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.
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.
What More Could I Have Done for My Vineyard?
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*Isaiah 5:1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
9 In mine ears said the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
12 And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.
13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
16 But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
19 That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.
Luke 20:7 And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was.
8 And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
9 Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.
10 And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty.
11 And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.
12 And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out.
13 Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.
14 But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.
15 So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?
16 He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.
17 And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
18 Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
19 And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.
Matthew 21:33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
*King James Version (KJV)
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.
The Miry Clay
Matthew Bargo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Psalm 40:40 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
What is the miry clay? It is sin, iniquity, getting sucked into the spiraling drain hole that leads to hell.
The problem with sin, and this is common knowledge in the world, is that one bad choice, one bad habit, leads to another.
Revelation 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
In the story below, those who first called him seemed fairly innocuous, like they wanted to help. But then things changed.
And that is how sin works. It draws a person deeper and deeper into darkness and problems.
YouTube Transcript Below
I had known from some time in that
afternoon that I was dying I knew
absolutely but I didn’t want to die
because I was an atheist and I was uh I
knew that I was terrified of it because
dying means the end of everything a 38
year old college professor my work was
shown in some museums you know had won
some prizes you know and a wife and two
kids and you know a career and you know
one of the thoughts that go through how
could this happen
I went unconscious I awoke from that and
I felt wonderful I’m like I’d ever felt
in my entire life wait so you knew you
died and suddenly you felt great well I
didn’t know I’d died I just I’d been
unconscious and now I feel great you
know and where were you standing next to
the bed upright and I the first thing I
was like why do I feel so good I just
felt the worst that ever felt in my
entire life
yeah I mean I couldn’t breathe and now
I’m like Superman and my eyesight my
hearing my taste and then say you still
don’t know you’re dead no and you feel I
would figure to live if you feel I feel
more alive than I’ve ever felt in my
entire life and and your senses you said
are heightened yeah I mean this world
ever since this experience has been kind
of a disappointing because this world is
sort of dreamlike compared to the
reality that are experienced in this
mm-hmm and
I heard people calling me in English
kind of nicely you know Howard Howard
come here come here so I go over to the
doorway the room and in the hallway is
gray it’s very unclear like a terrible
black-and-white TV picture and there’s
men and women standing far away from the
light of the doorway
I said I’m sick I need to have surgery
I’ve been waiting all day for a doctor
and they said we know all about you
hurry come with us now we can’t wait any
longer come come all right
and I’m thinking okay
they’ve come they’ve come to take me to
the doctor this is great
your people as I left the light of the
room going into the hallway encircled me
and kind of started leading me in this
direction as we journeyed and there’s no
sense of time in any of this so when I
make time references it’s only for the
purposes of trying to make a rational
sequential story of this as we went it
got darker and darker and they came in
closer and closer and more and more of
them were around me and now as I asked
them questions like where are we going
how much further things like that they
started to become more rude and say
things to me like shut up
don’t ask questions you’ll find out
you’ll need to know keep moving keep
moving
move it you know like that I’m like
getting pretty intimidated that becomes
fear that becomes terror now this is
over a journey of miles and miles and
miles and eventually it’s so dark I’m
aware I can’t see anything anymore it’s
pitch black and I’ve I figured I’m done
you know I’ve had it and so I said I’m
not going any further and they said oh
yes you are
you’ve got further to go and I said I’m
not going and so they started to tug at
me and push at me what they were doing
was just playing with me playing with me
and at first it was pushing kicking
plane hitting and then that became
[Music]
biting and tearing would their
fingernails and hands and they were
taking
pieces of me and there was a lot of
laughter a lot of very foul language and
then they became more invasive there has
never been a horror movie or a book that
can begin to describe their cruelty
because their cruelty was pure purely
sadistic I know that they got nothing
out of it it was simply something to do
and I’m very aware that they were so
empty so without compassion or feeling
for me that it was just amusement for me
to scream and yell and fight back the
physical pain was pain from head to foot
just solid horrible acute pain on a
scale of one to ten ten total didn’t
begin to match what I felt on the inside
was you know um having been taken down
to nothing I mean the worst things that
you could possibly imagine had happened
to me and more and in that place I heard
a voice which I identify as my voice
except that it did not come out of my
throat off my lips but I do feel is
strange but I feel like it came out of
my chest this voice said pray to God and
I thought I don’t believe in God I don’t
pray the voice said pray to God and I
thought I don’t even know how to pray I
couldn’t pray if I wanted to pray the
voice said pray to God
and I thought when I was a boy and gone
to Sunday school we had been taught
prayers
what were those prayers so I’m searching
for anything that I’d remembered as a
child our Father who art in heaven I
remember like these phrases out of
prayers and I’m start to mutter this
stuff and the people around me
absolutely can’t bear it and so in
language that has never been heard in
this world obscene filthy vulgar
language they’re saying to me the the
content of which is there is no God
nobody can hear you and now you are
going to really be hurt you think what
you’ve experienced so far as something
wait until we’ve got for you now now
this made me want to pray more because
for the first time I was able to hit
back at them the prayers were like
clobbering well they left me alone
so now I have eternity time without
measure to think about my situation and
I thought about my life and as I
considered my life which would take me
days to talk over what I thought about
but summing up with as a son to my
mother and father I had filled them I
had not been a good husband to my wife
and you can use your imagination to
figure out what that means but it’s
that’s true that’s all true I have not
been the father to my kids that I should
have been and I knew I hadn’t because I
was busy I was trying to be somebody you
know like the football games and the
band concerts and the choral concerts
and theater performances that could all
wait because I was busy being important
I was doing stuff making myself into
somebody and I hated my life and I
realized that I belong with these people
in this place the only problem was is I
didn’t want to be with those people
because I knew that the only way to
survive in this role
if you don’t want to be a victim anymore
you’ve got to be meaner crueler than
they are you’ve got to be the victimizer
and not the victim
this memory comes of myself as a little
boy sitting in a Sunday School class
room singing jesus loves me when I
thought he why would he care about me
even if he is why would he here he must
hate me I’m so sorry and I thought
enough of this I’ve done I don’t have
anything else Jesus please save me and
when I said that I saw a light
tiny little speck of light and it very
rapidly got very bright and came over me
and I saw out of the light hands and
arms emerge out of this impossibly
beautiful white light those arms went on
me and healed me they went behind my
back and he picked me up as if it was no
effort on his part he just gently picked
me up and held me up against him real
tight up against his chest so there I am
with my arms around him his arms around
me and I am bawling like a baby and he
starts to rub my back like he wasn’t
saying there there but it was just like
like a mom or a dad with a child and I
knew
[Music]
I don’t I don’t know how I knew but I
knew he loved me very much just the way
I was
[Music]
Various ministers have used this quote.
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. ”
The goal is to get out of the miry clay and to the rock of Christ.
I Corinthians 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
Jesus said,
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.
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.
This Is That Moses and Aaron
James Tissot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Exodus 6:27 (Darby) These are they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: this is that Moses and Aaron.
Not every translation translates the above verse as above. However, the specific grammar of this translation brings out an important point.
Normally, in English grammar, when dealing with two or more individuals, the verb would be plural “are”. If that were the case here, then it would read…these are that Moses and Aaron.
But the verb is singular, “is”.
Moses and Aaron worked as one unit, like two poles of a battery.
The same principle is again seen as Jesus sent his disciples out two by two.
Mark 6:7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
Luke 10:1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.
2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
The Church, larger than individual denominations, to be successful, must work together.
Jesus praying, recorded in John 17, prayed this:
John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Individual churches may have slightly different focuses, slightly different orders of worship, and certain differences between them, just like different members of the body of Christ may have different tasks and calls.
But oneness is what brings the power of God.
The human body does not, or rather, should not fight amongst itself. If it does, that is called an auto-immune disease and that can be very destructive.
If each part of the body of Christ focuses on the individual tasks given by God, then in unity it will become as These are they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: this is that Moses and Aaron.
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.
The Question Behind the Question
Khaydock, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Some people ask questions similar to these….
- If God is good, why is there evil?
- If God is good, why is there war?
- If God is good, why is there hunger?
- If God is good…and the questions go on….
That is not the real question.
There is a question behind that question that must be answered.
That question is this.
Did God create man or did man evolve?
That question must be faced and answered by each soul.
Jesus said,
Matthew 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
It is a simple yes or no.
There are those who say, how do you decide? How can you know?
There is a school of study called apologetics.
To explain what apologetics is, using a simple example, consider if you are deciding if someone made a chocolate cake in your house.
You come into the house after a long day.
- You might smell the smell of a chocolate cake.
- You might a bowl in the sink with some chocolate cake mix on the sides of the bowl.
- You might see a half eaten piece of chocolate cake on the table.
- You might see a child with chocolate icing on his shirt.
At this point, you have a decision to make. You have gathered evidence by smell, by sight. What is your decision?
Do you decide that someone made a chocolate cake?
Or do you say, contrary to all the evidence that you have seen…I don’t think anyone made any chocolate cake today.
Or, do you say, contrary to the evidence you have seen, I don’t think anyone made a chocolate cake, I think it was a strawberry cake.
Or you may not care to think about it at all, and would rather just flop down on the couch and watch a TV rerun.
Now of course, Bible apologetics is more detailed than figuring out if a chocolate cake has been baked, but it is really that simple.
Look at the facts and decide.
It is possible to understand the answer of whether man evolved from the slime or whether God created man.
Once that answer is settled, other questions can be answered. The answers are in the Bible.
God did not bring evil to this earth. Satan did.
Adam and Eve, by listening to the lies of satan, and through disobeying God, opened the door for evil to enter this world.
The point is, once the decision is made that the Biblical account is correct and that the Bible is accurate, then other questions can be answered as well.
Obedience to do what the Bible says to do is a key.
Psalm 119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
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.
A Time to Speak, A Time to Be Silent.
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Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
7 … a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
After the resurrection, two disciples were walking along the road to Emmaus. Jesus appeared and walked with them, but they did not recognize him. Scriptures tell us… beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
The background of the road to Emmaus journey starts with the empty tomb of Jesus.
Luke 24:1 (KJV) Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher.
3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
8 And they remembered his words,
9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
10 It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
Before the road to Emmaus and prior to the empty tomb, prior to the resurrection, prior to the crucifixion, Jesus stood before Pilate in the Judgment Hall. Jesus answered him to never a word….And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
Matthew 27:1 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
2 And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.
8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;
10 And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.
11 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?
14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.
Why didn’t Jesus speak to Pilate? Why didn’t he expound the scriptures to Pilate the way he did to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus?
Jesus understood that he was sent for a particular purpose.
Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
Matthew 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
John 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
I John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Jesus hid from Pilate and Pharisees the mystery, the hidden wisdom, of what was about to happen in through the crucifixion of Jesus.
I Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Through Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus made possible redemption for mankind, as many as would receive it, and reclaimed the keys of death and hell.
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.
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
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: Edgar Andrews introduces his book ‘What is Man?’ (Dutch subtitles)
This is good!
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.
Tip – New Year’s Resolution – Use a Dictionary
In the Old Testament, God told the children of Israel to possess the land.
In today’s world, the land that must be recaptured from the land of wokeness is vocabulary.
This is the process that the progressive left uses to change vocabulary.
A new term or concept is introduced in a manner of “cute” or “trendy” or “viral video”.
After a while, though quite ridiculous, it becomes a part of mainstream thought, because it goes unchallenged.
The idea that a man can have a baby would be an example.
What kind of thinking is this that defies the laws of biology?
What kind of sloppy thinking is this?
Men regard its nature and cause as divine from ignorance and wonder….
— Hippocrates, On the Sacred Disease
What would scientists of prior centuries say about some of the recent, woke, unproven ideas?
After the introduction of a term with an unnatural, unscientific, unproven, untested definition, i.e., a “woke” definition, those who wish to use the traditional form of the word may begin to self-censor…If I say that, what are the consequences? Will I lose likes on Facebook? And in the case of well known celebrities or politicians, Will the press criticize me for not going with the new form of the word?
Then there is persecution against not only the word, but also against the whole cultural lifestyle from which the original word emerged, and against those who prefer the old cultural lifestyle.
Let’s take some common words: man, woman, marriage, family.
Have you seen the above process in action?
Whenever you question the use of a word, look up the historical meaning of a word. Don’t look at the modern day meaning, but the historical meaning.
Historical meanings came about as society moved towards law and order, based in part on a Judeo/Christian influence.
Western society is now is a state of de-evolution. Vocabulary is de-volving as well.
A New Year’s Tip…use a dictionary to look up original, historical meanings of words.
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: He Looked Beyond My Faults – The Singing Contractors
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.