Repost: “Rejoice The Lord Is King” 300 Voice Mass Choir – Classic Hymns Album “Lead Kindly Light”
1 Rejoice, the Lord is King:
Your Lord and King adore!
Rejoice, give thanks and sing,
And triumph evermore.
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice!
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
2 Jesus, the Savior, reigns,
The God of truth and love;
When He has purged our stains,
He took his seat above;
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice!
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
3 His kingdom cannot fail,
He rules o’er earth and heav’n;
The keys of death and hell
Are to our Jesus giv’n:
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice!
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
4 Rejoice in glorious hope!
Our Lord and judge shall come
And take His servants up
To their eternal home:
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice!
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
To Open Their Eyes
Deuteronomy 29:4 (KJV) Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
Matthew 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Ezekiel 12:12 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.
Acts 28:27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
II Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Paul’s Defense
Acts 26:1 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:
2 I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:
3 Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.
4 My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;
5 Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God, unto our fathers:
7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.
8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?
9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
21 For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.
22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:
23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.
24 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.
25 But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.
26 For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner.
27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.
28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
29 And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.
30 And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them:
31 And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.
32 Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
Is Jesus More?
Robert Richter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
There is confusion regarding Jesus, so the question is asked.
To get the real answer of answer of anything, the simplest, and most direct approach…is to get to the root of the question. It’s called “peeling away the layers of the onion”.
What will definitively call forth an answer to the question or at least put it in contrast to lesser questions?
And while the answer could be put in theological or apologetic terms, this will be an attempt to partially answer in modern-day terms.
This is an attempt to ask a question about Jesus; it is a question where the answer matters.
Similar questions in modern days whose answers matter are questions like “who killed JFK” or “what and who is really behind the Covid shot”?
Some people keep asking questions long after an event has been (unsuccessfully) consigned to the dustbin of history. These people are considered nuisances because they simply won’t shut up and go along with the standard politically correct narrative. They won’t believe what the rigged investigation says is the truth. They point out inconvenient facts. The reason they are persistent is because they see the bigger picture and understand that something larger is at stake.
I was listening the radio recently and the talk show host stated his opinion that the recent stand off by Matt Gaetz and others was sort of a political “geeky” thing that no one really cared about except “political nerds”. The implication was that it was totally unnecessary. And to be fair, he was not the only one throwing out that opinion.
And while in one way the “political nerd” classification may be correct, it is because the political nerds understand the stakes. And, post stand-off, we see the good fruit that is emerging because Matt Gaetz and others held their ground. There was a valid reason that Matt Gaetz and the others did what they did.
When people consider questions like this with a shrug or why do I care…then it indicates that they don’t understand the bigger picture.
There are forces behind certain major events. Those forces hope society forgets or “moves on” or ignores or doesn’t find the answer to the questions, and that way those forces can continue to work fairly undetected, with their hidden hand, for money and power, shaping society and events.
There has been a “moving on” about Jesus. However, that does not mean the questions that surround Jesus are unimportant.
There is one thing connected to Jesus that no other person in history, secular or religious, has…and that is, an empty tomb. Jesus rose from the dead.
If you are going to compare Jesus to others, you have to explain the empty tomb.
The questions that surround Jesus’s resurrection have already been much discussed in a intellectual discipline called apologetics.
Here are a few of the common comments, with answers. There are more that you can study on your own.
The disciples stole the body.
Really?
The Bible says that the ruling powers did similar to what they do now when they don’t want a certain story told…they paid the soldiers to say the disciples had stolen the body and taken it away.
Do you believe that a group of former fishmen, a tax collector, and some other scattered disciples overcame the Roman guard protecting a sealed tomb and stole the body?
Well, maybe Jesus wasn’t dead.
Really?
Jesus was scourged, couldn’t even carry his cross to Calvary all the way, was crucified, had a spear thrust in his side and somehow after being thrown into a tomb, having first been wrapped in graves clothes, somehow the dampness of the tomb revived him and he got up, threw the stone away from the door of the tomb, and overcame the full guard of Roman soldiers? You believe that?
And, as has been pointed out, Roman soldiers knew when someone was dead. It was their job.
People were hallucinating.
Really?
Experts will tell you that hallucinations are individual, not group, not a form of group think.
The problem is not so much that there are facts that can’t be denied, as much as that people have lost the ability to think and reason.
A society that can be talked into believing that a man can have a baby, has frankly, lost its collective mind.
I saw a sign at a gas station once, years and years ago…if it was true then, how much more today…America is so open-minded its brains are falling out.
When you are willing to believe one lie, it makes you more gullible to believe the next.
And the ones that say, we don’t care about who killed JFK, or we don’t care what is in the Covid shots, or what is behind them, are the ones who are most likely to fall prey to the forces behind those events.
If you are going to say that Jesus is just another teacher, then you have to explain the empty tomb.
For there is an empty tomb. For those who want to be intellectually honest, they have to explain the empty tomb.
This is what separates Jesus from all the rest of the pantheon of history.
There is no other person, no other religious figure, who says this about himself.
Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
The Historical Facts Argument for the Resurrection
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
Harden Not Your Heart
The Bible exhort us to not have hard hearts.
In the parable listed below, Jesus talks of the Word of God working in the hearts of people. One of the soils is stony, or hard ground. It does not bring forth fruit.
If you have ever seen a walking path, in a park, or in a field, everything living is trampled down until just bare dirt remains. If a slip of a plant begins to grow, it is not too long before someone would steps on it and crushes the life out of it.
Mark 4:1 And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.
2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,
3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?
14 The sower soweth the word.
15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.
18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
Hebrews 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Zechariah 7:12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
Repost: Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story – Act of God
Isaiah 43:43 But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:….
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
Go Ye Into the Highways and Hedges
Андрей Николаевич Миронов (A.N. Mironov), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Luke 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
There may be those of you who want to give to a Jesus-gospel-inspired project, but for whatever reason, don’t want to give to an official church at this time.
One option is to give to the crowd funding or pay-it-forward production of The Chosen.
The Chosen is a series based on the ministry of Jesus.
There are people, those in the highways and hedges, who do not necessarily go to church, who have been positively impacted by the production of The Chosen.
You can watch some of the earlier shows by clicking the link below.
https://watch.angelstudios.com/
They also have a link to “pay it forward”, a form of crowd funding, to help with future productions.
So if you want to give to something positive, but not necessarily an “official” church at this time, that is an option for you.
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
Let Him That is Without Sin Among You Cast the First Stone
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Let him that is without sin among you throw the first stone.
John 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
It is fashionable for one denomination to throw stones at another. Maybe not scriptural…but fashionable.
However, there is no reason for the pot to call the kettle black.
This courageous priest brings out an issue that maybe other denominations can’t or won’t talk about for fear of being cancelled.
That is that the beginning, God made them male and female.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And what was the purpose of marriage? To be fruitful. God wanted children.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
The problem of leaders blessing that which God has not blessed is not limited to one denomination. Think about the recent split in the Methodist church due to the same reason.
And while I can only allude to this, due to the fact that there are others who have done far more intensive studies and devoted a lifetime of study to these issues, while I, with various other duties, have only done a certain limited amount of study, it is safe to say that some problems within various churches and denominations certainly come, in part at least, from the infiltration of communists and freemasons into the universities of study and ruling boards of churches and even pastorships or priesthoods. And then, they have the power to vote against or cancel out the true doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The same tactic (of infiltration*) that was used in the January 6th event has been used in churches. *Additional information
This discussion is not the problem of one denomination only.
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
Lifestyle and Discipline
In a world the touts instant quick answers, the reality is, many solutions come through a combination of hard work, lifestyle changes, and discipline.
It is easier to reach for a “quick fix”, for example, hoping for energy from a high sugar candy bar or a high caffeine drink, than to take the long haul discipline of proper nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle changes.
Whether it involves making a totally different lifestyle change, or simply tweaking and improving what you are already doing, there is a usually a determined period of simply following the discipline or establishing the new habit until you begin to experience the good fruit of getting where you intended to go.
Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
Where Are “Them”?
Yes, that is bad English, it should be “they”, but the verse referred to is this one.
Mark 16: And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
We are inundated from every side…social media, TV, movies, radio, YouTube, Facebook…with all sorts of words, videos, and images that are created by, as well as create, underlying assumptions. Those assumptions can inadvertently seep over into a relationship with God.
One of those assumptions is that God will automatically solve problems without any effort on our part.
It can come out in words or memes like this…”it’s meant to be”, “que sera sera”, “God can do anything, why doesn’t He?”.
However, do we have a part to play?
If we were talking in lines of a coach, he might say…give me something to work with. In other words, it doesn’t just depend on the coach, or in this parallel example, God. There has to be something reaching out, some effort, some following instructions, some obedience from the individual.
Here are some scriptures along these lines. Serious Bible study will reveal many more scriptures along these lines.
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Isaiah 43:22 (KJV) But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.
23 Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
24 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
26 Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
27 Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.
28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Joshua 1:7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
How can you find out what to do?
Spend time reading the Bible. Go to church. Be born again. Pray.
If you want to do anything well, you need to spend time learning and doing.
The same applies to the Bible and the things of God.
When we have met the conditions, God is always faithful to fulfill his promises.
A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
Why Did Adam Fall?
Why did Adam fall?
Prior to the Fall, God gave Adam dominion.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Why didn’t Adam take dominion over the serpent speaking to Eve?
The provision of God was there, but it was not used.
If you have a key to a house, and the door is locked, and you don’t use the key, you can sit on the porch and cry buckets of tears, you can go find ten Ph.D.’s and create a think tank about doors and locks, you can have surveys and request money to deal with doors and locks, but if the key is in your hand and if you don’t use it, none of the above “other activities” will solve the problem.
What is a major key that is missing in this world where evil seems to have the upper hand?
Surely the problems of the world are never God’s…if there is an error, it lies with mankind.
What is missing?
This scripture is sometimes preached.
II Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
And while that might bring to mind certain things that should be turned from, I propose that a major wicked way that needs to be turned from is one that is rarely talked about.
It is the refusal to enact justice.
Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
That refusal leads to a sloppy go along…to get along…environment. Evil thrives in that go-along-to-get-along, slap-each-other-on-the-back-as-good-‘ole-boys environment because evil will take every bit of ground given to it and leverage it into more evil.
The picture of the man on the gallows, receiving justice for misdeeds, with the priest offering last rites comes to mind. Justice is served. Mercy is offered.
But justice is not denied.
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After the flood, this was God’s decree.
Genesis 9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
There are those who say that we don’t need to do that any more. Some even advance the (extremely bad) idea of ….just let the criminals back out on the street.
But back to the scripture about turning from evil ways…wasn’t the charge of God against the nation of Israel the fact that they refused to walk in his ways and instead adopted the ways of the heathen nations around them?
When a nation with a Constitution that is supposed to uphold law and order no longer does that, isn’t that adopting the way of the heathen?
Isn’t the willingness to go along to get along a dereliction of duty?
Isn’t it a failure to enact justice?
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The refusal at a judicial level to enact justice, a Nuremberg Trial type of justice, against those who are destroying nations, economies, lives, and health, is one of those evils that must be turned from.
Of course, the verse applies at a personal level as well.
But on a national level, justice must be enacted.
God is not going to do the job He gave man to do.
There HAS TO BE a differentiation between the words of Jesus to individuals and the judicial responsibility of dealing with those who have been put in authority over nations and the NGOs who may be illegally dealing with them behind the scenes.
You don’t turn the other cheek to those who are destroying the world for personal profit and power.
That’s for your neighbor who blew his leaves on your lawn with his leaf blower. Go work it out.
But this is what Jesus says in terms of the kingdom, the larger scale picture.
Answer these questions for yourself.
Whom is he talking to? He is talking to people who think the kingdom of God will immediately appear. Who is called to deal with the enemies? Jesus? or his servants?
Luke 19:11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
19 And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.
20 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
21 For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.
22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.
25 (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)
26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.
27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
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