Thoughts

Context, context, context

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This is one of the most misunderstood elements of coming to know the teachings within the Bible.
Here is a prime example. An atheist Jew once confronted me one time due to the fact that I was Christian. Over and over again she would spout out “Go sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor!” She was stuck on this like listened to a scratched vinyl record. In her mind all Christians were hypocrites and liars because they had not sold all their property and were living in poverty.
In some aspect she was correct. However to be fixated upon this one line from the Bible taken totally out of context, is something that not only is a problem with those like this lady that have no knowledge of the Bible. It is also to those that state they are Christian, but do not follow the teachings that are within this Holy Book.
Now just for clarification. This verse she was referring to had to do with the young rich man. (Matthew 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 18-23)
Mark 10:17 – As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” 20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” 21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” 26 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. 27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” 28 Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said. 29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. 31 But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”
You can see that when taken in context it is not a statement for all that call themselves “Christian” to go and sell all their possessions. It is showing that those that cherish the riches of this life over the eternal reward that is to come when we enter into the next life. That those who cling to wealth here in this temporal time have their reward, and that it is hard for someone with wealth to enter into heaven. That is why more than once the Bible says you cannot worship God and money. It must be one or the other.
Does this mean that those with money cannot get into heaven? That is a complicated question believe it or not. That is why I said to a degree the woman was correct. Those who are rich and buy multiple homes, travel extensively and in turn do not share their wealth to those in need, are worshiping money and not God. Even if they profess to be “Christian,” then their odds of entering heaven decreases.
This is just one example of knowing the context of the Bible. There are many other things that come out daily that are not in context. Most of these out of context statements come from those that wish to deceive and lead those that are unknowing down a path to destruction.
A very recent example was done by the Democratic Party Presidential Candidate. She said:
“The greatest commandment is to love.”
This is a lie, this is false. This is not only out of context but an outright lie. I will show the following verse first. Then I will show what the greatest commandment is.
Galatians 1:6 – I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. 8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.
When someone changes the Bible for their own reward and glory they are cursed, destine to damnation and any that listen will join with them.
Now this is the Greatest Commandment of all:
Matthew 22:36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
So you see why it is important to know the Bible and to read it in context. You must stay in context and you must not change it, remove from it or add to it. For when you take it out of context you run the change of falling into this curse. A curse that will not lead to God but to the pit of fire and eternal damnation.

Where is the word “prosperity” in the New Testament?

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Here is the short answer: ZERO, NONE, NOT THERE.
So after thinking on that a few moments what does that mean?
That Jesus never taught prosperity? That would be a yes.
That we are not to seek to be prosperous? I would say yes to this as well. In fact Jesus says it is harder for a rich man to get into heaven then a poor one.
Then why would you seek to be prosperous? ………………………………………………
You should not.
So why would you listen to someone that says we should seek to be prosperous? Again you should not.
Seeking to be prosperous is seeking to be a part of the world. For being prosperous will only do you any good in the world. Since the world is temporal and not everlasting why even seek it. All we are required to do is seek enough to get us fed today, that is in the Lord ’s Prayer. This is what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount about prosperity:
Matthew 6: 24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?……………… 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness then he will reward you. Isn’t seeking after prosperity placing that before God? The answer is yes.
Then it is not Biblical to seek out prosperity and any that teach otherwise does not serve God but the world.

It is not all good news……

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All people wish to hear is the good news. They do not want to hear that they may be making mistakes. They wish to live in a fantasy world of their own making. If you say it is not all perfect and wonderful then they shut you down and reject you out of hand for you are a threat to their dream.
Well it is time for folks to stop reading then, because here comes reality as best we know it is going to be within the Bible itself. First off those that say they follow Christ yet brazenly live in sin aren’t making it into heaven. Many times the Bible makes it clear either God or the sin not both in fact it is better for those that reject God then for those that live “lukewarm” life’s. That says a lot yet most would rather live in their “lukewarm” world then to face the truth.
Not everyone will make the Rapture, to be honest I don’t even know if I would qualify for that honor and by the way that is exactly what it is to be chosen to be included within the Rapture, an honor. What is worse is those that will be left behind will only have two choices martyrdom to God or servitude to the antichrist and his master Satan. And from what we are now seeing the martyrdom would most likely include a dull knife sawing your head off as many Christians in the Middle East have already found out.
We are told that we shall suffer for our faith this is truer than it has ever been before. Thousands are already dying in the Middle East or tortured or raped. Our very culture is under attack in the United States of America. Now it is cool and popular to live a life of sin and if you are Christian and disagree you are attacked on multiple levels even to be told you cannot practice your given right of free speech just because they are hurtful to those that wish to live in sin.
This is the total opposite of what it was just two decades ago.
The Supreme Court has sealed the fate for this nation if those that do honor and serve God do not act in His defense not only though the ballot box but through peaceful demonstrations. It is time to say either you are for God or against Him, there is no middle ground. It is time to tell those that are killing babies and then cutting them up like pigs to the slaughter that God will stand no more and it will stop. It is time to either live for God or join the walking dead that are willing and waiting to have the microchip injected into them and say that they serve the antichrist and his master.
So which is it… God or Satan?

If you don’t know what is morally right how can you be moral?

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Here is an interesting question. In the Bible it states clearly that there will be those that will stand before God that had never heard of Him. Yet by their own conscience they will have led a moral life. What I also find interesting is in how the sentences were formulated. The implication is that these people were few and far between and that those that led amoral life’s far outnumbered them.
This is one reason I feel we have a Bible. A handbook of instructions of how we are to attempt to lead a good and moral life. The key book within the Bible is the book of Leviticus as I mentioned to a friend the other day that anything that requires a sacrifice in the early days of the Jewish faith after Mount Sinai can be called a sin and something that is not moral. There are also instances where a paragraph starts with (to paraphrase) God told Moses then fallowed a group of items not to do then ended with for “I am the Lord your God” or such, and that these things were also sins.
One reason for this is due to the fact that God did not want things that were taking place in Egypt and Canaan to enter into the lives of first the Jews and then those that would follow. Why? Because these sins were things that would lower and debase the human race which God does not desire.
The ultimate goal of God is for all of humankind to be second within the universe with only the trinity of God being greater. We are to be over the angels and we are to be given greater deeds and tasks for the glorification of God. Satan however does not wish to be ruled. In fact he desired to supplant God and in ways he still does for he seeks to have humans through the centuries worship him.
Many theories have been thrown out there as to how this is possible, but there is evidence not only in the Bible but throughout this planet that supports this. But I am getting off track.
What is necessary is that we read the Bible and especially the books like Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Proverbs and Psalms so we can see what is right and glorious in the eyes of God and in so doing do what is moral and right.

You made the baby now what are you going to do? (By the way this is not about giving birth, but about salvation)

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Too many say we need to bring people to God. Why do I say too many? Because they don’t follow through.
So you lead someone to Jesus. They accept Him as their Savior and wish to learn how to be a good and honorable “Christian.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I left the line blank for a reason. For those within the “Church” that just lead people to God and then nothing else is actually walking a dangerous path.
When someone come to accept God they are truly born again. They become a newborn babe to a faith they have no true understand of how it works. Most of the time they are left at this point alone and wondering. How do I know this? This is what happened to me in 1986. I was left to fend for myself. No one was there to lead me down the right path. No one was there to teach me the correct things I needed to do to grow in my faith.
First and foremost no one told me to read the Bible nor taught me how to read it and learn from it correctly. God does not instill this knowledge automatically to you it is the job of someone within the Body to tell you this. Yet most of the time what happens is people are left to try and learn all they need to know on their own.
This is something that needs to change immediately. When people are asked if they wish to have Jesus as their savior the pastor, preacher, priest needs to then say this.
“For those that just asked Jesus into your heart if you could please stay behind so that we can help you in your next steps toward servanthood as a child of God.”
Then a group within the church go one on one with those that did. They offer them a Bible and suggest they get a concordance and other tools that will help them grow. They should at this time also offer a Bible study class for the newly saved so they can learn as a group about their faith.
I have NEVER heard of this ever being done and all I can say is: Why not???

God is not a genie

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God is not our personal wish granter. Do not ask Him to help you win the lottery or to get you out of a financial bid you got yourself into. Do not ask Him to give you fame for He is not an agent.
Each person is responsible for their own actions and behavior. How they succeed in life or do not is their own responsibility. Why do I say this? It is called free will.
Jesus gave us a pray to say to God. Nowhere in it does it say make me a rock star or make me rich.
We are the servant to God FIRST, we are servants to all other SECOND, then just then we can think about ourselves. If God wishes us to receive rewards here in this temporal plain of existence then He will give it to us, but remember this the more we get here in this life, the less there will be for us in the eternal life.
100 years of riches to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 of riches, which is the greater number?

Without Christ

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In the Bible verse to follow it shows what is in a human’s heart. What is found within it is not the things of beauty, but the things of ugliness. Jesus makes it clear humans at this time are no better than any other animal that walks or swims upon this planet. Why is this? Because Eve and then Adam ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Again why? For Lucifer does not wish to be governed by humans. At this time he governs most of the human race. So for that reason alone in most cases only the worst can be seen within most of the human race.
Now God has made it clear that at one time there are those that have had a conscience and did what was right without realizing it. This affirms the beliefs of those that deny God that they too can be good, but that is not how it works at this time. Most within the world have heard of the Bible and thus they have heard of God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. This negates their desire to live without God, for once you know there is a God even though you may deny He exists you are held accountable to the teaching of the Bible.
So you must follow its teachings out of obedience to Jesus Christ who died upon a cross and then came back to life allowing you to stand proudly before God if you accepted His Son into your life. This is required now in this time. It is shown vividly what happens when you reject God. The most innocent of the human races is torn from a woman’s womb and torn to pieces the one wishing to pay the most gets these destroyed children, the true martyrs of this world for they never had the chance to be blemished by the world.
When those that see this horror and call those that say it is horrible and wrong the ones that have lost their “moral compass” then it is clear that their “moral compass” points not upward to God but downward. This is what happens when there is no Christ in their lives, when there is no God in their lives. That which is precious to God is seen as nothing more than an animal for the slaughter.
When a human being is reduced to being treated as an animal then you may as well raise the swastika over the stars and stripes for that is what humanity has become The Fourth Reich, the children of their father. Lucifer the father of all lies. Deny it all they wish, but that is what happens when you take God out of your lives.

Mark 7: 21- For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Jesus is REAL

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re-post (2015)
The Bible states to mark those that divide and cause conflicts. They are said to use sweet words that will entrap the simple minded and their goal will be to satisfy themselves and no others. (Romans 16:17-18)
“Mark” is skopeo in the Greek and means to consider, take heed, look at (on); regard attentively, take heed, beware.
Due to the administration of Obama this nation is in dire straits. A prime example of this behavior and since people did not “mark” this person as a problem we now find this nation in the worst state it has ever been. Even the depression years were better than the state of this nation today. This occurred because people stopped learning from the Bible. They turned for a solid foundation to a foundation built upon sand.
A prime example of building upon sand can be traced to the 1906 earthquake. Most the damage was due to a major section of the city being built upon landfills. It caused what is called liquefaction of the ground beneath these builds which cause their destruction, then the fire occurred which did even more damage.
This is the fate of many these days. They are the simpleminded allowing others to do their thinking for them and not thinking for themselves, nor learning for themselves. They take the word of others, which those that wish to cause conflict use to their own needs and desires, for from selfishness comes all evil.
This nation will either go through a revival like no other that has ever occurred in the past or it shall parish. My personal believes lead me to think for the worst and this nation will soon fall into further disarray. Too many have surrendered their freedom thinking they are sticking to the system when in fact they are enslaving themselves and being used as pawns in a game that will result in the death of millions.
I wish someone to prove me wrong and cause this nation to enter into a great revival, but that would mean many have to suddenly see the truth for what it is and who the truth really is. That would be Jesus Christ by the way. (John 14:16)
When someone truly follows Christ the scales fall from their eyes and they see the world as it truly is. They know through His death upon the cross for them that they have sinned against the Creator and they have a truly repentant heart and abandon their sin. They start to strife to do what is right and what will give glory and honor unto God.
There are many that think they are one with Christ and with God, yet they live in sin. They say that the Body of Christ must change and accept them. This is not how it works. They must change, not Christ. Those that think this way truly do not understand. To them the “Church” is something that is holding on to ancient believes and values and they must change and embrace the future.
They do not think Jesus or even God is real, but a creation of man. This in itself shows that they are blind. Jesus DID walk the earth when He was called to do so by His Father the Creator of this universe, God. Jesus never sinned and was unblemished. Jesus did perform miracles, even the Pharisees agree to this by calling Him a sorcerer. Jesus DID die upon the cross, for no Roman solider would jeopardize their own life for someone they thought to be a common criminal. Jesus did rise from the dead on the Third day for again the Pharisees try to say the guards they ordered to watch the tomb had fallen asleep and that the disciples had stolen the body. The very same disciples that were in hiding and sorrow over the death of Jesus. So they could not have stolen the body and so yes Jesus Christ did return to life and is alive to this very day. “But where is he” many ask, Do not scientist believe in multiple universe? Yes they do, the thing is the Bible has said there is such a thing for over two thousand years, for is not heaven another reality? Yes it is.
So again and again more evidence points to Jesus as real, as alive and as the Son of God. Yet people wish to change what the Creator said must be. They wish to life in their sin and be one with God, however the Glorified Jesus Christ made it clear to John in Revelation. You can either be hot for God or cold for God, but you cannot be both for it is better to be cold for God then to be lukewarm. In other words living in sin and saying you are one with Jesus.
It is now you must chose. You are either for Jesus WHO is REAL and ALIVE, or you are for sin. Pick now, for time is running out.

The feet of iron and clay

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re-post (originally posted in 2015 before the Daniel Dilemma posts)
What is to follow is supposition. What I am going to say I have not heard or read before from anyone else that has studied the book of Daniel. What I do want to make clear is a do agree that Daniel like the rest of the entire Bible is real, that God is real and the book of Daniel was written in the sixth century B.C.
Those that agree that Rome is the legs of iron and that is divided into two separate kingdoms. One based in Rome the other based in what once called Constantinople and is now called Istanbul. There are those that say the Roman Empire ended, but that is not what is started. It is saying that it broke apart. This has come to pass this is the present form of what was the Roman Empire.
The important line is “but they shall not cleave one to another.” So we have an empire that was once whole and became divided in half. One having adopted Christianity, the other half adopted Islam. Within both these religions are different factions that do not mix together, they do “not cleave one to another.” It also states that the cultures within them will not get along with each other as well. Again this describes how things have been since that empire broke apart. We have been in wars for centuries.
In essence the entire world structure we now live within is formed from the former Roman Empire, both the Christian as well as the Islamic side. Everything fits this scenario. So what is holding back the return of Christ? The saints are. God is waiting for those that were chosen before the very creation of this planet. God has always known who will accept Him and those that would deny Him.
Does this negate free will? By all means no. It is still within our control if we decide to accept Him or deny Him, He just knows the outcome, but He is not going to tell us, because for us to come to Him willing and with a fully open heart is the only way we can come to Him. It is black and white, right and wrong, no middle ground.

The echoes of Isaiah

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In the sixth century B.C. it is said that the second part of the book of Isaiah is said to have been written. So six hundred years before Jesus Christ walked amongst us, learning of us, and coming to offer the promised kingdom to the people of Israel, these words were put together to make this book.
In the fifty-third chapter something amazing was given to the Jewish people. I have heard it said that this book is not allowed to be read within the descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob. If it is true I understand why this could be. Why? For it would mean they must accept the fact that they didn’t see Him for who He was. Even though He did many, many miracles. Even though He said the words that would cause them to awaken to the truth, but it is a truth they did not want to hear.
I then look about at what my eyes and ears perceive in what is called the church today and I see a community that is a reflection not of Jesus, but of the people of Israel in the years that Jesus walked along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. I see them rejecting Jesus Christ and I know that His return will be soon and it will be to the sorrow of thousands if not millions that assumed that they were right with God.
In reality though they have become the Pharisee, the Sadducees and the Herodians, yet they are too blind to see this as fact. Yet if they even suspect it in their hearts they lie to themselves saying this is the furthest thing from the truth, when it is all too real.
Below you will see a key part of Isaiah 53 and remember these word were inspired six hundred (600) years before Jesus was amongst us:
1 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.

“All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.”