tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31296896208645555822024-02-20T17:17:35.168-08:00OnlyHolyBook.blogspot.comThis blog is dedicated to the contention that there is only one genuine "Holy Book"... the Bible. And the very focus of that book is the Messiah Jesus... the only one who can bring peace to this planet.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-23609944987846172892018-10-23T10:25:00.002-07:002018-10-27T09:23:46.794-07:00Immigration - The New Modern Warfare<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Once upon a time, vast armies would invade nations or walled
cities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often, two armies would go out
into the open field to confront one another in mortal combat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Artillery consisted of an array of archers
shooting scores of arrows in unison or catapults projecting boulders or balls
of fire over the walls. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Expendable
soldiers could be used to man battering rams that would breach the gates of the
city leaving its inhabitants helpless before the pillaging invaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the most common form of combat consisted
of men equipped with armor, shield, <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">and</span>
sword.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These combatants would fight to
the death while looking into the eyes of the one whom they had to kill lest they,
themselves, die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suppose that the
noble combatant was the one who, out of necessity, engaged in the conflict <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">to</span> protect his wife and children who, should
the enemy win, would, no doubt, be raped, murdered or enslaved by the invading
hoard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the battle would progress,
General (or field-marshall) would direct the strategy from a safe distance.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Nowadays, there are many new forms of artillery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have drones for striking small “targets”
and ICBMs for destroying big targets, like entire cities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Out on the <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">battlefield</span>,
I suppose the closest thing we have to hand-to-hand combat is tanks and guns
capable of killing from a distance of several hundred yards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s unlikely that anyone looks into the eyes
of his enemy any more<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">…</span> not on the <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">battlefield</span> anyway.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Primitive armies, intent on invading nations that possess
advanced weaponry don’t have the technologically to do so, so a new tactic ha<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">d to be devised</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women and children, who in the old days,
would have helplessly fallen prey to a victorious invading army, could now be
used as those expendable “battering rams” for busting open the gates of the
metaphorical city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The defenders are
forced now to look into the eyes of, not the combatants, but of the
“expendable” battering rams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">righteous</span> people cannot bring themselves to
kill these battering rams!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The field-marshall
of the invading <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">hoard directing</span> the
battle from a distance knows that, so he anticipates that his target will let
the invading hoards into the “city” where they will begin engaging in
hand-to-hand combat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the field-marshall
will direct the conflict from his lazy-boy with his remote while laughing “all
the way to the bank<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">.”</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s one caveat ‘though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is the bank!<o:p></o:p></div>
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May I direct your attention, however, to yet another <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">caveat</span>, There is One who sits in the
heavens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He owns the bank.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-49630695760472354392018-07-01T18:19:00.000-07:002018-07-02T05:06:55.550-07:00 If You Want to “Make America Great Again” You Need Repentance and Jesus <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"> (I Like Donald Trump But)</span></div>
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I like Donald Trump.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I like it that jobs are coming back to America so that
people no longer live off of handouts but can earn a living and, by doing so,
have some dignity.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I like it that he’s cutting back on unnecessary
regulations so that small business owners can run their businesses and not spend all
of their time filling out <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">paperwork</span>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I like it that he wants a strong military because a
strong military means that you’re less likely to have to use it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I like it that he, at least temporarily (and hopefully
permanently) averted a nuclear showdown with North Korea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pray that this might lead to the freeing of
the people of North Korea from slavery to a dictator.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I like it that he affirmed Jerusalem as the Capitol of
Israel, a fact substantiated by myriad Biblical and archaeological evidence.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I like it that he wants to control who comes into the
United States so that no harm can <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">happen</span>
to her citizens.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I like many things about Donald Trump<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>BUT</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I don’t like his apparent arrogance and bombast, <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">and</span> I’m alarmed by his tendency to attack
people personally (‘though I, myself, <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">have been
overly reluctant to excuse it) and</span> perhaps you don’t like some of the
policies mentioned above which I like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I understand why you
might have genuine areas of concern and even fear.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>And</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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It takes far more than jobs, a great economy, a strong
military and secure borders to Make America Great Again (M.A.G.A or M.A.G. if you’re of the opinion that
America was never great). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes
people, who in spite of their differences in ethnicity, gender and even
opinions, living together harmoniously regardless of their politics.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus said:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;">“<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be
guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You
good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says,
‘You </span>fool<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">,’ shall be guilty </span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">enough to go</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> into the fiery hell.</span>”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(Matthew
5:22)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Translation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t
marginalize people and <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">don’t classify them!</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People may have a <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">liberal-leaning</span> or a <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">conservative-leaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They may vary in gender or ethnicity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On issues, they may have their reasons for
what they think, and they may feel passionate about them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that case, agree to disagree and walk
away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But never think of them as
anything less than human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus never
did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-40712520013531243602018-03-26T16:19:00.000-07:002018-03-27T05:41:20.530-07:00If it Weren’t for SIN, We wouldn’t be Talking About GUNS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Scripture tells
us that because of jealousy a man by the name of Cain killed his brother
Abel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">This</span>
event happened such a long time ago that it goes without saying that he carried
out this murder even before the invention of the gun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One might presume that Abel never suspected
that his brother would cause his demise and therefore never took precautionary
steps to prevent that from happening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Later on, the Bible tells us that as
the population of the world <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">grew,</span> it <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">became exceedingly violent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It says:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Then the <span style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span></span></i></span><span class="small-caps"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> saw that the wickedness of man was great on the <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">earth</span> and that every intent of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually.</span> </i></span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">(Genesis 6:5)</span><span style="background-color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-no-proof: yes;">God created a flood that would destroy the population of the entire world
save for one man by the name of Noah and his family. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It is important
to pause and think about that <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">verse mentioned
above. God saw that “every,” not some, but EVERY thought and intention of the
heart of man was continually evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nothing man even so much as thought about did not come with some
malevolent motive even if seemingly altruistic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hence, God proceeded to do what the human race was already bent on doing
eliminating itself from the face of the earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But Noah found favor with God, so God spared him and his family.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Noah was not innocent, <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">however</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Bible tells us that he became drunk one day and unwittingly embarrassed
himself in front of one of his sons who consequently mocked him behind his
back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sin was still prevalent in the
life of Noah and his sons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That one <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">family is the progenitor of every person living since
then including every person living today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sin still existed in the seed and heart of Noah and history tells us
that since his time, there have been countless wars and murders and incidences
of man’s inhumanity to his fellow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What was true <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">before</span> Noah’s time is evident today. “Every
intent of thoughts of his [man’s] heart is only evil continually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Shaliach (Apostle) Paul wrote <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“… all have sinned and <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">fall</span> short of the glory of <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">God.</span>”</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">(Romans 3:23)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Shaliach John
wrote<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If we</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">say that we have no sin, we are deceiving
ourselves, <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">and</span> the truth is not in us.</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">(1 John
1:8)</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">is</span> sin which results in murder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>James confirmed this when he wrote<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the
source your pleasures that wage war in your members?</span></span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> <span class="text"></span></span><span id="en-NASB-30340" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">You lust and do not have; so you <b>commit murder</b>. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">(James 4:1-2)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-no-proof: yes;">Rather obviously throughout history, guns have not been the
only instruments people have used for killing others, but in this present era, they
seem to be the instrument of choice. A vast number of people rightfully wish
that guns might cease to exist. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-no-proof: yes;">One can empathize with idealists who would like a world
without guns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hey, I would like that! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not unlikely, however, that many of these
idealists perceive of NRA supporters as evil “war-mongers” who don’t want peace
and don’t want a world without violence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as well-intentioned as this mindset might
be, it is unrealistic. People are violent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And just perhaps, NRA members are realists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whereas Able probably never anticipated that his
brother would kill him, history has shown that we humans really ought not to be
so naïve. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recently saw a video
in which idealists got extremely angry with an NRA supporter. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of them said to the NRA supporter “We need
to get rid of you.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vitriol that this
man was spouting in the video was breathtaking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I rhetorically ask “how does this idealist plan on getting rid of the NRA
member?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it with a gun? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-no-proof: yes;">It is almost a cliché to say that “guns don’t kill people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People do.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But it’s true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guns, like bows
and arrows before them, and spears before them and rocks before them are only
instruments used for fulfilling the whims of men which is to kill other men
either aggressively or in self-defense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People
like that angry man in that video would not even dream of the possibility that
he might be violent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he refused to
listen to the NRA supporter’s argument that he only uses guns for
protection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idealist can’t even
bring himself to consider that this world has a lot of evil people in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He can’t even imagine his potential for
violence because he has an inaccurate understanding of himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He can’t see himself objectively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He got angry on camera beyond a level he
probably imagined that he ever would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
is the type of person who says “he has no sin, thus deceives himself.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-no-proof: yes;">The answer to the problem of violence is not “do we keep guns
or get rid of guns.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem is SIN
and people need to admit that they’re sinners and turn their lives over to
Jesus who died because people sin. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None
of us has an accurate understanding of ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of us think too highly of ourselves, and
some of us undervalue ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
most of us don’t wish to admit that we sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But we do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the major part of
the problem of violence is that people don’t admit it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-91068400954845264612017-10-08T16:29:00.001-07:002017-10-08T16:29:12.391-07:00If You Think Sukot is Fun Now Wait ‘Till Jesus Returns<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">Most Gentiles (non-Jews) don’t know what “Sukot” is so I’ll
try to explain. “Sukot” is what Gentile Christians
commonly call “The Feast of Booths” or “The Feast of Tabernacles. It was ordained by God through Moses, in
Leviticus 23:39-44, and like the other festivals outlined in that chapter of
the Torah (Pentateuch) it was to be observed annually during the seventh month of
Tishre on the Hebrew calendar. Because the
Hebrew Calendar is Lunar, Sukot falls roughly between late September and early
October on the Gregorian solar calendar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">Although Sukot is mentioned frequently in the Bible,
including Deuteronomy 16:13-15, the way that Sukot is supposed to be observed from
a Biblical standpoint is most thoroughly discussed in the Leviticus reference
to it. There, it explains that it was to
begin on the 15<sup>th</sup> day of the month, 5 days after the Day of
Atonement (Yom HaKippurim) and after the completion of the summer harvest. The
first and eighth day of the festival were to be days of complete rest from entrepreneurial
labor. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">On the first day, the fruit of beautiful trees, <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">date palm branches, boughs of thick trees,
and willows of the brook were to be gathered and there was to be rejoicing
before the Lord for seven days. The
rabbis took the “fruit of beautiful trees” to be an “esrog”, a lemon shaped and
fragrant citrusy species of fruit, and they took “the boughs of thick trees” to
be branches of myrtle.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">Traditionally, the myrtle and
willow species are attached to the lulav, or palm branch. The esrog is held in the left hand while the
three-leafy species are held in the right.
They are brought together and waved before the Lord in a manner
indicating the omnipresence of God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">According to Ari Greenspan and
Ari Z. Zivotofsky all four of these species require copious amounts of regular irrigation
in order to thrive and survive and yet each of them is found in a different
ecological habitat… (the palm – desert; willow – river beds; myrtle –
mountains; esrog – plains). The need of
these species for water coincides interestingly with other rituals associated
with this feast, including thanksgiving and prayer for rain and the pouring out
of water libations.<sup>1</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><sup><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></sup></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">This emphasis on water finds
its way into the New Testament where Jesus, at the Temple during Sukot,
launching off the ritual of the water libation, cries out…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“If anyone is thirsty, let
him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture
said, ‘From </span><u><sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">i</span></sup></u></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>his innermost being will flow rivers of living
water.’” </i><sup><i>2</i><o:p></o:p></sup></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">John, in this account, goes on
to point out that Jesus’ reference to water, a much-needed commodity, was an
allusion to His Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) whose necessity for true life,
eternal life… salvation as it were, dwarfs even that of water.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">Isaiah reinforces this
association of water being linked as a type to salvation when, pointing to the
future he writes…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Thus says the <span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span> who
made you</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And formed you from the womb, who will
help you,</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">‘Do not fear, O Jacob My servant;</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen.</span><br />
<b><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">3 </span></sup></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">‘For I will pour out water on <sup>[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+44&version=NASB#fen-NASB-18537a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup>the
thirsty land</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And streams on the dry ground;</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">I will pour out My Spirit on
your offspring</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And My blessing on your descendants;</span></span></i><sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">3</span></sup></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">During the seven days of this
feast, the Children of Israel were commanded to live in Sukot or “booths” which
were essentially huts made from sticks.
The apparent reason for this was, in God’s own Words, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“<i>so that </i></span><i>your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live
in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the <span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">Lord</span></span></span> your God</i>.’” (Lev. 23:43)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">I believe that there are other
reasons for this feast which, to me at least, are even far more exciting. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">The Prophet, Zechariah writes
of a time after the last war has been fought and there’s finally peace on earth
that <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">…<span class="text">it will come about that any who are left of all the
nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to
worship the King, the <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span></span><span class="text"> of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.</span></span> <span class="text"><span id="en-NASB-23086" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">And it will
be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to
worship the King, the <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span></span><span class="text"> of hosts, there will be no rain on them.</span><sup>4</sup></span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">What I find striking about
this passage is that in that day, there will be a universal consensus
concerning the nature of God.
Furthermore, former enemies of Jerusalem and consequently of one another
(seeing that they’re from different nations) will be required to come to
Jerusalem to celebrate Sukot. And,
again, how is Sukot supposed to be celebrated?
It is supposed to be celebrated by living for seven days in huts made of
sticks! Now, if my next-door neighbor
were my enemy I would want a nice solid brick wall
between us. But how are these former
enemies supposed to spend their time in Jerusalem? They’re supposed to be “camping out” in huts
made of sticks, vulnerable to one another and most certainly vulnerable to the
one true God of the universe whom they’d been called upon to worship.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">And what happens when nations
don’t comply with this demand? The one
who controls the weather will give them no rain! Again, water and salvation are intrinsically tied
to Sukot.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">In this end-time to which Sukot
points and which Sukot will be ultimately celebrated in its fullest, there will
also be a great feast of choice wine and meat.
Spiritual blindness will be removed from the eyes of people, death will
be swallowed up and God will remove tears from the eyes of all people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The <span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span> of hosts
will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> (Jerusalem)<i>;</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with
marrow,</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> refined, aged wine.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering
which is over all peoples,</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Even the veil which is stretched over all
nations.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">He will swallow up death for all time,</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And the Lord <span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">God</span> will wipe
tears away from all faces,</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And He will remove the reproach of His
people from all the earth;</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">For the <span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span> has
spoken.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And it will be said in that day,</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“Behold, this is our God for whom we
have waited that He might save us.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">This is the <span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span> for
whom we have waited;</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”</span></span></i><sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">5</span></sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: white;"><sup style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1 </span></sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black;">Greenspan, Ari and Zivotofsky, Ari Z. “The
Extraordinary History of the Etrog” The Jerusalem Post</span><span style="background-color: black;"> <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/The-extraordinary-history-of-the-etrog-2179">http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/The-extraordinary-history-of-the-etrog-2179</a>
</span><span style="background-color: black;">October, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2</span></sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">John 7:37-38 New American Standard Translation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3</span></sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Isaiah 44:2-3 New American Standard Translation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">4</span></sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Zechariah 14:16-17 New American Standard
Translation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">5</span></sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Isaiah 25:6-9 New American Standard Translation.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-1801110131000773162017-10-01T21:42:00.001-07:002018-07-02T10:08:46.830-07:00The Fact that You're Reading This is Evidence Enough to Explain the Miracles of the Bible<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Quite often, I'm asked...<br />
<br />
"Do you really believe that this guy, Jonah, was three days in the belly of a whale and then got coughed up and made alive again?"<br />
<br />
or<br />
<br />
"Do you really expect me to believe that Noah could fit all of those animals on an ark?<br />
<br />
My answer is, more often than not, "You know, you're really not much more than $2.00 worth of chemicals. You're just a combination of Carbon and Nitrogen and Phosphorus and Oxygen, with a little bit of Iron, Potassium and a few other elements like Zinc and Strontium thrown in there. By all accounts, you should be just an inanimate mass laying on the ground waiting to be blown away by the wind. But since you had the intelligence to ask me that question, you must be more than just an inanimate mass. In fact, I would argue that you're a miracle!"<br />
<br />
If, as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJyUtbn0O5Y" target="_blank">this video</a> shows, the structures that are found in every cell of the body are so beautiful and complex, why is it that such an amalgam of structures can exhibit life at one moment and the same structure fail to exhibit life in another moment (which we commonly call death)?<br />
<br />
I suppose that we can attribute the workings of the single cell to laws of chemistry and physics, but in the end, when all is said and done, King David had it right when he said: "I am wonderfully and fearfully made". (Ps. 139:14)<br />
<br />
And if, in fact, there is a God who designed not only the intricacies of a cell but the amazing variety of life forms that we know of as well as YOU, my reader, and gave life to $2.00 worth of chemicals, than He can most certainly restore life to a man who'd been in the belly of a fish for 72 hours, or find a way to fit two specimens of every "kind" of animal that exists into a boat of exactly specified dimensions..</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-3835522538180325912017-09-23T22:39:00.000-07:002017-10-01T13:22:55.054-07:00Some Questions to Ponder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
To see the questions <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX-w7d_sGHw" target="_blank">Click Here</a>. The questions are on this video.<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3P2aELSD9M" target="_blank"><br /></a>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-83490754407137705352017-08-28T20:38:00.002-07:002017-08-28T20:38:46.287-07:00A Confession<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">It
is not with reluctance but with a serious level of shame that I have a
confession to make. During Barak Obamas
8-year tenure in the White House I could count the times I prayed for him on
one hand if I ever prayed for him at all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Whether
Mr. Obama believes the things he says, or not, only he knows. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Whether
Mr. Obama’s motives are altruistic or intentionally sinister, I believe only
God knows.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Personally,
and I believe that there’s evidence as far as the eye can see, I would argue
that he’s a member of a cabal committed to the destruction of the United States
as a major part of an effort to institute a one world government run by
self-appointed elitists who’ve already shown themselves to be murderers and
liars.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">But
that does not excuse me from praying for him.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Hell is a very hot
place, it is an understatement to say that those destined to reside there
reside there for a very long time, and I shouldn’t wish it on anybody which is
perhaps why Paul said to Timothy…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="text"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf
of all men,</span></i></span><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <span class="text">for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a
tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.</span> <span class="text">This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,</span> <span class="text">who desires all men to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of the truth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: .5in; text-align: right;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">1 Timothy 2:1-3<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: .5in; text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">In fact, it
is the very reason why Paul inserted the words “…who desires all men to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” He also implied that there are consequences
for not praying for “kings and all who are in authority”. The implication is that if we fail to pray
for them we will NOT lead tranquil and quiet lives!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">And so, for
8 years I conducted a wrestling match with the Holy Spirit…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Me: “But he
promised shovel-ready jobs and he knew there were none.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">God: “My
Word is a lamp unto thy feet and a light unto thy path. Oh, by the way… 1 Tim.
2:1”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Me: “But
God… Look what he did with Fast & Furious, smuggling guns into Mexico, resulting
in the death of Brian Terry and he lied about Benghazzi, promoted anarchy,
sexual immorality and contempt for police.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">God: “I have
ordained My precepts so that you might keep them diligently. Oh by the way… 1
Tim. 2:1. That’s one of them”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Me: “But
God… his foreign policy has resulted in the deaths and rapes of hundreds of
thousands of Christians and Yazids throughout the middle East and North Africa
and I have prayed for these people and supported causes to rescue and shelter
them”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">God:
“Have you not read ‘<span class="woj"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Many
will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name,
and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your Name perform many miracles?’</span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> <span class="woj">And then I will
declare to them, ‘I never knew you; </span><span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness</span></span><span class="woj">.’ Oh by the way… 1 Tim. 2:1”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="woj"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Do you get
the picture? In one very teeny but
important manner, let alone many others I’m sure, I have refused to heed the
Word of the God who is the judge of the whole earth. I can rail against Mr. Obamas policies. I can be angry at him and I’m allowed to be
angry, but as the text says… “be angry but sin not”. And how am I sinning? I sin
and have sinned by being so angry with the man that I subconsciously attempt to
usurp Gods place as his judge and refuse to pray for the mans’ repentance and
salvation. To be honest, I am caught up
in my own self-righteousness. And I did
not come to trust in Jesus because I was so smart or so talented or such a
fantastically good person. I came to trust
in Jesus because I knew that I was a sinner and I needed His atonement for my salvation
before a holy and just God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">And
the mighty King… the ruler of the universe… the one who holds the key to death
and hades in His hands, because His Word is unquestionably true, wins the
wrestling match. “You’ve not prayed for
kings and all in authority? I will send
you civil war so that you will not have a tranquil and quiet life in all
godliness and dignity”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">And
I assure you, rumblings of civil war are on the horizon. The future of the United States from one
threat or another seems ominous. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">I
will make a pledge to you. Yes, I will
continue to hate and oppose the agenda of Mr. Obama and his cabal, but I will
begin praying for the man and his salvation in the hopes that he might repent
and seek the will of God. Yes… his
repentance seems, to me, unlikely, but I’m still commanded to pray for him
knowing that God does hear prayer and knowing that God, “not willing for any to
perish but for all to come to the knowledge of the truth”, will honor those
prayers one way or another.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">I also ask a difficult
thing of you. If you are an “anti-Trump” kind of guy or gal, you may believe
that you have every reason to hate the man and even his policies, but I beg of
you to begin praying for him, for wisdom and repentance so that he seeks God’s
will and desires His salvation more than anything else. Just maybe God will be
gracious and we can avert a civil war. But I dare say… God’s Word is sure and
true and sharper than a two-edged sword. Yes, providence is providence, and
God’s will will be carried out regardless of what we necessarily want, but
failure to play our respective roles not as I, but the Apostle Paul himself,
has outlined, and pray for our leaders will only result in disaster.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Oh,
by the way, I’ll also be praying for Bill and Hillary.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Thank
you for “lending me your ears”.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-56196515529476850172017-08-22T11:10:00.000-07:002017-08-22T11:10:44.295-07:00HATE = MURDER<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Some
of us tend to be critical of God for sending a flood to destroy the earth and
kill all the people on it. Of course,
some people don’t necessarily believe in that God but would nevertheless argue
that if He did exist, they would still be critical of Him for sending that
flood. But, to be honest, what’s there
to be critical about? As an introduction
to the “story” of Noah and the ark, there was a small phrase inserted… “and the
earth was filled with violence”. To put
it another way, people were killing each other.
What God did by causing a flood was to simply speed up the process of
what mankind was already doing to himself, yet in the meantime, rescue one
family that was not party to all the violence so that they would not also fall
victim to the carnage that was going on at that time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Even
that one family that survived the flood had some make-up within its spiritual
DNA that aroused a tendency toward evil.
The descendants from that one family still were prone to selfishness,
anger, defensiveness, lack of forgiveness and all those elements that make us
prone to violence. But one might say “I’ve
never practiced violence. I’ve never
felt hatred towards anyone.” I ask
rhetorically, “what if you had no police or army to keep you from being exposed
to that violence? Would you still have a
heart filled with pure benevolence towards those who’d harm you because of the
absence of military or police protections? Can you guarantee that you would
have no feelings of revenge in your soul?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Jesus
said: <span class="woj"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span class="woj"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">“You have heard that it was said to the
people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject
to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother
or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother
or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says,
‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;">
<span class="woj"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"> (Matthew
5:21-22)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span class="woj"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Simply
put, Jesus said, “if you hate others, or think even so much as to have an
attitude of dismissiveness towards others as (thus, in disdain calling them a
fool), you’re guilty enough to go to hell”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span class="woj"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">What
Jesus said is not anything new. God,
through Moses, said:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“Do not
seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people (members of your
nation), but </span>love<span style="text-align: start;"> your </span>neighbor<span style="text-align: start;"> as yourself. I am the </span><span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; text-align: start;">Lord</span></span></span><span style="text-align: start;">.</span>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: right;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">(Leviticus
19:19)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">The importance of this law is punctuated with God’s
declaration… “Ani YHVH” (I Am… the
ineffable Name of God… poorly translated as Lord and often somewhat flippantly
mispronounced in many circles). Putting
God’s Name on this law is a declaration as to how utterly important it is to
not even bear a grudge but to love instead.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As I’d written </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">here</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, <a href="http://onlyholybook.blogspot.com/2017/05/liberal-guilt-moral-relativism-and.html">http://onlyholybook.blogspot.com/2017/05/liberal-guilt-moral-relativism-and.html</a>
God had intended for Israel to be a model nation characterized by such a level
of peace and prosperity that the other nations could not help but emulate it
and, by so doing, discover that there was indeed a God who was worthy of
universal worship. After all, it was
this God who himself, had written the constitution for that nation. This constitution not only had specific
verifiable laws such as “leave some of the grain on the fringes of your fields
behind after harvesting so that the poor and needy will always have food available
to guarantee their well-being” (Leviticus 19:9-10) and “build a fence around
the roof of your house so that no one whom you are entertaining will fall off”
(Deuteronomy 22:8) but it also had less verifiable laws such as “don’t harbor
hate”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">The United States Constitution has no such unverifiable law… “don’t
harbor hate”, but the Mosaic law presumed that the author of their
constitution, God Himself, being all knowing, also knew the thoughts and
intentions of every human heart. Where
the enforcers of law could not accuse an individual of hating for lack of
evidence, the omniscient God could and was capable of discerning whether an
individual harbored hatred. And thus, a
fearful awe of this God would hopefully inspire the one who’s doing the hating
to repent, ask God for forgiveness and seek to rationally, dispassionately and
in a non-accusatory manner, seek reconciliation with the one who is the object
of his hatred. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">And why would this law against hate (which cannot be
perceived by the senses) be inserted as part of ancient Israel’s constitution
which we call the Torah? Because ultimately
hate cannot be hidden. It does manifest
itself tangibly eventually in one way or another. It manifests itself in the form of violence
whether it be the result of the hater murdering the object of the hatred
directly, or the result of a chain reaction of people taking their aggressions
and frustrations out on one another. It tears
people apart, forces people to take sides and ultimately creates unrest,
dissention and chaos. And hate which
pervades among the citizens of a nation ultimately results in the nations
demise. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">The Law of God given to Israel and reiterated through Jesus
is a universal law. It is applicable
regardless of geography, background or time in history. Hate yields death and seems to be the element
that is dividing the world. And so, allow
me, if you will, to ask some rhetorical questions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Do you hate black people?
If so you’re a murderer in the eyes of God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Do you hate white people? If so you’re a murderer in the eyes
of God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Do you hate Hispanics or Asians or Jews? <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_Hlk491156996">If so you’re a
murderer in the eyes of God.</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Let’s say there’s a more tangible reason for hatred…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Do you hate conservatives? If so you’re a murderer in the
eyes of God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Do you hate liberals? If so you’re a murderer in the eyes of
God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Are you black and never experienced slavery but hate whites
who’ve not only never owned <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"> slaves but
whose ancestors never owned slaves either? If so you’re a murderer in the<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"> eyes of God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Are you black and hate whites because they have “white
privilege”? If so you’re a murderer in <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"> the eyes of
God. The likes of Clarence Thomas, Ben
Carson, Thurgood Marshall and <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"> Condalisa
Rice may just bear witness to the fact that your failure is not because of <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"> white privilege
but the fact that you’d never applied yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Are you Jewish and hate Nazis? If so you’re a murderer in the
eyes of God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Do you hate Muslims? If so you’re a murderer in the eyes of
God. (I would hold that they are<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"> deceived by an erroneous world view
but it is the world view that I’m obligated to hate…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"> not it’s adherents.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Let’s get even more personal…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Do you hate your former spouse because he or she was abusive
or a druggie or alcoholic or <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"> even beat
your children? If so you’re still a
murderer in the eyes of God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">No doubt, wrongs done to you can create deep wounds and may make
it very easy to harbor hate. But there
is absolutely no justifiable reason for harboring hate. Hatred has no place in the human heart. Hate is man’s natural way of responding to
being offended. But God does not want people
to react to being offended as they normally do but as they are supposed to
react. And just suppose you were very
deeply hurt, you do have a choice… to take it personally and harbor hatred or
regard it as a test to see just how much you love God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">If there was one person who deserved to or had an excuse for hating
it was Jesus. He did nothing but good
for everyone, yet He was unjustly accused as being evil. He was whipped so that his raw flesh was
exposed. He was mocked, crucified and
mocked some more. Yet, while dying, He
cried out to God “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing”. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">You may have experienced terrible persecution or pain of some
sort at the hands of others. But don’t
hate! You will only accumulate the guilt
of murder to your own soul. There is
such a thing as justice. If you can,
pursue justice in a rational and just manner, but without the attitude of pursuing
vengeance or vindication. Ultimately,
though, trust that God will mete out perfect justice in His time. And remember.
You’ve never been as innocent as Jesus.
Neither have you ever endured more than Jesus who nevertheless was quick
to forgive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Do not hate.
Love. And if you discover that
you can’t love, ask Jesus to love for you. As you trust Him, He will. Your soul depends on it.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-79482522223250171972017-08-14T09:03:00.000-07:002017-08-22T11:28:09.359-07:00You Can’t Impress God. Jesus Set the Bar Too High<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="text-align: left;">Actually, in a very real sense, it was Moses who set the
bar too high.</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">Even to be more precise,
it was God, through Moses who set the bar too high.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Do you remember those ten Commandments which the Bible
says were written in stone by the finger of God?” Remember that seventh
commandment? You shall not commit
adultery? Jesus said that you not only
commit adultery by messing around with someone else’ wife, you commit adultery
when you even look with lust at another woman.
Moses really said the same thing.
That tenth commandment the one that says, “you shall not covet”, it basically
says <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“</span>You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet
your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his
donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Put another way, “you’re not to want anything
that belongs to anyone else, including another man’s wife”. So, I rhetorically ask “Men: how many times a
day have you coveted”? The same goes for
women… “how many times a day have you coveted”?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jesus also equated murder to mere hate. He said, </span><span class="woj">“You
have heard that the ancients were told, ‘</span><span class="small-caps"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">You shall not commit murder</span></span></span><span class="woj">’ and Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the
court.’</span><span id="en-NASB-23257" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">”</span><span class="woj"><b><sup><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span></sup></b></span><span class="woj">But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall
be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You
good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and
whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">enough
to go</i> into the fiery hell.</span>” (Mt. 5:17-18). God, through Moses, similarly said “<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">‘You shall not hate your brother in
your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin
because of him.</span></span><span class="text"></span><b><sup style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 9pt;"><span id="en-NASB-3300" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></span></sup></b><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge
against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as
yourself; I am the <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"></span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span></span><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">.</span>” (Lev. 19:17-18)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: white;">The above
Leviticus reference is particularly difficult for most people. The text points out that, to avoid ‘hating’,
the offended individual must communicate to the offending individual what it
was that was offensive. Obviously, the
offending person can respond to the criticism in one of two ways. He can, in turn, be offended by having been
corrected, likely causing the honest person to recoil, or he can receive the
criticism graciously using it as a learning experience by which he can improve
his character. Either way, the offended
person is required to be honest whatever the outcome. If he is not honest, and internalizes his
grievance, he loses the opportunity to aid in improving the character of his ‘neighbor’,
thus leaving his neighbor in a state of sin and he, by internalizing the
offense, causes himself to ‘stew’ over the issue, carrying bitterness around
with him which, also is sin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: white;">I would posit
that Jesus not only taught these principles but practiced them to
perfection. I would also suggest that
Jesus, being perfectly honest, offended a lot of the ‘offenders’ whom He
corrected and He corrected them precisely because He loved them, love being the
ultimate basis for this law.
Consequently, those who were offended by Him harbored hate for Him and
ultimately sought His demise which He, in contrast to any other person who ever
set foot on the world stage, accepted graciously and with an air of total love
and forgiveness towards His accusers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: white;">I would also
argue that this one Mosaic law is just one example in which Jesus perfectly
practiced every aspect of the Torah, the Torah outlining what was required of
the truly righteous man. For that reason,
I like to call him THE Tsaddik... THE righteous man. In a world, devoid of tsaddikim (righteous
men) because as ye ole’ adage goes ‘nobody’s perfect’, There’s one man that
stands out as an ensign to the nations (goyim).
As Isaiah said…<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of
Israel;</span></span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">I will also make You a light of the nations</span></span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: white;">
(<i>Isaiah 49:6</i>)
<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: white;">Even as DNA takes
random chemicals and elements and, like a template, uses them to replicate
itself, so Jesus takes sinful, depraved, proud and self-willed human beings
with selfish motives and by, metaphorically speaking, attaching them to Himself,
makes them, over time, into a duplicate of His righteousness. The only caveat to this is that being
attached to Jesus must not be superficial but genuine.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: white;">In the world we
live in today, where people are offended easily, the consequence of all these
people being slighted is nothing but anger and strife. Imagine, if you will however, a world where
people know that the bar for righteousness is too high for them to attain God’s
acceptance on their own. What we would
have is a world filled with humble people who, if corrected, do not retort with
belligerence but respond with thankfulness for having been corrected because it
makes them better people. Relationships
between people would be devoid of jealousy and bitterness and filled with
acceptance and mutual appreciation. That
is the world that God ultimately wants and will ultimately achieve one day. And those who throughout history have
acquiesced to the knowledge that precisely because the bar is too high, they
know that their self-effort at striving after righteousness is therefore futile. Hence, if they’ve recognized that trusting only
in the atoning death of Jesus for His righteousness to be imputed to them, they
can be rescued from the wrath of God to one-day experience that world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-68100379901536399402017-07-19T20:47:00.000-07:002017-07-24T07:53:33.689-07:00I Bet You Never Thought That God Was Humble. He Demonstrated It<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The Bible makes all sorts of <strong>preposterous</strong> statements and claims.<br />
It is filled with all sorts of verses such as the following...<br />
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0.92in;">
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0.92in; text-align: right;">
<i>1 John 1:1-2</i></div>
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0.92in;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="body1"></a><span style="font-style: normal;">In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made... The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.</span></div>
<div align="right" style="margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0.92in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"></span><i>John 1:1-3,14</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Those verses imply that the authors claimed that Jesus was God. <strong>To make such a statement, however, was anathema</strong> to the Jews of His day. It gave rise to justification for their wanting to put Him to death. The following verse illustrates that.</div>
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0.92in;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NIV-26228"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NIV-26229"></a>So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” <b>For this reason they tried all the more to kill him</b>; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but <b>he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God</b>. <i>John 5:16-18</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Claiming to be God or making oneself to be equal with God, was, indeed blasphemy and punishable by death</strong>. Indeed Islam, which came 600 years after the compilation of the New Testament, calls this "shirk"... idolatry, also punishable by death.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nevertheless the Apostle Paul who'd been educated by the great Rabbi Gamalael, of his day, had the audacity to make the following statement.</div>
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0.93in;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NIV-29506"></a>For in Messiah all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Messiah you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. <i> </i></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0.93in; text-align: right;">
<i>Colossians 2:9-10</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Such seemingly preposterous New Testament claims about a man being God, or a plurality of God's nature, or God having a "Son" did not just pop up out of nowhere. A veritable plethora of verses hinting at this sort of claim pervade the pages of the Old Testament as well. The possibility of a plurality in the nature of the one true God is hinted at in the following where God speaks to Himself in the first person plural:</div>
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<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-left: 1.01in; margin-right: 0.93in;">
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1.01in; margin-right: 0.93in; text-align: right;">
<i>Genesis 1:26</i></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Even the Sh'ma of Deuteronomy 6:4, the watchword of the faith of Judaism which declares the oneness of God, in its declaration of the oneness of God, uses the adjective "echod"... which implies a unity which is potentially made of many parts much as one hand is made of a palm, a thumb, fingers, skin, muscles, bones, connective tissue, etc.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Interestingly the Rabbi, Maimonodes of the middle ages, in his contention for the "oneness"of God, in his 13 Articles of Faith, used a different adjective "Yachid" which implies an absolute ONE. In so doing, he resorted to using a term other than the one used by scripture. Hence, one might rightfully ask the question "whom did Maimonodes regard as more authoritative, Torah or Himself"? And there is one of a number of very important principals in hermeneutics (interpretation)... let the scripture speak for itself. Don't infuse your interpretation upon the scriptures.</div>
<br />
Such verses as the following, imply that God has a "Son"...<br />
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0.91in;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NIV-17255"></a>“I am weary, God, but I can prevail. Surely I am only a brute, not a man; I do not have human understanding. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? <b>What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know! </b><i>Proverbs 30:1-4</i></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Passages such as the following add leverage to the notion that there exists an individual that can manifest Himself as both exalted and yet humanoid...</div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;">“<span style="font-weight: normal;">In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. </span></span><i>Daniel 7:13</i></div>
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This particular individual, in fact, approached into the presence of the very Ancient of Days (a synonym for God) without even so much as prostrating Himself.</div>
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Indeed, the following verse hints of a "Trinity".<br />
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16 “Come near me and listen to this: “From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.” And now the <b>Sovereign </b><b>Lord</b><b> has sent me, endowed with his Spirit</b>. <i>Isaiah 48:16</i></div>
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So, the notion that God could reveal Himself as a man, did not just come out of nowhere. There is Old Testament precedent for it. However such a notion seems to defy logic. It is no wonder that Muslims might question the veracity of the Bible. Judaism, itself, seeks to interpret Tanaach (Old Testament) through Rabbinic eyes and by so doing, avoid, like the plague, the possibility that God could manifest Himself as a man. I would argue that anyone, as the scripture says, "who has eyes to see and ears to hear" can read the text for himself and determine clearly what it has to say.</div>
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But even so, <b>maybe</b> this Book that we call the Bible is, in fact, nothing but good (or bad, depending upon one's taste) literature. <b>Maybe</b> it's not divinely inspired at all!</div>
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</div>
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Despite the fact that the Bible has withstood all sorts of tests from scientific to archeological to historical, through well over two millenia, I would like to pursue a line of thought, which, to this day, I don't think has been adequately approached. Somewhat ironically, it is built around the question "What does it mean to be truly human?"</div>
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Let's put the Bible to the test. We've already seen the Bible verse Genesis 1:26 which begins with "Let us make man in our image..." According to this text, in some fashion, if the Bible is, in fact, veracious, man was made in such a way that he is like God. If that's the case, how is He presumed to be like God?</div>
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The three major monotheistic religions would argue that there are certain things about God upon which they can all agree...</div>
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God is omniscient - There's nothing He doesn't know.<br />
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God is omnipresent - He's everywhere at the same time.<br />
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God is omnipotent - He's all powerful... There's nothing He can't do.<br />
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God is self existing - He always was, He is and He always will be forever on into eternity.<br />
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God made and created things ex-nihilo, out of nothing.<br />
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Such assumed facts about the nature of God (to which I also subscribe) are certainly beyond human capability. No human knows everything, is everywhere at the same time, is self-existent or is all powerful ('though there are many humans who think they are).</div>
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This creates a definite conundrum for someone like me who argues that a God of that nature can actually manifest Himself as a baby and later as a man. How can the God who fills the infinite universe take up just 4 liters of space? How could an all powerful God have difficulty bearing the weight of a 30 km. execution stake? How can an all knowing God "Learn obedience" through suffering? (Hebrews 5:8).</div>
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My answer may not suffice to convince you. I can't do that anyway, only God can. I can only present my case. And as I've already intimated, it is wrapped up in the question of what it means to be human. Because according to Genesis 1:26 being fully human is, in some way, being like, or in the image of God.</div>
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</div>
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So we humans can't be any of those absolute things that we know characterize God's nature but what about those absolute things that characterize human nature? I think that if we were to look at people today, or throughout history, for that matter, they are decidedly schizophrenic. "How?" you might ask. People are universally inconsistent.</div>
<br />
Sometimes they Love. Sometimes they hate. Most of the time they're ambivalent.<br />
<br />
Sometimes they're humble. Sometimes they're arrogant.<br />
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This "Yin-Yang" human response to what we commonly call virtue pervades all of our human nature... Sometimes we're patient. Sometimes we're impatient. Sometimes we're generous. Sometimes we're stingy. The list of virtues coupled with their associate vices is quite extensive!</div>
<br />
I think it's safe to discern between the virtue and its associated vice as well. For instance...<br />
<br />
Clearly Love is preferable to hate or indifference.<br />
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Likewise, we can easily discern that humility is preferable to arrogance.<br />
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Perhaps I'm mistaken but I think that an objective poll would yield almost unanimous consensus that people would instinctively discern what the virtues are as opposed to their corresponding vices. Yet, in spite of our ability to make such judgments it's, nevertheless, apparently impossible to imagine that anyone could possibly be perfectly humble or loving all the time throughout one's entire life without just a little bit of vice sneaking in somewhere along the way. Such conduct, humanly speaking, would seem impossible to do yet not impossible to conceptualize.</div>
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We've looked at omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence etc. and we've seen that these traits of God are absolute. Omnipotence, possibly might be the easiest to illustrate. The physicist defines power as the ability to do work divided by time. Work by definition, is the mass of an object times the distance it is made to travel. Put mathematically...</div>
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Power = <u>Mass X Distance</u></div>
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Time</div>
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A rule of mathematics is that as the denominator (time) approaches 0, the value of the equation (Power) approaches infinity. Hence, if God is able to accomplish any task in no time at all, He is demonstrating absolute power, or omnipotence.</div>
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But what if humility, for instance, were measured in absolutes? We pass judgment on individuals and say "this man is humble." This man is not humble". But by what standard can we make that judgment? What is absolute humility? Could an individual's humility be graded according to that standard?</div>
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One dictionary definition of humility is "Modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc." It seems from this definition that one must have importance or rank in the first place in order to be modest about it.</div>
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So what would be an absolute definition of humility? Allow me to posit a suggestion. You're free to accept it or reject it.</div>
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Absolute Humility - God (certainly the zenith of importance or rank) willing to give up all the rights, privileges and accolades that are associate with being God in order to become a perfect servant (the utter expression of modesty) on behalf of His entire creation.</div>
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Put into mathematical terms (as was the case with our definition of Power)<br />
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Humility = <u>One's actual rank or stature</u> divided by</div>
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The importance that one holds onto that rank or stature</div>
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Therefore, how would we define Absolute Humility?</div>
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Absolute Humility =<br />
<u>God (The highest of any possible rank or stature or importance)</u><br />
God's relinquishing that stature called "God-ness" and become a perfect servant</div>
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Again, as the importance of one's rank (that of being God) approaches zero, Humility approaches infinity.<br />
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This is entirely consistent with what Paul said referring to Jesus...<br />
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Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!</div>
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Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.</div>
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<i>Philippians 2:6-11</i></div>
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In reality, God is both our God and our servant. "Such blasphemy" you might say! But, think about it. Is it not God who gives us life? Is it not God who gives us breath and the food we put on our table? By doing so, is He not serving us? Without Him serving us, we could not live.</div>
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Yes, we can declare the power, might, glory majesty and sovereignty of God. But part of that glory and majesty is caught up in the reality that He is THE perfect servant of His creation. If we lose sight of His servant-hood towards us, we can't even begin to scratch the surface of what it means to worship Him!</div>
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In both science and philosophy there exists a phenomenon called an "antinomy". An antinomy is a clash between two totally opposing contradictory rules or phenomena which are derived rationally or even experimentally and are, in and of themselves, totally rational and indisputable. In essence, two irrefutable laws are mutually incompatible. Emanuel Kant, for instance was able to rationally argue that time had no beginning. On the other hand, he rationally contested that time did have a beginning. Both assertions are true, yet they both contradict one another and are mutually incompatible.<br />
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<strong>If we can't understand Time, therefore, how can we even begin to understand God?</strong></div>
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If there's one thing that I know for sure... it's that I am not God. How could God, who governs the infinite vast universe, who's power, wisdom and knowledge is limitless, at the same time, take the form of a baby occupying 4 liters of space? How could this eternal God endure death while still governing the universe? I do not know the answers to such questions. I'm not God.</div>
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Yet, I know, for instance that God desires for each and every person that He's created to demonstrate the virtues that make up our humanness... humility being one of them. Furthermore, when we fail at manifesting this virtue, we are without excuse because God, Himself, showed us that it can be done. If Genesis 1:26 is true, therefore, by virtue of the fact that we were made in God's image, we are required to reflect that image perfectly. Hence, in light of our failure, we are deserving of nothing but eternal condemnation.</div>
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But God, as has already been alluded to, possesses absolute virtues that we humans inadequately display as part of our humanity which are really poor reflections of God's nature. the actual umbrella for these virtues is love. And for us, as we shall see (if we don't already know), love is necessary for our well-being.</div>
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Hence, I ask... "What would be the definition of perfect love? Does God manifest this virtue perfectly as well?"</div>
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Might I suggest that perfect love be defined, not just as love for one's friends or family but for all people, including complete strangers and even the bitterest of enemies. This love has total empathy for the condition of even these enemies and is so self-less and concerned about the well-being of the "other" that it's willing to absorb the punishment that is rightfully due the objects of that love for whatever wrong actions and attitudes of which they might be guilty.</div>
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<div style="font-style: normal;">
Put another way (according to our mathematical method of communication)...</div>
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Absolute Love = Willing endurance of punishment deserved by the one loved (times) Everyone</div>
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<i>(since everyone is loved)</i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
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NOTE: As the number of objects of love grows larger, love grows larger. In light of that I would say that "everyone" is a pretty large number!</div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Put another way... God manifested absolute love by being willing to endure the punishment deserved by<b> everyone</b>. And what is this punishment? From our discussion of humility we've concluded that lack of humility deserves condemnation. Now take that virtue and multiply it by all the other virtues and I think it's safe to say that our ineptness at practicing the virtues we were created and supposed to demonstrate leaves us deserving of <b>eternal condemnation</b>.</div>
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<div style="font-style: normal;">
But Jesus, having taken on this condemnation Himself, rescues us from its consequences.</div>
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Paul alluded to this when he said...</div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;">Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Messiah's physical body </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>through death</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;"> to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation</span></div>
<div align="right" style="margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0.92in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"></span><i>Colossians 1:21-22</i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-right: -0.01in;">
So what are we to conclude, having said all this? God is ONE (Echod). This remains a constant, goes without saying, and is irrefutable. However, <b>If GOD had not manifested Himself as an entirely human individual, capable of and, in actuality, perfectly practicing the virtues that inherently are part of our humanity, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN INCONSISTENT WITH HIS NATURE.</b></div>
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<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-right: -0.01in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">It is commonly said that "to love someone is to know that someone". In Deuteronomy, we've been commanded to "love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our strength". But how can we love God if we don't know Him? Jesus said to one of His disciples "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father". Conversely, if you don't know Jesus there is no way that you can know the Father.</span></div>
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</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-right: -0.01in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Furthermore, if we willfully choose not to know Jesus, we've willfully chosen not to love the Father and our eternal condemnation remains on us.</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-right: -0.01in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-right: -0.01in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">It is my hope that you would choose to know Jesus.</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-91303445509179296142017-07-04T12:23:00.001-07:002017-08-09T19:18:05.245-07:00Israel's God Granted Us Our Independence Let Us Never Forget<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The American war for independence was fought by
ill trained, over taxed, over-burdened Colonists who pledged to each other
their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor believing that this call for
independence was supported by a “</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">firm reliance on the
protection of Divine Providence”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
was remarkable that America had won her independence. The ragtag colonists had pitted themselves
against the most powerful, best equipped military in the world at that time. And yet, they prevailed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">At his inaugural address George Washington declared:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">No people can be bound
to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men
more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have
advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been
distinguished by some token of providential agency... We ought to be no less
persuaded that </span></i><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">the propitious smiles
of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules
of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.</span></b><sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">1</span></sup><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">Just about all of the founding fathers saw God’s hand in the making of
America. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying…
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<span 12pt="" arial="" quot="" sans-serif="">I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer
I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God Governs in
the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his
notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? <b>We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred
writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build
it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid
we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of
Babel.</b></span><sup>2<o:p></o:p></sup></div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">John Adams said…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and
religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”</span>
<sup>3</sup><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">Contrary to the opinions of many, the majority of the
founding fathers of the United States had a </span>deep and abiding trust in God. And who was this God? We get a hint from Benjamin Franklins afore mentioned quote. This was the God
manifested in the Hebrew scriptures.</div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">The Bible refers to the eternal God of the Universe over
200 times as the “God of Israel”. </span>Elsewhere
He’s described as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… the Patriarchs of the
Jewish people.</div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">But why would the God of the Universe be so exclusive as
to focus on identifying with Israel? The </span>answer to that question is far more involved than I can communicate in a simple
essay. Suffice it to say that God’s
identification with Israel is necessarily His plan for blessing the entire
world by ultimately trading in man’s plea for “tolerance” with the preferable
attribute of love which brings with it genuine peace.</div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">Were the founding
fathers, therefore exclusivist? By no
means! George Washington was quoted as
saying<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The bosom of America is open to receive not
only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of
all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our
rights and privileges, <b>if by decency and
propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment</b>.</span>”<sup>4</sup><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">(As an aside, note,
if you will, Washington’s words in bold.
I believe that that is a statement particularly relevant in this day.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">Against all odds, the United States was created with the blessing
and aide of Almighty God. This God has
certain characteristics of not only power, omnipresence and all of those
attributes that are universally assumed by monotheists, but of love and
intimacy, justice, kindness and absolute adherence to what would be universally
known as virtues. He manifested His
nature to us throughout scripture but most explicitly through the manifestation
of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">For the most part, it seems that what is commonly known
as “the Church” forgets the reality that the God they profess to worship
identifies Himself as the “God of Israel”.
It does tend to remember this fact once a year when it traditionally sings
“born is the King of Israel”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">The King of Israel died and rose from the dead not so
that we can with cavalier abandon take what He accomplished for us on the cross
for granted. Nor are we to put words in
His mouth and condone that which He, in reality and according to His Word, the
Scriptures, condemns. Historically when
we’ve condoned what God condemns, He’s punished us. Lincoln interpreted the Civil War as punishment
from God for not having eliminated slavery.<sup>5</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span 12pt="" arial="" lang="EN" quot="" sans-serif="">The King of Israel died and conquered death so that we
might serve Him and obey Him, not so that we can pursue our own self-interests. If we fail at this task as individuals and
fail to encourage this as of foremost importance collectively we will certainly
lose the freedom that the God of Israel desires for all people, and
subsequently our “independence”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<sup><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">1</span></sup><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals/inaugtxt.html<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<sup><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">2 </span></sup><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/history/item/4846-faith-of-the-founding-fathers">https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/history/item/4846-faith-of-the-founding-fathers</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<sup><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">3</span></sup><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Ibid<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></div>
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<sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">4 </span></sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ibid<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<sup><span 12pt="" arial="" quot="" sans-serif="">5 </span></sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/american-civil-war/essays/lincoln%E2%80%99s-interpretation-civil-war">https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/american-civil-war/essays/lincoln%E2%80%99s-interpretation-civil-war</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-16723453370506669352017-06-08T09:32:00.000-07:002017-08-11T20:42:27.705-07:00FAKE NEWS: That Christianity's NOT Jewish<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nowadays it seems that “Fake News” is the only thing that’s in
the news. News outlets, politicians and
pundits seem only intent on reporting those stories that agree with their
predetermined biases whether they be factual or not. In fact, more often than not, we’re seeing
evidence of people making things up to counter contrary evidence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">People don’t really know what to believe anymore. Most folks, rather than pursuing truth have chosen
to simply disregard the facts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But as Koheleth (The Preacher of Ecclesiastes) says, “There’s
nothing new under the sun”. </span><span style="font-size: large;">“Fake News”
has always been around.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We humans have a terrible inclination to deceive
ourselves. On a fundamental level, we
are all confused about how we got here.
Some say we “evolved” out of some primordial goo and there is no God to
account for our existence. If these
folks are right (which is not my opinion) I really do find it hard to believe
that they’re able to find significant meaning in life. Even their so called good deeds or
achievements seem to have only temporal value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Others have said that there are many gods. Others have said that there are many many
gods. Some have said, and history has
confirmed, that these gods actually demand human sacrifice. Unimaginable horrors have resulted from human
misunderstanding of our origins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Some have taken these many gods and gotten rid of all except
one and declared that this is the one and only true god. Some of these folks have killed a lot of
people who’ve not agreed with them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">All these speculations concerning our origin are just that…
speculation… Fake News.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is in the human heart an innate knowledge of good and
bad. We have an awareness that there are
virtues and vices. We can distinguish
between, for instance, humility and arrogance, patience and impatience, compassion
vs. dismissiveness, hopefulness vs. despair.
We can distinguish between loyalty and back-stabbing, kindness and
cruelty. I would hold that the virtues
are conducive to life and the vices are more conducive to death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These virtues are behaviors and attitudes that all of we human
beings ought to be able to display all the time, but none of us do. Some of us are better at it than others but
none of us is perfect at it by any means.
Culture, religion (or lack thereof) pervert and distort our understanding of the
importance of these virtues. For
instance, there actually are people groups who say that it is more virtuous to
be deceptive than to be straight-forward and <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">honest.<sup>1</sup>
</span> Many in the “west” have come to be
brainwashed into thinking that what one regards as “success” is more important
than the personal exercise of virtue. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sadly, our variant perspectives on how we got here impact
how we deal with this inadequacy on our part which, for the sake of argument, I’ll
call as “guilt”. Some of us live with remorse. Some engage in self-sacrifice. Some of us go to war on behalf of our fake
cause. Some of us think we can mollify
our guilt by engaging in, what we think are charitable or righteous
endeavors. And many fake religions have
promoted ways of mollifying our guilt whether it be through good deeds or “throwing
money into the coffer” or recitations of mantras of some sort. And the real news is that none of those endeavors
work. They’re like putting a band-aid on
a cancerous skin lesion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One day, the one and only true creator God of the universe
manifested Himself to one man by the name of Abraham. This God was about to destroy two cities
named Sodom and Gomorrah because the people of those cities were universally
and irredeemably displaying no virtues and only vices. As Abraham was looking down into that valley
with those cities infected by corruption, God said of Abraham<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“…I have</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">chosen him,
so that he may</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">command
his children and his household after him to</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">keep the way of the</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"></span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">by doing righteousness and justice, so that the</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"></span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">may bring upon Abraham</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">what He has spoken about him.”</span></span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><i> </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Genesis 18:19<i style="background-color: white;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Bible gives a record the early history of the Children of Abraham, which
today, we call “the Jewish people”. And the
Bible’s stark honesty displays our collective inability to “do the righteousness and
justice” that Abraham had commanded of us. Despite
our failure however, two things emerged with unchanging and
irrevocable certainty … the absolute standard of virtues as opposed to vices
and the Messiah who came into the world through those people whom we call the
Jews. What is objectively good or
virtuous is as prevalent as the air we breathe.
It cannot change! To compliment that, the Messiah is the only
person among the billions upon billions of people who’ve lived on this planet
throughout its history, who had determined that always, in every
instance, in time, choosing and practicing virtue over vice was more important
than even survival itself. He was the
way that God would be if He would ever choose to manifest Himself as a man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">His death alone was capable of compensating for our
inadequacies. His death alone would pay
for our guilt. By comparison, all the
money we would “throw into the coffers” or any of the sacrifices we would make
on behalf of our pseudo perception of God are thoroughly inadequate because we are inadequate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The news of this man and the wonderful forgiveness available to
anyone who would simply trust in Jesus’ death as the appeasement of God’s wrath
towards us, was spread by Jews with names like Shimeon, Yaakov, Yehudah, Shaul,
Yochenon and others. The “Church”
however, has hidden the Jewishness of this story. It changed the names of these men to Simon-Peter,
James, Jude, Paul, and John respectively.
It drew pictures of Jesus with a halo around His head or with wavy blond
hair or it made him look weak and effeminate.
The church certainly made Jesus to not look Jewish! In fact, it changed His Name to Jesus which
really has no meaning. Jesus is a
transliteration of His real Name which is the Hebrew name Y’shua which means “the
salvation of God”. The Church called the
afore mentioned disseminators of the Gospel “Christians” whom, by virtue of
that epithet along with the “gentilization” of their names, were now no longer
perceived as Jews. The Church made up
its own holidays and traditions which further disguised the origin of their
faith. Much of the Church even went so
far as to say that the Old Testament is irrelevant which is quite ridiculous by virtue of the fact that literally 33% of the text of the New Testament
consists of Older Testament quotes.<sup>2 </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Church removed the cultural trappings of the context in which
Jesus lived and replaced them with its own culture and even forbad Jews who
wanted to “join the church” from practicing elements of their own culture disregarding
the reality that much of Jewish culture, by virtue of its link to the Old Testament, which
speaks of the nature of, time of manifestation and foreseen accomplishments of
the Messiah, compliments the Gospel message.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Admittedly Jewish leadership has also been responsible for historic Jewish
rejection of Jesus. The end result of
all of this separation of Christianity from its Jewish roots is that it is now, perceived as something which is
fundamentally not Jewish. Consequently,
it is viewed as just another religion like Buddhism, Hinduism or Islam. It is not! GENUINE CHRISTIANITY IS A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ONE AND ONLY LIVING AND ETERNAL GOD who has an infinite, selfless love specifically for you and He manifested
that love through the excruciatingly agonizing death of Jesus. I don’t know how He does it, but I’ve come to
realize that because He’s God, you are the very undivided focus of His
attention. He loves you as if you were
the only person who exists. And you may
find it difficult to believe, but all things that take place in your life, even
the difficult things, take place because He specifically loves you!</span><span style="font-size: 20px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;">As scripture says...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20px;"> <i>"God causes all things to work together for good to </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20px;"><i> those who love </i></span><span style="font-size: 20px;"><i>God and are called according </i></span><i style="font-size: 20px;">to His purpose."</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20px;"><i> </i>Romans 8:28</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hey, maybe you might think that what I’m telling you about God and
Jesus is fake news. I certainly hope
not. But whether you agree with that or not,
disregarding the trappings that have come with the Church, and going right to
the source… the scripture, whether you believe the scripture or not, you will
discover that both the Old and New Testaments are thoroughly Jewish books. This is undeniable. Check it out for yourself! And I dare say that to claim that
Christianity is NOT Jewish is FAKE NEWS.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I want to thank you for reading this essay. If you don’t already, I do hope you’ll come
to agree concerning what I’ve said about the universality of virtue and your
and my inability to practice it. I hope
you’ll come to realize that the only way of forgiveness for this inadequacy is
through Jesus’ death and that His subsequent resurrection opens the gates for
eternal life for you and for me. I would
argue that despite the failures of the “Church”, it, for the most part, got those
universal fundamentals right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">May God bless you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Benyomin Ellegant<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1. https://www.amazon.com/Peace-Child-Unforgettable-Primitive-Treachery/dp/0830737847</div>
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">2. http://www.biblecharts.org/newtestaament/percentageoftheoldtestamentfoundinthenewtestament.pdf</span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -0.25in;">For more essays, and resources check us out at <a href="https://www.onlyholybook.com/">https://www.OnlyHolyBook.com</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-77801246014430155132017-06-03T11:16:00.002-07:002017-06-15T10:09:19.810-07:00An Open Letter to Franklin Graham<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;">I sincerely appreciate the work you do. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">You, like I, have a burden for America to come to repentance.</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="text-align: justify;">You have a heart for lost souls as do I.</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Your work with Samaritan’s Purse is very commendable.</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Yet, out of fear of sounding like one of the letters to the seven Churches in Revelation, “I have this against you”.</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="text-align: justify;">You are insensitive to the Jew.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As you undoubtedly know...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Peter was a Jew<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mark was a Jew<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">John was a Jew<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">James was a Jew<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Paul was a Jew <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Jude was a Jew<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Barnabas was a Jew<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The writer of Hebrews was a Jew.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The first martyr was a Jew<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus Himself, came as a Jew<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There are some who argue, and
rather convincingly, that Luke was also a Jew.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">None of these facts are conveyed
and yet I hear from your podium “A crowd of Jews cried “Crucify Him (Jesus).
Crucify Him”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’ll not deny the truth of your
quote. It’s in scripture and it’s an historical
fact. Yet, the fact that it was Jews who
brought the Gospel to the Gentiles is brushed under the rug as irrelevant by
most of Christendom.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p>I would like, if you don’t mind,
to consider your audience. Your target,
as I understand it, should be unbelievers who are curious about what you have
to say about Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And what is an unbeliever who
comes to believe in Jesus called? He is
considered as “Born again”. And what is
someone who is born again? He is a “babe”
in Christ. And what do babes drink? MILK. And
the Word of God, our Bible, is regarded as nourishment for the believer. Paul, in 1 Corinthians, implies that the
Bible contains milk for the young believer and solid food for the mature believer. And so you have included in the milk that you
are serving the potentially new believer, whittingly or otherwise, the position that “the Jews killed
Christ”. (As an aside I'm sure you agree that it was in collaboration with the Romans). Only if he delves into the scripture will the "new born" learn that it was also the Jews who brought the Gospel to the Gentile... maybe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Jews of the pale in Russia used
to die at the hands of people who poured out of passion plays incensed with the
desire to take revenge on those “Christ Killers”.
And so, I rhetorically ask “Would a white person feel at home attending
a Louis Farrakhan rally?” “Would a black
man feel particularly comfortable attending a Ku Klux Klan rally?” Therefore, Why would a Jew attend a Franklin
Graham meeting if he knows that his people are going to be demonized as has been the case by Gentile Christians for the past 1900 years? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I know, beyond a doubt, that that
is not your desire. I’m not asking for
you to deny or reject history, but I am asking that you might ask God on how
you might become more sensitive on this issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You’re a good man and I sincerely appreciate your work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">God bless you,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Benyomin Ellegant</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">(A fellow babe in Christ) :-)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">K'hilat Memphis</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">(Memphis Fellowship)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-42338693775651261722017-05-23T09:38:00.000-07:002018-07-30T06:19:58.109-07:00Liberal Guilt, Moral Relativism and Suicide by Immigration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">In 2008, the mantra of the political
left was “if you do not vote for Barak Obama for President you are a racist.” I’d venture that many
Americans didn’t like the epithet of
“racist,” so
they voted for Barak Obama. Of course,
history has it that Mr. Obama was elected. America had proved, at
least in a superficial fashion, that it wasn’t racist. It had
elected a black President.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">However,</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> it seems
that Americans are still racist”. The man whom they’d elected is
calling them racist. “In spite of the fact that you’d voted for me,
if you don’t receive refugees from Syria you’re still racist” he declares.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Mr. Obama’s appeal to the guilt-ridden “racist” left, as farfetched as
this may sound, is, in my humble opinion, a prelude
to the greatest holocaust in human history and here’s why I say so.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">First of all, allow me to examine
the rationale behind the receiving of Syrian refugees: At face value, it seems like the compassionate thing to
do. “People who are destitute… whose lives are in danger, are being
rescued.” That sounds good, altruistic and loving but it is the very
antithesis. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">a.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">It seems
that the people who are willing to bring the refugees in are willing to risk
the associated danger which is fine, but
they neglect the reality that they’re willing to risk the danger of fellow
citizens in the process.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">b.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The pro-refugee folk's apparent justification for this risk seems to be that
those not willing to take such a risk acquire the label of “coward,”
“Islamophobe,” and “racist,” and therefore, are deserving of the consequences
of their “heartless,” fearful” and “hateful” attitudes.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> Thus,
in reality, it is they who are passing judgment on others.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">c.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">They risk
the lives and safety of their sons and daughters and replace that for the
alleged well-being of others. Such a decision causes one to doubt
whether they love their sons and daughters at all. The veracity of this accusation will become more evident as I
continue.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Secondly, bringing Syrian refugees
onto American or European soil is irrational. It does not solve the
problem as to why there are Syrian refugees in the first
place. Syrian refugees, like any other refugee, are refugees fleeing
to the West because, in one way or
another, life is better in the West than it is in Syria. I
propose here, an outline of four ways for solving a refugee problem.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">a.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The first is
not to let anyone in, and build border
fences or walls to prevent people from
coming in who’ve not been thoroughly vetted particularly through the naturalization
process. Wall building lacks
desirability simply because it returns the refugees to the allegedly horrid
circumstances from which they’re fleeing.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">b.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The second
remedy for this problem is the most desirable and gets to the heart of the
reason for the refugee problem in the first place. I
confess, however, that there’s a major
problem with the remedy that I propose. <b>It’s not going to
happen! </b></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">In essence, this remedy builds itself upon the rather obvious premise
that the refugee problem exists because there’s some evil which makes life
miserable for those refugees. We know that in the situation at hand,
Syria is dominated by a dictator by the name of Bashar Al Asad. He’s
trying to hold onto his power and has, therefore,
resorted to violence to repel anyone or
any entity that would seek his overthrow. The resulting civil war
has turned into a bloodbath which is
responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands already. As evil as
Mr. Asad is, it seems that his opposition is even more evil. ISIS is already known far and wide for its
cruelty. So it seems that not too many parties within the boundaries
of Syria are particularly nice people.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The most desirable
remedy to our problem, however, is that Mr. Asad and his enemies shake hands,
sing kumbaya, make peace, set up mutually agreeable boundaries and have the
refugees return to Syria which would then be called “Happy Land” (in Arabic of
course).</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> I think you see why this will not happen.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">c.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The third
remedy would be to obliterate those belligerents who won’t make peace with one
another by the above remedy, and by so
doing, get rid of those who are making life unbearable for the
immigrants. Safe places can be established for the immigrants
within their homeland, buttressed by international “Peace Keepers” who blow the belligerents to
smithereens. Once that’s accomplished the refugees can live in peace
in the land of their birth (assuming that there aren’t clandestine belligerents
already in the midst of the refugees).</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">d.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The fourth
remedy is to bring the refugees in and hold out the welcome
mat. That, it seems, is the plan
that many of the politicians of the west, such as Angela Merkel and Barak Obama
have taken. The refugees come in. They introduce the
actualization of multiculturalism to the American and Western way of life and
because of the resulting clash of incompatible cultures, a sort of homeostasis
takes place in which life in the United States and Europe becomes as
intolerable as life in Syria. Hence, refugees will no longer want to
come in. That will most certainly end the influx of further
immigration! In essence, terrorist instigated violence will
erupt, and law enforcement and domestic related military intervention become necessary to diminish the violence which
will nevertheless, become greater in
frequency because of the inadequacy of law enforcement to cover all
eventualities. The only possible outcomes will either be civil war
temporarily delayed by peacekeeping
militia” or a police state with loss of liberties accompanied by occasional or
perhaps even frequent acts of violence. It seems likely that the
former will morph into the latter. A police
state is destined to become the natural universal outcome everywhere on our
planet which all of us allegedly call home. In essence, it will grow
to be a less and less comfortable home in which to live with time except for
those who reside at the top of the political spectrum.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Thirdly – How do I know that the
fourth remedy will be as disastrous as I predict?</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">A vast plurality of Syrian
refugees is men of combat
age. Apparently, they’d left
the women and children behind to fight ISIS which, it seems, at least to me, is
not exactly the manly thing to do. Besides, women have served as terrorists as
well. Furthermore, there is absolutely no way to adequately vet
these refugees because there’s no way that customs officials are sufficiently
trained (let alone psychiatrists) to read people’s minds.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">b.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The
incidences in Europe, of refugee-instigated
terror attacks, including beheadings, mass murders rapes, especially of young,
virgin girls as well as their enslavement, and other atrocities have risen exponentially since the influx of
these refugees has begun.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">c.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Muslims do
not have a history of assimilating into western culture. To a very
high degree, Muslims have displayed a disdain for western law and particularly
secularization.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">d.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">And how can
I assume that almost every refugee who
has shown up on Western shores is a Muslim? Boatloads of refugees that have arrived on the north side of the
Mediterranean had thrown Christians overboard before
their arrival onto Western shores. No such behavior has been
documented to have occurred at the hands of Christians.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">e.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Since the vast majority (if not all) of this influx of refugees is Muslim,
and in light of the reality that a large plurality of these refugees is men,
it’s easy to assume that many of them do not have a benevolent attitude towards
their well-meaning western hosts.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> Islam is a worldview bent on world domination and the
establishment of Sharia law all around the globe. It is naïve
to think that Muslims think in the same manner
as western folk. They don’t. Islam, when
implemented as Sharia, offers no rights for women. Islam
allows for polygamy, and the most radical/religious/orthodox among them provide
loopholes in their interpretation of Sharia law which allow for homosexuality
and bestiality. Women wear hijabs
and burkas, not because it is an indication of piety and modesty, but
because the men don’t have the self-control to reign in their lusts and
passions. Hence, the incidences of rape in Europe are skyrocketing
because the lifestyle of young Western
women and girls does not require the sort of attire demanded by Sharia
law. Furthermore, the one
doing the raping blames the victim for wearing her comparatively skimpy attire.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">f.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">But this is
not the only way that Muslims think differently than people in the
West. The word “Islam” means “submission.” To the Muslim mind, Muslims are
expendable. The only thing that counts is the expansion of
Islam. Out of servitude, therefore, the truly devout Muslim will
offer up his life for the cause. Why else is there this enormous
prevalence of suicide bombings? Like ants that sacrifice themselves
to make bridges by which armies of ants can cross a stream, Muslims are
sacrificing themselves to cross the Mediterranean to get into
Europe. Already many have died, but that’s OK as far as Islam is
concerned. They’ve died as martyrs. Their deaths prick
the conscience of the compassionate but misguided West. This tact is
also useful in garnering anti-Israel sympathy. No life means
anything to Islam and so Palestinians, whether willingly, or otherwise, are
placed in harm’s way so that they’re either maimed or killed by an Israeli
ordinate and by so doing serve as nice photo-ops for appearing on CNN or some
tabloid, thus garnering sympathy for the cause.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">g.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Ultimately
Jihad requires either the subjugation of non-Muslims or preferably their
deaths. What ISIS does to the Christians and Yazidis in Iraq and Syria it will surely do to the people of the
West. Armies won’t stop them because they will be among the people
of Europe and America. They will each have a face.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">h.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Islam in its
fundamental, unbridled form, appeals to the most base of human instincts that
being sex, self-indulgence, power, and
sadism. The accompanying behaviors associated with these instincts
are hidden in the West only because such behaviors would give Islam a bad
name. In Islamic countries, however, these behaviors run rampant.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">A book authored by William Golding
in 1954, entitled “Lord of the Flies” depicts the gradual moral and behavioral
decay of a group of boys stranded on a desert island who are unbridled by
Law. They begin to indulge in cultic practices until finally, they kill the most likable among them. This book
is nothing more than a depiction of what is common in the gang community where
gang members join as a result of deprivation, particularly
of paternal love and instruction. Gangs have their own set of
laws. Islam like a giant gang filled
with initiation rites. Initiation into the gang requires some
evidence of loyalty. As gang members get initiated by killing some
other gang member or robbing some old lady on the street, so, radical
Muslims will be required to kill some Muslim of a different (wrong believing) sect or some unbeliever as proof of his or her
loyalty. Why else, do you see evidence in the news of ISIS killing
other Muslims for not being “real” Muslims? Just like in the case of gangs, leaving the gang can mean death, so,
in Islam, leaving Islam can be punishable by death.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">To him whom we would call the
“radical Muslim,” Islam makes perfect
sense. It appeals to the most basic of human
instincts! It assumes that man
originally was that way. Armies
cannot stop this way of thinking and, in light of the “end game” resulting from
the homeostasis approach to the immigration problem mentioned above, the “bad
guys” in Syria will win. They allegedly get rid of the people that
they don’t want and foist those individuals upon the people of the unsuspecting
West. Evil wins because lawlessness infiltrates the West. Anarchy and an unconfined “gang-like”/self-indulgent
and sadistic mentality enter its midst under the guise of “religion.”</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">So what is the true solution to the
immigration problem? The only genuine solution to the immigration
problem is the 2<sup>nd</sup> remedy mentioned above. But that
remedy runs counter to human nature. Rather than giving in to the
self-preservation and sadistic instincts found in Asad, ISIS and others, these
individuals ideally should replace such
instincts with selflessness, compassion, humility and benevolence…traits that
run counter to human nature and yet embody nobility and strength of
character. These are traits can only be found in their fullness and perfection in the person of
Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish Messiah.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Our politicians have done a great
disservice to those they allegedly serve. They attribute credibility
to a worldview that is thoroughly
sadistic and destructive. Its only rationales for credibility are
that it has the moniker of “religion,” it
expands its domain, not through reason
but violence, and a façade of religiosity covers the reality that it is
unloving and lawless.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And what feeds into this “creeping
Jihad” that would vote a politician into office who would open the floodgates for the entrance of this cancer into
the midst of the West? Simply put, it’s moral relativism. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The people of the West have
determined that it is better for a woman to be lascivious, and kill a baby
because nurturing that baby is too big of a responsibility and denies her of
her freedom.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The people of the West have
determined that it is better for a man to “be free” rather than assume the
responsibility of protecting and nurturing the woman he’s “screwed,” and the child he’d created.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The people of the West have
determined that ”freedom” is synonymous with the term, “license.” Abandoning a spouse contrary to
the vows of fidelity which one has taken is OK because it means “freedom.” Indulging in sexual
behaviors contrary the laws of nature (as opposed to the laws of human nature)
is not only acceptable but rewarded as “brave.”</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The people of the
West have determined that cheating is OK because they’ve determined that
success, wealth and reputation are more important than honesty, transparency,
humility and a clear conscience before a God whom they would prefer did not
exist because their lifestyle could not endure His scrutiny.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The moral relativism of the Western
mind can no longer discern between good and evil. It can only see
the “color of one’s skin.” It
does not see (As Martin Luther King Jr. eloquently put it) the “content of
one’s character.” </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The people of the
west have replaced the morally pure, righteous and, dare I say holy, Jesus,
with morally relativistic self-indulgent and arrogant politicians. These
politicians who along with their cohorts in the media have been in the process
of opening the floodgates of the West to people who own a worldview which
sounds good at face value but which is nevertheless fundamentally cruel and
sadistic.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The liberal of the West attempts to
assuage his guilt of self-indulgence and lawlessness by offering asylum to
those whom he assumes to be in need. But he lets the bad guys win
and ultimately offers asylum to those who will execute his demise.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-3019993780792865162017-05-08T08:39:00.001-07:002017-08-12T10:48:25.834-07:00The First Human Shield<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">During the last
conflagration between Hamas and Israel, much was made concerning the accusation
on the part of Israel that Hamas was using the Palestinian people, particularly
women and children as human shields. It
is not the intent of this essay to declare the guilt or innocence of Hamas in
this matter. I would leave that to the
court of international law. However,
international law explicitly condemns such activity. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Geneva
Convention IV Article 28 declares rather explicitly, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i style="background-color: black;">“<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The presence
of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune
from military operations”.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br /></span></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is very
questionable concerning the strength of the “teeth” the Geneva Convention has
had. Since its introduction into the
lexicon of the rules of war, it has been violated countless times and very few
guilty parties have actually been indicted for violating it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Human history
has been plagued by the ravages of war since time immemorial, and in the course
of such blights on the human condition, there is, no doubt, myriad times when
human shields were used in warfare. Fundamentally
speaking, it’s human nature to protect self over other, hence, to use human
shields in one way or another. Training,
love or some other element needs to be introduced into the human psyche for an
individual to react otherwise.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Might I suggest
that the very first war is a war dating back to the most ancient of times, is
still being waged today and the very first human shield was used at the very
inception of that war.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The war was
between man and God and the very first human shield was the man’s wife. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The war was
over man’s desire to run his own life the way that he wanted to and therefore
to reject the sovereignty of God or yield to that sovereignty knowing that by virtue of God having created him, God was worthy of the respect (and love) that demanded
abiding by His rules.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">At that time God had given
the man but one rule. Having planted the
man and his wife in a garden filled with delights He said… <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span class="text"> “From any tree of the
garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="text">eat, for in
the day that you eat from it</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>you will surely die.”
</i></span><i> </i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Genesis 2:16-17<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">To
make a long story short, the woman had been enticed to eat of the forbidden
fruit of that tree. She gave the fruit to the man and he ate also. As soon as he had eaten, the two of them realized
their nakedness, felt ashamed, and made loin cloths for themselves out of fig
leaves. (Genesis 3:6-7)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
man and woman tried to hide themselves from God and God, who knows all things,
asked the man (more so that the man could appraise his circumstances)…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">“<i>Where are you?”</i></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span><span id="en-NASB-66" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">The man
said “<i>I heard the sound of You in the
garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself” </i>(Genesis 3:9)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">God replied
“Who told you that you were naked? Have you
eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:11)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span class="text"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Instead of giving a straight “yes” or “no”
answer, the man deflected the responsibility, passing the buck. <i>“The woman whom You gave to be with me, she
gave me from the tree, and I ate.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;">
<span class="text"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">(Genesis
3:12)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: .5in; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: .5in; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And so, the man had created the first
human shield… his wife!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: .5in; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Almost
too many repercussions to count resulted from this transaction between the man
and God. But for the sake of this
discussion, just ponder, if you will, the affect that this had on the
relationship between the man and the woman.
Could the woman ever really trust the man again? How would she know when the next time would
be when he would use her as a shield?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: .5in; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In a sense, God cursed their
relationship. To the woman, God said:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: .5in; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: 94.5pt; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“I will greatly multiply</span></i></span><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">Your pain</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span></span></span></i><span class="text"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">in childbirth,</span></i></span><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">In pain you will</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">bring forth children;</span></span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">Yet your desire will be for your husband,</span></span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">And</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">he
will rule over you.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: 94.5pt; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><b> </b> Genesis 3:16<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: 94.5pt; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 22.5pt;">
<span style="background-color: blue; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt;">
<span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: blue;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sexual
intercourse resulting in childbirth would yield, in most cases, an
excruciatingly painful childbirth.
Furthermore, there would be a struggle for authority over the
household. The woman, not trusting the
man, as well as having an ego of her own, would want to usurp the authority of
the man. Yet man’s role is to be the one
in authority because it is he who is responsible before God for the welfare and
direction in which he takes his family.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Man’s
natural tendency is to hide behind his wife… figuratively speaking, using her
as a shield, blaming her for his failures or pursuing his wants and desires at
the expense of her own. Yet the presence
of the Spirit of God in the life of a man should be manifest by the man shielding
his wife from the onslaughts of the world and considering her needs above his
own. This doesn’t come naturally. And so
the Shaliach (Apostle = One who is sent) Paul commanded <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“<i>Husbands love your
wives as Messiah loved the ekklessia (the collection of people who are his) and
gave Himself up for her”. </i>(Ephesians
5:25)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 1.0in; tab-stops: 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Elsewhere he writes:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 9.0pt; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">“Husbands</span></i><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>love<span class="apple-converted-space"> your wives and do not be embittered
against them.</span>”<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">(Colossians 3:19)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">In essence, the Bible encourages a man to love his wife, cherish her
above all other women remain married to her and to her alone and protect her
from harm and blame. It is he who is
responsible for conducting himself in this manner.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">This does not come naturally. His
natural tendency is to do what that first man did… hold his wife up as a shield
by which he can defend himself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">The wife whose husband cherishes and protects her ought to be able to follow
his lead and will be less inclined to attempt to usurp his authority. Invariably her desire, above all things, is
to feel safe. Her husband’s role is to,
in actuality, convey that perception to her.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">In essence genuinely Biblical faith is manifested in qualities that run
contrary to our natural self-centered tendencies. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Some world views which have their own so-called “Holy Books” allow for
polygamy and even encourage it. One of
these world views denies women rights and even allows men to beat their wives.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Any world view that would encourage the values, attitudes and behavior
that came with that root beginning of man’s war against God and his subsequent
use of women as shields is fundamentally erroneous. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">And for that reason, there is only one genuine “Holy Book”.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-27670214122800654722017-04-30T15:46:00.000-07:002017-08-09T18:58:47.288-07:00An Inherent Anti-Semitic Interpretation of the New Testament on the Part of Gentiles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">One day while reading a book on the history of Christianity I ran across the following quote:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><i>The martyrdom of Stephen marked a turning point in two respects: (1) It began the persecution that drove witnessing Christians from Jerusalem into all Judea and Samaria and (2) It moved Saul the persecutor towards personal conversion to Christ.</i><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The authors of this particular book are reputable scholars yet I was alarmed by this quote on a number of levels. I choose to address only one issue, here, which is what I regard to be the most important one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the Book of Acts in the Bible there is an account of a man named Stephen who, while speaking to a multitude of Jewish people, recounts Jewish history as it was recorded in the Tanakch (Old Testament), and uses it to show our (the Jewish people’s) need for an atonement that could only be satisfied through the then recent death and resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus. In essence those Jews listening to Stephen’s message did not like what they heard and stoned him to death. Another repercussion of this particular event was that massive persecution broke out against those who believed in Jesus throughout Judea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As I write this essay, I’ve always thought of Stephen, the Apostles, those believers in Jesus who met daily at the Beis HaMikdosh (Temple), and in people’s homes, the 3,000 who’d come to believe in Y’shua on Shavuoth (Pentacost) and those who were “daily added to their number” as Jews. In fact there is absolutely no specific mention of a Gentile coming to believe in Y’shua until late in chapter 10, three chapters later*. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And so I was shocked at reading this books description of the recipients of the post-Stephen persecution as “Christians”. This description carries with it unique connotations both to the Jewish mind as well as the Gentile mind: The Jewish mind has been trained to think of the term “Christian” as being decidedly not Jewish. The Gentile mind, likewise, sees those persecuted as one of them… namely Christians and not Jews (or even Jewish Christians).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Gentile perception is unfortunate. For one thing, it denies the reality that those first “Christians” were Jews and for another thing it creates in the minds eye, a “them vs. us” scenario in which the Gentile sees his people, the Christians, as being persecuted by THOSE Jews. This perpetuates the notion that Jews are evil and "not one of us". The resulting perspective is one of dispassionate indifference at best towards the persecutors. The Jewish Christian, on the other hand, sees those who were doing the persecuting as “My Father, brother, my cousins… my family.” His heart throbs with that of the Apostle Paul who said…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "calibri body" , serif;">I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;"><span id="en-ESV-28142" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.</span></span></i></span><span class="text"></span><b><i><sup style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;"><span id="en-ESV-28143" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></span></sup></i></b><span class="text"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;">For</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;">I could wish that I myself were</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;">accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of <u>my brothers</u>,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;"><u>my kinsmen</u></span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;">according to the flesh.</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="font-family: "calibri body" , serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">Romans 9:1-3</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "calibri body" , serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Hence, the Jewish Christian innately loves the people who are persecuting him.**<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri body" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The repercussions of this “them vs. us” exegesis on the part of the Gentile are far reaching! It feeds the virus of white supremacy which fallaciously assumes that the early Christians were white Gentiles. Hence, the Jews who literally gave them their Bible become the bad guys and objects of derision. These resulting anti-Semitic behaviors and attitudes cause the “unsaved” Jew to believe the false notion that the New Testament is an anti-Semitic book written by Gentiles. Furthermore, the Christian who takes on this interpretation of the text only causes angst on the part of the Jewish Christian who is allegedly the Gentile Christians "brother or sister in the Lord". This is because the Gentile has only served to distance the Jewish-Christians loved ones from the Gospel by throwing another roadblock in the path of the Jews identification with the Good News of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "calibri body" , serif;">This “them vs. us” exegesis on the part of the Gentile has to stop! The Gentile must come to grips with and be willing to proclaim the reality that those early persecuted individuals were Jews and thought of themselves as Jews and he must come to the realization that his exegesis of scripture is false and incomplete without input from what is at least the heart of the Jew who is able to help the Gentile “rightly divide the Word of Truth”.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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* The Ethiopian Eunuch of chapter 8 was, in all likelihood, a convert to Judaism.<o:p></o:p></div>
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** Admittedly there seem to be exceptions to this rule but I would hold that that’s all that they are… exceptions. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-46773506792538204882017-04-22T13:57:00.002-07:002017-08-14T15:45:11.260-07:00You’re Invited to Wedding Celebration. Are You Coming?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">God is inviting you to a wedding. The food that will be there could only be
described as “Heavenly”. This wedding is
called the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb”.
Why such an odd name? Lambs don’t
get married! Ah… but this one does. The lambs Name is Y’shua (commonly known as
Jesus). He’s described as “the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). But “how can He be described as a ‘lamb’?”
you might ask. After all He was a human
being! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">True, He was a human being in every sense of the word. But He was the Messiah which makes Him much more
than merely human. And so, among many
other things, He was described as a lamb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The lamb was a picture throughout the Old Testament of what
the Messiah was supposed to accomplish… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The lamb was used to stave off plague. In Sh’moth (Exodus)
chapter 12 a year-old unblemished lamb was to be brought into the homes of
people in Egypt. It was to be
slaughtered and its blood splattered on the lintel and doorposts of people’s
houses. Then it’s flesh was to be
roasted and eaten. Any home that did not
have that blood on the door would experience death to any firstborn son that
lived in that household.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p>It’s interesting to note, as an aside, that you didn’t have
to be a ‘Hebrew’ (Jewish) to apply this blood to the door. If you were Jewish and you didn’t apply the
blood, the plague would hit your house as well as the home of any Gentile. It was the blood of the lamb that averted the plague.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The lamb or ram was used to atone for guilt in the
sacrificial system that was used in the mishkan (tabernacle) and later on in
the Beit HaMikdosh (Temple) e.g. Vayikra (Leviticus) chapter 5. It was to be killed, consumed by fire, and
it’s blood was to be poured out at the base of the Miz’beach (Altar).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was a ram that served as a substitute in place of
Abraham’s son, Isaac (Bereyshit / Genesis 22),
Indicating that, even as Isaac’s death was averted because a ram had
died in his place, so our eternal death can be averted by ascribing the Messiah
as our substitute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Of the Messiah, it was written “Like a lamb to the
slaughter, so He opened not His mouth” and “He shall make His soul an offering
for sin”. (Isaiah 53)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, you’re invited to this wedding feast where Jesus is the
groom and the groom is a lamb and the lamb is also the main course meal. So who are you? You’re the guest. But you’re also the
bride. And the object of the Bride is to
engorge herself in her love for the groom aware of the infinite love that the
groom has for her. At this point, you
might protest “This doesn’t make any sense”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yes… this language could be merely metaphorical but I doubt
it. We human beings tend to make
assumptions about the nature of God. But
is any of us actually God that we can emphatically assert those
assumptions? Likewise, I assume that
many of us take ‘leaps of faith’ when it comes to our perspectives concerning
death… something which I believe I’m safe to say you’ve not yet experienced if
you’re reading this post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So then, how much love does this groom, the Messiah, have
for His bride?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Let’s compare for a moment, Jesus to Adam, the first man on earth. Most people know that Adam and his wife, Eve,
ate the fruit that they were told not to eat.
But most people forget what happened after that. God asked Adam, “have you eaten of the fruit
of the tree from which I’d told you not to eat?” (Of course, God knew the answer, but He was
testing Adam.) Adam replied… “The woman whom You gave me gave it (the fruit) to me and I
ate”. Adam had, in a very real sense,
placed the woman between himself and God, attempting to use her, as it were, as
a shield making her the brunt of the wrath of God. That doesn’t make for a very good
relationship. Ever since then family
relationships have been less than ideal.
Almost invariably there’s going to be some level of mistrust between the
spouses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In contrast, Jesus took it upon Himself to shield you from
the wrath of the Father by dying, absorbing the wrath that you deserved. This is truly the way that the ideal husband
should or would behave towards his wife. This is most certainly in keeping with the admonision of Paul, HaShaliach (Sent one/Apostle) when he said "husbands, love your wives as Messiah loved the ekklessia (church) and gave Himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25). Such a husband, any woman would trust and fall in love with. But why would Jesus do this? Because He loves you and He wants to marry
you and hence, as the perfect groom, showing we men what we should be like but aren't, He invites you as His guest and His bride to His wedding supper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This imagery could be merely metaphorical but I do believe there's more to it than that. We men, though we might be part of the "bride" will in some mysterious, magical way, not lose our masculinity but we will be more perfectly the type of individual we were meant to be. I think that this is a genuine
invitation for you and for me and there’s ample evidence that would support
that built upon thousands of years of testing and challenging of the veracity
of the Bible. The invitation offered to you
is the promise of a glorious eternity in the presence of the one who created
you, loves you, wants your love in return and wants to embrace you with perfect
love.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p>If you turn down this invitation you’ve done nothing less
than deny yourself a wonderful hereafter and you will have spurned your creator. </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Consider this invitation seriously. Yep, it's on a blog. But it's meant specifically for you.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;">wedding</span><span style="font-size: 16px;"> feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;">wedding</span><span style="font-size: 16px;"> feast, and they were unwilling to come." Matthew 2</span></span><span style="font-size: 16px;">2:2-3</span></i></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-11329117060406520702017-03-29T17:28:00.001-07:002017-04-10T15:00:29.512-07:00When's the Last Time You've Read Isaiah 53?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">So when is the last time you’ve read Isaiah 53?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p>If you’re Jewish it’s likely that you’ve never read it or
read it passingly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">How utterly ironic!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Tanakch (What is commonly called in some circles, the ‘Old
Testament’) is indisputably THE most Jewish book ever written! It predates the Talmud, targumim (commentaries)
and Zohar (Book of Jewish mysticism) and is the foundation from which the other
books are said to have been derived. And
yet, per capita, there is little doubt that more Gentiles are familiar with the
Tanakch, and Isaiah 53 in particular, than Jews.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It’s not surprising that Isaiah 53 is not part of the
average Jewish lexicon. Of all
references to Tanakch in the Chumosh (The weekly Tanakch readings found in the
synagogue), Isaiah 53 is most notably omitted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">All sorts of arguments are thrown back and forth concerning
the reason for this omission but the point is, not even that its omitted, but
that the average Jew is not only ignorant of what the Tanakch says but
particularly what Isaiah 53 says. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And I’m not going to tell you what it says. Read it for yourself and draw your own
conclusions, if, for no other reason, educating yourself in a book with which
you should be familiar and of which Gentiles are putting you to shame.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-73867609456012159292017-03-25T06:36:00.000-07:002017-04-10T14:59:22.052-07:00Your Soul... Your most Important Posession<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">A soul… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Everybody’s got one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You can’t touch it, taste it, feel it, hear it or smell it
but it’s there and it’s the most important part of you. In fact, it's the essence of who you are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And because it’s intangible, you really don’t know how to
take care of it. It’s easy to assume
that if you do good deeds or engage in meditation you’re doing something good
for your soul. But, how do you know that
whatever you’re doing is good for your soul?
Maybe the good deeds that you’re performing are for the wrong motive. Maybe you’ve mixed a little selfishness or
pride in with that good deed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And have you ever told a lie or been unjustly angry with
someone? You might deny it but God knows
the truth. And if you find yourself
disagreeing with God on that issue, then you’re deceiving yourself and the
truth is not in you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As the psalmist wrote:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?"</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Psalm 139:7</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To be honest, there’s no one
on this planet that we call Earth who’s soul is not stripped bare by an all
knowing, all seeing God and when one considers our thoughts and deeds, every one
of our souls look quite ugly to Him. It
is He who sees them and they are so ugly to Him that they deserve nothing but
to be thrown into a fire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But God has provided a way out
for you. Jesus never had an impure
thought or selfish deed. He was the type
of man that a man should be. And He was
the only such man in all of history. Of
the Messiah, it is written…</span><br />
<span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span><i><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-size: large;">Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him: he hath put him to
grief: when thou shalt make his <b>soul</b>
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="small-caps" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; text-align: start;">Lord</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: start;"> </span>shall prosper in his hand.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> Isaiah 53:10</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The righteous God had to punish the sin that was in your
soul in order to establish justice. But
Jesus voluntarily took on the punishment that you deserved so that you could be
clean and holy before a just but, at the same time, loving God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And then God gives you a choice. Are you going to be dismissive towards this
sacrifice on the part of Jesus? Are you
going to deny that it ever took place?
Are you going to continue to try to fool yourself into thinking that you’re
the best “doctor” for your damaged soul?
Or are you going to trust Jesus to give you His righteousness? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Only He can restore your soul and make it acceptable to
God.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-88781735133225214752017-02-26T20:24:00.002-08:002018-10-20T07:32:44.643-07:00How Does God Feel About The Israel - Palestinian Conflict?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: white; font-size: 18pt;">He could barely breathe. He panted with short staccato staggered gasps straining to secure whatever sparse mass of breath His starving, thirsting lungs could receive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: 18pt;">His only salvation from suffocating was if He could muster up any strength He had in his legs to support all of the weight of His torso which would allow His chest to expand long enough to receive whatever life-giving vapor He could gasp.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: 18pt;">He gladly would have made His legs straight so as to enhance His breathing but the weight of His torso only magnified the intensity of the sharp, searing, inexplicable pain that resulted from the cruel iron peg that impaled his feet and pressed against the naked, exposed nerve that communicated nothing but agony to His wretched body. The intense pain was unrelenting but it shot through His entire person with even greater intensity, if it were possible, when He made His pathetic attempts to lift Himself up in His feeble efforts to capture only a wisp of air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Like a living butterfly whose wings had been pinned to the display case of a collector, He was affixed helplessly to a wooden shaft with His arms outstretched and bones out of joint. His hands were skewered by rods of iron, in like manner as his feet. They seared with s hot excruciating agony that was rivaled only by that of His feet. The welts and torn flesh on His back and on the backs of His legs, the result of whips whose injury was augmented by the addition of sharp bones or shards of metal so as to mercilessly tear open His flesh, rubbed excruciatingly against the wooden "pegboard" upon which He was matter-of-factly mounted.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">His loss of blood made Him woefully thirsty. His lips were parched and His tongue almost stuck to the roof of His mouth. He could barely speak. Naked, defenseless and exposed, He'd been beaten and nailed to a wooden execution stake by tormentors who callously taunted Him as He endured His last moments of life. There was nothing and no one to give Him comfort. The only thing that could rescue Him would be death.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">But how did He wind up in this predicament? He was a good man. He'd taught people how to be good people and He was not only their supreme example of what goodness was but He was perfect in everything He ever said or did. He was the ultimate Tsadik as we like to say in Hebrew, or righteous one. So how could such a man ever find Himself in these circumstances? He certainly didn't deserve this! Yet He accepted His death and the agony that came with it willingly. In spite of His circumstances and the intense agony of His last moments, there was not one ounce of panic or apprehension in His soul.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Even in the midst of this torment, He gave no thought to Himself. He thought only of the needs of others even to the end. His best friend and His mother stood by helplessly and with great sorrow, apprehension and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. He gestured to His friend to see to His mother's needs while He was gone. Even those who taunted Him, He was quick to forgive desiring only their eternal well-being as of paramount importance. He looked beyond His present state with its unbearable agony with a different sort of eyes into the millenniums that would follow that fraction of a moment in time. His mind dwelt upon every soul destined to live and to die... Billions upon billions of souls... each one of infinite importance, He knew each one by name.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">He saw 21st Century Gaza with the little Kaddan boy and his Palestinian family under the siege of an Israeli army bombardment. He envisioned the shell from a tank hitting the home in which he'd lived his regrettably short life, snuffing him out and strewing his body into a million inanimate pieces.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">He saw Daniel Tregerman, a young Jewish tot with a promising future blown to bits by a Palestinian mortar, leaving an emotionally scarred family in his wake. The man on that cross knew that all of this would happen. He was the way that God would be if He should ever choose to become a man. And He knew that mankind, in its foolishness, would try to make God to be something that He's not. Humanity would pin God to a cross so as to reshape Him into his own depraved image.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">He knew that the Kaddan family would fall victim to a belief system fomented by a false, power hungry prophet who said that God was aloof, stern and demanding. Furthermore, their god would use the poor Kaddan family simply as disposable pawns by which their false prophet could posthumously further his perverted doctrines. But God is not aloof, stern and demanding. He is more like that man on the cross... good, kind, gentle, not enabling evil and yet willing to forgive. Many who hold to the belief system enjoined by the Kaddans also hold to the notion that the Middle East is no place where a Jew may live. They have a sign engraved in their hearts... "Jews not welcome".</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">He knew that the Tregermans were among a people who held to the notion that their identities as Jews depended upon their refusal to accept the possibility that the Man on the cross could be their Messiah. Yet those people also held tenaciously to the notion that they needed their own place to live because a 2000 year history of persecution showed that they definitely needed a place they could call their own... where they would be free to live in safety. Furthermore, the very book that describes the nature of the Man on the cross declares that their own land, contrary to the view of the people of the Kaddan family, is specifically located in the Middle East. Like the Kaddan family, they too have a sign engraved in their hearts only their sign reads "The land is ours but Jesus is not welcome".</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">In essence...</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The people of the Tregerman family believe the part of their holy book that talks about the land but rejects the part that tells about their Messiah.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The people of the Kaddan family reject the Tregermans holy book altogether, give token allegiance to the man on the cross (‘though they contest that He never went on that cross), and replace it with a different (and dare I say false) holy book.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Furthermore, both families are confused by a group of people who claim to believe in the Messiah part of the holy book but refuse to believe the land part of the holy book and actually refuse, as well, to believe that the Tregermans have any place in God's plan either (but the holy book says that they do). They've spent two millenniums persecuting the people with whom the Tregermans identify. So, everyone’s understanding of the holy book and the man on the cross is skewed. And as the holy book says "There is none righteous. No... not one."</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: 18pt;">Each of those groups of people is dominated by what we call “religions”. They are led by people who claim to be experts. But how can "experts" disagree with one another in the way in which they do? Actually religions with their dogmas and rituals only lead people astray. The only expert is that man on the cross and the holy book that gives an accurate account of who He is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Oh, perhaps you may doubt the veracity of that book but it has survived the test of the most intensive scrutiny of science, archaeology, scholarship and time. Interestingly, if an individual is to be faithful to that holy book, he or she may likely experience some level of ostracism from his people of origin. It's not easy pursuing the truth. But such a person can be credited as the type of person who thinks for him or herself and is bold enough to endure the consequences of his or her faith decision. He is not part of a religion but has a vital and living personal relationship with that man on the wooden cross... the man who would be the kind of man that God would be if He would ever choose to reveal Himself as a man.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">This man loves both the Tregermans and the Kaddans and all the people that they symbolize. But His love demands that each individual among them has the free will to choose to love Him back. Unfortunately thus far the Jews and the Muslims have, for the most part, chosen not to love Him in return. And their free wills have led to what we see today... the deaths of two innocent children among myriads upon myriads fallen victim to a history of war and human misery.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">I regret to say that absolutely nothing will get the human race out of this quagmire of death except that man who died on that cross long ago. The world is not intended to be the way that it is. We were not made to hate and kill one another. Death itself was not ever intended to be normative. Our problem is that we've gotten used to death and war and the general condition of the world as it exists. We cannot imagine our present state, uncomfortable and foreboding as it is, as being anything other than normative. Certainly, politics won't help us. And, to be honest, religion won't either because it gives us a false understanding of God. Furthermore, religion divides. We blame one another rather than blaming ourselves. We say “it's the other guys fault... never my fault”. We refuse to say “Hey, I could be responsible for some of this mess”. We are enamored with ourselves and how good we are. But the man on the cross sees otherwise. He sees us for whom we are, loves us anyway and is quick to forgive us if we simply ask Him. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Most of we humans have big egos. We think we're God in a strange sort of way. We might say that we're not, but don't we respond with anger when we get insulted? The man on the cross didn't. There, dying, in the midst of His agony, He knew who He was. He was the way God would be if He should ever choose to be a man. And if we would ever want to be like God, we should want to be like Him.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">By the way, that man? He rose from the dead. He's alive! One day He's going to make the world into the kind of place that it was intended to be. And inhabiting that world will be people who've asked God to make them into the kind of people He wants them to be without being “religious” sort of like that man on the cross. They will all come from extremely diverse backgrounds but by being the type of person that that man on the cross is, they'll be the only types of people who will be able to get along with one another.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">And there will be no more wars, or sickness, or death or, most importantly, guilt or tears... only good stuff.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: 18pt;">I don't care if you're Jewish, Palestinian, or ISIS for that matter. I want that for you and especially that man on the cross wants it for you.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-11032648122384521712017-02-26T20:16:00.004-08:002017-08-17T22:03:14.515-07:00Was Muhammad Qualified to be a Prophet?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">God gave Moses 10 Commandments. The seventh commandment said…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Thou Shalt not Commit Adultery”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here is a list of many in the Bible whom Islam says were prophets and their behavior concerning the question of adultery (Muslims may pronounce the names differently or ascribe different names to them).</span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Adam had one wife.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Seth had one wife.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Enoch had one wife.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Noah had one wife.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Abraham had 3 wives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> He had a second wife because his first wife couldn’t </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> have children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> When his first wife did miraculously have a child </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> (Isaac), he sent his first wife away. </span><span style="font-size: large;">He had a third </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> wife only after his first wife died.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Isaac had one wife<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jacob had four wives only because he’d been tricked by his </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> father-in-law.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">David had many wives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> And although the New Testament says he was a </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> prophet </span><span style="font-size: large;">by virtue of the fact that he gave prophetic</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> utterances, </span><span style="font-size: large;">his office was that of a king. He was not </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> above the law </span><span style="font-size: large;">of Moses, and therefore, a prophet </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> chastised him for his adultery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Because of his adultery one of his sons temporarily </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> took the kingdom from him, he was </span><span style="font-size: large;">humiliated in </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> front of everyone in his kingdom, and his household </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> was divided the rest of his life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Solomon had many wives b</span><span style="font-size: large;">ut he also was not a prophet. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> He was a king and because of his adultery his </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> kingdom was </span><span style="font-size: large;">divided and all of its wealth was</span><span style="font-size: large;"> lost.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Muhammad (solely a prophet of Islam) had several wives and while the Bible never justifies multiple wives, the Quran was claimed to have justified it on behalf of Muhammad. In <a href="https://quran.com/33/50">Surah 33:50</a> we read.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">O Prophet, indeed We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have given their due compensation and those your right hand possesses from what Allah has returned to you [of captives] and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who emigrated with you and a believing woman if she gives herself to the Prophet [and] if the Prophet wishes to marry her, [this is] only for you, excluding the [other] believers. We certainly know what We have made obligatory upon them concerning their wives and those their right hands possess, [but this is for you] in order that there will be upon you no discomfort. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Surah 33:50<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Muhammad married the divorced wife of his adopted son. His feelings for her were there before she’d ever been divorced. Yet somehow, Allah justified this for him and allegedly gave her to him. If you're Arabic speaking, you can read about it <a href="https://quran.com/33/37">here.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/BARRYE~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And [remember, O Muhammad], when you said to the one on whom Allah bestowed favor and you bestowed favor, "Keep your wife and fear Allah ," while you concealed within yourself that which Allah is to disclose. And you feared the people, while Allah has more right that you fear Him. So when Zayd had no longer any need for her, We married her to you in order that there not be upon the believers any discomfort concerning the wives of their adopted sons when they no longer have need of them. And ever is the command of Allah accomplished</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Surah 33:37<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even Aisha whose marriage to Muhammad was consummated when she was at the age of 9 pondered the reality that Muhammad managed to get "convenient" revelations from allah justifying his acquisition of a harem. Of course her testimony doesn’t count because Islam has declared that the testimony of a woman does not bear the same weight as a man. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You can read about this pondering on her part <a href="https://muflihun.com/muslim/8/3453">here.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: I felt jealous of the women who offered themselves to Allah's Messenger (Peace be upon him) and said: Then when Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, revealed this:" You may defer any one of them you wish, and take to yourself any you wish;</span></div>
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and if you desire any you have set aside (no sin is chargeable to you)" (xxxiii. 51), I ('A'isha.) said: It seems to me that your Lord hastens to satisfy your desire.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sahih Muslim 8 3453<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Futhermore, where the Bible has set as the standard that the marriage relationship should be between only one man and only one woman, Muhammad, with the guidance of Allah, has changed that standard to a maximum of four wives. And that has become not universal but pretty normative in Muslim circles. Did God change the standard or are we talking about the God of the Bible and the god of the Quran being two completely different gods?</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">CONCLUSION:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Absolutely no individual who both the Bible and Islam agree were prophets had adulterous relationships which would have compromised their proclamations concerning the moral demands of God. Furthermore, God never condoned adultery. This is confirmed by the consequences resulting from the adulterous practices of the kings of the Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Muhammad practiced adultery and used the Quran to create the perception that activities which constituted adultery (e.g. The taking of multiple wives, the taking of underage children for wives, the marriage to divorced women) were not, in fact, adultery but, on the contrary, were permitted by God. By doing so he has led tens of millions of followers astray using the name of allah to justify a practice that God never permitted. And dare I say, God's standards of morality never have changed and never will change no matter who might declare otherwise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Muhammad’s behavior vastly differs from the behavior of any of the prophets of the Bible. By that virtue alone, he does not qualify as a prophet. Evidence would have it that Muhammad used allah and the Quran to justify his own lusts and in so doing, he redefined God's standard of morality which objectively speaking, will not and cannot change in spite of what Muhammad "legitimized". Rather than leading people towards God which is the role of a prophet, in the name of allah, Muhammad </span><span style="font-size: large;">led people... countless numbers of people, away from God. In light of that alone, Muhammad is neither a prophet, nor is his Quran </span><span style="font-size: large;">a genuine "holy book".</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-70672843002223697502017-02-26T19:58:00.001-08:002017-04-10T15:04:24.177-07:00Do Both the Quran and Bible justify Murder?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IS ISLAM A RELIGION OF
PEACE?</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the one hand, I could say that the answer to this question is
quite simple. Just compare Jesus to
Muhammad…</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;">Jesus never harmed anyone or anything. As Isaiah describes the Messiah “</span><i><span style="color: white;">A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly
burning wi9ck He will not extinguish</span></i><span style="color: white;">;” (Isaiah 42:3)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Muhammad conducted war, beheaded captives, raided caravans, and
added captured women to his harem.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus’ immediate followers, likewise, were harmless. They spread the message of the Gospel of the
Messiah through reasoning and arguments of persuasion.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Muhammad’s successors conducted war, beheaded captives, raided
caravans, and added captured women to their harems.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The answer is relatively straight forward. There is nothing about the life of Muhammad
that would even remotely suggest that he was a man of peace or that the
“religion” that he founded is one of peace.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;">One may also look to the Quran and the Hadiths to confirm a
general call to violence on the part of Islam.
The Muslim apologist cries fowl, however. “</span><b><span style="color: white;">How can you claim that the Bible is a book of peace when in fact, it also called for not only violence, but genocide</span></b><span style="color: white;">?" Furthermore "</span><b><span style="color: white;">How can you say that the Bible is a book of peace when it declares that there will be violence in the future</span></b><span style="color: white;">?"</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most Christians tend to avoid these objections. Personally, I’m skeptical that anyone who
would present these objections is really interested in determining truth and/or
is so entrenched in Islam that He would be unwilling to objectively reevaluate
his own faith anyway. I hope that such
is not the case and with that in mind, I present as my intention, to address
these objections and demonstrate that they are fundamentally unfounded. In this essay, I will attempt to address the
former objection and in a subsequent essay, I will address the latter
objection.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why the call in the Bible
to genocide?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Muslim apologist is correct when he makes the claim that God told Moses that
when the Children of Israel were to enter the Land of Canaan there were to
completely kill all the people of the land.
Clearly, in Deuteronomy 17:16-18 it says</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<i><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Only in the cities of
these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall
not leave alive anything that breathes.
But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the
Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God
has commanded you, so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable
things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the
Lord your God.</span></i></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></i></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is
a reality. This is a part of the very
ugly, down and dirty truth that is found in the Bible. But it is a necessary part of the Bible
narrative. So, I rhetorically ask “Why
did God command the Children of Israel to do something as utterly cruel as
annihilating the inhabitants of the Land?
I will attempt to answer this, first, by addressing the nature of the
people who were in the land, second, by addressing the purposes behind God
wanting the Children of Israel to occupy the land and last, by the nature of
the warfare that was used in taking the land.</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: center; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: white;">A.</span><span style="color: white; font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The nature of the people
who were living in the land.</span></b></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></b></div>
</div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
first hint that we get about the nature of the people who were living in the
land is found in Genesis 15. It tells
something about, not only the people, but something very wonderful about
God. In Genesis 15, God makes a covenant
with Abram (whose name would be changed to Abraham). As part of the covenant God says to him</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;">“Know for certain that
your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they
will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they
will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in
peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
Then in the fourth generation they will return here, </span><b><span style="color: white;">for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet
complete.</span></b></span></i></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Genesis 15:13-16)</span></i></div>
</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here we
see God telling Abraham that his descendants would spend 400 years in
Egypt. The Amorites who were in the land
at the time of Abraham’s dwelling there were deeply involved in idolatry and
all sorts of perverse behavior. But the
sin among them had not yet reached its peak.
They were not beyond redemption.
The 400 years of the descendants of Abraham dwelling in Egypt was the
time necessary for the Amorites to reach their peak of corruption. Here’s where we see something wonderful and
compassionate about God. Notice His
patience. He knew that the Amorites
would get worse and worse. He just
didn’t want to utterly destroy them then and there. Some of the Amorites at the time of Abraham
were redeemable and not deserving of death.
The compassion of God is reflected by the fact that He also wanted to
give them time to repent.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I will
not, at this point, get into the other aspects of this covenant. They are very significant. But they are not presently germane.</span></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, at
the time of the Children of Israel’s (Abraham’s grandson’s) invasion of the
land, the Amorites had become as corrupt and irredeemable as they could be.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So,
what was the nature of their corruption?
There is no specific history of the account of their corruption
mentioned in the Bible, however, after much time had passed, the kingdom of the
Children of Israel who had wrenched the land from the Amorites became divided
into two separate kingdoms. In the
northern kingdom, there arose a king who became so evil and corrupt that he was
likened to the evil of Amorites (1Kings 21:26).
To understand the corruption of the Amorites, therefore, one need only
study the activities of that king whose name was Ahab. An account of the activity of Ahab and his
wife, Jezebel, can be found between chapter 16:29 and Chapter 22:40 of the book
of First Kings of the Bible. Among the
things they did was to construct Ashtaroth which were poles erected in honor of
the goddess Asherah. Mythology had it
that she was the consort of Baal… the weather god who rode the clouds and
carried lightning in his hand. The Ashtaroth
were constructed all over the northern kingdom of Israel and orgies were
conducted throughout the land in her honor since she was the pagan “goddess of
fertility”. Their idolatry led Ahab and
Jezebel to murder the actual prophets of God.
Furthermore, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) were running rampant
throughout the land drastically lowering the life expectancy among the population. Not too soon after
Ahab’s reign, the northern kingdom of Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians
and sent into exile. As bad as Ahab was,
that’s how bad the Amorites had become by the time the Children of Israel had
left Egypt. That’s why God wanted to use
Israel to wipe them out completely.
They’d become a cesspool of sex, idolatry, lawlessness and murder.</span></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Concerning
the Amorites, in Exodus 23:32-33 God tells Israel</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><i><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You shall make no
covenant with them or with their gods.
They shall not live in your land, because they will make you sin against
Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you” </span></i></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God
wanted the Amorites gone because they were thoroughly nonredeemable, and their
idolatry and practices of prostitution would only serve to tempt the Children
of Israel to immorality.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: white;">B.</span><span style="color: white; font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The purposes behind why
God wanted the Children of Israel to inhabit the land.</span></b></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Rather
obviously King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel was not the way God
desired for the kingdom of Israel to progress.
God had given a law known as the Torah to the Children of Israel. It was an amazing law which made supernatural
demands upon the people of Israel.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To
illustrate just how amazing this law was, one of its statutes stated the
following:</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you meet your enemy’s
ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you
lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you
shall surely release it with him.</span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Exodus 23:4-5</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
was a practice that was unheard of and still is unheard of to this day! Whoever heard of a man acting charitably
towards his enemy? When Israel, after
having been exiled and returned to the land, under Roman domination, Jesus told
the people of His day just about the very same thing…</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“But I say to you, do not
resist an evil person; but whoever slaps
you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”</span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew 5:39</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
point that I’m making is that much of the Law of God consisted of decrees that
were outside of human nature to carry out.
Man, in his natural state is not going to “turn the other cheek”. A unique, special sort of motivation is
needed to implement this law on a personal level. Certainly, in the case of the above law,
willful forgiveness is required as well as renunciation of pride and the taking
on of humility when one has been dishonored.
Essentially, one must be willing to love God so much that he is willing
put his own self-interests aside in deference to God’s law. And God’s law is
spelled out only in God’s word, the Bible.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Human
nature says “I can be a good person, in fact, I AM a good person”. And so, God gave the Children of Israel an
opportunity to try to implement His law.
Of course, this law could never be implemented to perfection, but
imagine that you’ve been told to shoot an arrow at a target. How are you even going to get near the target
if you don’t know what direction that the target is in? The law pointed in the direction, and the
objective was to create a society, which, governed by the perfect Law of God,
consisted of a population of people who were, at least compared to all the
nations around them, compassionate and respectful towards one another. Disputes were to be settled justly and in an
orderly fashion. Yes, some punishments
were treated with the utmost of severity but the intent was that such
punishments would never even be necessary.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So
exactly where was this land where this “society” was to be established? In Genesis 15:18, while God was making His
aforementioned covenant with Abraham, He tells him.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><i><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">“To your descendants, I have given this
land.</span></i></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">From the river of Egypt as far as the great
river, the river Euphrates”</span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">The land was to
extend from the eastern most river of the Nile Delta to the Euphrates
River. This promise is reiterated not to
Ishmael, Abraham’s oldest son through a servant woman, but to Abraham’s other
son, Isaac (the son born supernaturally of Sarah who was considered by all
standards, too old to have children) in Genesis 26:2-5. The promise is again,
repeated not to Isaac’s son, Esau, but to Isaac’s son Jacob in Genesis
23:13-15.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">The descendants
of Jacob have never fully acquired all this land, but the God of the Bible, who
will not lie, promises that one day they will obtain all of it. In Leviticus 26:40-45 Moses tells us that the
descendants of Jacob (who is also called Israel) will be exiled from the land
but would one day return from the four corners of the earth.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">But why this
particular parcel of land?</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">The land was to
be located right in the middle of the trading routes as caravans took their
goods from East to West and North to South and vice versa, all over the known
world.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">Now imagine if
you will… this land, right in the middle of these trading routes is inhabited
by a people who, because they love God, can do extraordinary things like
displaying acts of kindness towards even their enemies. The traders would marvel and attribute this
amazing relationship between these people to their God. They would go back to their homes and
families after their long journeys and tell their wives and children about this
marvelous God. People all over the world
would give up their idols and pursue the knowledge of this wonderful God.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">Obviously as
we’d looked at Ahab, this experiment failed.
The kingdom had been divided in two and the northern kingdom was
destroyed by the Assyrians. The southern
kingdom of Judah was taken captive by the Babylonians about 150 years later,
also because of their sin. There’s a
saying that “Jewish people are just like everyone else only more so”. The Jewish people failed because, when it
comes to righteousness, it’s human nature to fail. Why do we get angry when we’re insulted or
dishonored? All of us is prone to hate
our enemies. But the law demands that
we’re to act otherwise. </span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">But there was
one other reason for this law that I’d like to suggest. A descendant among these people was going to
be born who would be the very embodiment of this law. He was to be the perfect person who was to
demonstrate righteousness, show man “how it’s done” as it were and, contrary to
the declarations of Moses and the Prophets, face death. </span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">It’s written:</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the
father as well as the soul of the son is mine.
The soul that sins will die.</span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">Ezekiel 18:4</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">Ezekiel said
that the one who sins is to face death.
But the Children of Israel were “pregnant” as it were with this perfect
person who was to come. His Name was
destined to be called Y’shua which means “The Salvation of God” (He’s commonly
known as Jesus or Isa). He never once
had an inappropriate thought or said an inappropriate word or did an inappropriate
deed. On the contrary, He miraculously
healed people and saw to their needs. It
was thoroughly inappropriate that He should face death but He did so willingly,
and was quick to forgive those who tortured Him, spoke ill of Him, insulted Him
and ultimately crucified Him.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: white;">C.</span><span style="color: white; font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">The nature of the warfare used in taking
the land</span></b></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">God said to the
Children of Israel through Moses…</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">“Behold, I am going to send an angel before
you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have
prepared. Be on your guard before him
and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon
your transgression, since My name is in him.
But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, </span><b><span style="color: white;">then I will be an enemy to your enemies and
an adversary to your adversaries. </span></b><span style="color: white;">For
My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the
Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the hivites and the Jebusites; </span><b><span style="color: white;">and I will completely destroy them.</span></b></span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">(Exodus 23:20-24)</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">He goes on…</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">I will send My terror ahead of you, and
throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all
your enemies turn their backs to you. I
will send hornets ahead of you so that they will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites,
and the Hittites before you… You shall make no covenant with them or with their
gods. They shall not live in your land,
because they will make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it will
surely be a snare to you.”</span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">(Exodus 23:27-28. 32-33)</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">Put simply,
clearly from this text, God is doing the fighting on behalf of Israel to clear
the land of those nations whose idolatrous practices would pose as a snare to
them.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">How then did
this “strategy” of the Angel of God going before the Children of Israel play
itself out?</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">The first city
that the Children of Israel came to was Jericho. Jericho.
Jericho was a large wall-enclosed city.
The city was taken because God Himself knocked down the walls. The people of Israel rushed in, killed
everyone except a prostitute who had repented of her prostitution and her
family. None of the Children of Israel
died.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">The next battle
was at the town of Ai. There were two
attempts on the part of the Children of Israel to take the city. The first attempt was unsuccessful and 36 men
were killed. It turned out that this
lack of success was because one man had sinned.
That man and his family were put to death and the second attempt was
successful, again, without any Israelite casualties.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">The third
battle was against five Amorite kings.
We read about this battle in the Book of Joshua, chapter 10. In this battle, God routed the Amorites,
literally killing more Amorites than the Children of Israel did by creating a
giant hail storm. </span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">Essentially,
when God is fighting for Israel, if there is no sin in the Israelite camp, no
Israelite dies. Furthermore, it is God
Himself, who does most of the killing.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">Let’s bring us
now to the 21</span><sup><span style="color: white;">st</span></sup><span style="color: white;"> century.
We’ve noted that, at least per the Bible, Moses (as well as the other
prophets) had foretold that the people of Israel would be scattered,
understandably because of their sin.
We’re also told that they would eventually return to the land. We’ve also learned that the land they presently
occupy is only a fraction of the land that had been initially promised to them
by God, through their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">We’ve also
learned that as cruel as the Biblical call to genocide of the inhabitants of
the land seemed to be, it was justified not only because of the utter depravity
of those people present in the land but the land needed to be cleared so as to establish a witness to what a righteous nation looked like. and even though the Children of Israel failed as an example, they were carrying in their midst, the "seed" that was to be the perfect example of humanity... the Messiah Y'shua. Furthermore evidence for that justification was manifest by God
Himself as it was He who was doing most of the fighting.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">We’ve also
noted that when there is absolutely no sin, no one on the side of Israel dies.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">Today, the
people of Israel are back in the land.
Is this the time of their return?
Maybe yes… maybe no. We do know
however, that when the State of Israel was first formed, five well-equipped and
trained Arab armies fought against a rag-tag force of a few thousand, ill-armed
holocaust survivors and were rebuffed.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><a href="http://necrometrics.com/20c30k.htm"><span style="color: white;">One web-site</span></a><span style="color: white;">,</span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> gives figures for the deaths of Arabs vs.
Israelis between the years 1948 and 1973.
Just counting the deaths of the specific wars during those years there
were an estimated 6,800 to 11,100 Israeli deaths and 35,800 to 68,600 Arab
deaths, every one of which was tragic!
Even the wars and intifadas after this time have led to more Arab deaths
than Jewish deaths. Considering this
data, what evidence is there that miracles were performed by Allah on behalf of
the Muslim cause? Where has Allah shown
signs that he was fighting for Islam? In
contrast, anecdotes abound of instances where God has fought in this modern era
on behalf of the Israelis. One need only
conduct a Google search.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">Of course,
Muhammad encouraged fighters to be willing to “die for the cause of Allah”. However, the Biblical model that I’ve put
forth seems to intimate that the army that is without sin suffers absolutely no
losses. Considering that, it seems that
there is plenty of sin to go around. The
sad thing is that people tend to be too arrogant either to admit their sin or
to question the world view that drives them on to mutual destruction.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;">I would pose
the question, therefore… “Is Islam a ‘religion of peace’s or is it in fact, a
world view founded by a pseudo prophet, that is fighting against the will of
the one and only true God? I would also
pose the question. ‘what makes Muslims
so sure that Jesus is merely just a prophet and what makes Jews so sure that
Jesus is not the Messiah?</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">I hold as axiomatic that
these two factions are fundamentally at war with each other because they each reject an understanding of just who Jesus is.</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-72987553936860149232017-02-26T19:51:00.003-08:002017-04-10T15:44:20.884-07:00Where Were You on September 10th, 2001?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm sure that most of you know where you were on September 11, 2001. If you're old enough to remember, I'm sure you recall exactly where you were and what you were doing. But I pose another question. Do you remember what you were doing on September the 10<sup>th</sup> or, for that matter, the 9<sup>th</sup>?</span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">On the 9<sup>th</sup>, I was having a conversation with my somewhat recalcitrant 21 yr old son. (Let me preface by saying that I believe that the Bible's the very Word of the God of the Universe). He challenged me... “How do you know that the Bible's the Word of God? How do you know that the Qur’an, for instance, isn't the Word of God?” I admitted to him that I had entered into this discussion with some initial biases so I told him that, for the sake of objectivity, I would do some research on Islam.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The 10<sup>th</sup> was a Monday. During lunch I got on the web and looked up a number of introductory web-sites on Islam. I noticed, in general, a willingness to pay homage to Jesus but a lack of understanding of whom Jesus is from the Biblical perspective. They had an appeal for an assumed commonality with believers in Jesus, but when one digs deeper, they deny that Jesus had any elements of Deity in His nature and to believe that He was God was 'shirk' and marked one as an “infidel”.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I concluded from my short introduction to Islam that anyone who takes Islam seriously was FUNDAMENTALLY CRUEL.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Muslims had been moving into my neighborhood, buying up houses with cash. They'd even bought a school building 2 blocks from my home, calling it an “education center” yet, since then, it's been converted into a mosque. I remember praying. “God, I'm not prepared for this. I'm just a spoiled Jewish boy from the north side of Chicago”. God spoke to my soul in a way that only He can... “I will prepare you”.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mind you... that was September 10<sup>th</sup>, 2001. The next day, of course, for the first time in American history, there was an attack by a foreign entity on American soil. It was at the hands of believers in Islam.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm grieved by the presumption of Islam. As a Jew, I'm also grieved by the presumption of Judaism. Both “religions” (which I prefer to call “world views”) attest to the greatness of God and hold staunchly to his “oneness”. But, in so doing, they don't even begin to understand the wonder and grandeur and magnificence and holiness of this God of whom they allegedly give allegiance. And He is echod... one.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">President Bush began a “war on terror”. The proponents of terror had, for years, carried out a war on America. I'm of the opinion, however, that this war that is waging is not a war that merely involves guns and tanks and bombs. It's a war of ideas and world views.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Every Sabbath, in the synagogue, the strains of the prayer, called “the Oleynu”, are chanted. Included in its refrain are the words of the Prophet Zechariah... “In that day (the day when peace will reign on Earth), the Lord shall be one and His Name shall be one”.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There's a popular bumper sticker making its way about the streets of America. Using the symbols of various religions as letters, it spells out the word “tolerance”. To be honest, tolerance is the mandated antitheses of some of those religions represented by those symbols. They are mutually incompatible. Yet, at least according to Zechariah, there will be no peace on this planet until the peoples of the earth come to a mutual conclusion concerning who this God is, what He is like and what He expects from us human beings.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The fact that these “religions” can't agree on these issues is not to be ignored (as is the case with these bumper stickers mentioned previously), but, I would argue, debated with attitudes of humility, civility and mutual respect. How else can we come to a consensus and agree on who God is, what He is like and what He expects from us?</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3129689620864555582.post-34642874357772285662017-02-22T20:35:00.000-08:002017-10-18T13:28:40.090-07:00Religion Must Give Way to Truth or there will be no Peace on Earth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13pt;">It is a little known fact in the “town square” that Christianity, at its very
outset, was Jewish. Rather than belabor that point, I simply sight
chapter 15 in the Book of Acts of the New Testament, as being about a small
group of Jewish believers in Y'shua (Jesus) getting together to discuss the
plausibility of the notion that a Gentile can come to believe in Y'shua without
first becoming a Jew.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Whereas in the First
Century A.D., it was a mystery that a Gentile could believe in Y'shua, Today,
in the 21st Century, it is a mystery that a Jew can believe in Y'shua. To
date, I have not yet found an adjective that can adequately describe just how
ironic this is!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Today, we are
engaged in what has popularly been dubbed a “war on terror”. In light of
the fact that this war is a struggle between Islam and the West with its
potpourri of divergent belief systems, I believe that it is safe to say rather
axiomatically that...</span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.5pt;">Until the human race
collectively comes to a consensus about who God is, what He is like and what He
expects from us, we shall forever be at war.</span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">This axiom is
corroborated in the “Oleynu” prayer in Jewish liturgy which ends with a quote
from the Prophet Zechariah…</span></span></div>
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<i style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">“On that day (the day when peace
reigns on earth) the Lord shall be One and His Name shall be One.”</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="color: white;">As I see it there
are three possible ways by which we can come to this consensus</span><sup><span style="color: white;">1</span></sup><span style="color: white;">:</span></span></div>
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1. We humans willingly debate the issue rationally and
dispassionately </span></div>
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2. One particular view is dictatorially imposed upon everyone else, or</span></div>
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3. The truth is irrefutably revealed to everyone.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">It is unlikely that
the members of "our species" will agree on anything.
Personally, I find that this substantiates the reality of the doctrine of
sin. We humans are too arrogant and biased to relinquish our points of
view despite the evidence. The afore mentioned axiom would concur that
this reality is to our detriment because it inhibits the unanimity necessary
for the prevention of war. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Sadly, even if the
truth were to be irrefutably revealed to everyone (which I do believe will happen one day in the future), in the state our
world is presently in, many would still reject it. In reality, I’m pretty well
convinced that this objective truth already exists today. The writer of
the Book of Proverbs declared “</span><i><span style="color: white;">Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice
in the square;</span></i><span style="color: white;">” </span><i><span style="color: white;">(Prov. 1:20)</span></i><span style="color: white;">. </span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Even though the
voice of Wisdom can metaphorically be heard today, I fear that her voice is
drowned out by the rabble of foolishness... whether it come in the form of peer
pressure, vogue thinking, tradition, individuals assumed to be experts, predetermined prejudices, any
other of a myriad of influences on thought processes or just plain
unwillingness on the part of people to put in the effort to think critically.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Unfortunately, in
this day and age, there seems to be only two remaining alternatives… continued
war or the imposition of a world view upon the masses by a dictator or group of
self-appointed dictatorial elitists. The former alternative is
destructive at face value to say the least. The latter alternative is most likely inconsistent with objective truth.<sup>2</sup></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Feeding heavily into
this “gemish” of confusion over the nature of God, what He might be like and
what He expects from us, is the fideistic rejection by the Jewish people of the
Messiahship of Y’shua. As a whole, the Jewish community defines a
Jew as someone who is the child of a Jewish mother but who also does not believe in
Y’shua. To much of the Jewish community, the contention that Y’shua is
not the Messiah is an axiom in itself. This “axiom” however, is a
presumption and is built upon a paradigm which places it directly at odds with
Christianity. The Jewish rejection of Y’shua as the Messiah is a direct
refutation of Christianity which claims, to the contrary, that He is the
Messiah. The rabbis seem to be oblivious to the fact that their “faith
stance” is in reality an affront to Christianity. The modern western "church" does not perceive
this either. Not wanting to “offend”, much of the church relegates
“Judaism” to being 'just another religion' and makes up some canard that “Jews
can’t be reached for the Gospel or they have their own means of receiving 'salvation'”. That is an unfortunate
assumption. There have always been Jewish believers in Y’shua including among them being the very “founder” of this
phenomenon which has been inadequately dubbed "Christianity".</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">This clash between
Christianity and Judaism, rather than being confronted, is ignored. <u>Each
side seeks its own comfort zone</u>. It’s not comfortable to
confront. It’s not comfortable to challenge one’s culture and opinions as
they measure up against Biblical truth. Ironically, this pursuit of
comfort produces exactly the opposite effect. Ignoring the debate only
contributes to the afore mentioned lack of consensus on the nature of God.
This, in turn, carries with it its already noted horrific
consequence of war and human self-destruction. Instead of finding comfort, the one who pursues comfort
unwittingly foments war and the inevitable accompanying threat to personal safety…
the very antithesis of comfort. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">There is another
element of irony that accompanies this issue. Even though Judaism is
fundamentally antagonistic towards Christianity, the very existence of the
Jewish people on the world's stage validates Christianity because their
survival over the millennia validates the Bible which prophecies that they will
survive history.</span><sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">5</span></sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"> By
validating the Bible, therefore, the Jewish people validate the Gospel of
Y'shua which is revealed in the Bible.<sup>3 </sup> It is also worth noting that if some entity
wanted to invalidate the Bible, the logical strategy might be to try to annihilate
the Jewish people, and, by so doing, delegitimize the Bible by discrediting its
prediction of Jewish perpetuity. Islam,
of course, rather conveniently, illustrates this rejection of the Bible via its
claim that the Bible has been replaced by the Quran. Current events (and also history) reveal an
inherent anti-Semitism in Islam which goes hand in hand with its rejection of
the Bible. (As an aside, I ask “If the
Jews corrupted the Bible as Islam claims, why is it that we say so many bad
things about ourselves in the Bible? One
would more likely assume that we’d want to show ourselves in a more positive "light” if we’d actually chosen to “corrupt” the Bible).</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">This anti-Semitism
is not just limited to Islam. Liberal “Christian”
theology which challenges the literal interpretation of the Bible, even to the
point of relegating the birth, life, death and/or resurrection of Jesus to the
level of allegory is also notably anti-Semitic.
Sadly such theology lends itself to the acceptance of Islam as a “legitimate”
religion which brings us back to the argument of… “There are many ways to God”
which is contrary to the call of the Oleynu to universal consensus... our axiom.
Furthermore, rather obviously, it lends credibility to Islam to which it
ought not be afforded. As the Apostle
Paul wrote:</span></span></div>
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<i style="background-color: black;"><span class="text"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">But even if we, or</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">accursed!</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><span id="en-NASB-29067" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white;">As we</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">have said before,
so I say again now,</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">if any man is
preaching to you a gospel</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">contrary to what
you received, he is to be</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">accursed!</span></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Galatians
1:8-9</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Note the emphasis
that Paul placed on “preaching another Gospel”.
Twice he says that anyone who preaches another Gospel… “He is to be
accursed”. So who is to be
accursed? Allow me to give you somewhat
of an incomplete list of examples… Buddha, Bahaula, Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russel (Founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses), Joel
Osteen and Muhammad. All these have
preached another Gospel and all, according to Paul, “are to be cursed”. I dare say, ‘though, it is ultimately God who does the
cursing. The Bible's sole functiion here, is to warn.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The liberal
Christian who tolerates these aberrant belief systems has rather obviously
rejected the admonition of the Apostle Paul.
Clearly, he does not really believe the book he seems to claim to
believe. Dare I say, he has chosen political
correctness in the guise of “tolerance” so that he might have the COMFORT of
avoiding conflict and by so doing, he ceases to be a peacemaker and becomes if not a
warmonger, at least a war perpetuator.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="background-color: black;">The Gospel of Y’shua
is unashamedly and without exception, for everyone whether he be Jew or
Gentile, Black or White or any variable in between. </b></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Subsequently, it is
safe to say that, in light of what the Bible has to say in the matter,</span><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">peace will never
come to this planet until either the Jewish people, are destroyed, (as is
the contention of many anti-Semitic groups), which would invalidate the Bible, </span><u><span style="color: white;">which
according to the Bible, will never happen</span></u><sup><span style="color: white;">5</span></sup><span style="color: white;">, they en-mass,
receive Yeshua as their Messiah </span><u><span style="color: white;">which will happen</span></u><sup><span style="color: white;">6</span></sup><span style="color: white;"> one
day, or Biblical Christianity is determined to be utterly false which,
also, </span><u><span style="color: white;">will never happen</span></u><sup><span style="color: white;">7</span></sup><span style="color: white;">. In spite of the
inevitability of the universal acceptance of Y’shua by the Jewish people at a
specific time in the future, it behooves genuine believers in the Messiah, nevertheless, to
“pave the way” as it were, by prioritizing prayer for, safety and well-being for, and evangelism to the
Jewish people. Even if many do not believe now, a seed will be planted
that will bear fruit on “that day.” This priority must also be extended
to everyone as well, As the Apostle Paul wrote…</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<i style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">“I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Messiah, for it is the power of God
unto salvation, to anyone who believes, <b>to the Jew first</b> and also to the Greek
(Gentile).</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><i style="background-color: black;"> Romans 1:16</i></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><i style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Ultimately the veracity of the Bible and the survival of the Jewish people are mutually connected. In the
end times it is over the veracity of the Bible and the subsequent issue of exactly whom
Jesus is that, consensus will be reached. And it is this consensus that will mark that day when peace finally reigns on this planet.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">1.All three of these
mechanisms for achieving consensus are mentioned in the Bible. Although
there are several references to each mechanism, the following are one or two
references to each.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A. Rational debate -
"Come now, and let us reason together, "Says the LORD," Though
your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red
like crimson, They will be like wool. (Isa 1:18)</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">B. One view is
imposed upon the masses - Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth;
and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all the
authority of the first beast in his presence And he makes the earth and those
who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was
given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on
the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has
come to life. Rev. 13:11-14)</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">C. The truth is
irrefutably revealed to everyone - "I will pour out on the house of David
and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication,
so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for
Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like
the bitter weeping over a firstborn. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (Zech. 12:10)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">2. Scripture would
not argue that the foundation of this dictatorship will probably be a
lie. I use the word “probably” only for the sake of argument.
Scripture argues irrefutably that it is a lie. - And he deceives those who
dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in
the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an
image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> Rev.
13:14)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">3. The fact that the
Jewish people have survived two millennia of exile from their homeland, endured
wave after wave of intolerable persecutions including attempted genocide, and
returned to their original homeland to speak the same language they’d spoken
two millennia earlier, is a testimony to the predictive nature of the
prophecies inherent in the Bible.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">4. Behold,
days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant
which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a
husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the covenant which
I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD,
"I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I
will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Jer.31:31-33)</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">5. Thus
says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the
moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves
roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: If this fixed order departs From
before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel
also will cease From being a nation before Me forever." Thus says the
LORD, "If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the
earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel
For all that they have done," declares the
LORD. (Jer 31:35-37)</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">6. and so all
Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM
ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB." THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH
THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS." (Rom. 11:26-27) It is important to note that the average
Jewish mind interprets this as “converting to another anti-Jewish religion”. This is blatantly not the case! In the “end of days” everyone will know
whether Jesus is or is not the Messiah and what His nature will be like. If He is, indeed, the Messiah, belief in Him
is fundamentally the most Jewish thing that anyone can do. Furthermore, it is the object of this website
to produce evidence that supports this notion.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">7. And they sang the
song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
" Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous
and true are Your ways, King of the nations! (Rev. 15:3)</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"></span></div>
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