a book about the Gospel of John from a Hebraic view. I noticed, though, that he apparently accepts
the common translation used for its first book as authoritative. So I wrote the author to point out the error
to him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">His answer
was to send me a PDF copy of the article from a scholarly journal from 1933
where Dr. Colwell outlined what has come to be known as <i>Colwell’s Rule</i>,
a rule of Greek grammar often pointed to by people who are not current on
matters of Greek Grammar to justify a misleading translation for John 1.1c. The purpose of this post is to try and examine
the issue and where the scholarship on the matter is right now as well as other
evidence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Background</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">John 1:1 is
a key scripture because it is often the very first verse cited by apologist for
the Trinity doctrine as proof for the trinity.
Most translations since the beginning of vernacular translations in the
Protestant Era translate it almost word for word like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It seems straightforward
enough, doesn’t it? And this is the
standard translation used by the translators of the Bible for the most part to
this day. However, as the printing press
made books so much cheaper and affordable to the masses they began to acquire
New Testaments in the koine Greek they were passed down in along with Greek
Grammar books, lexicons, and shortly after concordances. As that happened some problems regarding how
the translators handled various texts of the bible began to emerge. Top of the list was John 1:1. Why?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EL;">Εν αρχη ην ο λογος και ο λογος ην προς τον θεον, <span style="color: red;">και θεος ην ο λογος.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">In beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with the God, and </span></i><i><span style="color: red; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">god </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">was the Word.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That is John
1:1 according to all the ancient Greek manuscripts I’ve been able to get
pictures, facsimiles or whatever of, they all read the same. I’ve also added a word for word translation
without the benefit of English word order.
My capitalization, or lack thereof, is deliberate by reason of Greek
grammar. The first thing to note is that
both the “Word” and the first occurrence of “God” are capitalized and the
second occurrence of “god” is not. There
is a reason for that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">First of all,
Koine Greek preserves some Hebraisms in the Greek such as an interesting device
when referring to the God of the Bible in the case of a word which could be
cause confusion of adding the <i>definite article</i>, the word<i> the</i> in
English to the word. So we often find
sprinkled throughout the Old Testament the word <i>god</i> with the definite
article added to it to make it clear that it is talking about <i>the God</i>, Jehovah
of Israel. In practice because the
indefinite article would be awkward in the English we simply capitalize the
word God because it serves as a proper noun, a name. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The same
construction occurs in the New Testament and the general practice in those instances
is the same. We see that in the first
instance of the word <i>God</i> in John 1:1 and the <i>Word</i> on all instances,
but it is lacking in the second occurrence of the word <i>god</i>. If we followed general practice, we should
spell the last occurrence of <i>god</i> with the <i>g</i> in lower case since
it is referring to a <i>generic god</i> instead of <i>the</i> God. The meaning of the Greek as written becomes
clearer if we insert what the ancient Greek language didn’t have to indicate
the indefinite or generic, the indefinite article, thus translating the final
clause as “and the Word was <span style="color: red;">a god</span>.” In order for the verse to read as most often
translated the Greek definite article has to be with the second occurrence of
the word <i>god</i>, it’s as simple as that.
Colwell’s rule is all about that problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Colwell’s Rule</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In 1933 a
Greek scholar named Ernest Cadmen Colwell published the article <i>A Definite
Rule for the Use of the Article in the Greek New Testament</i> in a journal of
the time in which he outlined a rule which essentially puts the definite article
into the text of John 1:1 as being <i>understood</i> even though it doesn’t
appear there. To quote the scholar<a href="https://bible.org/article/revisiting-colwell-construction-light-masscount-nouns#P104_34601" target="_blank"> DonaldHartley of Southeastern Bible College</a>, who quotes Colwell himself, the rule
basically says that “Definite predicate nouns which precede the verb usually
lack the article.” In other words, in
copulative clauses the definite article can be understood in the case of predicate
nouns which precede the verb. That’s
what we find in the case of John 1:1. For sixty years that rule stood as holy
writ for justifying the common translation of the final clause of John 1:1 in a
Trinitarian manner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Colwell’s Rule Reexamined</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In time a
scholar named Phillip Harner put the rule to the test and reexamined Colwell’s
methodology, which he found weak. As a
result, he published the article “Qualitative Anarthrous Predicate Nouns: Mark
15:39 and John 1:1,” which found the application of Colwell’s rule to John 1:1
flawed. In its stead he proposed that
the second <i>god</i> in the verse should be understood as <i>qualitative</i>,
functioning more or less as an adjective.
That would mean the clause should be translated along the lines of “and
the Word was godlike.” However,
translators generally avoid that one and instead either stand by the old, or as
in several cases recently, translate it as “and the Word was Divine”
capitalizing the word divine to once again make an association which isn’t in
the Greek.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The point is
that these guys would rather swallow razor blades than admit that the verse isn’t
the Trinitarian mainstay it is used as.
For many years mainstream theologians have condemned the Jehovah’s Witnesses
for translating the clause in their New World Translation as “and the Word was
a god,” thus removing any support for the Trinity doctrine in the verse. To admit in the slightest that translation is
the correct one for the clause is a career killer so they keep on seeking to
justify anything but that. So right now
the current scholarly stand is that the word there is qualitative, much like
the similar construction in 1 John 4:8 “God is love.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Conclusion</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In speaking
of the “last days,” Daniel the prophet was told that “But you, Daniel, shut up
the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and
fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (Dan. 12:4, ESV) We believe this was a
prophecy of what happened starting in the 1800s, when knowledge became so
widely available, cheaply available along with an education. Back then those in the high school grades were
often expected to learn at least the basics to biblical Greek as well as Latin. That increase in knowledge led to the wonderful
standard of living we enjoy today made possible by advancing technology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That very
increase in knowledge made a very big problem for nominal religious leaders in
Christendom because now the masses ad access to the bible in its original
languages as well as various aids which could help anyone who wanted to
understand what it’s message was better.
One of those problems was the discovery that the bible didn’t really
teach in John 1:1 that Jesus is God almighty in the flesh. In 1933 Dr. Colwell published what seemed to
be the perfect answer to the problem, a way to insert the definite article into
the text where it didn’t appear in the first place and solve the problem by
making the text say what nominal Christians leaders say it says.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">However,
recent scholars have reexamined the rule and have tossed it aside altogether in
respects to John 1:1 as a misuse of the rule.
Instead they propose in its place to assert the passage speaks qualitatively. Okay, as long as we keep in mind that being
divine, or godlike is not the same as being God himself in a triune
relationship we have no trouble with seeing it that way. But the bottom line is to realize that even
with that nuance the verse does not say what it is often alleged to say. John consciously separated the Word, Jesus,
from God as a separate being with godlike qualities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Until next
time!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-42280147790786400122016-07-04T10:59:00.000-07:002016-07-04T10:59:51.436-07:00430 Years Where? : The Deads Sea Scrolls and Bible Chronology.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8YSVr9FIkG4/V3pugJun4HI/AAAAAAAAAs8/pNahXiOP7KQhHAXDAHH5Ql3ETkm47jR3wCLcB/s1600/4Q%2Bedx%2Bc%2BEx%2B12%2Bb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8YSVr9FIkG4/V3pugJun4HI/AAAAAAAAAs8/pNahXiOP7KQhHAXDAHH5Ql3ETkm47jR3wCLcB/s320/4Q%2Bedx%2Bc%2BEx%2B12%2Bb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Above is a screenshot I took of a fragment which is part of the Dead Sea Scrolls collection and to reach it I used the identifier 4qedxcex12c. This is taken from the Dead Sea Scrolls Project online and what we learn from the identifier is that it is from a group of fragments belonging to a particular scroll covering Exodus Chapter 12. I went looking in the Dead Sea Scrolls to find out what they might show us about Exodus 12:40-41, which records the fulfillment of an earlier prophecy given to Abraham. The problem is that there are two different variants of this passage and those variants are often cited among Bible Students in regards to the matter of Bible Chronology, and in a wider context regarding Bible veracity. This is what I found.<br />
<br />
Exodus 12:40 reads:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years"</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>(ESV)</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It seems straightforward enough, doesn't it? However, we run into several problems with that passage, which is from the Masoretic Text (MT). The first is that it appears to conflict with the prophecy itself which we find at Genesis 15: 12-16 and is as follows:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
”And He said to Abram, Knowing you must know that your seed shall be an alien in a land not theirs; and they shall serve them. And they shall afflict them four hundred years; and I also will judge that nation whom they shall serve; and afterward they shall come out with great substance. And you shall come to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in good old age. And in the fourth generation they shall come here again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(LITV)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The first is the difference in years mentioned, and the second is the number of generations. a quick check of the genealogical record shows that four generations does not cover four hundred years. It just does cover the time from when Jacob enters Egypt at the invitation of his son, Joseph and the reigning Pharoah until they leave. So what is going on here? what appears is the case is that there is a difference in reckoning matters god has set up to confuse things a bit. Genesis apparently does two things. The promise counts four hundred years <i>from when the promise was made</i> and <i>the generations which actually resided in Eygpt.</i> In Exodus Moses, under inspiration, counts the time from when Abram entered the land of Canaan after leaving Haran when his father died. Stephen invokes Genesis in his exposition in Acts 7:2-6 and Paul invoked Exodus in his exposition to the Galatians, 3:17. However, even with that realization we are still left with a problem because the scriptures say the sons of Israel spent 430 years in Egypt or do they?</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
We really have two variations witnessed to in the manuscripts. The first is found in the Masoretic Text and is as follows:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">וּמוֹשַׁב֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָשְׁב֖וּ בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם שְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה וְאַרְבַּ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָֽה׃ </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The second is witnessed to by the LXX, the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Bohairic Coptic:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Η δε κατοικησις των υιων Ισραελ ην κατωκησαν εν γη Αιγυπτω και εν γη Χανααν ετν τετρακοσια τριακοντα</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>And the sojourning of the children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Chanaan, was four hundred and thirty years.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>(Brenton's English Septuagint)</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So which is it? Were they in Egypt the entire 430 years or not. This is where the fragment above comes in as it is the oldest witness to the text of interest here and Bible Students generally prefer the older witness. In the catalog of Dead Sea Scrolls, the fragment is listed as following the Masoretic text. However, as we looked closer we saw reason to question that view. Here is a close up of the portion of the fragment containing the passage of interest:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H0reNaVZfhU/V3qG7yCW-MI/AAAAAAAAAtU/pCUVXVwXdfYizgpfjpv-Bv0Iq2ICT5aKgCLcB/s1600/4q%2Bedx%2Bc%2Bex%2B12%2B39to%2B40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H0reNaVZfhU/V3qG7yCW-MI/AAAAAAAAAtU/pCUVXVwXdfYizgpfjpv-Bv0Iq2ICT5aKgCLcB/s640/4q%2Bedx%2Bc%2Bex%2B12%2B39to%2B40.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
What we see here are verses 39 & 40. Those who can read Hebrew have no problem seeing that verse 39 is completed while verse 40 appears to start on the next line at "land of Egypt..." and this is apparently the basis for the judgment on the part of the cataloger. Obviously, something is missing here, the portion of the text from the beginning of verse forty to the word "land." We have no way of knowing the quality of the photo the cataloger had to work with or if he was working with the manuscript itself. This photo is from the newer enhanced digital photographs now available online for scholars and others with an interest in the Scrolls to consult and of better quality than the other two. And that's where things get interesting.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pCrNMVWGU10/V3qK20hLa8I/AAAAAAAAAto/aeGz6IE-2hwBPZy4LUFzNDt3-fuzO5bOACLcB/s1600/Aviary%2BPhoto_131119398694828719.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pCrNMVWGU10/V3qK20hLa8I/AAAAAAAAAto/aeGz6IE-2hwBPZy4LUFzNDt3-fuzO5bOACLcB/s640/Aviary%2BPhoto_131119398694828719.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Now look at what we circled in red. That is where the line ends and is a clue to what is missing from the text. We see a break in the material but right after that is the letter "נ" or "n." That letter is easily missed even in this image if one isn't careful. In earlier images, it probably is even harder to spot. Here is the text again of verse forty with the missing portion in red:</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">וּמוֹשַׁב֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָשְׁב֖וּ</span> בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם שְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה וְאַרְבַּ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָֽה׃</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And here is what is there with the "נ" and another word, the Hebrew "ארץ" in the text in red, which shouldn't be there if it follows the MT:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: center;"> <span style="color: red;">ן</span> <span style="color: red;">ארץ </span>בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם שְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה וְאַרְבַּ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָֽה׃</span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: center;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
However, it makes all the difference in the world. That is because the only way the letter and word would be there at all in that spot would be if the text originally read "The time that the sons of Israel lived in the land of Canaan and the land of Egypt was four hundred ad thirty years." Add to that the space of the missing text is more consistent with that that than the shorter Masoretic text. So instead of following the Masoretic reading, as the catalog states, the fragment instead follows the alternate text preserved in the LXX.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
We know from the Dead Sea Scrolls that there were a number of different versions of the OT text found in the caves of Qumran, all of them dating anywhere from the second-century bc to the first-century ad. The Masoretic and the LXX represent the two most witnessed to with the Masoretic first followed by the Hebrew-LXX. Since we don't know the methodology in making that determination we are not going to give the exact percentages here since there are parts of the OT where there is more agreement between the two than differences and the Pentateuch is one of those parts.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
But the important point here for us is that the oldest witness to a key Hebrew passage in the Exodus clarifies a problem the Masoretic Text actually makes and resolves an apparent contradiction for us. God apparently included the land of Canaan in the four hundred years of prophecy probably because it was under Egyptian domination for much of that history and not fully independent. But it also gives us a starting point marked in the bible beginning when Abram left Canaan which is prophetically important since Paul invoked it in Galatians.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
We are living in an exciting time, my brothers and sisters. We now have the Dead Sea Scroll witness because God broke the small cartel of scholars who kept it under lock and key away from the rest of us. Many other manuscripts have come to life. and thanks to the efforts of such men as Dr. Daniel Wallace even more and even in some cases, older manuscripts of the NT in Greek are coming to light. We have much more in the way of ancient material to work with than Brother Russell had and some of that increases the light thrown on the languages themselves. And I am sure there will be much more to come in the time left as God makes preparation for the kingdom to come. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Let's enjoy these times and make the most of them as we complete our course.</div>
Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-31600602021882972422016-06-27T16:09:00.000-07:002016-06-27T16:09:44.678-07:00Gog of Magog.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rA_Ne-aiFmI/UidbAiJYw2I/AAAAAAAAAJs/bI6dIBmoGnsRBZtru2bEfXHmiTKo7NlcwCKgB/s1600/Bible%2BNations%2Bof%2BEzekiel%2B38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rA_Ne-aiFmI/UidbAiJYw2I/AAAAAAAAAJs/bI6dIBmoGnsRBZtru2bEfXHmiTKo7NlcwCKgB/s320/Bible%2BNations%2Bof%2BEzekiel%2B38.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Hello, again my friends and readers!<br />
<br />
I would like to take a moment of your time to revisit Ezekiel Chapter 38 in light of recent developments. Although this article is entitled Gog of Magog there isn't really much which can be said about him or her which can be clearly seen at the moment. However, we are of the view that the land of Magog may be identifiable and doing and looking at recent developments there may aid us as far as understanding the prophecy and anticipating events which may not be so far off. So let's take a look at the first three verses of the prophecy:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Eze 38:1-3 And the word of Jehovah was to me, saying, (2) Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him. (3) And say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(<i>Green's Literal Translation</i>, to be used unless otherwise specified)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Jay Green has translated the verse literally here while most translations tweak it based on their views. I can verify the Hebrew reads "<span style="text-align: center;">set your face against <u>Gog, the land of Magog</u>, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him." So what if we are dealing with a <i>land,or country</i> instead of an individual as most anticipate? That would certainly change our understanding of what's ahead a bit. However, we're not sure just how much that would be.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In order to understand the prophecy, we must first find out who the players are. To do that let's go back to Genesis, where Magog is first mentioned:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
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Gen 10:1-5 And these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. (2) <u>The sons of Japheth</u>: Gomer, and <u>Magog</u>, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. (3) And Gomer's sons were Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. (4) And Javan's sons were Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. (5) <u> The coasts of the nations were divided by these in their lands each by his tongue, by their families, in their nations.</u></div>
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There we have it, that is what we know of Magog according to the Bible. He appears in 1 Chronicles chapter one but as part of a genealogical list. In Hebrews chapter 39 Magog is also linked to the people dwelling in the island, likely the islands of the Aegean Sea and Cyprus. This, of course, is in keeping with Genesis. Scholars tend to place the Descendants of Magog in the Cappodicean and Anatolian regions of modern Turkey, where some references in documents from the Persian period seem to place them as the Persians had to deal with attacks from there attributed to a people with a name similar to Magog. The picture above places them in Anatolia.</div>
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However, we think this might be a mistake. As time went by people moved when they were displaced by more aggressive peoples. In the region of Anatolia, the peoples of the Steppes of Asia are famous for their invasions, often forcing others, as some of the Magogans, to move further West. We think understanding where some of the Children of Magog went may well be the key to understanding the prophecy. As part of our participation in a Bible Study we attend, we were asked to research the people named in Genesis ten and try to glean information on not only where those people settled according to that chapter of the bible but also where they might be now. We were astounded when we came to Magog and dug deeper. Here is a passage from Wikipedia from my notes which was most interesting"</div>
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<i>Jordanes' Getica (551) mentions Magog as ancestor of the Goths, as does the Historia Brittonum, but Isidore of Seville (c. 635) asserts that this identification was popular "because of the similarity of the last syllable" (Etymologiae, IX, 89). Johannes Magnus (1488–1544) stated that Magog migrated to Scandinavia (via Finland) 88 years after the flood, and that his five sons were Suenno (ancestor of the Swedes), Gethar (or Gog, ancestor of the Goths), Ubbo (who later ruled the Swedes and built Old Uppsala), Thor, and German.[4] Magnus' accounts became accepted at the Swedish court for a long time, and even caused the dynastic numerals of the Swedish monarchs to be renumbered accordingly. Queen Christina of Sweden reckoned herself as number 249 in a list of kings going back to Magog. Magnus also influenced several later historians such as Daniel Juslenius (1676–1752), who derived the roots of the Finns from Magog.</i></div>
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In ancient times a Greek historian and several others identified the tribe of Magog with the Scythians, who were basically from the Anatolian region. But by 551 a.d. we see them identified with the Goths as well and the residing first in Scandanavia before migrating back towards the Black Sea area before running up against a wall, so to speak. That pretty much comports with the record modern scholars favor of the Goths originating in Scandanavia and moving Southeast as far as the Black Sea before being forced to move Westward. Of course, we also don't want to forget the Magog had other descendants who scattered in other directions as well.</div>
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The Wikipedia entry also mentions medieval stories of the Irish descending from Magog as well. According to History the Goths, Visigoths, and Ostrogoths all invade the European continent and dominated for a period before being assimilated into the populace. Some royal families descended from gothic kings, etc. Given the Irish, some of the last of the Celts claim an origin with Japheth's son, a picture emerges of the descendants of Magog primarily inhabiting modern Europe from very ancient times. This would also not be inconsistent with other views of Magog, which primarily focus on only one branch of a wider family.</div>
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So, now, let's go back to the prophecy and look again:</div>
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<i>Eze 38:1-3 And the word of Jehovah was to me, saying, (2) Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him. (3) And say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.</i></div>
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Most eschatologists, or students of end times prophecies, identify the land of Gog with Russia and see a revived Russian Empire invading Israel from the North in cooperation with the Arab world, though they prefer not to use that word for them and that's fine as far as it goes. The Russians as a race are European with some descending from the Goths and others descending from other peoples of European origin. It is just in the far-flung parts of Russia where we find Russians descended from Asia and middle eastern races. However, recent developments might indicate that the land of Gog is Europe proper in modern times and they may lead the charge.</div>
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In recent times we've been witness to an invasion of massive proportions through immigration by an aggressive people very hostile to other cultures who also believe their purpose is to bring those cultures down and replace them with their religious/political ideology and culture. At first, they came quietly and settled into neighborhoods all over Europe while keeping a lower profile. But as their numbers grew they took those neighborhoods together and started excluding others, even the police. Then within those neighborhoods, they imposed their own culture, law, etc. proclaiming the neighborhoods as islands of their one lands in the midst of the countries they settled in.</div>
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As their numbers grew they expanded those neighborhoods and started demanding the host culture start accommodating <i>theirs</i> instead of assimilating into the larger host. And more and more invade these immigrants are roaming the streets intimidating their hosts into submission to their will through rape, beat downs, destruction of property, and other violent means. But there is something else very interesting about these invaders.</div>
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They are Muslims, the peoples from the very nations the bible informs us will ally with the land of Gog in that day and invade Israel. Although they are still a relatively small minority the Europeans are having a hard time handling, the invasion continues and they grow bolder every day. that doesn't bode well for those in Europe who've become rather timid through the last half of the 20th-century from indoctrination with so called "progressive" views, the legacy of the Jacobins of the French Revolution.</div>
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Added to that those neo-Jacobins have managed to impose a unitarian government on the nations of Europe, the European Union which the Brexit vote in the United Kingdon just called for the country to exit. The political leaders are already trying to find a way to keep that country in despite the vote and EU bureaucrats are already proposing in the wake of it an immediate surrender of autonomy and sovereignty of member nations to the EU to prevent any further countries from following suit. We think they may succeed on both counts, though an EU without the United Kingdom will still work where prophecy is concerned.</div>
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As more and more Muslims enter Europe under the open border policies of the European Elite leaders their own leaders will begin to exert more and more influence on governmental policies, especially if the European Union remains in essentially the same form it has. So it is easy to see where the mover and shaker for the invasion of Israel may well come from that quarter in fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy. Europe is running out of resources. Their Green policies aren't working out very well, so they are going back to fossil fuels for the energy they need. If the people of the UK succeed in leaving the European Union a very much needed resource, the oil fields of the North Sea will mostly be denied them.</div>
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And to their South? They'll see the land of Israel with all the resources being discovered there in the way of oil and natural gas. As the hatred of Israel and the Jewish people grow in the minds of Europeans due to the efforts of both the intelligentsia and Muslim leaders it will be only natural to see Israel as an answer by both groups for two very different reasons. At that point, it won't be hard at all for God to give them the final nudge into disaster.</div>
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We think the Muslim invasion is the "hooks" God is even now putting into Gog's mouth to lead them to ruin in the great day of his wrath. </div>
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Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-45492364759353236842015-09-28T16:06:00.000-07:002015-09-28T16:06:23.411-07:00Blood Moons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wsca6jwEPH8/VgnHLZXcC9I/AAAAAAAAAV0/Qs57MLsUiM8/s1600/blood%2Bmoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wsca6jwEPH8/VgnHLZXcC9I/AAAAAAAAAV0/Qs57MLsUiM8/s320/blood%2Bmoon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Hello again
friends!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We’ve waited
until they passed to comment, but the last of the blood moons of this tetrad is
history, last night in fact. So we decided
it was time to join those posting on the phenomena and write something about
it, and the hysteria which surrounded them to an extent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As
Christians it is our responsibility to examine teachings which come along with
a critical eye, as Paul told the Thessalonian to do, and hold on to what is
fine (1 Th. 5:21). That way we don’t
become credulous and find ourselves cast about like a wave in the ocean for our
lack of faith (James 1:1-8). That also
helps us to keep our peace in times of trouble like this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So what was
all this business about the blood moons and tetrad all ab out and why did it
catch peoples imagination the point some were preparing for a desperate
situation, and even the end, according to various news reports? The subject caught my imagination not long
before the tetrad began, so we researched it so I could be ready if the subject
came up in any of the classes we are a part of, it did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Basically a
blood moon is a red moon, a rare event caused by the angle of the atmosphere the
moon is at. A lower angle filters out
all but the red light in the reflection back to earth, though it isn’t a really
deep red, it is a red shade all the same.
This is a relatively rear phenomena, though I don’t have the statistics
on it at hand. A tetrad happens when
four of them fall on Jewish holidays, another rare event which can be centuries
apart. One of the things which excited people
is that we had two in the last century, 1949-50, 1967 and I’m not sure of the
last year of it. Note the years, the
first one was a year after the creation of the state of Israel, what the Arabs
call the Naqba, or disaster and the second the year of the 1967 six-day war
when Jerusalem ended up completely in Israel’s hand, another disaster for the
Arabs. In fact, every blood moon tetrad
has either followed or been a harbinger for some sort of important event for
the Jews, there was one a few years after the Jews were expelled from Spain, in
1692. That’s part of what caught people’s
attention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We credit
Pastor Hagee with starting this tetrad’s circus. Somebody, I don’t know who, brought it to his
attention and after his study of it he concluded that it would be very
significant. So he put together a
program on it for his church, the program also made it onto YouTube, where we watched it in our own research. It was
certainly impressive. Now, do we blame
somebody for popularizing their conclusions on something? Not at all for sincerely held views.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We’ve
already explained what a blood moon is. But
why so important. Well, first of all our
lord spoke of celestial events occurring in the heavens during the final days
of this present evil world (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-25; Lk. 22:25). With those words is it any wonder the tetrad
caught folks attention and imagination? In this tetrad a solar eclipse hit Jerusalem,
right on the day they celebrated the Passover.
And this blood moon was not only a supermoon, but an eclipse as well. Since all of this can be predicted with
modern science and calculus, there was plenty of time for people to find out
about it and speculate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So, what
happened? Well, given history the Jews
may not be totally out of the woods yet.
However, I submit that some very important things did happen for all I
don’t really think Jesus’ words were in anticipation of that, but more in a
moment on why. Three interrelated things
did occur which do not bode well for the Jews this tetrad. The so called Palestinians were given
observer status at the UN. This appears
to be in anticipation of declaring them a country and giving them full
membership status. Second, President
moved the US away from its traditional relationship with Israel and rumor is
may not interfere with statehood for the Arabs in the conquered lands. Third, the US/Iranian agreement will no doubt
accelerate rather than delay Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. Iran is government by Shia Islamic fanatics
who promote terrorism around the world, at times with very deadly
consequences. Given their hatred for
Israel and the Jews, that is not a reassuring development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We would
like to point something else out, though.
Jesus’ prophecy has many levels to it, some signs given were common to
both the last days of the Jewish polity, and the greater last days. Wars and rumors of wars would be an
instance. The Jewish rebels of the 60s
a.d. thought to take advantage of Rome’s problems with the Germans to the North
to free Israel from Rome, it didn’t work.
Look at all the wars we’ve had since the beginning of WWI in 1914. There hasn’t really been a year since then
where somebody wasn’t at war with somebody else, or getting ready for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There were
signs in the heavens in the first century, witness the sun going dark on
Passover 33 a.d. when Jesus died, a similar event to this year’s total eclipse
on the Passover. However, we understand
Jesus’ words as coded references as well, signifying conditions which would be
present. One reason for this is that
Jesus did introduce a symbolic element when he told his listeners to “watch the
fig tree,” a reference to Israel’s future creation in our century. Given the prophecies of signs in the heaven,
and the turbulence of the sea follow right on that one, doesn’t it make sense
that it may well be the same sort of prophecy?
Well, Luke was the one who recorded him speaking of the storminess of
the sea (22:25).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The bible
tells us how to interpret such symbolic language if we are open to it. In a number of passages we find mankind
personified as the sea. Isaiah presents
the sea as telling Zidon that it has not brought forth children, young men or
virgins (23:4). Jeremiah 51:42 likens
the armies of the Medes and Persians to a sea as it prophesies Babylon’s
conquest by them. And, finally, Isaiah
57:20 likens the wicked to a stormy sea, something Jesus seems to evoke with
his words. Thus we feel confident in
believing that the sea in symbolism is the great mass of mankind. Think about that for a moment because that
view makes for a better understanding of some of the passages in Daniel and
Revelation, where we see beasts arising from the sea. So we see the sea mentioned by Jesus as the
stormy masses of mankind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Even though
things of significance, both good and bad, seem to happen to the Jews within a
few years, there really is no biblical basis for looking to the blood moons in
our estimation. Given the record, one
again, the two of the 20<sup>th</sup> century happened in proximity to good
events, and the one near 1492 a bad one, nobody really has a basis for
concluding either way what is likely to happen if God uses the tetrads as
signs. So while they may be items of
interest, the next one is in 2033, they are not predictive of the future, as in
good or bad, so Christians have no reason to anticipate, or fear them. We look to trends to determine where we
stand, not dates. That is the best way
for use to let our hearts not be troubled in this day of uncertainty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-54325359352088906492015-07-22T11:07:00.000-07:002015-07-22T11:07:26.905-07:00Christian Love In This Modern World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-893W7DR1B_w/Va_arejk8VI/AAAAAAAAAUM/BMojzUuentg/s1600/1381545_668394649852419_647564388_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-893W7DR1B_w/Va_arejk8VI/AAAAAAAAAUM/BMojzUuentg/s1600/1381545_668394649852419_647564388_n.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">My dear friends:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">In view of a number of
recent happenings I am reminded of a scripture I make a point of
looking at often, it is 1 Corinthians 13 1-3:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>If
I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am
a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all
faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If
I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but
have not love, I gain nothing. </i></span></span>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What
this reminds me is that no what I may do, or how much, or how
powerful my works, presentation, or whatever, if I do it out of any
other motive than love, then my works and actions are worthless, of
no account. God hold us to no less a standard than this, we are to
follow the Royal Law of Love (James 2:8). So what does that mean for
us as Christians? Let's look at the topic some.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Christians
are not under the Law of Moses, let's get that out of the way before
we go any further. James, in the verse I cited pointed out that love
is the Law's fulfillment, we are called to fulfill the law, not
follow it. To that end Jesus left us to “commands,” taken from
the law, but applied in a new way. We find that when Jesus was asked
what the most important law was. His reply was:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>But
when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they
gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to
test him. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
And he said to him, </i><span style="color: red;"><i>"You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your mind.</i></span><span style="color: black;"><i> </i></span><span style="color: red;"><i>This
is the great and first commandment.</i></span><span style="color: black;"><i>
</i></span><span style="color: red;"><i>And a second is like it: You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.</i></span><span style="color: black;"><i>
</i></span><span style="color: red;"><i>On these two commandments depend
all the Law and the Prophets."</i></span><span style="color: black;"><i>
</i></span></span></span>
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<span style="color: teal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">(Mat
22:34-40)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
first is from the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and is just that, the
first and most important law for us to follow. The second is found
in Leviticus 19:18, which shows both the breadth and depth of Jesus
knowledge and understating of the law, that he could take two laws
from different books of the law and rate them so well. Jesus would
add another “command,” or Law of Love, so named because all of
them require love instead of obedience, but that one isn't really
relevant to this post.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm
going to take the second one first here for reasons which will be
seen later. So, what does it mean to love our neighbors I've
already blogged on the subject of love in the Bible here
(<a href="http://stanley-loper.blogspot.com/2011/10/love.html">http://stanley-loper.blogspot.com/2011/10/love.html</a>),
it might be a good idea for you to take a moment and read through
that post. However, the word Paul and Jesus used was <span lang="el-GR">αγαπη
</span><span lang="en-US">and it's verb form </span><span lang="el-GR">αγαπαω,
</span><span lang="en-US">which in short, is pure and unselfish love
which asks nothing back from the one loved.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">That
kind of love tries to avoid real harm to ones neighbor. So one who
loves their neighbor in that way won't steal or cheat from them,
won't hold them up for ridicule, will always be ready to help them if
they need it and won't retaliate against neighbors who hate or harm
them beyond minimal self defense if there is no other choice. They
will go so far as to take an insulting slap, as Jesus told us to.
They will provide a good example of what it means to be a true
follower of Christ for their neighbor to see and show them the way. </span></span></span></span>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Sadly,
the belief has arisen in this culture is that it is wrong to “hurt”
others feelings by refusing to endorse a lifestyle a Christian sees
as headed down the “wrong path,” one of the meanings inherent in
the Hebrew word for “unrighteous.” Think about it, real love
instead requires one to tactfully point out a wrong course of another
instead of refraining from any sort of criticism, or condoning a
harmful course. We all point pout the dangers of smoking to friends
we love, don't we?</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Which
also leads us now to the “first command.” We are to love God
with all our heart and being, as Jesus stated above. That means we
are to put him first in our lives and live them in such a way as to
please him. I won't get into everything that means, that's because
doing so requires an accurate knowledge of the God who has been
misrepresented by a church system which departed from God's truth to
meet the requirements of a state religion. But the fact is that God
requires something of those who would follow him through his son,
Jesus Christ. That is that they live their lives a certain way.
That way is laid out for us at Acts the fifteenth chapter:</span></span></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: black;">“</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">For
it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no
greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from
meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled,
and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do
well. Fare ye well.” </span></span></span><span style="color: teal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">(Act
15:28-29)</span></span></span></span></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So
Christians are abjured from eating certain things, and from
fornication, the point which is filling so many columns and blogs
these days. The Greek word for fornication is <span lang="el-GR">πορνεια
</span><span lang="en-US">and covers a wide range of activities,
including homosexual activities. Now, note, this is what called
Christians do, they are to “abstain” from these things, not force
others to. A stronger form of the same Greek verb “abstain” is
found at 1 Thessalonians 5:22 and can be translated in that instance
as “Avoid every appearance of evil.” Many Christians take this
to mean that they are to avoid any activity which can be seen as
endorsing a course of sin. Jehovah's Witnesses, for instance, have
refused blood transfusions based on their understanding of these
passages since the end of WWII. Many others try to avoid meat
product which use blood in their diet, we are among those. To this
day there are innkeepers who will refuse a room to couples they
believe aren't married. And others have concluded they cannot serve
celebrations of gay marriage, a form of </span><span lang="el-GR">πορνεια.
</span><span lang="en-US">That, they conclude, is a part of showing
their love for both God and neighbor by avoiding “every appearance
of evil.”</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">I
can go into detail about the way fornication harms people, with
unstable relationships, unwanted pregnancy and children, and a much
higher rate of sexually transmitted diseases, some deadly, and here
in America one in particularly still raging through the male
homosexual community at a much higher rate than the rest of the
population. Love for you, my neighbor moves me to point those things
out. And love for God means we will never, ever accept the pursuit
of </span><span lang="el-GR">πορνεια </span><span lang="en-US">as
something right, much less equivalent to following the Bible's
commands, as we have all of our life as we understood them.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">It
is our firm belief that even for those not called to the Christian
hope and race, following the plainly laid out moral course in the New
Testament is the best course for anyone who wants to avoid some of
the heartbreak in this world. And we appeal to anyone reading who
isn't already in the race to look at the Gospel, the essential
doctrine of the Christ and seek to join it. And if not, to consider
the Bible's wisdom, which can help one live a life free from many of
the worries of this world.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Thank
you.</span></span></span></span></div>
Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-55867433800393121612014-11-24T13:53:00.000-08:002015-02-04T19:48:08.899-08:00The Essential Doctrine of the Christ<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-htfCCY5m3Yo/VHOkxYYHWnI/AAAAAAAAAQE/8KBJTD_bUUY/s1600/580329_631437893582980_803467244_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-htfCCY5m3Yo/VHOkxYYHWnI/AAAAAAAAAQE/8KBJTD_bUUY/s1600/580329_631437893582980_803467244_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“For all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God,” </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Rom 3:23; ESV)</span></i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What is the
essential doctrine of the Christian faith?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We get different answers to that question depending on who we talk
to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However we propose to use the Bible
to demonstrate to our readers’ satisfaction that the Ransom sacrifice of Christ
Jesus and the companion teaching of the Restitution of mankind to its lost
estate are the essential and central teaching of God’s word and the
Gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what was foremost in the
minds of the Apostles and others as they wrote the books of the New Testament
as we will see as we progress in this short consideration of this very
important subject.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will by no means
treat this subject comprehensively as there are too many verses and passages to
include in the short amount of space we have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, I will mention a book which does at the end.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To find out
why mankind ended up in the fix it is in we have to go back to the beginning,
to the first book in the bible, Genesis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the first chapters we are told That God created the heavens and the
earth; and then we are told how God spent seven “days,” or more precisely
“eras,” preparing the earth for human habitation (Gen. 1).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Towards the end of chapter one and through
chapter two of Genesis we are told that to people were created, married, and
placed in a garden which provided for all of their needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in chapter three, something happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First the woman, Eve, then her husband, Adam,
are tempted and break the only law given them by God, the command not to eat of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So, as Paul explained to the Roman
Christians:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Wherefore, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned” (Rom 5:12).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That, in a nutshell, is why we are in the sorry condition we’re in with
sin and death.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
essential doctrine of Christianity is that God didn’t leave us in that
condition and did something about it. Paul carried the thought forward for us, “Therefore
as by the offence of one <i>judgment came</i> upon all men to condemnation;
even so by the righteousness of one <i>the free gift came</i> upon all men unto
justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” (Rom 5:18-19).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the answer was to provide a ransom for
mankind, because of one man’s disobedience and sin we all die, but God reversed
the situation through the obedience of one man, Jesus Christ (vs. 17).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To
understand how that works it is important to understand a very important principle of God’s
justice, and it is why Paul emphasized the thought of one man bringing in death
and the other life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That principle is
exact equivalency of the punishment fitting the crime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to the law:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And he that killeth any man shall
surely be put to death. And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast
for beast. And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so
shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he
hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him <i>again.</i> And he
that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall
be put to death. </span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Lev 24:17-21)</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is the
famous “an eye for an eye” law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
principle here stated is that exactly what was done must be recompensed exactly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was why Paul stated in the earlier cited
passage from Romans, “For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what was lost had to be provided for a
ransom.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So what was
lost?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was lost was the perfect life
of the first man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was created perfect
and had the prospect of eternal life before him and every human who has ever
lived came from him, including Eve, who was made from his rib.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of us, with the exception of Jesus, received
life from him through all the males who preceded us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is how life is passed on, from the male
to the female.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, from God’s standpoint
all of us were still in Adam’s loins when he sinned, so all of us received the
sentence which was pronounced on him before the conception of his first
child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus gave up his perfect life in
order to ransom mankind back from death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That fact is directly stated in three places, twice by Jesus and once by
Paul, though the same thing is presented elsewhere in other terms in God’s
word:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mat_20:28</span></u><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mar_10:45</span></u><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">1Ti_2:6</span></u><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That is why
a Trinitarian god-man couldn’t provide the ransom necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was required was a perfect man, a man
who existed on the same level of existence as Adam, and we in him, did before
his act of disobedience changed everything for us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But did
Jesus live and die to give said ransom?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That is a legitimate question since scholars, some of them nominally
Christian and teaching in seminaries, don’t believe it happened, that it was
all a myth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Paul expounded on the
fact of Jesus’ sacrifice and that message to the Corinthians reassures us of
the fact of the Christian message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So,
with what we’ve written so far in mind, let’s go through his message:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Moreover, brethren, I declare unto
you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and
wherein ye stand; (1Co 15:1)</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So Paul
state’s right up front that he is about to declare the Gospel, the essential
doctrine of Christianity:</span><br />
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By which also ye are saved, if ye
keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (1Co 15:2-4)</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So he states
plainly that Jesus died according to the scripture, that is what I wrote about
from the law, which is only part, and he rose on the third day after his death,
which was also prophesied in scripture (Matt. 12:38-40, where Jesus predicts
this using Jonah).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Paul goes on to
prove what he says:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And that he was seen of Cephas, then
of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once;
of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he
was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the
apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
church of God. (1Co 15:5-9)</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That is
quite a list of people who saw the resurrected Jesus and includes one which is
only alluded to in the Gospels without giving any details (Lk. 24:34).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul then spends two verses on a personal
side note before giving one of the most profound refutations for the notions
that Jesus was not resurrected and why it was necessary that he was:</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now if Christ be preached that he
rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the
dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
And if Christ be not risen, then <i>is</i> our preaching vain, and your faith <i>is</i>
also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have
testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that
the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if
Christ be not raised, your faith <i>is</i> vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only
we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ
risen from the dead, <i>and</i> become the firstfruits of them that slept. For
since by man <i>came</i> death, by man <i>came</i> also the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But
every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are
Christ's at his coming. (1Co 15:12-23)</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So there it
is, the Essential Doctrine of Christianity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In a nutshell it is that Adam sinned and was condemned and all of us
along with him by virtue of our being in him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And Jesus was born as a perfect human to provide a ransom for all by ransoming
Adam, along with all of his offspring by virtue of the same reasons as the fall,
by giving up that life on behalf of us all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That he did so, along with his resurrection, which was witnessed to by upwards of
over five hundred people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus we have a
guarantee that he not only was successful, but that all the dead will be
resurrected and all given the opportunity of eternal life, each in his own
place.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The book I mentioned which does comprehensively treat the subject is<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">The At-One-Ment Between God and Man,<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></i></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">and can be purchased <a href="http://www.chicagobible.org/book-store.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=2&category_id=1" target="_blank">here.</a> </span></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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disclosure I'm just a Brother in Christ to the folks I linked to and know some
of them. That is the site where I purchase most of my personal
literature.</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span> </span><br />
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Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-11204249295316764802014-10-15T11:02:00.000-07:002014-10-15T14:33:45.217-07:00I Believe the Bible<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0x5s-L3AyPA/VD61v7NYGLI/AAAAAAAAAPA/fZczpLFyPl8/s1600/998576_540314146061642_1740006270_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0x5s-L3AyPA/VD61v7NYGLI/AAAAAAAAAPA/fZczpLFyPl8/s1600/998576_540314146061642_1740006270_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last June
marked the end of our fortieth year as a baptized Christian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We gave our heart and everything and gave up
this world’s ambitions in consecration to our God out of love for what a
wonderful God he really is two years earlier, but because our mother did not
permit it our baptism waited two years until we reached the age of majority, 18
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One bit of reflection on that
time of loving devotion to God is that, even though for thirty of those years
we fellowshipped with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, those years can be summed up by
four words, “I believe the Bible.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Although our
understanding of that book and its teachings were so imperfect for so many
years of that time, what God’s word says was first and foremost for me, which
made us a thorn in the side of the elders in most of the congregations we were
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all of these forty years there
have been no creeds for us, only God’s word, because we believe the Bible.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because we
believe the bible we’ve been called a cultist because we don’t believe in or
preach “the essential doctrine of Christianity,” the Trinity Doctrine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, really, where in God’s Word are we told
that the Trinity doctrine<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> is</i> the
essential doctrine of Christianity?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
forty years we’ve studied the bible from stem to stern, including in its
original languages and we find no statement to that effect anywhere to be
found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we do find are plain
statements from Christ’s own mouth to the effect that “I am ascending to my
Father and your Father, to My God and your God,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea
write ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of
the creation of God’” and more (John 20:17; Revelation 3:14).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, we find no indication of a trinity
in God’s word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Theologians rely on
taking verses out of context and some really imaginative reasoning to “prove”
their “essential doctrine.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even some of
them through the years have admitted that a plain and objective reading of God’s
word just doesn’t lead one to the conclusion that there is a trinity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now why would they say that?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Old Testament</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Throughout
the Old Testament one concept reigns supreme, that there is no God in the sense
we commonly use the word but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">one.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “Shema” to Israel bears a powerful
witness to that fact: “Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: and thou
shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy might” (Deut. 6:4-5; ASV).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
statement is unambiguous and even names the God who is alone in that category.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There can be no misunderstanding of that
verse when not read through the lens of so called “theology.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The bible
does call others “god,” or “god’s,” including men (Ex. 7:1; Ps. 82:6) and it
acknowledges many times the existence of other gods, inventions of men or
demons, false gods in other words (Deu. 6:14, 2 Chron. 13:8,9<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and much more).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the case of men the word, “god” is used of
officials as well as the word “lord” as the essential meaning of the word to the
Hebrews is encapsulate in the early written form of the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">El,</i> a bull and a shepherds staff conveying
the idea of a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">powerful leader</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the bottom line is simple, and consistent,
throughout the Old Testament, “But Jehovah is the true God; he is the living
God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations
are not able to abide his indignation” (Jer. 10:10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">one True God.</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The New Testament</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But
Trinitarians point out that the Trinity is a revelation from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New Testament</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we contend that the Old Testament picture
of a single, all powerful God whole and complete in and of himself holds true
throughout the New Testament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve
already pointed to several plain statements from our Savior Jesus Christ on the
matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there is more.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When
questioned about what the greatest commandment in the law was, Jesus quoted
from the Shema, “Master, which <i>is</i> the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Mat 22:36-37).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, Jesus established himself as an
observant Jew, whose views on the Unitarian nature of God were consistent with
the Old Testament and his fellow Jews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nowhere do we find him asserting a Trinitarian viewpoint on God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, he called himself the “son of God” (John
5:25, 11:4), a fact acknowledged by the Leaders of the Jews themselves (Matt
27:43).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one time the Jewish leaders
tried to twist his words around to have him saying that he was himself God,
Jesus hastened to correct the false impression they were trying to make (John
10: 30, 34-36).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taken together with the
statements of his earlier it is plain that he never asserted a Trinitarian relationship
or even equivalence with God.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Demons
acknowledged him as the son of God, as did their master, the devil, in a
backhanded kind of way (Matt. 8:29; 4:3,6), and they should know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During his first advent his disciples called
him the son of God many times (Mk. 1:1; John 11:27).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And even the Angel Gabriel so identified him to
Mary before his conception (Lk. 1:26,35).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Apostle Paul called him that at Romans 1:4; 2 Cor. 1:19; Eph. 4:13
and many other times in many variations on that theme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we find it witnessed to that he was God’s
son instead of God himself throughout the New Testament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians
makes a very plain statement to the subordination of Jesus Christ to his God,
that he is in no way an equal (1 Cor. 15:24-28).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And these are no obscure verses; they are
many and plain so that the testimony of the scriptures is plain if we do not go
at them with any preconceptions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That testimony
is so plain that the Arian view of God and his son not only predates the Arian controversy,
but persisted down through the ages with men and women going to often horrible
deaths rather than deny the bible’s clear testimony in the matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michael Servetus was one such man who was chained
naked to a stake roasted alive for hours at the order of John Calvin because he
refused to recant his denial of the Trinity Doctrine in favor of Arianism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An entire people were “excommunicated” for their
Arianism, the Goths and Visigoths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
are much maligned in history for their beliefs, though evidence of their
tolerant nature towards Trinitarians has come to light in recent times.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So I believe
the bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We believe it whether our investigation
of its teachings agree with what is held by the wider Christian community or
not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it doesn’t, we must follow the
evidence wherever it leads, because we believe the bible.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-29392821500620622252014-03-18T12:48:00.000-07:002014-03-18T12:48:02.050-07:00Comfort in Times of Persecution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is
much meaning in our golden text today and all of it relevant to Christians
today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those of us watching the world see
the way the wind is blowing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Already any
who <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="416f4551-44ce-465a-b7c9-16482b752b41" id="12a8c2c6-ade5-4eef-b93c-ad8c473dd192"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3ee57406-4529-42f0-9514-8dc11755d46b" id="a0f9c65a-39f2-460a-9223-1e49a7bb2183">call</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> on the name of our Lord Jesus in many parts of the world face severe
persecution and even death, as is reportedly going on in Syria today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what about those of us in Western lands
where the right to worship as we choose is traditionally respected?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Those lands
are becoming increasingly secular, and just as happened under the secularism of
the French Revolution those calling on the name of Christ are increasingly
coming under attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="c37dba07-f059-40cf-8238-0f80f53af83a">’re already
mocked</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> as out of touch with society and unenlightened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3e1f64d-1bde-4595-97ff-db3128c4c60e" id="bdb812cb-a9de-4564-888c-a8d873f0094f">society</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> pushes us into the margins while
it celebrates the losing from all moral restraint laws are promulgated to
marginalize us even further and even punish us for taking a stand for God’s
standards.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On campus,
Christian speech is relegated to hate speech and students taking a stand for
God’s way receive failing grades or even find themselves put out of school
altogether for their stand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hate speech
laws are used to silence us, as in the case of a minister in Canada who was
punished for the act of posting a billboard with a quotation from the Bible on
God’s position on homosexuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
couple was fined in New Mexico for declining to take a job memorializing a gay
commitment ceremony, something which wasn’t even legal at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet that didn’t matter, punishing the couple
for standing up for Godly morals was more important than little things like
legality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same for another couple
who refused to let an old church building they owned be used for a gay wedding,
and one could go on.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The fact is
that we who call upon the name of Jesus Christ, whether wheat or weeds, are now
coming under a secular government intent on bringing all under its thumb and
allowing none to question the new orthodoxy motivated by Christophobia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means one thing, persecution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many are in shock that this could take place
in a land where freedom of religion is enshrined in its foundation document.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others now fear this new development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could it happen to me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet God’s word gives us
plenty of reason to have comfort as we watch events unfold.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our golden
text at 1 Pet. 5:10 gives us assurance and explains the purpose of persecution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are assured that after undergoing
suffering God will, “restore, confirm, strengthen and establish” us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, he will restore our equilibrium, confirm
our calling in him, strengthen us through our suffering and establish us strong
in his truth and way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thing is that
we aren’t really perfect or ready at our calling for the role God has called us
to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are nothing more than raw
material needing further work before we become fit for his purpose for us in
heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to be purified and then strengthened
for our job up there, which brings us to the first picture from the scriptures
which comes to mind.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As the time
for the writing of the Old Testament drew near the prophet Malachi was inspired
to write a prophecy which is quite applicable to our subject:</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Behold, I send my messenger,
and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly
come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight,
behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his
coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and
like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he
will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they
will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> (Mal 3:1-3; ESV)</span></i>
</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Fuller’s
soap is a mineral which used to be used to bleach fine linen to a pure white
color.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also kind of harsh, it had
to be to get that sought after pure white.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the one we seek here is the picture of the refiner in verses 2 and
3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The refiner mentioned is generally
recognized to be the messiah whom we know to be Jesus Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “sons of Levi,” or the tribe of Levi, was
a type for the household of faith in the Gospel age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the picture presented to us is that of our
Lord Jesus refining those of us called by God to his Church.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Recall that
we wrote earlier that we are all raw material.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even is the raw material is natural gold, it still has to be removed
from what little base material which clings to it and then refined by the fire
to the point that all impurities are removed and the gold is pure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is what persecution and sufferings are,
they are the fire which our lord uses to purify us and make us into the finest
of gold, fit to be members of his heavenly bride as well as co-rulers in his
kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as gold undergoes
adversity to reach its purity, so must we.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But there is another biblical picture which applies.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
Revelation chapter twenty-one we are presented with the wondrous picture of the
New Jerusalem descending out of heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of
course it is the Church, and one part of the awesome spectacle is drawn to our
attention when it tells us “And the foundations of the wall of the city <i>were</i>
garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation <i>was</i>
jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald…”
(Rev 21:19)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are informed that the
twelve foundations of the holy city are garnished, or adorned with all sorts of
precious stones, something which no picture of the scene we’ve seen really shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the foundations are the Apostles, the
precious stones decorating those foundations are likely members of the church,
thus we are in part likened to precious jewels of the finest of work.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In our
teenage years we had the hobby of lapidary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That means we worked and polished valuable stones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stones had to be cut, then ground down to
their rough shape before being polished, which was done by more grinding down
of the stones with finer and finer grades of material until they had that shine
so smooth one could see themselves in it like a mirror.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well does that illustrate the process of
turning those called to heaven into those fines and precious jewels which adorn
the City of God!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Just like
the precious jewels which start out as rough stones, our Lord uses adversity to
shape and polish those rare finds into the best of jewels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the literal process of lapidary as much as
half of the stone or even more may be lost in the process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idea is to remove all of the extraneous
material and flaws we have as imperfect human beings to reveal and accentuate
the beauty within.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means for us
revealing our character flaws and grinding them away until we become ready to
fit in the place in the Church which is reserved for us at our calling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, we must cooperate in that process if
we want to be set by our Lord in that place.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sufferings,
including under persecution is that polishing process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Far from fearing it or trying to put it off
we should welcome it, as James pointed out in his letter to our ancient
brethren (James 1:2-4).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that doesn’t
mean we are to seek out extreme persecution, we are allowed to flee that if a
way out is available which does not compromise our Christian principles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are also permitted to challenge laws which
criminalize our Christian freedom, such as hate speech laws and requirements
which compromise our Christian principles in lands where there still is some semblance
of justice, as some are doing even now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Even in
lands where such open official persecution doesn’t exist we may still find
ourselves persecuted socially.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his
famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told his listeners:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Blessed <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">are</span> they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">men</span> shall revile you, and persecute <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">you,</span> and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for
my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">is</span> your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you.</span></i><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Mat 5:10-12)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, we may
undergo the suffering of having our good names slandered by those who hate the
truth for our stand for our Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
is no trivial matter, as anyone so slandered can tell us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More and more right here in the United States
of America secular forces are marginalizing Christians and equating them with
crazy people and hateful fanatics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
are being driven out of the public sphere and towards the underground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The media from news to entertainment portrays
us in ways which amount to lies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those
who take a Christian stand often find themselves mocked and slanderous rumors
spread about them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While such things
aren’t nearly as pervasive here as they could be, it looks like they are well
on the way to getting worse.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In that last
quotation we also find how the Lord wants us to react.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as James wrote his brethren to “count it
all joy,” Jesus told his disciples and others to “rejoice and be exceedingly glad.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why should we do that, and how can it help us
as things get worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul gave us a
reason:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If ye endure chastening, God dealeth
with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But
if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards,
and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">us,</span> and we gave <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">them</span> reverence: shall we not much
rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily
for a few days chastened <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">us</span>
after their own pleasure; but he for <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">our</span>
profit, that <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">we</span> might be
partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Heb 12:7-11)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the
point in the golden text about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">confirming</i>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we undergo our refining and polishing
God confirms that we are indeed his children, a part of the household of faith
with whom he is dealing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is a
wonderful reason for rejoicing and submitting to those sufferings the same way
Jesus did, without complaint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
knowledge also helps us to endure and even use such trials as tools to help in
our own molding by finding and rooting out any flaws the trials may reveal to
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul acknowledges that those trials
may be hard and burdening at times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet
he also reminds us that afterwards they bear peaceable and wonderful fruit.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So in
conclusion, as we see things getting worse it is not ours to fear for the
future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never forget that the future
will get bleaker for all at this point as mankind descends further into the
darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a consequence the world
will hate us even more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So persecution
we are to expect persecution as even nominally Christian lands abandon any pretense
of following the way of the Master and turn on those who do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How hard and burdensome such trials may be we
do not know for sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, we
shouldn’t let ourselves worry over it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Everything is in God’s hands and he assures us that whatever he permits to
befall us is for our good (Rom. 8:28).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
we should move forward and work in harmony with our Lord and Master secure in
that fact and assured that what comes our way he will help us and comfort us in
our time of trouble.</span></div>
Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-54175654942994439372013-12-04T15:49:00.000-08:002015-02-04T20:00:06.438-08:00The Royal Law of Love<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YfLmTHJH_uM/Up-9_gcaENI/AAAAAAAAALI/_abFOg_PBdQ/s1600/551407_620907177969385_1520296028_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YfLmTHJH_uM/Up-9_gcaENI/AAAAAAAAALI/_abFOg_PBdQ/s320/551407_620907177969385_1520296028_n.jpg" height="320" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“If you really fulfill
the royal law according to the Scripture… you are doing well.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Jas 2:8; ESV)</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Greetings
again my brethren and friends!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Recent
events in my life have me thinking about the matter of laws, how denominations
and sects go beyond the scripture in the matter of what the scripture teaches
on the matter by imposing unwieldy canon law, etc., on their flocks which God
hasn’t imposed on the flock because he set in motion something better, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Royal Law of Love</i> because it is superior
to all of the “laws” men impose. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the first
century there was a controversy in the Church which centered on law, what law
were the Gentile Christians to follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Certain brethren argued that Christianity was really a part of Judaism
which meant that Gentiles were required to get circumcised as proselytes into
the law covenant with Israel and observe the Law of Moses as many Jewish
Christians continued to do (Acts 15: 1,2a).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Paul strenuously opposed that teaching and it was finally decided by the
brethren and it was decided among the brethren in Antioch to send Paul and a
few others to Jerusalem where the rest of the Apostles were and get a
determination as to whether Gentile Christians had to come under Jewish law
(Acts 15: 2b).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the decision was
made the following letter was sent to all of the ecclesias along the way Paul
travelled back to Antioch:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"The brothers,
both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in
Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons
have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although
we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one
accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have
therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by
word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on
you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has
been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and
from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.
Farewell." </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Act 15:23-29; ESV)</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Both
Christian and Jewish commentators have commented that the items listed in the
letters have their origin in God’s covenant with mankind after the flood of
Noah’s day and are incumbent on all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
they have nothing to do with the Royal Law Christians are commanded to follow,
though, Christians follow them as well.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So what is
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Royal Law</i> James<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b>wrote
about and how is it superior to God’s law to the Jews?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s really a three-part law Jesus laid down
to his disciples to follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first
two parts came out of the Law of Moses, God’s covenant with Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know we’re to follow it because Jesus
added the third law, calling it a “new command,” or law, thus linking it to the
first two, which he taught those who listened to him to follow.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As we all
know, Jesus was very controversial though in what way is still debated to this
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his day, though, more than once
some of the most learned men in Israel were sent to try and catch him in some
sort of impropriety where his teaching was concerned and certain folks in the
crowds were primed to be offended at his words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So Jesus was very careful with his words at times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On one such occasion Jesus was approached by
a lawyer who asked him what the greatest law within the Law of Moses was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus’ answer was:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Mat 22:37-38; ESV)</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus’ quoted
from what is known as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shema</i> which
is recited by devout Jews to this day at Deuteronomy 6:4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Christians it certainly places our
priorities in their proper places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
there is more to that simple statement than meets the eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply put a true Christian led by God’s Holy
Spirit will need no rules or law to follow in that respect since he or she will
be pointed in the right direction in any situation by the Spirit because they
love Jehovah so much that they would desire not to displease him ever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, we have the Old Testament and I’m not
saying that it would be of no use to a true Christian in this or any other
regard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Law does help us in gaining
insight, but following the first command will give us the ability to move
beyond the law code and know what to do in situations not mentioned therein.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus we know how to please him and make our
sacrifices a pleasing odor to him.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The second
part of the Royal Law is much like it and James connected it directly to the
Royal Law:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And a second is like it: ‘You
shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mat 22:39; ESV) “If you really fulfill
the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’
you are doing well” James, Jesus' half brother would note many years later in expounding on what Jesus was saying (Jas 2:8).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both
quote from Lev. 19:18, which in Jesus shows the breadth and genius of his
knowledge that he was able to draw from two different books of the Torah and
connect them together in that way.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Once again
this is something of an open-ended law, more like a statement of principle like
the first one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And once again it is
superior enough that Jesus could say “On these two commandments depend all the
Law and the Prophets" (Mat 22:40).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If we really love our neighbor as ourselves, then we need no set of laws
or rules to know how to treat our neighbor in any situation which could
conceivably occur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We just do the same
for them as we would want done to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of
course if we love our neighbors in the same way that Jesus taught in his
parable of the Good Samaritan at Luke 10:30-35 we would also be proactive and live
our lives in such a way that we would not only live our lives in such a way
that we would bring no harm to anybody if at all possible, but like the
Samaritan we would be ready to do good to our neighbor, which includes strangers
as in the case of the parable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what
we learn from this consideration is that the Royal Law of love is really a law
based on principles instead of rules and will guide us in all situations.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On the night
before Jesus died John recorded the last of the three parts of Royal Law of
Love:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“A new commandment I
give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are
to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another." </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Joh 13:34-35; ESV)</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Think for a
moment on the implications of this law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How did Jesus show his love for his disciples as well as all of mankind?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He died for them, didn’t he?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he also left them an example for them,
and all true Christians to follow in the way he dealt with them under all
circumstances, including the times they were quite trying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this law is also a statement of principle
as well and if we grasp its essence we will also know how to deal with our
brethren in Christ with love in any and all situations.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In ancient
times not only were Christians willing to die for Christ, but they were also
willing to die for their brethren as well, that no harm might come to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact there are plenty of examples of both
throughout the entire Gospel age to this point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If we follow that last law we certainly wouldn’t want to impose power or
a multiplicity of “laws” or rules on our brethren.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would speak evil of none of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would readily help them is it is within
our power to do so, including helping them monetarily if we can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, loving our brethren as Jesus did would
move us to put up with the flaws in their characters and if me must readjust them,
as “spiritual” Christians are told to do it would be tactfully, in the spirit
of Galatians 6:1, where the next verse tells us that we will fulfill the Royal
Law of Love if we do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that is the
point of this discussion, isn’t it?</span></div>
<br />Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-92139033399515963282013-09-11T10:47:00.000-07:002013-09-11T10:47:56.762-07:00Israel: A Tree and a Vine and How They Help us Understand the Bible
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In order to
understand a number of passages in the scriptures it is necessary to understand
certain symbolisms also found in God’s word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Among those is that Israel is represented as a vine, and as a fig
tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last symbol is really a key to
the prophetic series I just wrote since the whole point was that the fig tree,
Israel, was budding, a symbol of both her restoration as a nation and the big
clue that we are in the last days of this human society, or world (Matt. 24:32-35,
Mark 13:28-31, Luke. 21:29-33).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are a
number of places in the Old Testament where Israel is likened to a vine, or
vines in a vineyard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first place we
are going to look at is found in Isaiah:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a
song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a
very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and
planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and
also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes,
and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men
of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been
done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked
that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to;
I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge
thereof, and it shall be eaten up; <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">and</span>
break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it
waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and
thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the
vineyard of the LORD of hosts <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">is</span>
the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for
judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.” (Isa
5:1-7)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is
actually a prophecy of Israel’s exile from its land as well as the negation of
his covenant with them (vs. 5; Eph. 2:14-15).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So this points towards the exile of the Jews which began in 70ad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet we see that Israel here is present as a
vineyard which produces no fruit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jeremiah takes the symbol a step further, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art
thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?”</i> (Jer
2:21), thus we see Israel identified as a vine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This
knowledge is important because it helps us to understand more fully Paul’s
words to the Romans regarding Israel and the Church:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“For if the casting away of them <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">be</span> the reconciling of the world, what
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">shall</span> the receiving <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">of them be,</span> but life from the dead?
For if the firstfruit <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">be</span> holy,
the lump <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">is</span> also <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">holy:</span> and if the root <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">be</span> holy, so <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">are</span> the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and
thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them
partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree…”</span></i><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> (Rom 11:15-17)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thus we see
as regard’s the promise to Abraham Israel couldn’t fill the number of the
Church, so Gentiles were “grafted into” the vine of Israel to replace her
cutting off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That doesn’t mean that
Israel was replaced in God’s plan by the church completely, Paul informs us
that God will return favor to Israel:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“For I would not, brethren, that ye
should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of
the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written,
There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob: For this <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">is</span> my
covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the
gospel, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">they are</span> enemies for
your sakes: but as touching the election, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">they are</span> beloved for the fathers' sakes.”</span></i><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Rom 11:25-28)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now we look
at some of the scriptures which refer to Israel as a Fig Tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We find our first on in Hosea:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I found Israel like grapes in the
wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first
time: <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">but</span> they went to
Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">that</span>
shame; and <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">their</span> abominations
were according as they loved.” </span></i><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Hos 9:10)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Note the “grapes”
reference here, evoking the symbol of the vine we already saw in the form
of the fruit of the vine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this verse
we see Israel also likened to the first fruits of the Fig, and, by
extrapolation a fig tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, to
nail the symbolism down properly we must go to the prophet Joel:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“He hath
laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and
cast <i>it</i> away; the branches thereof are made white.” (Joe. I: 7)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So both the
vine and the fig tree are used here as symbols of an Israel lid waste, again a
reference to the exile which began in 70ad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Knowing this helps us to recognize the significance of Jesus’ words to
his disciples when he was asked about the last days to watch for the beginning
of the restoration of the Jews to their homeland to know that they are in the
last days, as we mentioned in the first article in our series on Israel in
Prophecy (Matt. 24:32-35; Mk. 13:28-30; 21:29-33).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thus we see
how symbols relate and help us to come to a deeper understanding of important
truths.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-67579397648423772052013-09-04T09:15:00.000-07:002013-09-04T09:15:06.025-07:00The Final Battle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rA_Ne-aiFmI/UidbAiJYw2I/AAAAAAAAAJo/Diuno9zycv8/s1600/Bible+Nations+of+Ezekiel+38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rA_Ne-aiFmI/UidbAiJYw2I/AAAAAAAAAJo/Diuno9zycv8/s320/Bible+Nations+of+Ezekiel+38.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"And you, son of
man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against
you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Eze. 39:1)</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now we come
around to one of the most famous prophecies in the Bible, the prophecy of
the attack of Gog, the prince of Meshech and Tubal, against the people of
Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now we leave the realm of the
past and present and enter that of the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That is always fraught with problems.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is also
why it is necessary to go back into the recent past and establish as a fact
that for over one hundred years the Bible’s prophecies of the restoration and
establishment as a nation were not only foretold with accuracy the events, but
the events not only unfolded through the years exactly as foretold, but
continue unfolding right before our very eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is how we can be sure that what comes next is indeed reliable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem for us is to be clear where we enter
the realm of supposition and where we tread on firm ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Failure to do that is why many end up being
called false prophets when they were nothing of the kind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What most don’t realize is that there is a
big difference between faulty predictions and false prophecy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, to find
out why and get a sense of how we may know the attack is coming we need to skip
ahead a little bit to verses 11-14:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“and say, 'I will go up against the
land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell
securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,' to
seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places
that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who
have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. Sheba
and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you,
'Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off
plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to
seize great spoil?' "Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus
says the Lord GOD: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely,
will you not know it?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Eze 38:11-14)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The motive
has two components.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first is that
Israel will be very profitable and have much “spoil,” that is, riches, to
plunder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since time immemorial a Country’s
wealth or riches generally consisted of its natural resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Romans wiped out an entire people to get
at the Gold their land had in the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The same happened to a number of indigenous peoples here in the United
States and elsewhere in more recent times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Today when the most valuable commodity earth wide in an economy which
depends on energy oil and gas are two such sources of wealth nations are very
willing to go to war over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently in Israel
and off its coast it was discovered that Israel has a great abundance of both,
enough to rival the Gulf Coast Arabs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Energy poor, yet militarily powerful countries to the North, such as
Russia and Turkey already look with greed on the discoveries so close and ripe
for the picking to their South in a little country already loathed by the rest
of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could the temptation at
some point just be too much?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Well let’s
go back now to the first part of the chapter:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The word of the LORD came to me:
"Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief
prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the
Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you
out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor,
a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia,
Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all
his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his
hordes—many peoples are with you. "Be ready and keep ready, you and all
your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Eze 38:1-7)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take a
moment and look at the photo at the top of the page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There we find the locations of the peoples
mentioned in the verses we just quoted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Russia and Turkey in the North are quite prominent and both
traditionally hate Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both are
energy poor and would find the energy wealth of Israel a tempting prize
indeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is, if the potential pieces
we see falling in place are tempting enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They are also joined by Iran in the attack and reinforced by the Arab
states to the South and West.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
something is missing:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“After many days you will be
mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored
from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the
mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought
out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. You will advance,
coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all
your hordes, and many peoples with you. "Thus says the Lord GOD: On that
day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme and
say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the
quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having
no bars or gates,'” (Eze 38:8-11)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I did it
this way because of something very important noted in this passage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Missing from the list of peoples attacking
Israel in this prophecy are the Arab people which immediately surround it, the
ones we saw in the 83<sup>rd</sup> Psalm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Something happened to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
get a clue to that in verse eight were we are told that the Jews are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“restored from war,”</i> that is, who just
fought and won a war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So somehow the long
war prophesied in the 83<sup>rd</sup> Psalm comes to a successful conclusion,
by some sort of victory and the people of Israel appear to be secured, secure
enough that they think they can now cut back on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>their military and enough the fruits of peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as we see here their military
vulnerability makes them easy pickings in the minds of Russia and her allies
and they invade Israel intent on plundering “spoil.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“You will come from your place out of
the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them
riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. You will come up against my
people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring
you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I
vindicate my holiness before their eyes. "Thus says the Lord GOD: Are you
he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in
those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? But on
that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the
Lord GOD, my wrath will be roused in my anger.” (Eze 38:15-18)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So Russia
will attack as the description of Gog’s force as coming from the “uttermost
parts of the north” indicates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God
brings him against the land and they are “like a cloud covering the land.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recently listened to a discourse which
proposed that Obadiah prophesied in more detail as to what will go on at the
final invasion and battle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The speaker believes
that verse eleven of Obadiah predicts that the forces of Gog and his allies
will successfully invade the land Israel and occupy it, setting the stage for
Armageddon and God’s liberation of his people in such a way nobody will be able
to deny what happened and who did it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But where
are Israel’s allies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, the speaker
addressed that as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He believes that
Edom represents Israel’s “brothers,” the Christian nations who are mostly
allied with God’s people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It appears
from verses ten through fourteen of Obadiah that they will stand aside and do
nothing on Israel’s behalf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would
further make the point that God alone will be Israel’s deliverer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those who don’t think that possible just
look around us today.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is a
campaign to isolate Israel going on among the Christian nations as my dear
readers read this post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holocaust
deniers have pretty much overtaken academia and the media and they are working
their magic with their propaganda blaming all the ills of the Middle East on
Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see demonstrations at our
universities demanding divestment of university holdings of Israeli investments
and Israel is vilified on campuses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
also see a constant stream of UN resolutions treating Israel as an invader and
of “Palestine” and human rights abuser as Israel defends herself from constant attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of this is designed to pry Israel’s
allies away from her and will be successful if the speaker we listened to
interprets Obadiah correctly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However it
finally plays out, one thing is certain; God will destroy Gog’s forces in such
a way there will be no doubt who is responsible for Gog’s defeat (Eze
38:17-39:24).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is our belief that
this, on one level, will be the Battle of Armageddon mentioned in the New
Testament (Rev 16:12-16).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As with many
other prophecies in the Bible we believe there are often several levels to
prophecies, but that is another topic for another time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So what is
the end, why should we look forward to all of this and why should we be in
expectation of it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That, my readers, is
mentioned at the end of this prophecy:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“"Therefore thus says the Lord
GOD: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house
of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their
shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell
securely in their land with none to make them afraid, when I have brought them
back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies' lands, and through
them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall
know that I am the LORD their God, because I sent them into exile among the
nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them
remaining among the nations anymore. And I will not hide my face anymore from
them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord
GOD." (Eze 39:25-29)</span></i></div>
<br /><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, Israel
will be restored to her rightful place as the shining one among the nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She will stray no more because she will be
the example for the nations during the millennial reign of the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ezekiel then goes on in Chapter forty to
describe the temple he saw in his famous vision and the conditions we can look
forward to then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, dear readers, we
can see why the prophecies of Israel are so important to us and why we should
be familiar with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This series was
by no means comprehensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are
many more prophecies of Israel’s restoration and delivery and her role in the
kingdom to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is our hope that
this series will inspire our readers to become more familiar with these
prophecies and to pay more attention to world events so that they may know
where they stand in the prophetic stream of time and not be dismayed and frightened
as world events play themselves out to their inevitable end.</span></div>
Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-47594656089520550132013-08-12T14:31:00.000-07:002013-08-12T14:31:04.757-07:00Jacob’s Trouble<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-evzrSWGY6PI/UglTDEuI5kI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/9Y_P129WeCg/s1600/485461_574803349220306_593988993_n.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-evzrSWGY6PI/UglTDEuI5kI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/9Y_P129WeCg/s320/485461_574803349220306_593988993_n.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Alas! for that day is
great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he
shall be saved out of it. </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Jer. 30:7; ASV)</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now we come
to one of the most discussed prophecies regarding Israel and her restoration
among Bible Students, the one we refer to as the Prophecy of Jacob’s
Trouble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prophecy is recorded for us
in the thirtieth chapter of Jeremiah, and like the 83<sup>rd</sup> Psalm is
full of much for us to think about and filled with both darkness and
promise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s because just like the 83<sup>rd</sup>
Psalm, it is being fulfilled even as my readers read this.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I know the
last sentence in the foregoing paragraph will surprise some of our regular
readers, but in the spirit of letting God’s word speak for itself let’s see why
we believe we can make that claim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part
of th proof starts with the very first three verses of the chapter:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The word that came to Jeremiah from
the LORD: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the
words that I have spoken to you<u>. For behold, days are coming, declares the
LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the
LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and
they shall take possession of it."</u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Jer. 30:1-3; ISV, underlining by me)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First let’s
note that this prophesy begins with the bold statement “Thus says the LORD,” so
the prediction is directly from God, in his own words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we are assured of its fulfillment for what
he declares comes true (Isaiah. 55:8-11).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The rest of the prophecy, though, doesn’t support the thought that this
prophecy would see fulfillment in the tie of the return of the Jews from their
captivity in Babylon because it tells us that it would come after a destruction
so thorough that people would say that it was “incurable” (vs 11).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That didn’t happen until the destruction of
Israel as a nation in 70ad.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So that
places the return of the Jews to the land of Israel past that, to our time, which
is what this series discussed, the many other remarkable prophecies already
discussed which point the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So at God’s
due time the Jews returned and set up their nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is not without trouble:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Thus says the LORD: We have heard a
cry of panic, of terror, and no peace.” (Jer. 30:5)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ve
already seen how true these words are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The 83<sup>rd</sup> Psalm predicted the trouble and lack of peace as
well and Israel is in a continuous state of war, one going all the way back to
its creation in 1948.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just the weekend
before which this was penned ( August 10-11, 2013) there was an announcement of
an impending release of “Palestinian” prisoners, many of whom murdered Jews in
their sleep with axes!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the war never
ends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is consistent with the next
part of the prophecy:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Ask now, and see, can a man bear a
child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman
in labor? Why has every face turned pale?” (Jer. 30:6)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here is
where we come to the idea that “Jacob’s Trouble” is ongoing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any woman who ever gave birth can knows how
it works out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pangs start out far
apart and not really strong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then as
time goes on they continue and grow closer together and stronger, more painful,
until the baby is born.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Naturally fear and
even terror become more pronounced, especially with those giving birth for the
first time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the real point is that
the process of giving birth takes time, lots of time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The verse
above draws that parallel for “Jacob,” or Israel, as verse seven informs
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jacob’s Trouble is not a sudden
event, it plays out over time and we believe that time began in 1878 when the
time for exile ended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the Jews
did begin their return then, the Ottomans continued to place roadblocks in
their way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Britain occupied the Holy
land and at first tried to expedite the return of the Jews, only to later place
roadblocks of its own as the creation of the modern state of Israel drew near
because of politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, like childbirth,
Jacob’s Trouble does have an ending point:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Alas! That day is so great there is
none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of
it.” (Jer. 30:7)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We do not
take this to mean that Jacob, or Israel, will be spared trouble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, we take the verse to mean that Israel
will be spared what to the human mind will appear the inevitable conclusion,
destruction at the hands of the enemies overwhelmingly arrayed against it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That deliverance, though also expressed as
one reads on in this chapter of Jeremiah, will be the subject of the next
prophecy we plan to examine, the prophecy of Gog of Magog.</span></div>
<br />Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-85678802733356383842013-07-29T09:57:00.000-07:002013-07-29T09:57:05.653-07:00The prophecy of the 83rd Psalm
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bvf_Kl0vZsc/UfadOPTKWJI/AAAAAAAAAI8/94vt7qQ8yJQ/s1600/944903_539967812713159_1058488145_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bvf_Kl0vZsc/UfadOPTKWJI/AAAAAAAAAI8/94vt7qQ8yJQ/s320/944903_539967812713159_1058488145_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">men</span> may know that thou, whose name
alone <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">is</span> JEHOVAH, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">art</span> the most high over all the earth.
</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Psa 83:18)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For many
years this psalm was known to me chiefly because of the golden verse for this
post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is one of the four times that
the name of God, Jehovah, occurs in the King James Version of the Bible and I
used to quote that verse at the door often while I was a Jehovah’s
Witness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet I did not realize the
wonderful prophecy it contained, largely because of the Replacement Theology of
Jehovah’s Witnesses.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But once
again I have Hal Lindsey to thank for bringing my attention to this prophecy by
means of an episode of his show some years back after I exited the Witnesses
and became more interested in Last Days prophecies and Israel once the blinders
came off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In it Mr. Lindsey posited that
the pieces were all falling in place for this prophecy to be fulfilled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as I pondered the prophecy his
explanation didn’t quite satisfy me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This one of the prophecies the expositor I look to didn’t cover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I listened to mature Christian teachers
when they mentioned the prophecy and did research into it to come to the
conclusions I have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So let’s dive right
on in:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A Song <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">or</span> Psalm of Asaph.</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up
the head. </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Psa 83:1-2)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So who was
this Asaph?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to Wikipedia:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>“In the Old
Testament there are three different men with the name of Asaph. The Asaph
identified with these twelve Psalms is said to be the son of Berechiah which is
said to be an ancestor of the Asaphites. The Asaphites are said to be one of
the families or guilds of musicians in the Jerusalem temple. These pieces of
information are clarified in the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles. In the Chronicles
it is said that Asaph was a descendant of Gershom the son of Levi therefore he
is identified as a member of the Levites. He is also known as one of the three
Levites commissioned by David to be in charge of singing in the house of
Yahweh. In 1 Chronicles 6:39 David appoints a man named Heman as the main musician
or singer and Asaph as Heman’s right hand assistant and the Merarites at his
left hand.</em><sup><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalms_of_Asaph#cite_note-Harper.2FAchtemeier-3"><em>[3]</em></a></sup><em>
Asaph is also credited with performing at the dedication of Solomon’s temple in
2 Chronicles 5:12.</em><sup><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalms_of_Asaph#cite_note-Harper.2FAchtemeier-3"><em>[3]</em></a></sup></span></div>
<em>
</em><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><em><br /></em></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>As an
officer within the Jerusalem religious system, Asaph would have participated in
both the public and private side of that system. He served as an official for
several years, starting with King David and serving King Solomon as well, if he
is the same Asaph mentioned in 2 Chronicles 5.12. During his long term, Asaph
surely saw the best and worst of other officials. His complaint against
corruption among the rich and influential, recorded in Psalm 73, might have
been directed towards some of those officials. The words he used to describe
the wicked come from the same lexicon of words used by officers of the
cultic/sacrificial system.”</em></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So here
Asaph prays to God not to stand idly by while his enemies make trouble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what sort of trouble is it which has
Asaph so perturbed: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“They have taken crafty
counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. <u>They have
said, Come, and let us cut them off from <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">being</span>
a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.</u> For they
have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: “</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Psa 83:3-5)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Note the
underlined portion because it is key to where I’m coming from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here we find out what has the psalmist so
upset.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sees nations conspiring to
wipe Israel and the Jews off the map.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since Aspah lived in the days of the Kings David and Solomon, the golden
era of ancient Israel, this certainly wasn’t going on in his day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he is obviously talking about future
events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is our belief that what he
foresaw is taking place now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next
portion of the psalm tells us who and goes to why we think so:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The tabernacles of
Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and
Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with
them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah. </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Psa 83:6-8)</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The key to
understanding this is to go take a look at a map of the ancient Middle East.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What one discovers is that the nations
described are the ones surrounding Israel back then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those same lands are under Arab domination
today with what is left of the original inhabitants all followers of the prophet
Mohammad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hal Lindsey saw in the Arab
Spring the pieces falling into place for a future fulfillment of the psalm when
the Arabs would attack the Jews. Here is a picture with the list:</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-meB7xgmG-KM/UfaZ3MESRRI/AAAAAAAAAIs/u6ozkye44Lg/s1600/83rd+Pslam+confederates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-meB7xgmG-KM/UfaZ3MESRRI/AAAAAAAAAIs/u6ozkye44Lg/s320/83rd+Pslam+confederates.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But look at verse
four again, </span><em><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a
nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.”</span></em><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is exactly what the nations which
surround modern Israel have said since the foundation of the Jewish state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within days of the creation of the state of
Israel all the almost all the Arab nations listed in the psalm attacked and
those words were essentially their battle cry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And the war never really ended, that is one of the dirty little historic
histories we don’t see in the media.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The war for
Jewish annihilation has hot and cold periods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The hot periods are well known, the 1956 war, the six day war of 1967
and the Yom Kippur war in the 1970s are all examples of the hot periods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In between Arabs conduct a guerilla war with
Arabs slipping into Jewish communities and murdering them in the night,
sometimes whole families of Jews including infants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another phase of the colder war is also
carried on in more modern days, rocket attacks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rockets are launched into Israel by the thousand by so called “Palestinian”
fighters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are deliberately aimed at
civilian population centers with the purpose of indiscriminately killing Jews
and striking terror into their hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So the Jews have been under an ongoing siege since day one in 1948.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For the
foregoing reasons it is our belief that the fulfillment of the prophecy in
Psalm 83 is ongoing and will continue parallel with Jeremiah’s prophecy about “Jacobs
Trouble” until it’s on conclusion is reached , possibly when the Arabs think
Israel is in a weak enough position they might be able to prevail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there is a part of the prophecy they
would do well to read:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Do unto them as <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">unto</span> the Midianites; as <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">to</span> Sisera, as <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">to</span> Jabin, at the brook of Kison: <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Which</span> perished at Endor: they became <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">as</span> dung for the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb, and like
Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: Who said, Let us take
to ourselves the houses of God in possession. O my God, make them like a wheel;
as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame
setteth the mountains on fire; So persecute them with thy tempest, and make
them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy
name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be
put to shame, and perish:” </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Psa 83:9-17)</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, at some
point they will feel emboldened to either attack on their own or join another
conspiracy and God will give the children of Israel victory over them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that victory will be for a purpose, the
one mentioned in our golden text:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">men</span> may know that thou, whose name
alone <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">is</span> JEHOVAH, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">art</span> the most high over all the earth.
</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Psa 83:18)</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Amen, Asaph,
amen!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Next we will
take a look at the prophecy about “Jacob’s trouble,” which is found in Jeremiah
chapter thirty.</span></div>
<br />Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-76936754349689167172013-07-26T12:14:00.000-07:002013-07-26T12:14:25.532-07:00"I will send for many hunters" Israel In Jeremiah 16
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wERmYF-ZUwg/UfLGI0OXAUI/AAAAAAAAAIU/rxiOMB55Wmg/s1600/babi-yar-massacre-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wERmYF-ZUwg/UfLGI0OXAUI/AAAAAAAAAIU/rxiOMB55Wmg/s320/babi-yar-massacre-001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“For my eyes are on all
their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from
my eyes. But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because
they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and
have filled my inheritance with their abominations." </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Jer 16:17-18)*</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thus ends
one of the more remarkable prophecies found in God’s word which reveals both
how the Jews would return to Israel, but when it would start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two golden verses tell us when.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than 120 years ago a famous Pastor
figured out what was meant by those two verses, that Israel would endure a
period of rejection by him and scattering among the nations of equal length to
the time of favor they enjoyed when he began dealing with them more as a nation
with the death of Jacob.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">1842 years later
that time of favor came to an end with the conversion of the Roman centurion Cornelius
and his family, as foretold by the prophecy of the seventy weeks in the book of
Daniel (9:24-27) and that favor didn’t return until another 1842 years passed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That period ended in 1878 when Jews were
permitted to own property in the holy land and began their return with the
founding of Petah Tikvah, the Gate of Hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I explained those two verses first because what follows in this study
will bear the explanation out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Then you shall say to
them: 'Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the LORD, and have gone
after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and
have not kept my law, and because you have done worse than your fathers, for
behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to
me. Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor
your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night,
for I will show you no favor.' </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Jer 16:11-13)</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The entire
chapter mostly focuses on the Jews being thrown out of the land of Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first 10 verses prophesy destruction on
an unprecedented scale and humiliation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This passage tells us why, their unfaithfulness to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this passage and the remarkable
prophecy we are examining both indicate that he wasn’t talking about their
exile to Babylon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They would be exiled “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">into a land that neither you nor your
fathers have known,” </i>that is a land not within the realms they knew
of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would prove to be all too true
after their exile by the Romans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
ended up in the far-flung parts of the empire, but mostly in Eastern Europe, an
area only known as the realms of barbarians in Jeremiah’s day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their dire situation there with its pogroms aptly
fit the last declaration in these verses “for I will show you no favor.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What comes
next was so remarkable when it was pointed out to me by a book** first published
124 years ago that I was taken aback at how accurately it portrayed what
actually happened throughout the 20<sup>th</sup> century to the Jews:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“"Therefore,
behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be
said, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of
Egypt,' but 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the
north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I
will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers. </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Jer 16:14-15)</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Think about
that prophecy for a moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The exodus
to the land of Palestine, as it was known in 1878, began with a trickle out of
the North, Russia that is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as time
went by the trickle increased.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it
wasn’t enough in God’s eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he did
something about it as the next verse prophesied:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“"Behold, I am
sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them. And
afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every
mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Jer 16:16)</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first
part of verse 16 fits the Nazis under Hitler like a glove.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Under his supervision the Jews were
imprisoned in concentration camps and during WWII his troops hunted the Jews
down to destroy them taking millions of Jewish lives in the process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That persecution provided the impetus for the
speeding up of the Jewish return to their homeland and then the creation of the
nation of Israel.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But it didn’t
end there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By returning to verse fifteen
we find that they would also be brought back from “all the countries where he
had driven them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the Jews established
the nation of Israel the Jews started flooding into the nation, often prompted
by more persecution from other “hunters,” the Muslims of the Arab world which
did their work so thoroughly that there are Muslim lands with virtually no Jews
in them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the exodus would
continue when communism fell and Jews who’d been persecuted under that system
now became free to flee to Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the
exodus from the “North” entered a second phase and the flood became such that
now, for the first time in almost 2000 years there are more Jews in Israel than
in the rest of the world combined.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But that’s
not the only jaw-dropping prophecy I plan to cover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next will be a Psalm which I believe to be in
the process of being fulfilled right now as its being carried out over a longer
period of time than most prophecy scholars realize.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will see you then.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<br />
* All quotes from the English Standard Version (ESV)<br />
** <em>The Time Is At Hand</em> by Charles Taze Russell pages 216-217.Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-28352806846548996732013-07-15T11:33:00.002-07:002013-07-15T11:33:37.237-07:00Can These Bones Live?
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D8eYc7KkHQ4/UeRAV0kXkxI/AAAAAAAAAH8/NDD60vd0bXo/s1600/Bones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D8eYc7KkHQ4/UeRAV0kXkxI/AAAAAAAAAH8/NDD60vd0bXo/s320/Bones.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
And he led me around
among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and
behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, "Son of man, can these
bones live?" </div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(Eze 37:2-3)*</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The question
above was asked of the prophet Ezekiel more than 25 hundred years ago and it
led to one of the most beautiful prophecies regarding the restoration to the
Holy land as a people and a state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chapters
37 and 38 of Ezekiel’s book together not only prophesied the resurrection of
the nation of Israel from obscurity and death, but also tell us what will
happen in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why it is
important to pay attention to them, the 37<sup>th</sup> chapter is already
largely fulfilled and that fulfillment not only sets the stage for, but assures
us that the 38<sup>th</sup>’s fulfillment can’t be far off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So let’s take a closer look.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The hand of the LORD
was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in
the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among
them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and
behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, "Son of man, can these
bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Eze 37:1-3)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That is the
passage in context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know that after
Jerusalem fell in 70ad the Jews were scattered among the nations more
thoroughly than ever before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all
intents and purposes they were dead as a nation, though they weren’t quite dead
as a people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were in effect the
bones of the nation, disarticulated and strewn about in the dry valley as
targets of hatred and persecution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No
nation so treated before in the history of mankind ever came back from such a
state, so the prospects where like a dry valley filled with bones indeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But something happened.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then he said to me,
"Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of
the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to
enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause
flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you
shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD." </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Eze 37:4-6)</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So what we
now see is a promise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God promised his
people, the Jews, that they will be resurrected as a nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though they were scattered abroad that would
not be a permanent state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As mentioned
before, no nation ever destroyed and scattered abroad so thoroughly in human
history ever came back from the dead as a nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some, as the Carthaginians, who were also
destroyed as a nation by the Romans, remain dead to this day as peoples and
their languages, if known at all, are mere curiosities for modern academicians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus was the State of Israel, even its
language was reduced to the status of a liturgical language only used by
Rabbis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But God promised his people they
would be restored as a nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as if
that weren’t enough:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So I prophesied as I
was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling,
and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there
were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them.
But there was no breath in them. </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Eze 37:7-8)</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As if
promising their resurrection as a nation weren’t enough Ezekiel is given a
vision of the gathering of the people to the land and rebuilding the body of a
nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We already mentioned the
beginning of that rebuilding in the first article of this series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It began with the Berlin Congress in 1878
where the Ottoman rulers agreed to allow Jews to own land in Palestine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the same year the community of Petah
Tikvah was founded and the return of the Jews began with a trickle of Jews making
the journey from Eastern Europe to found and build other Jewish communities and
begin the transformation of the Palestine landscape from desert conditions to
the wonderful state it enjoys today. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In 1917 something
else happened which laid the foundation for a Jewish state in Palestine, the UK
agreed to the creation of a “Jewish homeland.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was the next step toward the restoration of Jewish polity and the
agreement defined the boundaries of that homeland to include what is now Jordan
in addition to the territory Israel now has.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That new homeland would be renamed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Transjordan</i>,
though the Jews still continued to use the name of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Palestine</i> for their homeland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Few people realize that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Palestine
Regiment</i> which fought on behalf of the UK in WWII was Jewish, not Arab.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So all the
pieces were in place for a Jewish nation, yet in the vision there was no
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ezekiel tells us what happened
next:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then he said to me,
"Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus
says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these
slain, that they may live." So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the
breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly
great army. </span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Eze 37:9-10)</span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And that is
exactly what happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1948 the Jews
in the Holy Land created a nation and war broke out immediately as the
surrounding Arabs nations tried to destroy the fledgling Jewish state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they won against all odds and became a
mighty nation which over the decades won battle after battle against all comers
in what amounts to an ongoing 65 year war as of this writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something most people don’t know is that
between the Jewish “wars” with their neighbors the Arabs waged guerilla wars
with Arabs sneaking into Jewish communities and murdering Jews, including
children, in their beds at night as well as the constant bombardment by rockets
lobbied at Jewish cities as terror weapons in the tradition of Nazi Germany’s
rocket campaign against the United Kingdom in WWII.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The rest of
the 37<sup>th</sup> Chapter of Ezekiel continues the thing of the resurrection
of the nation of Israel and even proclaims that they will be governed by the
Messiah, the Christ, in verse 24, calling him “My servant David.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that is future yet, beyond the prophecy which
appears in the 38<sup>th</sup> Chapter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead of going there, though, we’re first going to continue to look at
some wonderful prophecies concerning both the gathering of the Jews, and the
implacable hatred and war against them by the Arabs first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will next look at what Jeremiah had to say
on the subject of the restoration of the State of Israel.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
*All scripture citations in this post are taken <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from the English Standard Version (ESV)
Courtesy of the E-Sword bible Study program.</div>
<br />Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-13893053193996000132013-07-02T14:11:00.000-07:002013-07-02T14:11:45.972-07:00Israel in Prophecy<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="a0cfefdd0a4d0f88c2d8a0324f310a65d5a4033c" grtype="null" id="GRmark_a0cfefdd0a4d0f88c2d8a0324f310a65d5a4033c_tender:0">tender</span> and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near." </i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Matt. 24:3; ESV)</i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometime
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="672863bd26e61f5d8bfeeae3fd0633e77d5c8811" grtype="null" id="GRmark_672863bd26e61f5d8bfeeae3fd0633e77d5c8811_around:0">around</span> 1978 I saw a book in the Salvation Army store named <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Late Great Planet Earth</i> authored by Hal Lindsey and read it
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="c9a555bba12bbe35ac438987ce0982a5176d28ff" grtype="null" id="GRmark_c9a555bba12bbe35ac438987ce0982a5176d28ff_with:0">with</span> great interest after purchasing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the time I was in a faith which believes in Replacement Theology and
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="b86cd324bba5b28380df952a8994902423233663" grtype="null" id="GRmark_b86cd324bba5b28380df952a8994902423233663_brushed:0">brushed</span> off most of what Dr. Lindsey wrote, but one thing kind of stuck with me
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="8977e69412a9f07e5b2c2dae97ba596ceb6f19a5" grtype="null" id="GRmark_8977e69412a9f07e5b2c2dae97ba596ceb6f19a5_at:0">at</span> the back of my mind for years, the role of Israel in the prophecies of the
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="595a9e4c0c1677556325484034b14e70f2dd0fc5" grtype="null" id="GRmark_595a9e4c0c1677556325484034b14e70f2dd0fc5_last:0">last</span> <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="595a9e4c0c1677556325484034b14e70f2dd0fc5" grtype="null" id="GRmark_595a9e4c0c1677556325484034b14e70f2dd0fc5_days:1">days</span>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I left <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="68e005b28a24b910b208452add898be1779e24bb" grtype="null" id="GRmark_68e005b28a24b910b208452add898be1779e24bb_my:0">my</span>
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="269c3b8ed622bd6da3efe3897219b502996de531" grtype="null" id="GRmark_269c3b8ed622bd6da3efe3897219b502996de531_previous:0">previous</span> faith some years ago and now had the opportunity to take a closer look
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="ed414c78de996104d56323142f748f3b1cddbd1b" grtype="null" id="GRmark_ed414c78de996104d56323142f748f3b1cddbd1b_at:0">at</span> the prophecies concerning the Return of the Jews to their homeland and the
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="141139afb28fd854e856955b1d3ab855f3f0afb6" grtype="null" id="GRmark_141139afb28fd854e856955b1d3ab855f3f0afb6_restoration:0">restoration</span> of their national polity with the creation of the state of
Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there is more, there are
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="a2109ac1dd42cc792c8e264e5a998b64fbfb0f39" grtype="null" id="GRmark_a2109ac1dd42cc792c8e264e5a998b64fbfb0f39_prophecies:0">prophecies</span> yet to be fulfilled, and it was with wonder that I studied the
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="40ac4a21b093734c031b422635fc0c5bd42b4aa6" grtype="null" id="GRmark_40ac4a21b093734c031b422635fc0c5bd42b4aa6_subject:0">subject</span> and listened to mature Christian men of knowledge expound <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="40ac4a21b093734c031b422635fc0c5bd42b4aa6" grtype="null" id="GRmark_40ac4a21b093734c031b422635fc0c5bd42b4aa6_on:1">on</span> the
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="4d9d9de74789b12d00c6b2394660073a4014f93a" grtype="null" id="GRmark_4d9d9de74789b12d00c6b2394660073a4014f93a_subject:0">subject</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of those men filled in
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="8f4593420c3850773a92201fd689f6e193eee9a1" grtype="null" id="GRmark_8f4593420c3850773a92201fd689f6e193eee9a1_gaps:0">gaps</span> for me so that I see the wondrous whole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I decided it <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="c11f6a4ddfafe47a237b9ad34fcd27f7f93d949b" grtype="null" id="GRmark_c11f6a4ddfafe47a237b9ad34fcd27f7f93d949b_is:0">is</span> a great time to discuss this subject of import.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The above
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="f76250d8718657964e62857ce6556b588c8f29e1" grtype="null" id="GRmark_f76250d8718657964e62857ce6556b588c8f29e1_verse:0">verse</span> was part of a group of prophecies which Jesus gave <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="f76250d8718657964e62857ce6556b588c8f29e1" grtype="null" id="GRmark_f76250d8718657964e62857ce6556b588c8f29e1_his disciples in:1">his disciples in</span>
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="763a84fb628ccf021d8a762898cfa6aca159c353" grtype="null" id="GRmark_763a84fb628ccf021d8a762898cfa6aca159c353_answer:0">answer</span> to the question, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="0520c5e1f047d481f46612e43aa9f63f722b79d5" grtype="null" id="GRmark_0520c5e1f047d481f46612e43aa9f63f722b79d5_be:0">be</span> the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matt. 24:3; ESV)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the context closely followed the
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="a5bb73b252acd9a73d26477e05371cd4c8039931" grtype="null" id="GRmark_a5bb73b252acd9a73d26477e05371cd4c8039931_declaration:0">declaration</span> of Jesus that the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed (Matt.
24:2), the wording of the question as it was preserved for us asks a greater
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="54d63f437ad74f06b5c072417eb7811fd966246a" grtype="null" id="GRmark_54d63f437ad74f06b5c072417eb7811fd966246a_question:0">question</span>, what would be the sign of Jesus “coming” (Really “presence” instead
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="28fc73406e2df78e88a3d21339c5fb38777daf23" grtype="null" id="GRmark_28fc73406e2df78e88a3d21339c5fb38777daf23_of:0">of</span> “coming” as the word here is </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EL;">παρουσιας</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">G3952), thus pointing to something much greater than just the
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="52ecc8c28c107e2e79048e50277e1bf379ba4527" grtype="null" id="GRmark_52ecc8c28c107e2e79048e50277e1bf379ba4527_destruction:0">destruction</span> of the Jewish system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="52934d1a507d8aafcd46a067d45320eae89e90ed" grtype="null" id="GRmark_52934d1a507d8aafcd46a067d45320eae89e90ed_with:0">with</span> that understanding in mind that we must approach the great prophecies
Jesus gave in answer to that question.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some of
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="ea1f1e4c338b921cd6c48a1bfd059c6db5517bda" grtype="null" id="GRmark_ea1f1e4c338b921cd6c48a1bfd059c6db5517bda_those:0">those</span> answers applied specifically to the fall of the temple, of that there is
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="6f89dd47cf9b63345fe3ab49303110e64c26ea49" grtype="null" id="GRmark_6f89dd47cf9b63345fe3ab49303110e64c26ea49_no:0">no</span> dispute in our mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others had a
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="89c0d4f911d9897aef8ba3ee7fbe0aca468ad054" grtype="null" id="GRmark_89c0d4f911d9897aef8ba3ee7fbe0aca468ad054_dual:0">dual</span> fulfillment, one <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="89c0d4f911d9897aef8ba3ee7fbe0aca468ad054" grtype="null" id="GRmark_89c0d4f911d9897aef8ba3ee7fbe0aca468ad054_then:1">then</span> and one in the “last days” and some <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="89c0d4f911d9897aef8ba3ee7fbe0aca468ad054" grtype="null" id="GRmark_89c0d4f911d9897aef8ba3ee7fbe0aca468ad054_in:2">in</span> the last days
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="2eb6a59f65dffab9248806b74ab2a7a3ba16fb63" grtype="null" id="GRmark_2eb6a59f65dffab9248806b74ab2a7a3ba16fb63_only:0">only</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where confusion generally runs is
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="0913aec5312a24aa0c0843bf31bbe1ef78a14fd6" grtype="null" id="GRmark_0913aec5312a24aa0c0843bf31bbe1ef78a14fd6_in:0">in</span> trying to figure out which fits into what category.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We believe that this particular statement may
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="2b1d50b704acc7209d999ca5725f078dcb1152ab" grtype="null" id="GRmark_2b1d50b704acc7209d999ca5725f078dcb1152ab_apply:0">apply</span> to both ages because it references the sign of spring when the fig tree
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="8d708ccaa7ba3815236ba97cdf6d21c7b5525e31" grtype="null" id="GRmark_8d708ccaa7ba3815236ba97cdf6d21c7b5525e31_shoots:0">shoots</span> for its foliage from its buds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The obvious meaning is that of seeing the signs of fulfillment beginning
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="3e410889b26c6d8e072d4cc8cd256104b94c87c2" grtype="null" id="GRmark_3e410889b26c6d8e072d4cc8cd256104b94c87c2_to:0">to</span> appear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In many places the Bible does
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="904609ae2db4d6c4f72762a044169d5ae6ca4192" grtype="null" id="GRmark_904609ae2db4d6c4f72762a044169d5ae6ca4192_tell:0">tell</span> us that one of the signs of the “last days” would be the restoration of
Israel to the holy land (Jer. 30, Is. 2:2, Mic 4:1).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="3cf9fc21be51d1f7984a882115eb8395cca3ddb1" grtype="null" id="GRmark_3cf9fc21be51d1f7984a882115eb8395cca3ddb1_my:0">my</span>
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="0a71e0b0614618539703830db7fc93c65345b814" grtype="null" id="GRmark_0a71e0b0614618539703830db7fc93c65345b814_studies:0">studies</span> I read several books written over a hundred years ago which predicted
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="9d48ea9b52b30823aefbc56dcc9f6865e74bbd6e" grtype="null" id="GRmark_9d48ea9b52b30823aefbc56dcc9f6865e74bbd6e_with:0">with</span> astounding accuracy that restoration based on the word of God, though the
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="9f07b5422f725bcead866da82170df578e414698" grtype="null" id="GRmark_9f07b5422f725bcead866da82170df578e414698_author:0">author</span> expected them all to happen much sooner than they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, the accuracy of his words
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="51a5ce5c22e92b3a4c40276d36c305eefdaf5796" grtype="null" id="GRmark_51a5ce5c22e92b3a4c40276d36c305eefdaf5796_struck:0">struck</span> me as remarkable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, just
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="168320f39b0601be32de0a19f7820a46201142e9" grtype="null" id="GRmark_168320f39b0601be32de0a19f7820a46201142e9_as:0">as</span> Charles Taze Russell did, I’m going to let the Bible speak for itself
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="65994b1118b1e3cd5bf89ebd213f9a6510b83c45" grtype="null" id="GRmark_65994b1118b1e3cd5bf89ebd213f9a6510b83c45_instead:0">instead</span> of using his words.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was in
1878 that the tree of prophecy concerning the restoration of Israel began to
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="6c2184402e3e04e3bba3880b428aa54a1fa5a99b" grtype="null" id="GRmark_6c2184402e3e04e3bba3880b428aa54a1fa5a99b_sprout:0">sprout</span> forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="6c2184402e3e04e3bba3880b428aa54a1fa5a99b" grtype="null" id="GRmark_6c2184402e3e04e3bba3880b428aa54a1fa5a99b_The great:1">The great</span> historical event
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="3912f7024543804859088e541dfbef3548d7e1f2" grtype="null" id="GRmark_3912f7024543804859088e541dfbef3548d7e1f2_historians:0">historians</span> remember that year for is the Berlin Congress where British Prime
Minister Benjamin Disraeli, the first Jew to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="51cef626ad4f48e18e381daa45aaa172dada96ac" grtype="null" id="GRmark_51cef626ad4f48e18e381daa45aaa172dada96ac_and:0">and</span> other leaders of Europe gathered in Berlin to craft an agreement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idea was to hammer out certain details
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="773b51d0aa7a32218771222fa777b2f11011e450" grtype="null" id="GRmark_773b51d0aa7a32218771222fa777b2f11011e450_regarding:0">regarding</span> the status of certain nations which used to be part of the Ottoman
Empire but were given their freedom under the Treaty of San Stefano which was
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="2b668942286f386be474aaef8766c9fd41c29d43" grtype="null" id="GRmark_2b668942286f386be474aaef8766c9fd41c29d43_signed:0">signed</span> earlier that year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is given
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="8a641a92f2b0f7a34c01072475c08c2df8039d30" grtype="null" id="GRmark_8a641a92f2b0f7a34c01072475c08c2df8039d30_scant:0">scant</span> attention if at all about the treaty is that Prime Minister Disraeli
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="90fe3f1c4c258f6ec9f1f48ac6a8a94940d332cf" grtype="null" id="GRmark_90fe3f1c4c258f6ec9f1f48ac6a8a94940d332cf_insisted:0">insisted</span> on attaching a provision onto the treaty giving the Jews the right to
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="247e891b783e2d82f4b854a2d40143bc5ffde3f7" grtype="null" id="GRmark_247e891b783e2d82f4b854a2d40143bc5ffde3f7_purchase:0">purchase</span> and hold property in the Holy Land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="60b298379950d6a0c7593f25c39f92b33cbeadda" grtype="null" id="GRmark_60b298379950d6a0c7593f25c39f92b33cbeadda_provision:0">provision</span> which would have enormous consequences later on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One thing
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="35a637ca804bf8afd968d84c0834b1178bb09480" grtype="null" id="GRmark_35a637ca804bf8afd968d84c0834b1178bb09480_modern:0">modern</span> academia doesn’t like to admit is that, although the Jews were
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="c95d75ee97d48870041bf89f3eb0f4099c82ab17" grtype="null" id="GRmark_c95d75ee97d48870041bf89f3eb0f4099c82ab17_dispossessed:0">dispossessed</span> of their homeland, the land <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="c95d75ee97d48870041bf89f3eb0f4099c82ab17" grtype="null" id="GRmark_c95d75ee97d48870041bf89f3eb0f4099c82ab17_was:1">was</span> never entirely devoid of
Jews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were two major cities with
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="709fdf697c55da60d300c5ae53a996227198c8bc" grtype="null" id="GRmark_709fdf697c55da60d300c5ae53a996227198c8bc_large Jewish:0">large Jewish</span> populations, Haifa and Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However they lived under marginal conditions where persecution was an
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="7d18b4653981122395380161f5e20167bbe56f33" grtype="null" id="GRmark_7d18b4653981122395380161f5e20167bbe56f33_ever:0">ever</span> present reality and they weren’t allowed to own land, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outside of the cities the land was a desolate
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="6fa410deeb0dad8eff95517cf951da990fc78d34" grtype="null" id="GRmark_6fa410deeb0dad8eff95517cf951da990fc78d34_waste:0">waste</span>, as reported by people who traveled through the area, including such
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="661ffa8cf00c9b623813c5939a2c69b7ec3c34f5" grtype="null" id="GRmark_661ffa8cf00c9b623813c5939a2c69b7ec3c34f5_luminaries:0">luminaries</span> as Mark Twain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But all <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="661ffa8cf00c9b623813c5939a2c69b7ec3c34f5" grtype="null" id="GRmark_661ffa8cf00c9b623813c5939a2c69b7ec3c34f5_of:1">of</span>
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="d719df55bb643f245e69596a1e159f030c0ea081" grtype="null" id="GRmark_d719df55bb643f245e69596a1e159f030c0ea081_that:0">that</span> changed with the congress of Berlin.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shortly
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="d6224c43d4b23d57fc1d24422c6cf7453916950d" grtype="null" id="GRmark_d6224c43d4b23d57fc1d24422c6cf7453916950d_after:0">after</span> the treaty was adopted a group of Jews purchased a large tract of
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="c812c83cc8e0d824dd02e95c8c707c383e1b6c45" grtype="null" id="GRmark_c812c83cc8e0d824dd02e95c8c707c383e1b6c45_property:0">property</span> and founded the town of Petah Tikvah, or Gate of Hope, for Jews <span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="c812c83cc8e0d824dd02e95c8c707c383e1b6c45" grtype="null" id="GRmark_c812c83cc8e0d824dd02e95c8c707c383e1b6c45_to:1">to</span>
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="2eed3661f3edda8156747d31fc3da979c1b5435d" grtype="null" id="GRmark_2eed3661f3edda8156747d31fc3da979c1b5435d_immigrate:0">immigrate</span> to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although it had rocky
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="611df5019c3c6b4de1f466d4a9a0c4c3f5383963" grtype="null" id="GRmark_611df5019c3c6b4de1f466d4a9a0c4c3f5383963_beginnings:0">beginnings</span>, Petah Tikvah is still around and one of the major cities in Israel
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="170fff90e01f92b2a09b0f29a6ed4d8ee0634053" grtype="null" id="GRmark_170fff90e01f92b2a09b0f29a6ed4d8ee0634053_to:0">to</span> this day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So began the return of the
Jews to their homeland and the eventual restoration of the state of Israel in
1948.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the next post we will talk
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="dbcdeb02ece055a8c07d4ddb11f44b1b18ff33c9" grtype="null" id="GRmark_dbcdeb02ece055a8c07d4ddb11f44b1b18ff33c9_about:0">about</span> some bones and what they have to do with predicting the restoration of
<span class="GRcorrect" grphrase="e9ee59b7d1351151d6656a6fdc093a87e4071e73" grtype="null" id="GRmark_e9ee59b7d1351151d6656a6fdc093a87e4071e73_the:0">the</span> Jewish state.</span></div>
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Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-27207948959000589952013-04-12T12:20:00.000-07:002013-04-12T12:23:10.156-07:00“Difficult Times Will Come:” Paul on the Last Days<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-90-zG118AJA/UWhd1leDqcI/AAAAAAAAAGM/d4wu3thtd1U/s1600/Difficult+Times+will+come.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-90-zG118AJA/UWhd1leDqcI/AAAAAAAAAGM/d4wu3thtd1U/s320/Difficult+Times+will+come.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2 Timothy 3:1-5<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the
Jewish polity was crumbling under the relentless pounding of Roman legions Paul
wrote his friend timothy the above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By
using the words “last days” Paul was referencing Jesus’ predictions recorded in
the 24<sup>th</sup> chapter of Matt. and elsewhere, thus pointing to a future
fulfillment of part of his great prophecy of the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While we believe the biblical evidence points
towards us living in that very time, let’s look at this remarkable passage and
what it outlines to see whether we might well be in the time mentioned.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The first
thing of note is the total selfishness Paul portrays for us which is characteristic
of that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Selfishness is found
throughout history, but in this time it would be on a scale seldom seem after
those words were written.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t it true
that people are more self-involved than on a scale never seen before?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daily we read reports of children turning on
their parents and even killing them over seemingly little things.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">More and
more we meet proud and boastful people, neighbors, family, politicians, media personalities
and on and on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Humble people are getting
harder to find as pride and arrogance seem the order of the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an every man for himself world we live
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when was the last time you got a
sincere “thank you” for doing something for someone?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People are very ungrateful these days.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lack of love
for others is fast disappearing (vs. 3).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We really see this manifested in politics where people, not just
politicians, let all the stops out and don’t hesitate to maliciously malign
those who disagree with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They often
spread gossip to neutralize such ones in brutal campaigns to impose their wills
on everybody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nightly we see pundits and
presenters acting without restraint to the point that good people hardly ever
watch it anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also see an open
hatred of good which is breathtaking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those
who love God’s word and the commands within are called the most hateful words
imaginable and portrayed as mentally lacking and out of step with an
increasingly “enlightened” society which doesn’t see the inherent hypocrisy
between what they say and what they do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We also see
such attitudes at all levels of society where those who love good are attacked
verbally, emotionally, legally and even physically at times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Children are suspended from school for expressing
opinions contrary to the prevailing acceptance of deviate behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Businesses and their owners are often sued
for their refusal to accommodate deviant behavior as human right violators and
put out of business in some cases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Church services are broken up and churches desecrated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And those who stand up for biblical morality
personally attacked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And things are getting
worse.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our time is
one characterized by love of pleasure on an unimaginable scale (vs. 4).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’ve been times in the past when
societies embraced the pursuit of pleasure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But this is practically world-wide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Do your own thing” is the motto of the age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Starting with the sexual revolution in the
1960s things rapidly went downhill where doing whatever “thrills” one is the
chief pursuit of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Schools teach
children that there is no god and this life is all there is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So they grow up with the aim of packing as
much enjoyment into life as possible before they die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No pleasure is too deviant to be
avoided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But even the plainer ones are
to be pursued vigorously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no
place for God in our day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Atheism is on
the rise in the headlong rush for pleasure, power or whatever “turns you on.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There seems to be this thought that denial of
God is a salve to the conscience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet
there is worse.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Many have a
form of piety which really has no power of restraint on them from sin (vs. 5).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all know about the child molestation among
the Catholics by supposedly godly men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the dirty secret is that the Catholics are by no means alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many other religions and sects, really all of
those which assert a high degree of control over their members, have the same
problem as the proliferation of lawsuits bear ample testimony to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s only one way in which such people
show their faith has no really power in their lives for good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many people doing the above things profess
faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, their behavior in
business, politics and their personal lives bear them witness to the lack of
power their faith has in their lives given what I’ve described is happening in
supposedly “Christian” nations as much if not more so than the rest of this
world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This
passage, in combination with others, is why I’ve believed for forty years that
we are in the last days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over than time
things simply got worse and there seems to be no end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the thing to keep in mind is that
all of this is leading to something better however much time it takes to play
out or how much worse it gets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
promised a kingdom where sin will no longer dominate and eternal life will be
possible under the reign of Jesus Christ and the resurrected Church (Rev.
20).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So if we are in the last days, then
it is a time to let go of fear for the future and rejoice in the midst of this
world’s suffering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon I will give
another key to the puzzle of whether we are in the last days or not.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-52503779828328825092013-03-20T15:57:00.000-07:002013-03-20T15:57:11.678-07:00The Law: Are We Under Law?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M2mzMhiztYk/UUo9qkpXWGI/AAAAAAAAAF8/iNipZtkzVkw/s1600/By+This+All.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M2mzMhiztYk/UUo9qkpXWGI/AAAAAAAAAF8/iNipZtkzVkw/s320/By+This+All.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By “Law” I
mean the Law of Moses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From time to time
we see a video by a preacher, who will remain nameless, who teaches that we are
under the Ten Commandments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is hardly
the only one we see who pick and choose features of the Law and teach that such
laws apply to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the question arises
as to whether we are under the law, or any feature thereof and must keep it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This post
was inspired by something we read today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was a post on HuffPo of all things where an “expert” on God’s word posted
a screed against those who consider homosexuality immoral, which we do, and
contrary to God’s commands to Christians, which we also do, though not for the
reasons most of the critics of “gay rights” do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As far as we are concerned Christian’s are commanded to “abstain” from
fornication, the Greek word for which includes homosexuality among other sexual
sins (Act 15:28-29).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We really need no
other authority for teaching Christians that it is sinful and needs to be
avoided like the plague.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After the
usual arguments based on defining Greek words used in Bible passages in a way
modern “scholars” developed in modern times to undermine the teaching that the
Bible condemns homosexual conduct the writer stumbles onto the only viable
argument there is for refuting critic’s arguments:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“But again,
if anyone chooses to accept the Bible's denunciations, even prescriptions of
death for "a man lies with a male," then what about other biblical
commandments that prescribe murder for disobedient children, for those who have
sex during a woman's menstrual cycle? What about the commandments to stone to
death adulterers (although a man could only commit adultery against the wife of
another, never against his own), and the execution by stoning of women raped in
the city, with the logic that if their rape was "legitimate" (shades
of Rep. Todd Akins!), they would have been sure to scream loudly enough to be
rescued? There is no leeway for picking and choosing. Again, either you are a
biblical literalist or not.” (Hendricks)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I can’t help
but wonder if he realized he just proposed the same argument the Apostle Paul did to the
Gentile Christians of his day who wanted to observe certain aspects of the Law:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“For freedom
Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke
of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ
will be of no advantage to you<u>. I testify again to every man who accepts
circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.</u> You are severed
from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from
grace.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Gal 5:1-4;
ESV)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Get the part
we underlined?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul was making the same
point the author of the article I quoted from made, that one cannot keep only
those parts of the law they agree with and reject those they don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the case mentioned by Paul, to take on
circumcisions was to take on the sign that one placed one’s self under the Law
of Moses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were then obligated to
keep it all, something impossible to do for imperfect people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t believe it a false equivalency to
say the same applies to those who would keep any part of the law.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So what are
we under, what replaces the Law for us as Christians?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul gave us a glimpse with a simple
statement after spending most of the first part of his letter to the Romans
laying the groundwork for it by showing why we needed Christ and the futility
of following the Law, which can give nobody life in this world, “For sin will
have no dominion over you, <u>since you are not under law but under grace.</u>”
(Rom 6:14) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now what did he mean by that?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Greek
word for “grace” is χάρις (G5485).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thayer’s
Lexicon defines the word thusly, “From <u>G5463</u>; <i>graciousness</i> (as <i>gratifying</i>),
of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual;
especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life;
including <i>gratitude</i>): - acceptable, benefit, favour, gift, grace
(-ious), joy liberality, pleasure, thank (-s, -worthy).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the context of this verse what is meant is
that true Christians are the recipients of a gracious act on God’s part, they
are treated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">as if their sins were wiped
out,</i> and they have righteousness <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">imputed</i>
to them much as Abraham had (Rom. 4:1-9).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But does
this mean we, the Church, are under no obligation to do anything?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By no means!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus taught his disciples to
live by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">principle</i> instead of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">law</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the Gospels he was recorded summarizing the law with two commands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One was to love God with all of one’s heart,
soul and being, the other was to love one’s neighbor as one’s self (Matt. 22:36-40).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the night before his crucifixion Christ added
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</span>This is what is known as the Law of Love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time and again the Apostles emphasize how
important it is for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his first
letter to the Corinthians Paul tells his readers that without love all his
works are useless (1 cor. 13:1-3).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>James expounds on the importance of having
works consistent with the Law of Love in the second chapter of his letter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And practically John’s<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> entire</i> first letter is an exposition on the need for Christians to
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prize.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When the
question of whether Gentile Christians were obligated to be under the law was
brought before the Apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-4), the Holy Spirit guided
the Apostles and elders to come to a decision which only required a few things
for Christians to follow, or keep (vss. 5-29).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Those things were to “abstain from things offered to idols, blood, from
things strangled, and from sexual immorality” (Acts 15:29; NKJV).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God saw fit to add no further burden comparable
to Law to Christians after that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hendricks, Obery M. Jr., <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/obery-m-hendricks-jr-phd/dont-blame-it-on-the-bible_b_2884094.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/obery-m-hendricks-jr-phd/dont-blame-it-on-the-bible_b_2884094.html</a> </span></div>
Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6197653098145489552.post-6772426492210500552013-02-23T12:05:00.000-08:002013-02-26T15:22:54.733-08:00How Christian Love Bears On Intimacy In Marriage<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-chEz7kHVEHU/USkfjJyzZpI/AAAAAAAAAFs/uoh2cokNbTw/s1600/Husbandslove+your+wife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-chEz7kHVEHU/USkfjJyzZpI/AAAAAAAAAFs/uoh2cokNbTw/s320/Husbandslove+your+wife.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dear friends
and readers:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
following was composed while my series on love was being considered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I saved it to post after the finish of
that series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The date I wrote it was
February 5, 2013, and I originally started it as a post for Facebook, but I got
a little carried away and ended up with something more appropriate to my blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The photo was shared by its creator on Valentine's day, but I thought it a good one for this post and a good theme text even though I don't directly quote it in the essay. Enjoy:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today the
verse in the devotional I use, it's called "Daily Heavenly Manna,"
and was first published in 1905, came from 1 Thess. 4:3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I would like to present the verse in
context to bring home the thought the Apostle was making instead of just what
the comment in the Manna zeroed in on, which is appropriate:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"For
this is the will of God, your sanctification that you should abstain from
sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel
in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do
not know God; that no one should take advantage of his brother in this matter,
because the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also warned you and
testified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For God did not call us to
uncleanness, but holiness."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(1
Thessalonians 4:3-7; NKJV)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Paul, here,
is talking about marriage and adultery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But notice how he speaks about marriage in in terms of sanctification
and honor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In several places Paul
expands on how that should be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably
one of the most significant passages really explains what Paul meant as to the
relationship of the man and the wife in marriage on the sexual side, which is
what Paul was speaking to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is from
his first letter to the Corinthians:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Now
concerning the things of which you wrote me it is good for a man not to touch a
woman [that is to engage in immoral conduct such as fornication or adultery, as
his next statement makes clear].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality let each man have his own
wife and let each woman have her own husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let the husband render to his the affection due her and likewise also
the wife to her husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wife does
not have authority over her own body, but the husband does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And likewise the husband does not have
authority over his own body, but his wife does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do not deprive on another except with consent for a time that you may
give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together agin so that Satan
does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(1 Corinthians 7:1-5; NKJV)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I think this
is one often misused passage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what
is noticeable and appropriate to the passage I’m discussing is this thought of
the way marital possession goes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul
clearly writes that it isn’t a one-way street and both are entitled to their
needs, not just the husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul also
wrote of the matter in a different way to the Ephesians, where he emphasized relations
in marriage as a whole instead of just the sexual side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The passage is Ephesians 5:22-33 and for a
time was famous for the ruckus it caused in the media when a Baptist leader
cited verse 22 in particular and feminists took umbrage.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What they
ignored was the rest of the passage where not only is the wife told to submit
to her husband’s leadership as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the Church</i>
submits to Christ’s, but the man is to love his wife as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the Christ</i> loves the Church (Thess. 5:25).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he goes further by telling husbands that
they are also to love their wives as their own <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bodies</i>, which in a sense they are under the biblical principle of
married couples being one flesh (vss. 28-29,Gen. 2:24, Matt. 19:3-6).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The point of
this came to mind when I saw a photo meme shared by a friend about a real man
continuing to treat his wife after their marriage the same way he did
before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I’ve just outlined the same
meaning behind the meme is what God’s word teaches, but it takes the thought
further by telling the man to treat his wife as he would himself in all
matters, and telling him that he has no authority over his own body in sexual
matters, because ownership in marriage is not a one-way thing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am well
aware of the objection many women have to the thought of being owned by their
husbands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is the way this world
teaches them to think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a “real man,”
that is one who really follows God’s word, will treat the owner of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">his</i> body, his wife with the entire honor
she is due. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that message goes both
ways as well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is often
said that one must also consider the context of the times in which a passage
was written and its audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m one
who believes that is important as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the times the New Testament was written men were the masters of their
families.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women weren’t much more than
chattel, or property, which weren’t much more in the arrangement than brood
mares.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Abuse was common, as we often
still see in many lands today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women had
little or no rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what the apostle
wrote was nothing less than radical, breathtakingly radical at that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yet the
apostle in not one, but several places pushed the thought that Christians were
not to be like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women weren’t just property;
they were fellow members of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Church</i>,
the future rulers of the Kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
Christian men were expected to treat them so, with the same love commanded by
the Christ of his disciples just before his death on the cross (Joh. 13:34 and
which he repeated for good measure that same night at Joh. 15:12).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So they were to be loved with the same love Christ
had for them, that is with love so strong that they would die for their wives
if need be.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That being
the case, why would any Christian maltreat his wife, in any aspect of their
marriage?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the same token why would a Christian
sister treat her husband badly?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we
love our spouse to the same degree that Christ loved us would we not also
extend that love to the marriage bed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of
course we would!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that case we wouldn’t
be demanding of each other and we would also be willing to fill each other’s
needs as long as they aren’t unseemly, even if those needs aren’t convenient at
the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, we would be
giving in intimate matters to the extent we can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that goes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">both</i> ways. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The man’s
headship is in an administrative capacity as to the organization and running of
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">family</i>, not the pleasures of the
bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So while that means we should
willingly give in the bed, it also means we would respect our spouse’s
unwillingness to engage in acts they find distasteful <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> that we would be considerate and try not to burden them with
our desires when we know they aren’t up to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Such is the way of love, love doesn’t “seek its own interests,” that is
put its wants first (1 Cor. 13:5). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thank you
for reading my message for today, and I hope that through it you saw things in
a different way, one which will lead to success in your marriage if you are
married.</span></div>
Stanley Loperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375288990836726724noreply@blogger.com0